Introduction to Plant Biotechnology

Part III deals with different aspects on rDNA technology which covers gene cloning, isolation of plant genes, transposons and gene tagging, in vitro mutagenesis, PCR, molecular markers and marker assisted selection, gene transfer methods, chloroplast and mitochondrion DNA transformation, genomics and bioinformatics. Genomics explores functional and structural genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, sequencing status of different organisms and DNA chip technology. Application of biotechnology has been discussed as transgenics in crop improvement and impact of recombinant DNA technology mainly in relation to biotech crops. A chapter on biosafety concerns, regulatory framework and issues and controversies arisen at different times on biosafety have been given. Various forms of intellectual properties, plant breeders rights, biodiversity and some examples of patents, which generated a lot of debate have also been discussed in a chapter on intellectual property rights. Part IV, introduced new in this edition, deals with genome editing aspects. It covers chapters on genome editing tools, applications of this approach in crop improvement and genome editing regulatory policy in different countries. Protocols are discussed for conducting laboratory exercises that are essential at the graduate level. Application of techniques and their impact on crop biotechnology have been emphasized in the book.