Plastid transformation in eggplant.

Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) is an important vegetable crop of tropical and temperate regions of the world. Here we describe a procedure for eggplant plastid transformation, which involves preparation of explants, biolistic delivery of plastid transformation vector into green stem segments, selection procedure, and identification of the transplastomic plants. Shoot buds appear from cut ends of the stem explants following 5-6 weeks of spectinomycin selection after bombardment with the plastid transformation vector containing aadA gene as selectable marker. Transplastomic lines are obtained after the regenerated shoots are subjected to several rounds of spectinomycin selection over a period of 9 weeks. Homoplasmic transplastomic lines are further confirmed by spectinomycin and streptomycin double selection. The transplastomic technology development in this plant species will open up exciting possibilities for improving crop performance, metabolic engineering, and the use of plants as factories for producing biopharmaceuticals.