Applied Biotechnology and Plant Genetics (ePub)

Plant genetics and biotechnology represent the frontiers of modern agricultural and biological sciences, having given us the green revolution and the oilseeds 'yellow' revolution. The new science, this gene revolution, produced the high-yielding wheat, rice, maize and barley seeds that brought about a revolutionary change in the world's food supplies, from a state of perennial shortages to abundance and even surplus. Plant genetics is different from that of animals in a few ways. Like mitochondria, chloroplasts have their own DNA, complicating pedigrees somewhat. Like animals, plants have somatic mutations regularly, but these mutations can contribute to the germ line with ease, since flowers develop at the ends of branches composed of somatic cells. People have known of this for centuries, and mutant branches are called "e;sports"e;. If the fruit on the sport is economically desirable, a new cultivar may be obtained. Plant Biotechnology has made tremendous progress in recent years. The roots of plant biotechnology can be traced back to the time when humans started collecting seeds from their favorite wild plants and began cultivating them in tended fields. It appears that when the plants were harvested, the seeds of the most desirable plants were retained and replanted the next growing season. The present publication aims to provide enough information and examples to give the reader a sound knowledge of plant biotechnology in all its guises. This book explores many vistas of biotechnology, which will be useful for scientists and students to understand the latest techniques and processes of biotechnology and plant genetics.