Recent Advancements In Gene Expression And Enabling Technologies In Crop Plants

In this book, authors who are experts in their fields describe current advances on commercial crops and key enabling technologies that will underpin future advances in biotechnology. They discuss state of the art discoveries as well as future challenges. Tremendous progress has been made in introducing novel genes and traits into plant genomes since the first creation of transgenic plants thirty years ago, and the first commercialization of genetically modified maize in 1996. Consequently, cultivation of biotech crops with useful traits has increased more than 100-fold from 1.7 million hectares in 1996 to over 175 million hectares globally in 2013. This achievement has been made possible by continued advances in understanding the basic molecular biology of regulatory sequences to modulate gene expression, enhancement of protein synthesis and new technologies for transformation of crop plants. This book has three sections that encompass knowledge on genetically modified (GM) food crops that are currently used by consumers, those that are anticipated to reach the market place in the near future and enabling technologies that will facilitate the development of next generation GM crops. Section I focuses only on genetically modified maize and soybean (3 chapters each), while Section II discusses the GM food crops rice, wheat, sorghum, vegetables and sugar cane. Section III covers exciting recent developments in several novel enabling technologies, including gene targeting, minichromosomes, and in planta transient expression systems.

Genetically engineered (GE) crops were first introduced commercially in the 1990s. After two decades of production, some groups and individuals remain critical of the technology based on their concerns about possible adverse effects on human health, the environment, and ethical considerations. At the same time, others are concerned that the technology is not reaching its potential to improve human health and the environment because of stringent regulations and reduced public funding to develop products offering more benefits to society. While the debate about these and other questions related to the genetic engineering techniques of the first 20 years goes on, emerging genetic-engineering technologies are adding new complexities to the conversation. Genetically Engineered Crops builds on previous related Academies reports published between 1987 and 2010 by undertaking a retrospective examination of the purported positive and adverse effects of GE crops and to anticipate what emerging genetic-engineering technologies hold for the future. This report indicates where there are uncertainties about the economic, agronomic, health, safety, or other impacts of GE crops and food, and makes recommendations to fill gaps in safety assessments, increase regulatory clarity, and improve innovations in and access to GE technology.

This volume, contributed to by a group of 46 research scientists and engineers, focuses on the integration of two aspects of plant biotechnology - the basic plant science and applied bioprocess engineering. Included in this book are 17 chapters, each dealing with specific topics of current interest with three coherent themes of: plant gene expression, regulation and manipulation; plant cell physiology and metabolism and their regulation; and bioprocess engineering and bioreactor performance of plant cell cultures. All of these topics are integrated into a main theme of "enabling plant biotechnology" relevant to the production of secondary metabolites. This book will be of great value to all plant cell biologists and molecular geneticists, and all those interested in the integration of plant science and bioprocess engineering for development of enabling technology relevant to the production of plant secondary metabolites.

This book serves the teachers, researchers and the students as a handy and concise reference as well as guidebook while designing and planning for use of the advanced technologies for crop improvement. The content of the book is designed to cover the latest genome engineering techniques for crop improvement. The conventional breeding has got its limitations such as non-availability of desired genes within the genepool. In many cases, breeding has been highly used and it has nearly reached its highest limit so far as the productivity and production of crops are concerned. However, with increasing need of food and decreasing resources, including water, land, labour, etc., to feed the growing population, the alternative available ways of increasing crop productivity need to be explored and exploited. Genome engineering has a wide scope that includes technologies such as genetic engineering and transgenesis, RNA technologies, CRISPR, cisgenics and subgenics for better productivity and more efficient biotic and abiotic stress management. Therefore, the book is planned to enlighten the readers with the advanced technologies with examples and case studies, whenever possible. Efforts will be made to emphasize on general efforts on various major food crops; however, it would also be made clear that such efforts could be taken as proofs of concepts and that this could be extrapolated keeping the demand in mind.

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.

"The book...is, in fact, a short text on the many practical problems...associated with translating the explosion in basic biotechnological research into the next Green Revolution," explains Economic Botany. The book is "a concise and accurate narrative, that also manages to be interesting and personal...a splendid little book." Biotechnology states, "Because of the clarity with which it is written, this thin volume makes a major contribution to improving public understanding of genetic engineering's potential for enlarging the world's food supply...and can be profitably read by practically anyone interested in application of molecular biology to improvement of productivity in agriculture."

This book compiles the relevant information related to genome editing tools and their roles in crop improvement. The book contains a brief introduction about various genome editing tools and their application in major crops. It discusses the genome editing approaches and the strategies used for genome editing in different crops. Some of the chapters cover the detailed methodology of sgRNA design, vector construction and transformation in different crops followed by data analysis. A few chapters focus on the applications of genome editing tools towards crop improvement. This book will be of particular interest to plant biologists working in the field of genome editing and crop breeders. It will provide valuable information and useful material for our readers’ experimental work.

This book offers a unique and comprehensive overview of key RNA-based technologies, as well as their development and applications for the functional genomics of plant coding and non-coding genes. It focuses on the latest as well as classical RNA-based techniques used for studies on small RNAs, long non-coding RNAs and protein-coding genes. These techniques chiefly focus on target mimics (TMs) and short tandem target mimics (STTMs) for small RNAs, and artificial microRNAs (amiRNAs), RNA interference (RNAi) and CRISPR/Cas for genes. Furthermore, the book discusses the latest trends in the field and various modifications of the above-mentioned approaches, and explores how these RNA-based technologies have been developed, applied and validated as essential technologies in plant functional genomics. RNA-based technologies, their mechanisms of action, their advantages and disadvantages, and insights into the further development and applications of these technologies in plants are discussed. These techniques will enable the users to functionally characterize genes and small RNAs through silencing, overexpression and editing. Gathering contributions by globally respected experts, the book will appeal to students, teachers and scientists in academia and industry who are interested in horticulture, genetics, pathology, entomology, physiology, molecular genetics and breeding, in vitro culture & genetic engineering, and functional genomics.