Modern Biotechnology, Agriculture, and Ethics

The evolution of modern agriculture and its future with biotechnology.

Since the dawn of agriculture, humans have been manipulating crops to enhance their quality and yield. Via conventional breeding, seed producers have developed the modern corn hybrids and wheat commonly grown today. Newer techniques, such as radiation breeding, enhanced the seed producers' ability to develop new traits in crops. Then in the 1980's-1990's, scientists began applying genetic engin...

AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL bIOTECHNOLOGY

Survival of microorganisms in the Antarctic and Arctic conditions of life requires of the relevant genera and species special adaptability and resistance against stressors such as lack of substrate, UV-radiation, low temperatures for a long time and short-term intense heat during the Antarctic and Arctic summer. Therefore genetic adaptation of Antarctic and Arctic organisms to stress factors wo...

Plant biotechnology in agriculture.

Knowledge on plant genomes has progressed during the past few years. Two plant genomes, those of Arabidopsis thaliana and rice, have been sequenced. Our present knowledge of synteny also indicates that, despite plasticity contributing to the diversity of the plant genomes, the organization of genes is conserved within large sections of chromosomes. In parallel, novel plant transformation system...

Biotechnology in Agriculture

■ Abstract The consequences of the invention of DNA-based molecular techniques and their application to agriculture have been pervasive. This review examines the key consequences for farmers and the public. These include widespread commercial applications of agricultural biotechnology in a limited number of countries, a large private-sector investment in biotechnology research, significant econ...

Ethics, Morality and Animal Biotechnology