Engineering Crop Plants For Industrial End Uses

This book provides concerns useful to promote an increase of the productivity of crops by using functional genomics. Fundamental thematics have been addressed: metabolic engineering, plant breeding tools, renewable biomass for energy generation, fibres and composites, and biopharmaceuticals. The gained know how is relevant to identify bottlenecks in the major production chains and to propose actions for moving these issues forward.

The development of reliable transformation systems for the major cereal and oilseed crops grown in the UK and Europe provides an opportunity to manipulate their composition and properties to develop new end uses. This will provide an outlet for agricultural surpluses, but, more importantly, it will allow the replacement of products derived from fossil fuels with those derived from plants, a renewable resource. Plant-derived products also have the advantage of being biodegradable and biocompatible.

Assists policymakers in evaluating the appropriate scientific methods for detecting unintended changes in food and assessing the potential for adverse health effects from genetically modified products. In this book, the committee recommended that greater scrutiny should be given to foods containing new compounds or unusual amounts of naturally occurring substances, regardless of the method used to create them. The book offers a framework to guide federal agencies in selecting the route of safety assessment. It identifies and recommends several pre- and post-market approaches to guide the assessment of unintended compositional changes that could result from genetically modified foods and research avenues to fill the knowledge gaps.

How are genetically modified plants produced? Which breeding goals are worthwhile, and which are not? Can the escape of transferred genes be controlled? Why have the first transgenic plants been released without full appreciation of the consequences? How dangerous are bacterial proteins produced in plant foods? Is anyone monitoring the unexpected effects of gene transfer? Will genetically modified plants ever be acceptable to organic growers? These are some of the important questions canvassed in this book, written with the insight of an experienced Australian plant scientist and conservationist.

This book examines the development of innovative modern methodologies towards augmenting conventional plant breeding, in individual crops, for the production of new crop varieties under the increasingly limiting environmental and cultivation factors to achieve sustainable agricultural production, enhanced food security, in addition to providing raw materials for innovative industrial products and pharmaceuticals. This is Vol 6, subtitled Industrial and Food Crops, which consists of two parts. Included in Part I are 11 industrial plant species utilized as sources of raw materials for the production of industrial products including pulp and wood crops (acacia), fiber (cotton, jute and ramie), rubber (guayule and rubber tree), oil (jojoba and flax), biofuels and pharmaceutical (agave) and sugar source (sugarcane). Part II covers 7 food plants selected for their utilization in food industries for the production of chocolate (cacao), cooking oil (oil palm, safflower, sesame and sunflower) and natural flavors and aroma (saffron and vanilla). This volume is contributed by 60 internationally reputable scientists from 14 countries. Each chapter comprehensively reviews the modern literature on the subject and reflects the authors own experience.

Petroleum-based industrial products have gradually replaced products derived from biological materials. However, biologically based products are making a comebackâ€"because of a threefold increase in farm productivity and new technologies. Biobased Industrial Products envisions a biobased industrial future, where starch will be used to make biopolymers and vegetable oils will become a routine component in lubricants and detergents. Biobased Industrial Products overviews the U.S. land resources available for agricultural production, summarizes plant materials currently produced, and describes prospects for increasing varieties and yields. The committee discusses the concept of the biorefinery and outlines proven and potential thermal, mechanical, and chemical technologies for conversion of natural resources to industrial applications. The committee also illustrates the developmental dynamics of biobased products through existing examples, as well as products still on the drawing board, and it identifies priorities for research and development.

The First International Symposium of - gama linolenic acid (GLA) was held in conjunction with the 1995 Annual Meeting of the AOCS in San Antonio, Texas. This meeting brought together many world-renowned experts to overview in depth the biochemistry, metabolism, nutrition, and clinical use of GLA. This monograph represents the record of this symposium.