Papaya (Carica papaya L.) is an important tropical fruit crop. The fruit is consumed fresh and
used in the pharmaceutical, rayon and food industries. Papaya improvement for stress tolerance
and qualitative traits using conventional breeding has been difficult due to the narrow germplasm
pool in the Carica genus and sexual incompatibility problems encountered during intergeneric
hybridization with other genera in the Caricaceae family. Genetic engineering is an important
tool in papaya improvement for modifying one or more traits in elite cultivars without altering
existing characteristics. Advances in genetic engineering have been facilitated by concertedefforts for genome sequencing of papaya, development of papaya regeneration systems and
efficient gene insertion techniques for transfer of desirable traits.