Plant Gene Transfer And Expression Protocols

The development of recombinant DNA technology and methods for transferring recombinant genes into plants has brought about significant advances in plant science. First, it has allowed investigation, using reporter genes, into the transcriptional regulation of plant genes—a key to the under standing of the biochemical basis of growth and development in plants. Second, gene transfer technology has facilitated the molecular cloning, by tagging genomic sequences, of important genes (e. g. , homeotic genes) whose gene products control the normal pattern of growth and differentia tion of plants. Third, overproducing foreign or endogenous proteins in plants can often lead to a better understanding of biochemical and physiological processes. Fourth, gene transfer technology has allowed the improvement of plant agricultural productivity. For example, plants have been engineered with improved viral resistance or the ability to withstand herbicide attack, therefore allowing a more effective use of herbicides to kill weeds. Fifth, there have been recent successes that demonstrate the potential use of plants as biotechnological chemical factories. For example, it is possible to use plants in the production of human antibodies and antigens of medical importance. It has been demonstrated recently that plants can be engineered to produce modified oils and even plastics! This paves the way to redirect agriculture from the production of surplus foods to the production of bio technological products of industrial importance.

The development of recombinant DNA technology and methods for transferring recombinant genes into plants has brought about significant advances in plant science. First, it has allowed investigation, using reporter genes, into the transcriptional regulation of plant genes—a key to the under standing of the biochemical basis of growth and development in plants. Second, gene transfer technology has facilitated the molecular cloning, by tagging genomic sequences, of important genes (e. g. , homeotic genes) whose gene products control the normal pattern of growth and differentia tion of plants. Third, overproducing foreign or endogenous proteins in plants can often lead to a better understanding of biochemical and physiological processes. Fourth, gene transfer technology has allowed the improvement of plant agricultural productivity. For example, plants have been engineered with improved viral resistance or the ability to withstand herbicide attack, therefore allowing a more effective use of herbicides to kill weeds. Fifth, there have been recent successes that demonstrate the potential use of plants as biotechnological chemical factories. For example, it is possible to use plants in the production of human antibodies and antigens of medical importance. It has been demonstrated recently that plants can be engineered to produce modified oils and even plastics! This paves the way to redirect agriculture from the production of surplus foods to the production of bio technological products of industrial importance.

Biology is the study of living things. The classical approach might be described as holistic and descriptive, whereas the modern molecular - proach aims to be investigative, reductionist, and mechanistic . Genes contain all the information for the structure of all living things ; thus, the understanding of how genes are regulated is an important step toward understanding the nature of living things. The study of gene regulation has been made more tractable by the design of simple expe- mental models in which a single gene can be isolated from the milieu of the organism. The new science of molecular biology has introduced techniques that permit the design of such experimental models. In - sence, the genome of the organism is dissected in such a manner that specific genes may now be introduced into an appropriate cell line . Subsequent analysis of the proteins expressed from the genes under study results in the identification of the regulatory DNA sequences .

Plant Transformation Technologies is a comprehensive, authoritative book focusing on cutting-edge plant biotechnologies, offering in-depth, forward-looking information on methods for controlled and accurate genetic engineering. In response to ever-increasing pressure for precise and efficient integration of transgenes in plants, many new technologies have been developed. With complete coverage of these technologies, Plant Transformation Technologies provides valuable insight on current and future plant transformation technologies. With twenty-five chapters written by international experts on transformation technologies, the book includes new information on Agrobacterium, targeting transgenes into plant genomes, and new vectors and market systems. Including both review chapters and protocols for transformation, Plant Transformation Technologies is vitally important to graduate students, postdoctoral students, and university and industry researchers.

The aim of Transgenic Plants: Methods and Protocols is to provide a source of information to guide the reader through a wide range of frequently used, broadly applicable, and easily reproducible techniques involved in the gene- tion of transgenic plants. Its step-by-step approach covers a series of methods for genetically transforming plant cells and tissues, and for recovering whole transgenic plants from them. The volume then moves on to the use of sele- able and reporter markers, positive selection, marker elimination after rec- ery of transgenic plants, and the analysis of transgene integration, expression, and localization in the plant genome. Although contributors usually refer to model plants in most chapters, the protocols described herein should be widely applicable to many plant species. The last two sections are devoted to me- ods of risk assessment and to exploring the current and future applications of transgenic technology in agriculture and its social implications in a case study. Transgenic Plants: Methods and Protocols is divided into six major s- tions plus an introduction, comprising 27 chapters. Part I, the Introduction, is a review of the past, present, and perspectives of the transgenic plants, from the discovery of Agrobacterium tumefaciens as a feasible transformation vector, to its use as a tool to study gene expression and function, and the current and possible future applications of this technology in agriculture, industry, and medicine.

Molecular Methods of Plant Analysis Concept of the Series The powerful recombinant DNA technology and related developments have had an enormous impact on molecular biology. Any treatment of plant analy sis must make use of these new methods. Developments have been so fast and the methods so powerful that the editors of Modern Methods of Plant Analy sis have now decided to rename the series Molecular Methods of Plant Analy sis. This will not change the general aims of the series, but best describes the thrust and content of the series as we go forward into the new millennium. This does not me an that all chapters apriori deal only with the methods of molecular biology, but rather that these methods are to be found in many chapters together with the more traditional methods of analysis which have seen re cent advances. The numbering of the volumes of the series therefore continues on from 20, which is the most recently published volume under the title Modern Methods of Plant Analysis.

Since the first transgenic plants were produced back in the early 1980s, there have been substantial developments towards the genetic engineering of most crops of our world. Initial studies using isolated plant cells and removing their cell walls to form protoplasts, offered the possibility of transferring genetic material by Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer, chemical agents or electrical charges. However, in those cases were isolated protoplasts could be transformed, often, a shoot regeneration system was not available to induce the production of transgenic plants and any such regenerated plants were subject to mutation or chromosomal of cultured plant organs, such as leaf abnormalities. By the mid-1980s, the use disks, offered the convenience of combining gene transfer, plant regeneration and selection of transformants in a single system. This approach, enabled the production of stable, phenotypically-normal, transgenic potato and tomato plants in culture. By the late 1980s, the use of biolistics offered a means of inserting foreign genes into plant cells which where inaccessible to Agrobacterium infection. Even today, this technology is now standard practice for the production of some transgenic plants.