Green revolution: Metabolic engineering of crop plants

Domestication and Crop Physiology: Roots of Green-Revolution Wheat

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Most plant scientists, in contrast to animal scientists, study only half the organism, namely above-ground stems, leaves, flowers and fruits, and neglect below-ground roots. Yet all acknowledge roots are important for anchorage, water and nutrient uptake, and presumably components of yield. This paper investigates the relationship between domestication, and the root systems ...

Engineering Cold Stress Tolerance in Crop Plants

Plants respond with changes in their pattern of gene expression and protein products when exposed to low temperatures. Thus ability to adapt has an impact on the distribution and survival of the plant, and on crop yields. Many species of tropical or subtropical origin are injured or killed by non-freezing low temperatures, and exhibit various symptoms of chilling injury such as chlorosis, necro...

Metabolic engineering of osmoprotectant accumulation in plants.

Drought and salinity are among the worst scourges of agriculture. One effective mechanism to reduce damage from these stresses is the accumulation of high intracellular levels of osmoprotectant compounds. These compounds include proline, ectoine, betaines, polyols, and trehalose and have evolved in many different organisms. Since some crop plants have low levels of these osmoprotectants or none...

Metabolic engineering: from retrofitting to green field.

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Crop Improvement (The "Gene" Revolution)