In theories of evolution, fitness is the only property of the organism which determines the evolutionary dynamics. The fitness can be described as a function of the genome, but it is more directly related to the phenome. Variations in the fitness as a function of changes in either phenome or genome may sometimes be large and may sometimes be insignificant. Conventional evolutionary theory is, h...

The appearance of genetically modified organisms on the food market a few years ago, and the demand for more precise and reliable techniques to detect foreign (transgenic or pathogenic) DNA in edible plants, have been the driving force for the introduction of real-time PCR techniques in plant research. This was followed by numerous fundamental research applications aiming to study the expressio...

The United States and the world face serious societal challenges in the areas of food, environment, energy, and health. Historically, advances in plant genetics have provided new knowledge and technologies needed to address these challenges. Plant genetics remains a key component of global food security, peace, and prosperity for the foreseeable future. Millions of lives depend upon the extent ...

Despite conflicting claims about the performance of Bt cotton, in 2002 the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee approved its commercial cultivation in several states of north India. Judging from the lackadaisical manner in which the genetically modified cotton was handled in the southern and western states, serious doubts about the efficiency of the regulatory agencies persist. More democrati...

Formal living collections have unique characteristics that distinguish them from other types of biorepositories. Comprising diverse resources, microbe culture collections, crop and biodiversity plant germplasm collections, and animal germplasm repositories are commonly allied with specific research communities or stakeholder groups. Among living collections, microbial culture collections have v...

Realising the complexities of issues surrounding the application of biotechnology, members of the OIE Regional Commission for Africa were surveyed on several aspects of genetic modification in general as well as its particular application in the livestock sector. Realising that biotechnology is not a “fix all” solution for the growing demand to produce more food, questions were also construed i...

The detection and exact quantification of the presence of GMOs (genetically modified organisms, also named as living modified organisms, LMOs) grains has become very important in international commercial transactions, especially from countries producing both types of commodities, GMOs and GMO-free. This makes necessary to check every batch previous delivery to the recipient country. Several PCR...

This working paper provides an overview of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, an international agreement expected to come into force by the end of 2003, with an emphasis on its implications and significance for poor communities worldwide. Because of its subject matter – the regulation of the transboundary movement (export and import) of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) from one country t...

The possibility of the intentional introduction of animal disease as an act of bioterrorism adds a new dimension to the development of strategies for assessment, prevention, response and recovery from exotic diseases, including the zoonoses. The vulnerability of livestock operations, the likelihood of success, the possibility of the use of genetically engineered organisms and limited resources ...

Classifying the regulatory status of organisms produced by new techniques is becoming increasingly difficult, because the definition of a GMO in the Directive was drafted at a time when many of these techniques had not been conceived. Technology in molecular genetics is developing rapidly, to the extent that plants and other organisms can be modified in ways whereby the use of recombinant techn...