Silenced Phytoene desaturase Gene as a Scorable Marker for Plant Genetic Transformation

Currently used marker systems either require cumbersome assays and specialized equipment, or have bio-safety concerns. Here, the authors have reported construction of Phytoene desaturase (PDS) intron-hairpin RNAi vector for its application as a scorable marker in plant genetic transformation. The transgenic nature of the transformants can be confirmed by mere phenotypic scoring of the bleached and dwarf regenerants, as a result of PDS gene silencing. Thus, the described method will bypass the needs of time consuming, skill and labor intensive molecular and biochemical transgenic confirmation assays, that are generally employed for selection and screening of the true transformants.