San Antonio College Library

An on-the-ground research biologist tells a clear-eyed story of modern plant genetics, the human manipulation of biology, and the reality of genetically engineered plants worldwide. Annotation. Largely celebrating the use of biotechnology in agriculture, although at times critical of some of the most cynical machinations of the large biotech companies, Luquin (genetics, Washington State U.) presents a layman's introduction to the basic science and...

This book offers an engaging introduction to this exciting area of scientific research and technology. The text begins with a summary of current knowledge about plant genome organization and gene expression, followed by an introduction to the techniques of plant tissue culture and genetic transformation and the application to crop plants. A consideration of the design of constructs for plant genetics manipluation precedes a series of chapters covering...

"In Dangerous Liaisons? geneticist Norman C. Ellstrand examines these and other questions. He begins with basic information about the natural hybridization process. He then describes what we now know about hybridization between the world's most important crops - such as wheat, rice, maize, and soybeans - and their wild relatives. Such hybridization, Ellstrand explains, is not rare, and it has occasionally produced a substantial impact. In some cases,...

Since 2002 Indian agriculturalists have replaced almost all of their native seeds with genetically modified varieties due to intense campaigning by biotechnology giant Monsanto. Monsanto's proprietary BT cotton now occupies 90 percent of India's crop lands, having been sold with the understanding that it would improve yields and cut farmers' costs. But critics are questioning Monsanto's claims, and the farmers themselves report problems-their plants...

"While European restaurants race to footnote menus, reassuring concerned gourmands that no genetically modified ingredients were used in the preparation of their food, starving populations around the world eagerly await the next harvest of scientifically improved crops. Mendel in the Kitchen provides a clear and balanced picture of this tangled, tricky (and very timely) topic "--HTML title screen

Overview: Plant molecular biology came to the fore in the early 1980s and there has been tremendous growth in the subject since then. The study of plant genes and genomes and the development of techniques for the incorporation of novel or modified genes into plants eventually led to the commercialization of genetically modified (GM) crops in the mid-1990s. This was seen as the start of a biotechnological revolution in plant breeding. However, plant...

"Science, Seeds and Cyborgs is a detailed examination and critique of the DNA-centric paradigm in molecular biology, and of the biotech industry it has spawned. It argues that the genetic manipulation of organisms is proceeding along a perilous path, where even the successes of the new genetic technologies produce corrosive cultural effects, making it progressively easier to think of organisms - including the human one - as disposable artefacts. Exploring...

"The food we eat is being transformed before our eyes. Biotech companies are creating designer crops with strange powers - from cholesterol-reducing soybeans to tobacco plants that act as solar-powered pharmaceutical factories. They promise great benefits: better health for consumers and more productive agriculture. But the vision has a dark side, awakening fears of profit-driven tampering with life." "In Lords of the Harvest, Daniel Charles tells...