In the past decades, the progress made in plant biotechnology has made possible the use of plants as a novel production platform for a wide range of molecules. In this context, the transformation of the plastid genome has given a huge boost to prove that plants are a promising system to produce recombinant proteins. In this review, we provide a background on plastid genetics and on the principles of this technology in higher plants. Further, we discuss the most recent biotechnological applications of plastid transformation for the production of enzymes, therapeutic proteins, antibiotics, and proteins with immunological properties. We also discuss the potential of plastid biotechnology and the novel tools developed to overcome some limitations of chloroplast transformation.
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