Table 1.

Recent reports on enhancement of agronomic traits engineered via the chloroplast genome.

Protein/enzymes	Source of transgene	Plant species	Expression levels/activities	Function/phenotype	Refs
Retrocyclin-101 and Protegrin-1	Synthetic	Tobacco	32–38% and 17–26% total soluble protein in leaves (TSP)	Enhanced resistance to Erwinia soft rot and tobacco mosaic virus	[49]
β-glucosidase Bgl 1	T. reesei	Tobacco	Up to 44.41 units/g leaf	Whitefly and aphid resistance	[46]
Metallothionein-1	Mouse	Tobacco	183000 transcripts/ng of RNA	Phytoremediation by Hg chelation	[92]
D-amino acid oxidase	Schizosaccharomy ces pombe	Tobacco	Not reported (NR)	D-alanine-based herbicides resistance	[36]
Agglutinin	Pinellia ternata	Tobacco	7.1–9.2% TSP	Multiple resistances against aphid, whitefly, Lepidopteran insects, bacterial and viral pathogens	[47]
Thioredoxin f	Tobacco	Tobacco	NR	Enhanced starch accumulation in leaves	[93]
Toc cyclase and γ-tocopherol methyltransferase	Arabidopsis	Tobacco and lettuce	3.05 nmol h−1 mg−1 protein	Enhanced vitamin E accumulation in tobacco and lettuce	[9]
Homogentisate phytyltransferase tocopherol cyclase, and γ-tocopherol methyltransferase	Synechocystis sp. PCC6803	Tomato	NR	Enhanced vitamin E accumulation in fruits. Increased high light and cold stress tolerance	[7]
β,β-carotenoid-3,3′-hydroxylase, β, β-carotenoid 4,4′-ketolase (4,4′-oxygenase)	Brevundimonas sp. strain SD212	Lettuce	NR	Increased astaxanthin fatty acid esters accumulation in lettuce plants	[54]
Thioredoxins m	Tobacco	Tobacco	NR	Enhanced resistance to oxidative stress in tobacco plants	[94]
γ-tocopherol methyltransferase	Arabidopsis	Tobacco	7.7% of the total leaf protein	Enhanced accumulation of α-tocopherol in seeds. Increased salt and heavy tolerance	[55]
Protease inhibitors and chitinase	Paecilomyces javanicus	Tobacco	NR	broad-spectrum resistance against insects, pathogens and abiotic stresses	[48]
Chloroperoxidase (CPO)	Pseudomonas pyrrocinia	Tobacco	15 μg CPO/ml extract	Enhanced resistance to fungal pathogens in vitro	[95]