Transplastomic plants free of the selectable marker gene

1. A method of obtaining a transplastomic plant free of a selectable marker gene, said method comprising the following steps:

a) transforming at least one plant cell with a vector suitable for the transformation of plastids, said vector comprising, in the direction of transcription,

a sequence (i) corresponding to the 5′ portion of a chimeric gene of interest,

a chimeric gene (ii) comprising a sequence encoding a selectable marker that confers resistance to a selection agent,

a fragment (iii) of at least twenty-five nucleotides that is identical to the 3′ portion of the sequence (i), and

a sequence (iv) corresponding to the remaining 3′ portion of the chimeric gene of interest,

wherein neither sequence (i) and fragment (iii) nor fragment (iii) and sequence (iv) form a complete chimeric gene of interest;

b) culturing the cells comprising the transformed plastids transformed cells from step a) on a first medium comprising the selection agent; and

c) culturing the cells on a second medium that does not comprise the selection agent.

2. The method of obtaining a transplastomic plant free of the selectable marker gene, according to claim 1 , characterized in that the chimeric gene of interest that confers a selective characteristic different from that provided by the selectable marker, and in that the second medium used in step c) allows selection of cells expressing said chimeric gene of interest.

3. The method of obtaining a transplastomic plant free of the selectable marker gene, according to claim 2 , characterized in that the method comprises an additional step, between step b) and step c), of culturing the cells comprising the transformed plastids on a third medium that comprises neither the selection agent corresponding to the selectable marker, nor the selection agent corresponding to the chimeric gene of interest.

4. The method according to claim 1 , in which the selectable marker confers resistance to an antibiotic.

5. The method according to claim 1 , in which the sequence encoding a selectable marker encodes an aminoglycoside 3-adenylyltransferase.

6. The method according to claim 1 , in which the selectable marker confers resistance to betaine aldehyde.

7. The method according to claim 1 , in which the gene of interest encodes a protein that confers resistance to a herbicide.

8. The method according to claim 1 , in which the gene of interest encodes a hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD).

9. The method according to claim 1 , in which the gene of interest encodes a 5-enol pyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS).

10. The method according to claim 1 , in which the gene of interest is the bar gene.

11. A construct comprising, in the direction of transcription:

a sequence (i) corresponding to the 5′ portion of a chimeric gene of interest,

a chimeric gene (ii) comprising a sequence encoding a selectable marker,

a fragment (iii) of at least twenty-five nucleotides that is identical to the 3′ portion of the sequence (i), and

a sequence (iv) corresponding to the remaining 3′ portion of the chimeric gene of interest,

wherein neither sequence (i) and fragment (iii) nor fragment (iii) and sequence (iv) form a complete chimeric gene of interest.

12. The construct according to claim 11 , in which the sequence (i) corresponds to the 5′ portion of a chimeric gene of interest which encodes a protein or a peptide that confers a selective characteristic different from that provided by the selectable marker.

13. A transformation vector suitable for the transformation of plant plastids, characterized in that it comprises a construct according to claim 11 .

14. A transplastomic plant cell containing a gene of interest and free of selectable marker, that can be obtained by means of the method according to claim 1 .

15. A transplastomic plant or a part of this plant, or the progeny of this plant, containing a gene of interest and free of selectable marker, that can be obtained by means of the method according to claim 1 .