Bücher der Reihe Plant Gene Research

The know-how gained by the seed companies on crops important for the agricultural industry in developed countries could easily be provided for free to the international and national organizations dedicated to development of crops important in the third world.

The know-how gained by the seed companies on crops important for the agricultural industry in developed countries could easily be provided for free to the international and national organizations dedicated to development of crops important in the third world.

Plant growth and development is controlled by various environmental cues that are sensed by the plant via various signal transduction pathways coupled to specific response. This volume highlights some of the examples of the plant signal transduction machinery opening new vistas in research on plant growth and development.

This volume deals with defense-related genes of plants and their regulation as well as with the genes of microbes involved in their interaction with plants.

First attempts to isolate plant genes were for those genes that are abun dantly expressed in a particular plant organ at a specific stage of devel opment.

There has been recent rapid progress in the transformation of plants with foreign DNA, making use either of the natural routes of genetic invasion that viruses and bacteria have developed, or of chemical, mechanical and electrical tricks to make plant protoplast membranes permeable to nucleic acids.

Mutations (recognised by a change in phenotype) label genes and can be used to study gene structure, gene function and the organisation of the genome. It is self evident that only by studying phenotype ("Biochemistry") can we do "Ge netics" and that "Genetics" (perturbation of the phenotype) is the key to understanding the "Biochemistry".

Some pathogens have developed very sophisticated mechanisms to parasitize plants, an excellent example for this being crown gall caused by a soil bac terium, Agrobacterium tumefaciens.

It is worthwhile re membering that the first examples of unstable genomes were described for maize before DNA was known to be the genetic material. Exchanges of genetic material have been demonstrated within organelle DNA, between organelle DNAs or between organelle and nuclear DNAs.

Although plant genes were first isolated only some twelve years ago and transfer of foreign DNA into tobacco cells first demonstrated some eight years ago, the application and extension of biotechnology to agricultural problems has already led to the field-testing of genetically modified crop plants.