Transgenic tea

Abstract

Like most of the important crop plants of the world, transgenic technology has also been extended to tea. Both biolistic and Agrobacterium mediated transformation methods have been employed to transform explants like leaves and somatic embryos. While gusand nptil genes were used to optimize parameters and develop protocols for transgenic production, plants expressing stress tolerance genes (osmotin) have also been produced. These methods have opened a whole new era for developing tea plants akin to the 'golden clone' of tea where yield and quality parameters can be combined to conform to the requirements of the tea industry.