Biotechnology of Major Cereals

Edited by Huw D. Jones
Hardback
November 2016
9781780645193
More details
  • Publisher
    CABI
  • Published
    9th November 2016
  • ISBN 9781780645193
  • Language English
  • Pages 256 pp.
  • Size 6.75" x 9.5"
  • Images color photos, graphs & charts
$186.65

The world’s major cereals are staple foods supplying about two-thirds of mankind’s calorific needs as well as being a rich source of proteins, vitamins, minerals and fiber. They also contribute significantly to animal feeds and non-food products such as packaging materials, cosmetics, liquid transport biofuels etc. Conventional plant breeding has made major gains in yield, quality and pest- and disease-resistance; however, since the early 1990s this has been augmented significantly by biotechnology. Although maize is currently the only cereal with significant biotech seed sales, advances in the other major cereals outlined in this text indicate that rice, wheat, barley and sorghum could soon follow, either using conventional genetic engineering or incorporating the new developments in genome editing. In Biotechnology of Major Cereals, expert authors explain and discuss the latest advances including nuclear and chloroplast transformation, anther-culture and gene silencing. There are chapters on current transformation methodologies, key target tissues and traits as well as genome editing and a review of the current mergers and acquisitions in commercial biotechnology.

1. Biotechnology of Major Cereals
2. Genetic Transformation of Maize: Conventional Methods and Precision Genome Modification
3. Biotech Maize: Industry Development & Impact
4. Sorghum Genetic Transformation: Current Status and Future Target Traits
5. Barley as a Cereal Model for Biotechnology Applications
6. Wheat Biotechnology; Recent Developments and Future Trends
7. The Long and Winding Road of Rice Genetic Modification Technology and its Potential
8. Setaria Viridis; A Model for C4 Crop Biotechnology
9. Genome Editing in Cereals
10. Anther Culture for Doubled Haploids
11. Chloroplast Transformation in Cereals
12. Cross-species Silencing: Plant-mediated RNAi for Insect Control
13. Acrylamide in Cereals: The Problem and Potential Genetic and Agronomic Solutions
14. Engineering Cereal Endosperm
15. Key molecular and Metabolic Processes used for Genetic Engineering to Improve Freezing
16. Mergers and Acquisitions in Global Ag-Biotech

Huw D. Jones

Huw D. Jones is Professor of Translational Genomics for Plant Breeding at Aberystwyth University, UK.