Biotechnology and Crop Improvement in Asia

This book results from a workshop held at ICRISAT 3-7 Dec 1990 by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The participants were representatives of Asian countries, and scientific leaders in [he various fields of biotechnology The introductory chapter outlines the role of the ADS in strengthening biotechnology research in Asia; this is followed by a presentation of the Indian biotechnology program and the problems thaI are being addressed. A chapter on Industry and Public Sector the and of private companics becoming involved in biotechnology research. The country representatives presented papers on the slatus of biotechnology in ,heir country, and these chaplers give an indication of the wide range of achievement in the area. Participants also outlined those crops and areas of crop improvement to which biotechnology could he applied. The remaining are reviews of the major disciplines in biotechnology and reports by Asian scientists and others on research relevant to Asian agriculture. These reviews cover cell lind tissue culture. with emphasis on cereals. and haploids. There are four reviews on transformation, covering Agrobacterium-medialed transformation, physical methods gene transfer the use of viruses as vectors and gene action in transformed plants. The section on genome characterization and diagnostics covers the genomes of plants-nuclear mitochondrial, and plastid and of viruses, and the relevance of genome research to plant improvement, through the use of markers-restriction fragment length polymorph isms (RFLP), polymerase chain reaclion (PCR), and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). The recommendations of the workshop give a useful insight into how a representative cross section view the future of biotechnology. Title book contains a glossary and index