Plant Plasmids and Resources
Addgene’s repository contains many plasmid tools that were specifically designed for use in plants. These resources include tools for research using plant systems such as Arabidopsis, wheat, maize, rice, tomato, and a variety of other species. In addition to individual plasmids, Addgene carries several useful toolkits and plasmid collections for use in plants.
The tables below highlight plasmids and plasmid kits spanning a wide variety of molecular biology technologies: from genome engineering and gene expression to reporter systems. Addgene’s collection includes plasmids containing promoters that drive general and species-specific gene expression.
Cloning and Synthetic Biology
Expression Vectors
The table below highlights plasmids that can be used as empty backbones to express your gene of interest in plants. You can search the table for features you are looking for, such as the promoter or cloning method of choice.
| ID | Plasmid | Description | Promoter | Cloning Method | PI |
|---|
Synthetic Biology Kits
The following plasmid kits and collections are designed for creating plant expression vectors.
| ID | Kit | Description | Cloning Type | PI | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000000036 | GreenGate Cloning System | Plasmids for rapidly assembling plant transformation constructs, based on the Golden Gate method. | Golden Gate (GreenGate) | Jan Lohmann | |
| 1000000076 | GoldenBraid 2.0 Kit | Plant synthetic biology kit for GoldenBraid cloning and multigene engineering, including CRISPR/Cas9 parts. | Golden Gate (GoldenBraid) | Diego Orzaez | |
| 1000000135 | MoClo Plant Parts II and Infrastructure Kit | Modules connect MoClo and Gateway for hierarchical assembly of plant multigene constructs; contains yeast two-hybrid and bacterium-to-plant translocation vectors. Partially compatible with GoldenBraid. | Golden Gate (MoClo) | Johannes Stuttmann | |
| 1000000233 | Joint Modular Cloning (JMC) Toolkit | Modular cloning chassis and set of functional parts for assembling plant transformation vectors, compatible with MoClo. | Golden Gate | Daniel Voytas | |
| 1000000236 | MoClo Plant Parts III: Transformation & Genome Engineering Kit | Collection of MoClo Level 0 parts for plant transformation, including regulatory elements, coding sequences, basic CRISPR parts, and parts for modular geminiviral replicon assembly. | Golden Gate (MoClo) | Daniel Voytas | |
| 1000000156 | MoChlo: Modular Cloning Chloroplast Toolbox | Library of standardized chloroplast-specific genetic modules for Golden-Gate cloning of synthetic operons into chloroplast transformation vectors. | Golden Gate (MoClo) | Scott Lenaghan | |
| 1000000241 | GreenGate 2.0 Toolkit | Compatible with GreenGate Cloning System (#1000000036). Includes modules for CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, dexamethasone-inducible expression, and fluorescent plasma membrane and nuclear markers. | Golden Gate (GreenGate) | Alexis Maizel | |
| 1000000250 | MultiGreen Kit | Modular assembly of multi-gene expression vectors. | Golden Gate (GreenGate) | Wayne Parrott |
Additional Cloning and Synthetic Biology Resources
- Improved Gateway binary vectors — High-performance vectors for creation of fusion constructs in transgenic analysis of plants.
Genome Editing
The following table contains a curated list of our most popular plasmids for gene editing in plants.
Please refer to Addgene's Plant CRISPR Resources for a full selection of plasmids expressing different functional variants of Cas9.
| ID | Plasmid | Description | PI |
|---|
Genome Editing Kits
The following plasmid kits and collections contain plasmids designed for genome editing in plants.
| ID | Kit | Description | Gene Editing Type | PI | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000000076 | GoldenBraid 2.0 Kit | Plant synthetic biology kit for GoldenBraid cloning and multigene engineering, including CRISPR/Cas9 parts. | CRISPR | Diego Orzaez | |
| 1000000159 | MoClo CRISPR/Cas Toolkit for Plants | Plasmids for gene editing using Cas nucleases and base editors in monocots and dicots. | CRISPR | Vladimir Nekrasov | |
| 1000000171 | zCas9i Cloning Kit | MoClo-compatible vectors for assembly of CRISPR/Cas9 constructs using a high efficiency intron-optimized SpCas9-coding gene in plants. | CRISPR | Sylvestre Marillonnet, Johannes Stuttmann | |
| 1000000084 | pDGE Dicot Genome Editing Kit | Plasmids to assemble constructs for genome editing in dicotyledonous plants. | CRISPR | Johannes Stuttmann | |
| 1000000236 | MoClo Plant Parts III: Transformation & Genome Engineering Kit | Collection of MoClo Level 0 parts for plant transformation, including regulatory elements, coding sequences, basic CRISPR parts, and parts for modular geminiviral replicon assembly. | CRISPR | Daniel Voytas | |
| 1000000241 | GreenGate 2.0 Toolkit | Compatible with GreenGate Cloning System (#1000000036). Includes modules for CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, dexamethasone-inducible expression, and fluorescent plasma membrane and nuclear markers. | CRISPR | Alexis Maizel | |
| 1000000151 | CRISPR-Cas9 Gateway System for Physcomitrella patens | System for genome editing of the moss P. patens. | CRISPR | Magdalena Bezanilla | |
| 1000000270 | ENABLE® Gene Editing in planta Toolkit | A streamlined set of molecular tools for constructing CRISPR gene-editing vectors in just two simple cloning steps. | CRISPR | Kate Creasey Krainer, Vladimir Nekrasov, Nicola Patron |
Additional Genome Editing Resources
- Check our Plant CRISPR Resources for a selection of plasmids expressing different functional variants of Cas9.
