bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Control and Silencing of Transgene Expression
Authors: Müller Andreas E. , Wassenegger Michael 
Published: July 2004

AbstractThe expression of a gene is a fundamental biological process with both immediate effects on an individual organism as well as long‐term consequences for the evolution of the living world. As such, gene expression is regulated by elaborate control mechanisms that act or interact to ensure a fine context‐specific tuning. Transgenes are subject to the same range of gene regulatory mechanisms that control endogenes. In addition, transgenes, like other newly acquired foreign or ‘invasive’ DNA elements in the genome, appear particularly susceptible to control mechanisms that detect and act upon ‘abnormalities’ encoded by the transgene sequence or structure, the transgene's positional and compositional relation to its genomic environment, the transgene's expression pattern, and the intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics of transgenic RNA intermediates and gene products. A thorough understanding of the pathway of gene expression, from transcriptional regulation by genetic and epigenetic mechanisms, through to RNA and protein degradation, and the targets this pathway provides for gene regulatory processes to intervene, is essential for the successful application of transgenic tools in today's plant biotechnology.
Engineering Pathogen Resistance in Crop Plants
Authors: Campbell Matthew A. , Fitzgerald Heather A. , Ronald Pamela C. 
Published: July 2004

AbstractAs the world population continues to increase, food supplies must also grow to meet nutritional requirements. One means of ensuring the stability and plentitude of the food supply is to mitigate crop loss caused by plant pathogens. Strategies for combating disease include traditional technologies such as plant breeding and chemical applications; current technologies such as generating transgenic plants that express components of known defence signalling pathways and the adaptation of newer technologies such as RNA silencing of pathogen and plant transcripts. Breeding has been used to pyramid resistance (R) genes into many different plants including rice. Chemical strategies include application of salicylic acid (SA) analogues to stimulate systemic acquired resistance (SAR) responses. Genetic screens in Arabidopsis have identified genes controlling SAR and these genes have been manipulated and used to engineer crop plants. The diseases caused by plant viruses are being thwarted through the initiation of endogenous RNA silencing mechanisms. Many of these strategies show great promise, some limitations and exciting opportunities to develop many new tools for combating plant pests.
Engineering Resistance to Insect Pests
Authors: Ferry N. , Edwards M.G. , Mulligan E.A. , Emami K. , Petrova A.S. , Frantescu M. , Davison G.M. , Gatehouse A.M.R. 
Published: July 2004

AbstractWith a projected increase in world population to 10 billion over the next four decades, an immediate priority for agriculture is to achieve maximum production of food and other products in a manner which is environmentally sustainable and cost effective. Despite the synthesis of improved pesticides, and integrated pest management strategies, yield losses due to insects have actually increased slightly for most crops over the last two decades.The concept of utilising a transgenic approach to host plant resistance was realised in the mid 1990s with the commercial introduction of genetically modified crops expressing genes encoding the entomocidal d‐endotoxin fromBacillus thuringiensis(Bt). More recently this strategy has been extended to include the pyramiding (stacking) of genes encoding different Bt toxins for greater levels of pest control. Although not as yet a commercial reality, other strategies based on the use of plant derived genes (enzyme inhibitors, lectins) and those from animal sources, including insects (biotin‐binding proteins, neurohormones, enzyme inhibitors), are being developed. The use of fusion proteins to increase the spectrum and durability of resistance is also actively being pursued. However, if transgenic insect‐resistant crops are to play a useful role in crop protection, it is apparent that they must be compatible with the other components of integrated pest management (IPM).The current chapter addresses the role of insect‐resistant transgenic crops in agriculture and discusses both their current status and future developments. Given the importance of natural enemies in controlling pest populations, the potential impact of such crops on predators and parasitoids is also addressed.
Engineering Resistance to Herbicides
Authors: CaJacob Claire A. , Feng Paul C.C. , Heck Gregory R. , Alibhai Murtaza F. , Sammons R. Douglas , Padgette Stephen R. 
Published: July 2004

AbstractCrop resistance can be generated through a selection process or the introduction of a gene via transformation. We will refer to the latter as engineered herbicide resistance. The literature contains numerous studies on engineered plant resistance to various herbicide classes. There is a large distinction between demonstrating a resistance phenotype in plants versus developing a commercial resistant crop that requires consistent performance under varying environmental conditions. Creating an herbicide resistant crop must successfully navigate a maze of key technical issues while satisfying the practical product goals of agronomic equivalence, weed management, economic feasibility, governmental regulatory compliance and public acceptance. Most of our experience has been derived from developing crop resistance to glyphosate. In this review, we will utilise these experiences to describe the essential studies required for the development of a commercial herbicide‐resistant crop with emphasis on the development of glyphosate resistance.
Molecular Bases of Plant Adaptation to Abiotic Stress and Approaches to Enhance Tolerance to Hostile Environments
Authors: Coraggio Immacolata , Tuberosa Roberto 
Published: July 2004

