Plant Transformation and Transgenic Crops.

Special Section: Transgenic Crops

AFTER centuries of improving crop plants by breeding for desirable traits, agricultural scientists are now using the tools of molecular biology and genetic engineering to develop transgenic plants with the desired genes. Enormous progress has been made over the past decade in our understanding of the highly complex molecular events that occur in plant–pathogen interactions. This knowledge in tu...

Transgenic Crops ~ PDF

Transgenic Crops describes the basics of genetic modifi cation for agricultural purposes and a brief history of the technology and the governing policies surrounding it. This publication offers a brief overview of the main agricultural crops that have been genetically modifi ed, the characteristics they express, and the market roles they play. Unintended consequences, economic considerations, a...

Bacillus thuringiensis: Transgenic Crops

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crops, genetically modified to express insecticidal toxins that target key pests of corn, cotton, rice, potato, and other crops, have been rapidly adopted and have become dominant fixtures in agroecosystems throughout the world. Due to the constitutive nature of Bt toxin expression, insecticidal proteins may be found in nearly all plant tissues, presenting multiple s...

Special Section: Transgenic Crops

Plant virus diseases cause severe constraints on the productivity of a wide range of economically important crops worldwide. In India the Green Revolution ushered in intensive agricultural practices and reduced varietal diversity, resulting in the emergence of viral diseases at an alarming pace in the cultivated crops. Some such diseases, which are especially relevant to India, along with their...

Transgenic Crops: An Environmental Assessment