Assists policymakers in evaluating the appropriate scientific methods for detecting unintended changes in food and assessing the potential for adverse health effects from genetically modified products. In this book, the committee recommended that greater scrutiny should be given to foods containing new compounds or unusual amounts of naturally occurring substances, regardless of the method used to create them. The book offers a framework to guide federal agencies in selecting the route of safety assessment. It identifies and recommends several pre- and post-market approaches to guide the assessment of unintended compositional changes that could result from genetically modified foods and research avenues to fill the knowledge gaps.

Plant secondary metabolites (PSMs) such as terpenes and phenolic compounds are known to have numerous ecological roles, notably in defence against herbivores, pathogens and abiotic stresses and in interactions with competitors and mutualists. This book reviews recent developments in the field to provide a synthesis of the function, ecology and evolution of PSMs, revealing our increased awareness of their integrative role in connecting natural systems. It emphasises the multiple roles of secondary metabolites in mediating the interactions between organisms and their environment at a range of scales of ecological organisation, demonstrating how genes encoding for PSM biosynthetic enzymes can have effects from the cellular scale within individual plants all the way to global environmental processes. A range of recent methodological advances, including molecular, transgenic and metabolomic techniques, are illustrated and promising directions for future studies are identified, making this a valuable reference for researchers and graduate students in the field.

Gene Editing in Plants, Volume 149 aims to provide the reader with an up-to-date survey of cutting-edge research with gene editing tools and an overview of the implications of this research on the nutritional quality of fruits, vegetables and grains. New chapters in the updated volume include topics relating to Genome Engineering and Agriculture: Opportunities and Challenges, the Use of CRISPR/Cas9 for Crop Improvement in Maize and Soybean, the Use of Zinc-Finger Nucleases for Crop Improvement, Gene Editing in Polyploid Crops: Wheat, Camelina, Canola, Potato, Cotton, Peanut, Sugar Cane, and Citrus, and Gene Editing With TALEN and CRISPR/Cas in Rice. This ongoing serial contain contributions from leading scientists and researchers in the field of gene editing in plants who describe the results of their own research in this rapidly expanding area of science. - Shows the importance of revolutionary gene editing technology on plant biology research and its application to agricultural production - Provides insight into what may lie ahead in this rapidly expanding area of plant research and development - Contains contributions from major leaders in the field of plant gene editing

This latest volume in Wiley Blackwell’s prestigious Annual Plant Reviews brings together articles that describe the biochemical, genetic, and ecological aspects of plant interactions with insect herbivores.. The biochemistry section of this outstanding volume includes reviews highlighting significant findings in the area of plant signalling cascades, recognition of herbivore-associated molecular patterns, sequestration of plant defensive metabolites and perception of plant semiochemicals by insects. Chapters in the genetics section are focused on genetic mapping of herbivore resistance traits and the analysis of transcriptional responses in both plants and insects. The ecology section includes chapters that describe plant-insect interactions at a higher level, including multitrophic interactions, investigations of the cost-benefit paradigm and the altitudinal niche-breadth hypothesis, and a re-evaluation of co-evolution in the light of recent molecular research. Written by many of the world’s leading researchers in these subjects, and edited by Claudia Voelckel and Georg Jander, this volume is designed for students and researchers with some background in plant molecular biology or ecology, who would like to learn more about recent advances or obtain a more in-depth understanding of this field. This volume will also be of great use and interest to a wide range of plant scientists and entomologists and is an essential purchase for universities and research establishments where biological sciences are studied and taught. To view details of volumes in Annual Plant Reviews, visit: www.wiley.com/go/apr Also available from Wiley: Plant Defense Dale Walters 9781405175890 Herbicides and Plant Physiology, 2nd Edn Andrew Cobb & John Reade 9781405129350

"The book...is, in fact, a short text on the many practical problems...associated with translating the explosion in basic biotechnological research into the next Green Revolution," explains Economic Botany. The book is "a concise and accurate narrative, that also manages to be interesting and personal...a splendid little book." Biotechnology states, "Because of the clarity with which it is written, this thin volume makes a major contribution to improving public understanding of genetic engineering's potential for enlarging the world's food supply...and can be profitably read by practically anyone interested in application of molecular biology to improvement of productivity in agriculture."

Wood is the usual end product of a forestry operation. Because of its importance, numerous studies have been made relative to wood prop erties, the causes of wood variation, and how best to develop wood for desired products. There is voluminous literature related to these subjects, but it is neither well known nor appreciated by foresters because the publications are often not available or are not well understood by the forester or by those who use the wood. Frequently, the literature is confusing and contradictory, making it difficult for the nonspecialist to use what information is available. In order to produce and use wood efficiently, the variation pat terns within trees, among trees within species, and among species must be understood. This also requires some knowledge of the causes of variation and the effects of different wood properties upon utiliza tion. The information about variation patterns, their causes, and con trol and effect upon the product must be known by the tree grower, the tree breeder, and the tree harvester as well as by those who ultimately convert wood into a final, salable product.