Genetic Engineering of Plants: An Agricultural Perspective(26 Basic Life Sciences)

William C. Taylor Department of Genetics University of California Berkeley, California 94720 It is evident by now that there is a great deal of interest in exploiting the new technologies to genetically engineer new forms of plants. A purpose of this meeting is to assess the possibilities. The papers that follow are concerned with the analysis of single genes or small gene families. We will read about genes found within the nucleus, plastids, and bacteria which are responsible for agri- culturally important traits. Given that these genes can be isolated by recombinant DNA techniques, there are two possible strategies for plant engineering. One involves isolating a gene from a cultivated plant, changing it in a specific way and then inserting it back into the same plant where it produces an altered gene product. An example might be changing the amino acid composition of a seed pro- tein so as to make the seed a more efficient food source. A second strategy is to isolate a gene from one species and transfer it to another species where it produces a desirable feature. An example might be the transfer of a gene which encodes a more efficient pho- tosynthetic enzyme from a wild relative into a cultivated species. There are three technical hurdles which must be overcome for either strategy to work. The gene of interest must be physically isolated.

Table of Contents:
Opening Remarks.- An Overview of Crop Improvement: Chairman’s Introduction.- Plant Breeding: The State of the Art.- Genes: Chairman’s Introduction.- Nuclear Genes Encoding the Small Subunit of Ribulose-1,5-Bisphosphate Carboxylase.- Osmoregulatory (Osm) Genes and Osmoprotective Compounds.- Differential Regulation of the Adhl Gene in Maize: Facts and Theories.- Cytoplasmic Male Sterility.- Genetic Engineering of Seed Storage Proteins.- Vectors: Chairman’s Introduction.- Plant Viral Vectors: CaMV as an Experimental Tool.- Plant Cell Transformation by Agrobacterium Plasmids.- InVitro Plant Transformation Systems Using Liposomes and Bacterial Co-Cultivation.- Chromosomes from Protoplasts — Isolation, Fractionation, and Uptake.- Comparison of Genomic Clones Derived from the Sh Gene in Zea Mays L. and of Two Mutants of this Gene which are Caused by the Insertion of the Controlling Element Ds.- Plant Gene Structure.- Chromosome Structure in Cereals: The Analysis of Regions Containing Repeated Sequence DNA and Its Application to the Detection of Alien Chromosomes Introduced into Wheat.- Considerations of Developmental Biology for the Plant Cell Geneticist.- Protoplast Fusion: Agricultural Applications of Somatic Hybrid Plants.- Somaclonal Variation and Crop Improvement.- On the Use of Microspores for Genetic Modification.- Crop Productivity and Quality: Chairman’s Introduction.- Use of Pathogen-Produced Toxins in Genetic Engineering of Plants and Pathogens.- Aspects of Salt and Drought Tolerance in Higher Plants.- Raising the Yield Potential: By Selection or Design?.- Amino Acids, Nutrition and Stress: The Role of Biochemical Mutants in Solving Problems of Crop Quality.- Challenges to Crop Improvement: Chairman’s Introduction.- The Evolution of Host-ParasiteInteraction.- Disease Lesion Mimic Mutations.- Determination of Plant Organs and Cells.- Genetic Engineering of Plants: Some Perspectives on the Conference, the Present, and the Future.- Genetic Engineering of Plants: An Agricultural Perspective — Roundtable Discussion on Research Priorities.