Some like it sticky: targeting of the rice gene Waxy.

For the first time, a gene function can be knocked out by homologous recombination in a monocot plant species. Fertile rice plants with the desired change in their genome can be obtained reproducibly. Although the absolute frequency of targeting does not exceed that of previous experiments in dicots, the use of a negative selectable marker at both extremities of the targeting construct reduces the amount of screening and excludes ectopic targeting, an unwanted by-product of gene targeting.