Today´s agriculture faces new and difficult challenges. With modern methods widely applied, it is commonly believed that genetic crop improvement is a key for increasing yields. In spite of the discussion about the safety of genetically modified (GM) crops that is still raging in the European Union where the take-up of the new technology is more limited, the cultivation of GM plants and crops has exploded all over the world.
Conceived with the aim of sorting fact from fiction over GM crops, this volume brings together the knowledge of 30 specialists in the field of transgenic plants. It covers the generation and detection of these plants as well as the genetic traits conferred on transgenic plants. In addition, the book looks at a wide variety of crops, ornamental plants and tree species that are subject to genetic modifications, assessing the risks involved in genetic modification as well as the potential economic benefits of the technology in specific cases. The book’s structure, with fully cross-referenced chapters, gives readers a quick access to specific topics, whether that is detailed and comprehensive data on particular species of ornamentals, or coverage of the socioeconomic implications of GM technology. With an increasing demand for bioenergy, and the necessary higher yields relying on wider genetic variation, this book supplies all the technical details required to move forward to a new era in agriculture.
Author(s): John J. Finer (auth.), Frank Kempken, Christian Jung (eds.)
Series: Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry 64
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
Year: 2010
Language: English
Pages: 675
Tags: Plant Breeding/Biotechnology; Plant Genetics & Genomics; Genetic Engineering; Agriculture; Forestry; Agricultural Economics
Front Matter....Pages i-xxvii
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Plant Nuclear Transformation....Pages 3-21
Plastid Transformation....Pages 23-37
Concepts of Marker Genes for Plants....Pages 39-60
Precise Breeding Through All-Native DNA Transformation....Pages 61-77
Gene Silencing in Plants: Transgenes as Targets and Effectors....Pages 79-101
Breeding with Genetically Modified Plants....Pages 103-116
Detection of Genetically Modified Plants in Seeds, Food and Feed....Pages 117-136
Front Matter....Pages 138-138
Drought Stress Tolerance....Pages 139-157
Herbicide Resistance....Pages 159-176
Insect and Nematode Resistance....Pages 177-197
Metabolic Engineering....Pages 199-219
Pharmaceuticals....Pages 221-235
Biopolymers....Pages 237-252
Engineered Male Sterility....Pages 253-265
Front Matter....Pages 268-268
Cotton....Pages 269-285
Triticeae Cereals....Pages 287-306
Fruit Crops....Pages 307-348
Maize....Pages 349-367
Ornamentals....Pages 369-391
Potato....Pages 393-408
Front Matter....Pages 268-268
Rapeseed/Canola....Pages 409-422
Rice....Pages 423-451
Sugarcane....Pages 453-472
Soybean....Pages 473-498
Vegetables....Pages 499-550
Front Matter....Pages 552-552
Regulatory Oversight and Safety Assessment of Plants with Novel Traits....Pages 553-574
Environmental Impact of Genetically Modified Maize Expressing Cry1 Proteins....Pages 575-614
Benefits of Transgenic Plants: A Socioeconomic Perspective....Pages 615-629
Risk Assessment and Economic Applications – the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety: GMO Approval and Import on a World-Wide Scale....Pages 631-648
Public Perceptions of Modern Biotechnology and the Necessity to Improve Communication....Pages 649-661
Back Matter....Pages 663-675
