During the past decade, there has been tremendous progress in maize biotechnology. This volume provides an overview of our current knowledge of maize molecular genetics, how it is being used to improve the crop, and future possibilities for crop enhancement. Several chapters deal with genetically engineered traits that are currently, or soon will be, in commercial production. Technical approaches for introducing novel genes into the maize genome, the regeneration of plants from transformed cells, and the creation of transgenic lines for field production are covered. Further, the authors describe how molecular genetic techniques are being used to identify genes and characterize their function, and how these procedures are utilized to develop elite maize germplasm. Moreover, molecular biology and physiological studies of corn as a basis for the improvement of its nutritional and food-making properties are included. Finally, the growing use of corn as biomass for energy production is discussed.

An in-depth review of maize biotechnology

Part I. Introduction 1 Biotechnology and maize improvement - an overview by Robb Fraley 2 Maize tissue culture, transformation and regeneration - Todd Jones Part II. Transgenic traits 3 Insect resistance - Graham Head 4 Reduced phytic acid - Victor Raboy 5 Stress tolerance ¿ John Mullet 6 Nitrogen use efficiency - Steve Moose 7 Protein nutritional quality and digestibility - Al Kriz 8 Over-expression of novel proteins - Elisabeth Hood 9 Global regulations of transgenic crops - Bruce Chassy Part III. Breeding and genetics 10 Doubled haploids - Ming Chang 11 Transposon tagging and reverse genetics - Mark Settles 12 EMS mutagenesis and TILLING - Cliff Weil 13 Association mapping - Ed Buckler 14 Genetic resources - Marty Sachs Part IV. The corn genome 15 Structure - Jo Messing 16 Molecular markers - Pat Schnable 17 Chromosome analysis - Kelly Dawe 18 Expression profiling - David Galbraith Part V. Molecular biology and physiological studies 19 Storage proteins - Brian Larkins 20 Starch - Curt Hannah 21 Lipids - Jill Deikman 22 Chloroplasts ¿ Arnold Bendich Part VI. Biomass and energy 23 -Biomass and energy - Mike Ladisch