About Book

Farmers have always modified plants and animals to improve growth rates and yields, create varieties resistant to pests and diseases, and infuse special nutritional or handling characteristics. Such modifications have been achieved by crossbreeding plants with desirable traits, through hybridizations, and other methods. Now, using recombinant DNA techniques, scientists also genetically modify plants and animals by selecting individual genes that carry desirable traits from one organism, and inserting them into another, sometimes very different, organism, that can be raised for food, fiber, pharmaceutical, or industrial uses. As the world’s population continues to increase, ensuring that the earth has enough food that is nutritious will be a difficult task enough. New researches in agricultural biotechnology are a tool of scientific techniques used to improve plants, animals and microorganisms. Numerous developments over a century or more have contributed to the current progress of agricultural biotechnology and transgenic plants. This book summarizes the applications of agricultural biotechnology. It presents sequencing technologies and their use, role of environmental biotechnology, development of design starches and application in plant biotechnology. It also highlights endangered medicinal plants, biotechnology carbon capture, microbes and biotechnology in kiwifruit. It will serve as a powerful tool in addition to genetic engineering that is useful for changing the genetic composition of plants and animals. This book picks up individual branches and explains their need and contribution in the growth of this field. It is a valuable compilation of topics, ranging from the basic to the most complex theories and principles in the field of agricultural biotechnology.

Preface............................................................................................................v

Chapter 1 Growing Uses of 2A in Plant Biotechnology......................................1

1. Introduction............................................................................................1

2. The 2A story — The end of the beginning.....................................2

3. 2A in plant biotechnology.................................................................11

4. Food for thought.................................................................................21

Acknowledgements.............................................................................22

Chapter 2 Role of Biotechnology for Protection of Endangered Medicinal Plants............................................................................................................37

1. Introduction..........................................................................................37

2. Essence of in vitro culture.................................................................41

3. Micropropagation................................................................................41

4. Metabolic engineering and biotransformation..............................42

5. Factors influencing cell growth in vitro.........................................44

6. Rooting, aclimatization and adaptation..........................................45

7. In vitro cultures conditions.............................................................46

8. In vitro cultures and application of biotechnology in Gentiana,

Leucojum and Rhodiola........................................................................47

9. Conclusions..........................................................................................78

Nomenclature.......................................................................................79

Acknowledgements.............................................................................79

Chapter 3 Environmental Biotechnology for Bioconversion of Agricultural and Forestry Wastes into Nutritive Biomass....................................100

1. Introduction........................................................................................100

2. Biotechnology of mycelia biomass producing through submerged

bioconversion of agricultural crop wastes ..................................101

3. Laboratory-scale biotechnology of edible mushroom producing

on growing composts of apple and winery wastes...................107

4. Biotechnology of forestry wastes recycl-ing as growing composts

for edible and medicinal mushroom cultures.............................112

5. Conclusions........................................................................................120

Acknowledgements...........................................................................121

Chapter 4 Plant Biotechnology for the Development of Design Starches..124

1. Introduction........................................................................................124

2. Overview of the starch biosynthesis and degradation in

plants ..................................................................................................128

3. Carbohydrate binding modules ....................................................130

4. Altering the composition and amount of starch by biotechnological

manipulation of enzymes ..............................................................133

5. Use of carbohydrate-binding modules to change amylose -

amylopectin ratio and obtaining of modified starches. ...........137

6. Conclusions .......................................................................................140

Acknowledgement ...........................................................................141

Chapter 5 Sequencing Technologies and Their Use in Plant Biotechnology

and Breeding............................................................................................149

1. Introduction........................................................................................149

2. Current sequencing technologies ................................................150

3. Applications in plant research ....................................................156

4. Future outlook .................................................................................173

5. Acknowledgments ...........................................................................174

Chapter 6 Plant Beneficial Microbes and Their Application in Plant

Biotechnology...........................................................................................186

1. Introduction........................................................................................186

2. Plant-microorganism interactions: Ecological implications .....187

3. Experimental considerations about plant-beneficial bacteria .193

4. Conclusions .......................................................................................200

Chapter 7 Applications of Biotechnology in Kiwifruit (Actinidia)...............209

1. Introduction........................................................................................209

2. Global significance of kiwifruit ....................................................209

3. Tissue culture and crop improvement.........................................212

4. Transformation systems .................................................................215

5. Actinidia molecular biology .........................................................221

6. Future perspectives and challenges .............................................233

Chapter 8 Biotechnology of Agricultural Wastes Recycling Through Controlled Cultivation of Mushrooms...................................................................247

1. Introduction........................................................................................247

2. The solid state cultivation of mushrooms on winery and vineyard

wastes .................................................................................................248

3. The controlled submerged cultivation of mushrooms on winery

wastes..................................................................................................253

4. The controlled cultivation of mushrooms in modular robotic

system..................................................................................................261

5. Conclusions........................................................................................268

6. Acknowledgment..............................................................................269

Citation......................................................................................................273

Index...........................................................................................................275

About Author

William Alpman holds Ph.D. in Agricultural Science from Public State University of Science, Novosibirsk. He is a Guest Lecturer at Agricultural Institute, Kharkiv. He has contributed various research paper, articles and journals on plant breeding, soilless culture, crop plant and transgenic plants. His research interests are molecular biology, molecular aspects of biotechnology, synthetic biology and agricultural applications in relevant approaches. He has worked in various aspects of plant sciences for over ten years and given his views about technology to alternative farming.