Chloroplast genetic engineering offers a number of unique advantages, including high-level transgene expression, multi-gene engineering in a single transformation event and transgene containment by maternal inheritance. More than 40 transgenes have been s tably integrated and expressed in the tobacco chloroplast genome to confer desired agronomic traits or express high level of vaccine antigens and biopharmaceuticals. Recently, high efficiency soybean, carrot and cotton plastid transformation has been acco mplished, paving the road for engineering of other important crops.
Turfgrass, a wind-pollinated and highly outcrossing perennial crop, provides many environmental and societal benefits including reducing soil erosion, filtering water, trapping dust and pollutants, reducing heat build-up in urban areas, and creating safer playing surfaces for athletes. It has been extensively used, covering millions of acres globally. Beneficial traits such as herbicide and insect and pest resistances that will cut pest icide applications, can be improved in turfgrass by genetic modification (GM). However, trait modification through nuclear transformation of turfgrass would face the same problem of transgene outflow as other GM plants, especially as turfgrass is a wind-p ollinated perennial plant. Thus, an environmentally friendly chloroplast transformation approach would be desirable for the plant and would be advantageous for the Norwegian turfgrass industry. Professor Henry Daniell, the pioneer of chloroplast genetic e ngineering from the University of Central Florida, USA, has 20 years' experience in chloroplast transformation. Dr. Odd Arne Rognli, UMB, Dr Hong Luo, Clemson University, USA, and Dr. Jihong Liu Clarke, Planteforsk, are highly qualified on nuclear transfo rmation of monocots. With such complementary expertise, a strong team can be built up and a well-designed proposal written for the development of a chloroplast genetic engineering method for turfgrass.