| abstract |
The present invention relates to a method for producing castor oil plants lacking ricin/RCA protein by inserting gene constructs in plant cells, particularly castor oil plant cells, resulting in the production of castor oil plant seeds lacking ricin/RCA. One aspect of the invention relates to providing castor oil plants, and parts thereof, containing said gene construct. The method of the present invention has proven to be effective in generating castor oil plants lacking ricin protein, or with a low expression level of said protein, allowing use of the seeds from the castor oil plant for producing detoxified cakes, for use in animal feed or fertilizers, as well as allowing production thereof in countries with restrictions due to the toxicity of ricin. Thus, a method and kit for identifying transformed plants containing the gene constructs provided herein are also provided. |