AbstractAbiotic stress has become the greatest threat to global food production and security, particularly in developing countries. Progress in increasing yield and its stability under adverse conditions through a direct selection has been hampered by the low heritability of yield, especially under drought. A better knowledge of the molecular and genetic basis of the mechanisms promoting tolerance to abiotic stress will enhance our capacity to more appropriately manipulate the genes limiting crop yield under hostile environments. This review describes and critically analyses the major advances in our understanding of the complex mechanisms underlying the adaptive response of the plant to abiotic stress, starting with the perception of the stress at the cellular level, its transduction through a cascade of signalling molecules and ending with the induction of genes whose products mitigate the harmful effects of the stress. Molecular markers and the ‘omics’ platforms (e.g., transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics etc.) offer unprecedented opportunities to identify and clone the genes governing plant adaptation to environmental stress and limiting yield under such conditions. The dissection of the genetic basis of quantitative traits into their single components, the so‐called QTLs (quantitative trait loci), allows us to deploy marker‐assisted selection (MAS) for enhancing crop performance under adverse conditions. Additional opportunities are also offered by genetic engineering, particularly through the expression of transcription factors regulating a suite of genes whose product is crucial to mitigate the effects of stress. Although the applicative results so far achieved with non‐conventional approaches have been limited, their integration with conventional breeding methodologies and other interdisciplinary approaches will greatly enhance our capacity to more effectively tailor crop genome to withstand harsh environmental conditions and to improve their sustainability under marginal conditions.
Carbohydrate Metabolism
Authors: Fernie Alisdair R. , Willmitzer Lothar 
Published: July 2004

AbstractThe yield from crop plants has been subject to improvement through conventional breeding and modifications in agricultural practice for many decades. More recently, the use of molecular genetic approaches has allowed more directed approaches towards crop improvement. Specific examples of both successful strategies and of fundamental knowledge gleaned from unsuccessful strategies are presented including manipulations of starch, sucrose and novel sugar content. The utility of metabolic control analysis in the identification of control points in metabolic pathway and its use in the prediction of changes in metabolite accumulation following enzyme modulation is discussed. Further examples of biotechnological manipulation focus on qualitative rather than quantitative aspects of carbohydrate metabolism detailing the introduction of novel pathways for synthesis, or functionalities, of polymers. Particular focus is given to fructan biosynthesis in non‐fructan accumulating species and the broad structural diversity of starch following genetic manipulation of the enzymes involved in its synthesis and degradation. Finally, the chapter concludes with an appraisal of the challenges that remain before the rational manipulation of carbohydrate becomes routine.
Genetics and Genomics of Nodulation and Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation
Authors: Gresshoff Peter M. 
Published: July 2004

Abstract
‘Nitrogen’ is critical for plant productivity because of its involvement in proteins, nucleic acids and secondary metabolism. Plants are the major conduit of nitrogen assimilation into the biosphere and achieve this feat through either assimilation of mineral nitrate or biological nitrogen fixation in symbiotic structures called root nodules. The recent discovery of key genes controlling nodule initiation, nodule proliferation and plant defence now provides the opportunity to improve legumes, thereby decreasing the demands on fossil‐fuel based nitrogen fertiliser. The understanding of symbiotic nitrogen fixation led to the recognition that many of the developmental pathways are either shared or pirated from other pre‐existing regulatory mechanisms. Increasingly sustainable agricultural practices based on reduced inputs and ‘triple bottom‐line’ accounting may result. In the near future we may even hope to see the expansion of the nitrogen fixing symbiosis by either transgenic manipulation or ‘smart breeding’ to new crop species.
Male Sterility and Hybrid Production Systems
Authors: Oliver Melvin J. 
Published: July 2004

AbstractThe ability to exploit the long known phenomenon of hybrid vigor or heterosis, the superior performance of the F1 hybrid compared to either parent line, has greatly impacted the goal of production agriculture to meet world food demands. Hybrid production systems rely on an efficient and effective mechanism for inducing male sterility in one of the parental lines in order to ensure purity of the resultant hybrid seed. Natural male sterility systems are available but are limited in their availability for all crops and their effectiveness in those for which they have been developed. This chapter discusses the means by which modern techniques of genetic engineering have broadened our ability to develop male sterile lines and improve hybrid production strategies. The chapter discusses the development of dominant male sterility systems using genetic ablation and developmental disruption strategies, conditional male sterility strategies and the genetic engineering of maintainer lines. The generation of novel and improved systems for hybrid production in the ongoing search for crop improvement has been, and continues to be, one of the major targets for transgenic manipulations within the agricultural biotechnological community.
Plant Architecture
Authors: Jackson S.D. 
Published: July 2004

