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The beginnings of human civili zation can be traced back to the time , ne- ly 12 ,000 years ago , when th e early humans gradually ch anged from a life of hunting and gathering food , to producing food. This beginning of pri- tive agriculture ensured a dependable supply of food , and fostered the living together of people in groups and the development of s o c i e ty. During th is time, plant s e e ds were recognized a s a valuable s o ur c e of food and nutrition , and began to be used for growing plants for food. Ever s i n c e , plant seeds have played an important role in the development of the human civilization . Even today, s e e ds of a few crop s p e c i e s , s uc h as the cereals and legume s, are the primary s o u r c e of most human food , and the predominant commodity in international agriculture. Owing to their great importance as food for human s and in international trade , seeds have been a favorite object of s t u d y by developmental biologists and physiologi sts , nutritionist s and chem i sts . A wealth of useful information i s available on th e biology of seed s .
This volume contains the presentations of the principal speakers at the NATO Advanced Study Institute held at Porto Portese, Italy,23 August - 2 September, 1982. This meeting was the third in a series devoted to the molecular biology of plants. The initial meeting was held in Strasbourg, France in 1976 (J. Weil and L. Bogorad, organizers), and the second in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1979 (C. Leaver, organizer). As in these previous meetings, we have attempted to cover the major topics of plant molecular biology so as to promote the integration of information emerging at an accelerating rate from the various sub-disciplines of the field. In addition, we have introduced several topics, unique to higher plants, that have not yet been approached with the tools of molec ular biology, but that should present new and important aspects of plants amenable to study in terms of DNA -+ RNA -+ Protein. This meeting also served to inaugerate the new International Society for Plant Molecular Biology. The need for this society is, like the NATO meetings themselves, an indication of the growth, vitalitv and momentum of this field of research.
First attempts to isolate plant genes were for those genes that are abun dantly expressed in a particular plant organ at a specific stage of devel opment. However, many important gene products are produced in a very minute quantity and in specialized cell types. Such genes can now be isolated using a variety of approaches, some of which are described in this volume. The rapid progress during the last decade in regeneration of a number of crop plants and the availability of molecular tools to introduce foreign genes in plants is allowing the engineering of specific traits of agri cultural importance. These genes must, however, be regulated in a spatial and temporal manner in order to have des...
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In the summer of 1976 a successful workshop on nucleic acids and protein synthesis in plant systems was organised in Strasbourg by Jacques Weil and Lawrence Bogorad. The participants in the workshop, were, without exception, excited both by the quality of the work discussed and by the rapid progress being made in several areas of genomic analysis and expression in plants. It also became apparent that there was a need for an international assembly of this sort at regular intervals. These workshops not only encourage stim ulating discussion and constructive thinking but also result in increased collaboration and productive liaison between laboratories with common interests. Hence a ten-day adv...
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