The development of a plant is a multifaceted, dynamic phenomenon. Due to their immobility, plants respond not only to internal developmental cues, but also to changes in the prevailing environmental conditions. Climate change has increased vulnerability in plants due to increasing concentrations of CO2 and other pollutants, and fluctuations in the growing environment. These changes affect crop growth and productivity thereby posing a major risk to global food security.Physiolog...

Biotechnology and Biology of Trichoderma serves as a comprehensive reference on the chemistry and biochemistry of one of the most important microbial agents, Trichoderma, and its use in an increased number of industrial bioprocesses for the synthesis of many biochemicals such as pharmaceuticals and biofuels. This book provides individuals working in the field of Trichoderma, especially biochemical engineers, biochemists and biotechnologists, important information on how these valuable fung...

This book provides current information on synthesis of plant hormones, how their concentrations are regulated, and how they modulate various plant processes. It details how plants sense and tolerate such factors as drought, salinity, and cold temperature, factors that limit plant productivity on earth. It also explains how plants sense two other environmental signals, light and gravity, and modify their developmental patterns in response to those signals. This book takes the reader from ba...

The publication of the extensive seven-volume work Comprehensive Molecular Insect Science provided a complete reference encompassing important developments and achievements in modern insect science. One of the most swiftly moving areas in entomological and comparative research is molecular biology, and this volume, Insect Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, is designed for those who desire a comprehensive yet concise work on important aspects of this topic. This volume contains ten fully r...

In the most recent years, each of the RNA silencing pathways of plants have appeared to generate ncRNAs with dedicated functions, specialized biological activities and specific functional scopes. RNA silencing plays a crucial role in coordinating the expression, stability, protection and inheritance of eukaryotic genomes. It compromises several mechanisms, that invariably depend on core small non coding RNAs and that achieve dedicated sequence-specific functions. RNA silencing has been rec...

The past decade has seen major advances in the cloning of genes encoding enzymes of plant secondary metabolism. This has been further enhanced by the recent project on the sequencing of the Arabidopsis genome. These developments provide the molecular genetic basis to address the question of the Evolution of Metabolic Pathways. This volume provides in-depth reviews of our current knowledge on the evolutionary origin of plant secondary metabolites and the enzymes involved in their biosynthes...

Petunia belongs to the family of the Solanaceae and as such is closely related to important crop species like tomato, potato, eggplant, pepper and tobacco. With around 35 species described it is one of the smaller genera and among those there are two groups of species that make up the majority of them: the purple flowered P.integrifolia group and the white flowered P.axillaris group. It is assumed that interspecific hybrids between members of these two groups have laid the foundation for t...

Sugarcane is the most important plant source for sugar and alcohol production and is cultivated in more than 80 countries in tropical and subtropical areas. However, environmental factors negatively influence its yield and jeopardize the prospect to meet the increasing demand for sugar, other sugarcane derived by products and bioethanol. The development of stress tolerant plants is fundamental for the maintenance and increase of crop yields. Biotechnology to Enhance Sugarcane Productivity ...

Developing climate-smart crops is vital to securing food security around the world. This new book discusses the state-of-the-art technologies that can help to mitigate plant abiotic stresses in cultivated crops. It covers the current aspects of climate-resilience agriculture, including the crucial physiological, biochemical, and molecular aspects of cultivated crops under stress conditions, which play a pivotal role in developing climate-smart crops. The volume explores breeding, omics, ge...

Crop improvement using classically induced mutagenesis is now well standardized. Many new promising varieties of different crops have been successfully developed worldwide using both physical and chemical mutagens. Voluminous literature is now available on basic and applied aspects of mutagenesis. The mutation technique has been refined and holds the promise of generating much wider and more desirable variability than classical breeding. Recent advances in technology combined with classica...

"An indispensable source for researchers, teachers, and graduate and postgraduate students interested in mutation breeding and genetic engineering. It introduces readers to contemporary knowledge and state-of-the-art technologies in the field of mutation breeding, including fundamental mechanisms and applications. . . . It will provide new directions, and avenues for enhancement of food security and food quality by using the latest techniques for the 'mutation as breeding' appr...

Many exciting discoveries in recent decades have contributed new knowledge to our understanding of the mechanisms that regulate various stages of plant growth and development. Such information, coupled with advances in cell and molecular biology, is fundamental to crop improvement using biotechnological approaches. Two volumes constitute the present work. The ?rst, comprising 22 chapters, commences with introductions relating to gene regulatory models for plant dev- opment and crop improve...