AbstractThe manipulation and control of plant height and shape is an integral part of modern intensive agricultural and horticultural production systems and brings several benefits to the farmer/grower. The most commonly used method to control plant height is through application of growth retardants. These are effective in all species and were developed to primarily affect stem elongation without having adverse effects on other aspects of plant growth and development. In recent years progress in plant biotechnology has provided an alternative approach to controlling plant architecture through the use of genetic modification. Whilst the technology is still being developed to address issues of public concern (‘genetic pollution’ and the use of antibiotic marker genes), it is clearly a very rapid and powerful means by which specific traits can be targeted in a very defined manner. Given the appropriate controls, genetic modification has the potential to be greatly beneficial to the environment by reducing the need to spray vast quantities of chemicals, including growth regulators, onto glass and field grown crops. This chapter will focus on the control of plant architecture in commercial crops through genetic manipulation.
Forestry
Authors: Cooke Janice E.K. , Morse Alison M. , Davis John M. 
Published: July 2004

AbstractGenetic improvement plays a pivotal role in intensive management strategies for forest trees. Conventional breeding in forest trees is greatly constrained by long generation times. This is particularly true for temperate coniferous species, which rank among the most commercially important forest trees. In Aadditionally, many traits of interest exhibit poor correlation between the juvenile and mature phases of growth that are innate to trees. Consequently, these traits cannot be reliably evaluated at the morphological level until the tree has entered into mature growth, which may take several years. Given these constraints to conventional breeding, the use of biotechnology to reduce the time to create and select genetically improved trees could have a significant impact on forest tree improvement and the forest industry. In this chapter, we focus on how biotechnology has been and can be incorporated into forestry.
Plants as a Source for Subunit Vaccines
Authors: Mor Tsafrir S. , Mason Hugh S. 
Published: July 2004

AbstractA major challenge of biotechnology is to reduce clinical innovations to economically viable practice. While still in experimental stages of development, edible vaccines stand as an excellent example of this maxim: merging innovations in medical science and plant biology, to create efficacious and affordable pharmaceuticals. In this chapter, we present an updated report on advances in this field and in particular on the recent clinical trials. We will then outline areas of research that deserve further attention.
Perennial Plants as a Production System for Pharmaceuticals
Authors: D'Aoust Marc-André , Busse Ursula , Martel Michèle , Lerouge Patrice , Levesque Damien , Vézina Louis-Philippe 
Published: July 2004

AbstractFor molecular farming applications, the capacity to transform perennial plants for recombinant protein production gives access to stable and almost perpetual production of pharmaceuticals from a single population of plants. Being able to produce a bioactive protein with a uniform and well characterised population not only reduces production costs but more importantly, it ensures even and predictable production rate of a uniform product from a genetically stable population. Despite their promising potential, two main hurdles hindered the early development of perennial plant‐based expression systems: the lack of adapted expression cassettes and the difficulty to genetically transform and regenerate the best‐suited perennials. This chapter describes recent scientific breakthrough in alfalfa transformation and protein expression and purification that opened the way to the development of an efficient recombinant protein production platform using alfalfa as bioreactor.
Crop Plants for Molecular Farming
Authors: Stoger Eva , Marcel Sylvain , Twyman Richard M. 
Published: July 2004

AbstractThe large‐scale production of recombinant proteins in plants is known as molecular farming. From a commercial perspective, the major benefit of molecular farming is the anticipated cost savings since there are no requirements for expensive equipment or skilled labour. Transgenic plants can be maintained, harvested and processed using normal agricultural practices and existing infrastructure. Other advantages include the ease of scale up, the absence of human/animal pathogens and undesirable DNA sequences (oncogenes, endogenous retroviruses etc.) and the structural and functional similarity between plant‐derived recombinant proteins and their native counterparts. Plants have been used to produce a wide range of products, including therapeutic human proteins, recombinant antibodies, subunit vaccines, nutraceuticals, animal feed additives, biopolymers, molecular biology reagents and industrial enzymes. In this chapter, we discuss practical issues guiding the development of crop‐based production systems for molecular farming in plants.
Risk Assessment of Transgenic Plants: Science and Public Policy
Authors: Shantharam Sivramiah , Aubserson‐Huang Lillian 
Published: July 2004

