Patent ID: 7226787

Claim:
A method of transforming plastids, wherein the method comprises: (a) fusing a protoplast derived from a cell of a first plant with a protoplast derived from a cell of a second plant, whereby a plastid of the cell of the first plant is transferred to the protoplast derived from the cell of the second plant, wherein said second plant is a mutant of the same species as the first plant or a member of a different species, genus or family than the first plant; (b) introducing a nucleic acid of interest into said plastid, thus producing a transformed plastid in the cell of the second plant; and (c) fusing the protoplast derived from the cell of the second plant with a protoplast derived from a cell of a third plant, whereby the transformed plastid is transferred to the protoplast derived from the cell of the third plant, wherein the first and third plants are genetically identical or distinct from each other.