Genetic transformation of lettuce (Lactuca sativa): A review

Abstract

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) is a globally important leafy vegetable that can be grown worldwide. Due to the rapid growth of population and the human desire to progress, there have been a lot of studies made by researchers, especially in genetic engineering. Improvements in regeneration system and transformation methodology have helped to increase the transformation efficiency and stable expression of transgenes in lettuce. Lettuce transgenic research carried out so far has mainly focused on using lettuce bioreactor to produce pharmaceutical protein and vaccines, improving nutritional and physiological value of lettuce. There are no comprehensive and detailed reviews available combining research developments with major regeneration system and basic genetic transformation in lettuce. This is an attempt to overview the progress in regeneration system, genetic transformation and biotechnological applications in the last decades as well as future implications.