Plant Genetic Engineering Towards the Third Millennium Developments in Plant Genetics and Breeding Series

Plant biotechnology offers important opportunities for agriculture, horticulture, and the pharmaceutical and food industry by generating transgenic varieties with altered properties. This is likely to change farming practice and reduce the potential negative impact of plant production on the environment. This volume shows the worldwide advances and potential benefits of plant genetic engineering focusing on the third millennium. The authors discuss the production of transgenic plants resistant to biotic and abiotic stress, the improvement of plant qualities, the use of transgenic plants as bioreactors, and the use of plant genomics for genetic improvement and gene cloning. Unique to this book is the integrative point of view taken between plant genetic engineering and socioeconomic and environmental issues. Considerations of regulatory processes to release genetically modified plants, as well as the public acceptance of the transgenic plants are also discussed.This book will be welcomed by biotechnologists, researchers and students alike working in the biological sciences. It should also prove useful to everyone dedicated to the study of the socioeconomic and environmental impact of the new technologies, while providing recent scientific information on the progress and perspectives of the production of genetically modified plants.

The work is dedicated to Professor Marc van Montagu.

Preface (C. Borroto). Global status of transgenic crops: challenges and opportunities (C. James). Can the biotechnology revolution feed the world? (J. van Wijk). Biotechnology can help crop production to feed an increasing world population-positive and negative aspects need to be balanced: a perspective from FAO (J. Izquierdo). Molecular markers in variety and seed testing (P. Donini, R.J. Cooke, J.C. Reeves). The genetic basis of drought tolerance in maize and options for improvement via marker-assisted selection (J.-M. Ribaut, G. Edmeades, D. Hoisington). Analysis of quantitative trait locis (QTL) based on linkage maps in coconut (cocos nucifera L.) (E. Ritter et al.). Molecular characterization of the sugarcane variability for genetic improvement (M.T. Cornide). Somaclonal variation in transgenic sugarcane plants: practical implications (E.R. Carmona et al.). On the mechanism of horizontal gene transfer by Agrobacterium tumefaciens (C.I. Kado, E-M. Lai, B. Kelly). Sugarcane (Saccharum hybrid) genetic transformation mediated by Agrobacterium tumefaciens: production of transgenic plants expressing proteins with agronomic and industrial value (G.A. Enriquez et al.). Progress in Agrobacterium maize transformation at the plant transformation facility of Iowa State University (B. Frame et al.). Assessment of conditions affecting Agrobacterium-mediated soybean transformation and routine recovery of transgenic soybean (Z. Zhang et al.). Genetic engineering of Cuban rice cultivars: present and perspectives (M. Pujol et al.). Histological and ultrastructural analysis of A. rhizogenes-mediated root formation in walnut cuttings (M.M. Altamura et al.). Genetic improvement program at the institute of plant biotechnology (J. Pérez et al.). Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) regeneration and transformation technology to provide weevil (Cylas formicarius) resistance. Field trial results (R. Garcia et al.). Regulation of transgene expression: progress towards practical development in sugarcane and implications for other plant species (R.G. Birch et al.). Polycistronic translation in plants. What can we learn from viruses (T. Hohn et al.). Towards plantibody-mediated resistance to plant parasitic nematodes (F.J. Gommers et al.). Field and molecular evaluation of insect-resistant transgenic poplar (Populus nigraL.) trees (F. Sala et al.). Insect-resistant tropical plants and new assessment about cry proteins (R.I. Vázquez-Padrón). Inserting the nucleoprotein gene of tomato spotted wilt virus in different plant species and screening for virus resistance (G.P. Accotto et al.). Advances in potato improvement through genetic engineering (H.V. Davies). Agriculture for marginal lands: transgenic plants towards the third millennium (J. López-Bucio et al.). Commercialization of genetically engineered potato plants resistant to disease (L. Kawchuk, D. Prüfer). Potato transgenic plants expressing mammalian double stranded RNA-dependent protein kinase (mPKR) (N.I. Ramírez et al.). Genetic engineering of potato for tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress (W. Rohde et al.). Metabolic engineering of brassica seeds oils: improvement of oil quality and quantity and alteration of carbon flux (E.-F. Marillia et al.). Towards the improvement of sugarcane bagasse as raw material for the production of paper pulp and animal feed (G. Selman-Housein et al.). Strategies for fructan production in transgenic sugarcane (Saccharum spp L.). and sweet potato (Ipomoea batataL.). Plants expressing the Acetobacter diazotrophicus levansucrase (L.E. Trujillo et al.). Molecular analysis of plant fructan accumulation (I. Vijn et al.). Genetic engineering of fruits and vegetables with the ethylene control gene encoding S-adenosylmesthionine hydrolase (SAMase) (V.R. Bommineni et al.). Improvement of wood quality for the pulp and paper industry by genetic modification of lignin biosynthesis in poplar (M. Baucher, M. van Montagu, W. Boerjan). Molecular farming of pharmaceutical and veterinary proteins from transgenic plants: CIGB experience (P. Oramas et al.). Toward molecular farming of therapeutics in plants (R. Fischer, S. Schillberg, N. Emans). Production of autoantigens in plant for oral immunotherapy of autoimmune diseases (S. Ma, A.M. Jevnikar). Safety assessments for commercialization of transgenic crops and results of commercialization (W. Kaniewski, G. Rogan, M. Cline). Does biotechnology change the research and development organizations? (P.P. Kolodziejczyk). Biological aspects and ethical considerations for the utilization of GMOs (L.W.D. van Raamsdonk). Index.