Abstract
Establishment of transgenic plants is a time-consuming process, and it also runs the risk of releasing an antibiotic-resistant gene of a selectable marker into the environment. Here we describe a new technology that overcomes these difficulties in Arabidopsis thaliana and named it as FAST (Fluorescence-Accumulating-Seed Technology). This method uses a selectable marker composed of oleosin-GFP, which enables us to instantly identify the heterozygous transformed 'dry seeds' among the T1 population and then to identify the homozygous seeds among the T2 population with a false-discovery rate of less than 1% under a fluorescence microscope. The selectable marker protein is expressed just in seeds that are used for selection. The FAST method does not require sterilization, clean-bench protocols, the handling of large numbers of plants, or large spaces to grow plants. The FAST method is well suited for maintaining and monitoring the safety of genetically engineered crops, too.
