title: Promises and pitfalls of synthetic chromosomes in plants.
abstract: This review summarizes synthetic chromosome construction in plants and speculates on how they might be applied to various uses in the future, as well as the possible impact for synthetic biology. The procedures to construct foundational platforms for synthetic chromosomes in plants are described, together with some challenges to be overcome in growing such chromosomes and expanding their applications.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. Electronic address: BirchlerJ@Missouri.edu.
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Birchler
mesh_terms: D022201:Chromosomes, Artificial; D032461:Chromosomes, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant; D005813:Genes, Synthetic; D008967:Molecular Biology / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics*
keywords: artificial chromosomes; centromere; engineered minichromosomes; food security; genetic engineering; plants; synthetic biology