TRANSGENIC TEA

Paramvir Singh Ahuja; Amita Bhattacharya; Uksha Saini

doi:10.20425/ijts.v5i1and2.4786

Paramvir Singh Ahuja Division of Biotechnology, Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur-176061, H. P., India
Amita Bhattacharya Division of Biotechnology, Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur-176061, H. P., India
Uksha Saini Division of Biotechnology, Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur-176061, H. P., India

DOI: https://doi.org/10.20425/ijts.v5i1and2.4786

Keywords: .

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 gus and npt II 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.