Abstract
Biosafety and the environmental impact of GMOs are among the issues at the heart of the global debate on the suitability and feasibility of agricultural biotechnology. Although principles of risk assessment, which evolved for chemical and engineering disciplines have been extended to biotechnology, with a sprinkling of our incomplete knowledge of ecology and environmental biology, great strides have been made to offer assurance to the public concerning the safety of GMOs in agriculture. Risk assessment of transgenic plants is a discipline under progress and some excellent research has been carried out in the past two decades demonstrating that there is no real evidence for being unduly concerned with their safety. Thanks to risk assessment, our abilities to assess biotechnology, and hence to make informed decisions about the adoption of this technology, have increased greatly. Risk assessment should not be used to stifle technology development, but rather to find ways and means for mitigating those risks and managing them cost effectively.
Clearly, any risk assessment of transgenic plants has to take place within the ambit of sound and consensual public policy framework in which all stakeholders have a say. It is only then that one can promote safe deployment of GMOs for the benefit of all.
Patents and Plant Genetic Resources: The Bonn Guidelines on Access to Genetic Resources and the Patentability of Plant Biotechnological Inventions under the TRIPS Agreement
Authors: Bhatti Shakeel T. 
Published: July 2004

AbstractThis chapter examines the scope of patentable subject matter under Article 27 of the Agreement on Trade‐related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS agreement) with respect to plant biotechnological inventions and improved plant genetic resources. The chapter reviews the national implementation of the provisions of this Article in 57 patent laws in order to trace what conditions improved plant genetic resources must meet in order to be patentable in different jurisdictions. The chapter also examines interfaces between the implementation of TRIPS standards and the application of access and benefit‐sharing frameworks for plant genetic resources. On the access and benefit‐sharing side, it analyses the relevant provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Bonn Guidelines on access and benefit‐sharing, which were adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the CBD. The chapter then surveys the national and regional implementation of relevant CBD provisions in national and regional access frameworks through a comparative analysis of 35 access and benefit‐sharing laws. The views expressed in this chapter are exclusively those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of WIPO, its Secretariat or its member states.
Intellectual Property Rights for Plant Biotechnology: International Aspects
Authors: Boettiger Sara , Graff Gregory D. , Pardey Philip G. , Van Dusen Eric , Wright Brian D. 
Published: July 2004

AbstractIntellectual property rights (IPR) are important internationally, in public, non‐profit and private institutions, both as incentives for innovation and as constraints on freedom to operate in agricultural research and development. Early 20th century progress in plant breeding and genetics led to the development of hybridisation, which increased yields while providing an important physical means of restricting the reproduction of plant genetic resources. Subsequently, in countries around the world the expansion of ‘intellectual property rights’ (IPR) has created several other means of restricting the reproduction and trading of plant genetic resources.
Cotton and Biotechnology
Authors: Wakelyn P.J. , May O.L. , Menchey E.K. 
Published: July 2004

AbstractResearch is underway to produce transgenic cottons with improved agronomic traits as well as improved fibre quality properties. Generally, the principle concerns among the public about biotechnology are the environmental impact and consumer safety. These concerns eventually may affect cotton yarn and finished textile products as well as pharmaceutical and food products from cotton and cottonseed. Consumers and governments need to be educated on the safety and benefits of transgenic cotton. Specific concerns related to production of transgenic cotton are addressed in this paper.
The Use of Transgenic Papaya to Control Papaya Ringspot Virus in Hawaii, and the Transfer of this Technology to Other Countries
Authors: Gonsalves Dennis , Fermin Gustavo 
Published: July 2004

AbstractA handful of virus‐resistant transgenic plants have been commercialised in the United States. This communication does not dwell on discussing possible reasons for the lack of other commercial virus‐resistant transgenic plants. Rather it focuses on an analysis of the events involved in development and commercialisation of transgenic papaya that is currently grown in Hawaii to controlPapaya ringspot virus, on the impact of the varieties on the Hawaii papaya industry, on the current status of the Hawaiian transgenic papaya in United States, Canada, and Japan, and on our efforts to transfer this technology to other countries. This paper primarily deals with the rationale and motivations for the commercialisation of transgenic papaya, and to a lesser degree on the technical development of the transgenic papaya.
Adoption of Biotechnology‐Enhanced Crops by Developing Countries
Authors: James Clive 
Published: July 2004

Abstract
Global population reached 6 billion on 12 October 1999, and is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, when approximately. 90% of the world's population will live, or survive, in the three continents of the South: Asia, Africa and Latin America, where today malnutrition results in 24,000 deaths per day. Thus, in the next 50 years, population will increase by 50 %, or 3 billion, and food production will need to be doubled on the same area of arable land (1.5 billion hectares) by 2050. The magnitude of the challenge of feeding tomorrow's world is difficult to conceive. Crops are the major source of food globally. There is a widely held view in the international scientific and development community that conventional crop improvement alone will not allow us to meet the global food demands of 2050. What is being advocated is a global strategy that integrates both conventional crop improvement and biotechnology, including transgenic crops, which are often referred to as genetically modified (GM) crops.