An Optimized Version of the Small Synthetic Genome (Mini-Synplastome) for Plastid Metabolic Engineering in Solanum tuberosum (Potato)

Plastids represent promising targets in plant genetic engineering for many biotech applications, ranging from their use as bioreactors for the overproduction of valuable molecules to the installation of transgenes for improving plant traits. For over 30 years, routine methods of plastid transformation have relied on homologous recombination integrating vectors. However, nonintegrating episomal plasmids have recently received more attention as an innovative tool for the plastid genetic engineering of plant cells. One of these novel technologies is the mini-synplastome, an episomal plasmid with a chloroplast-specific origin of replication (