- A CRISPR/Cas9 toolkit for multiplex genome editing in variety of plant species (e.g. maize and Arabidopsis) and vectors for easy assembly of one or more gRNA expression cassettes.
- A CRISPR/Cas system designed and optimized for work in the model plant Nicotiana benthamiana.
- Plasmids for expressing sgRNA and Cas9 in rice. Includes a protocol (Link opens in a new window) for targeted gene mutation.
- Combined fluorescent seed selection and multiplex CRISPR/Cas9 assembly for fast generation of multiple Arabidopsis mutants.
- Engineered biocontainable RNA virus vectors for non-transgenic genome editing across crop species and genotypes.
- A robust CRISPR/Cas9 system for convenient, high-efficiency multiplex genome editing in monocot and dicot plants.
- Plant gene editing through de novo induction of meristems.
- A comprehensive multi-purpose toolkit that enables targeted, specific modification of monocot and dicot genomes using TALENs and CRISPR. Successfully validated in tomato, tobacco, Medicago truncatula, wheat, and barley.
Gene Silencing
The table below highlights commonly used plasmids for the expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) or small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) to achieve gene silencing in plants. It also includes plasmids encoding silencing suppressors, such as p19.
| ID | Plasmid | Description | PI |
|---|
Additional Gene Silencing Resources
- A modular plasmid assembly kit for multigene expression, gene silencing, and silencing rescue in plants.
- JoinTRV, an improved vector system based on tobacco rattle virus (TRV) that simplifies gene silencing and genome editing logistics.
Reporter Plasmids
The table below highlights a selection of popular reporter plasmids that feature fluorescent, luminescent, and color-producing proteins for detection of gene expression, protein localization, protein–protein interactions, and other physiological processes in plants.
| ID | Plasmid | Description | PI |
|---|
Kits for Protein–Protein Interactions
The following plasmid kits contain a variety of reporter plasmids for the study of protein–protein interactions in plants.
| ID | Kit | Description | Cloning Type | PI | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000000147, 1000000148, 1000000149, 1000000150 | 2in1 Plasmid Toolkit | Plasmids for analysis of protein-protein interactions in planta via ratiometric Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation (rBiFC) and Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET). | Gateway | Christopher Grefen | |
| 1000000222 | MoBiFC Kit | Modular bimolecular fluorescence complementation (MoBiFC) toolkit for analyzing protein-protein interactions in plants. | Golden Gate (MoClo) | Benjamin Field |
Additional Reporter Plasmid Resources
- Visit our Fluorescent Protein Guide for more plasmids containing fluorescent proteins.
- A set of fluorescent protein-based markers expressed from constitutive and arbuscular mycorrhiza-inducible promoters to label organelles, membranes and cytoskeletal elements in M. truncatula.
Other Plant Resources
Addgene Blog
External Resources
- Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center (ABRC) (Link opens in a new window)— The ABRC collects, preserves, reproduces, and distributes diverse seed and other stocks of Arabidopsis thaliana and related species.
- The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) (Link opens in a new window)— TAIR includes a database of genetic and molecular biology data for A. thaliana research.
- OpenPlant Synthetic Biology Research Centre (Link opens in a new window)— The initiative promotes interdisciplinary exchange, open technologies, and responsible innovation for improvement of sustainable agriculture and conservation.
- BAR The Bio-Analytic Resource for Plant Biology (Link opens in a new window)— Tools for gene and protein expression and mapping of gene expression in plants.
- Grassius (Link opens in a new window)— A public web resource composed by a collection of databases, computational and experimental resources that relate to the control of gene expression in the grasses.
- The TapRoot Podcast (Link opens in a new window)— The Taproot is a podcast to understand how scientific publications are created. Papers from the plant biology literature are discussed with one of the authors. The podcast is produced by Plantae (Link opens in a new window).
- TraVa (Link opens in a new window)— Database of gene expression profiles in A. thaliana based on RNA-seq analysis.
- Figshare Plant Illustrations (Link opens in a new window)— Collection of illustrations and pictures of plants, roots, shoots, and inflorescences - a growing resource for the plant science community.
Content last reviewed on 19 December 2025.
Do you have suggestions for other plasmids that should be added to this list?
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