Stable plastid transformation of rice, a monocot cereal crop.

Rice is one of the most important cereal crops and its biotechnology has been pursued to meet the food demand of ever-growing global population. Rice plastid transformation has been a great challenge to achieve homoplastomic plants due to its low efficiency of regeneration. In this experiment, Japonica rice line 19 was chosen to be the receptor for plastid transformation. A vector harboring smGFP gene was constructed and transferred into rice plastid genome by bombardment. The resistant callus was obtained after long-lasting multiple selections and proved to be in homoplastomic status by molecular testing. The plantlet was regenerated from homoplastomic callus and grown to seeding stage. This is the first case so far to achieve the homoplastomic rice and will be helpful to transform plastid genome of monocotyledonous crops with recalcitrant nature.