Transformation of duckweed and uses thereof

A method for stably transforming Lemna minor duckweed with a nucleic acid, the method comprising:

• (a) inoculating, in liquid infection medium that comprises magnesium, a plant metabolizable sugar, and acetosyringone, an actively growing Lemna minor duckweed callus with an engineered Agrobacterium that comprises a nucleic acid of interest, a selectable marker gene that confers resistance to a selection substance, and a visible reporter gene encoding a protein that is visualized without killing inoculated callus, thereby producing inoculated callus;
• (b) culturing inoculated callus on semi-solid nodule production medium that comprises acetosyringone, and then culturing inoculated callus on semi-solid selection medium that comprises (i) the selection substance and (ii) an antibiotic, thereby producing cultured, inoculated callus;
• (c) selecting, from cultured, inoculated callus of (b), transformed callus based on expression of the visible reporter protein in the transformed callus;
• (d) culturing, in liquid selection medium that comprises the selection substance and the antibiotic, selected callus of (c);
• and
• (e) culturing callus cultured in (d) on semi-solid selection medium that comprises the selection substance and the antibiotic, thereby producing genetically engineered progeny Lemna minor duckweed comprising the nucleic acid of interest.