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Suggested Citation:"Introduction." National Research Council. 1984. Genetic Engineering of Plants: Agricultural Research Opportunities and Policy Concerns. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10.
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Page 1
Suggested Citation:"Introduction." National Research Council. 1984. Genetic Engineering of Plants: Agricultural Research Opportunities and Policy Concerns. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10.
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Page 2
Suggested Citation:"Introduction." National Research Council. 1984. Genetic Engineering of Plants: Agricultural Research Opportunities and Policy Concerns. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10.
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Page 3
Suggested Citation:"Introduction." National Research Council. 1984. Genetic Engineering of Plants: Agricultural Research Opportunities and Policy Concerns. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10.
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Page 4

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Introduction Farmers have been cultivating plants for millenia. Over the years, increasingly sophisticated tools have been applied to crop improvement. Modern plant breeding techniques, for instance, have been used to create new varieties adapted to specific environments or needs- such as crops that are easier to harvest or that are resistant to disease. These breeding practices have been augmented by chemical technology. Pes- ticides are now widely used to protect crops from insect infestations. Herbicides have largely replaced mechanical cultivation as the method for controlling weeds. And fertilizer is routinely used to replenish the nutrients lost from the soil. These breeding strategies, agricultural chem- icals, and improved cropping practices have boosted agricultural pro- ductivity in the United States to its current high. Despite these successes, crops are still lost to pests, diseases, and climatic extremes. Fertilizer and other chemicals are now consuming an increasing share of the farm dollar. At the same time, there is growing concern about the effect of these chemicals on the environment. Agri- cultural problems are more pronounced in the Third World, where the population is rising steadily. Without improvements in agricultural tech- nologies, demand for food is expected to outrun supply early in the next century. Molecular biology and genetic engineering offer new tools to meet these and other agricultural needs. Molecular biologists are learning how to transfer foreign genes into plant cells. They are doing on a molecular level what plant breeders have been doing with whole plants for cen- turies: combining genes in new ways to create improved crops. Working with single genes, rather than whole plants, offers several advantages. One advantage is specificity. Classical breeding introduces genes that complicate the process of crop improvement. In a sexual cross, the entire 1

2 GENETIC ENGINEERING OF PLANTS genomes of two plants are combined even though the breeder may be trying to transfer a trait controlled by a single gene. It takes repeated back crosses to eliminate the extraneous genes and thus many years to create an improved variety. Using molecular techniques, a gene can be snipped from one plant and spliced into another in a single experiment. Perhaps more important, genetic engineering opens up a new source

INTRODUCTION 3 of genetic variability that can be used in crop improvement. Breeders can work only with plants that are cross-fertile. By contrast, genetic engineering offers the promise of selecting valuable traits from any organism. For instance, research is already under way on the transfer of the genes for nitrogen fixation from bacteria to plants. Another ap- proach might be the transfer of genes for herbicide resistance from weects to crop plants. If genetic engineering techniques can be mastered, they could be used in the design of plants that are hardier, higher yielding, more nutritious, or less expensive to produce such as plants that require fewer pesti- cides, fungicides, or fertilizers. Other possibilities include plants that can thrive in marginal conditions, on soils that are too salty, too acidic, too wet, or too dry. The genetic engineering of plants, however, is still in its infancy. Fundamental questions remain about the feasibility of some of these techniques. Last year, researchers demonstrated for the first time that a foreign gene can be successfully inserted into a plant and made to function. Yet extensive research will be necessary before these tech- niques can be used in practical crop improvement schemes. Molecular biologists must identify agriculturally important genes from the 5 million or so contained in most plants. They are searching for vectors to carry foreign genes into a plant cell. And they must develop reliable methods for regenerating plants from single cells in culture. Such experiments are just beginning. In acictition, little is known about how plants will respond to the introduction of foreign genes if, for instance, yield or vigor will suffer. Progress in plant genetic engineering has been hampered by the lim- ited knowledge of plant biology. The successful application of genetic engineering to plants will require fundamental breakthroughs in the understanding of gene expression and regulation, as well as increased knowledge of plant physiology, biochemistry, development, and me- tabolism. Yet relatively few scientists are trained in either plant molecular or cellular biology, and few of these scientists have any experience in addressing agricultural questions. It is too early to assess with accuracy either the potential or limitations of genetic engineering for crop improvement. At this stage, gene transfer is not expected to have a significant effect on agricultural production practices until the late 1990s. Other, simpler techniques, based on the ability to culture and regenerate plant cells, are already proving a short- cut in the selection and breeding of some crops. Yet in the near term, the biggest contribution of gene transfer and other new technologies will be to fundamental knowledge. The ability to identify and isolate

4 GENETIC ENGINEERING OF PLANTS single genes is a valuable too] in the stucly of gene structure and function. This knowledge can then be used to devise more effective strategies for crop improvement through classical breeding and, eventually, through · · — genetic engineering. In May 1983 the Board on Agriculture of the National Research Council held a convocation to discuss the potential contribution of genetic en- gineering to agriculture. Speakers from numerous disciplines discussed the research opportunities presented by the new genetic technologies, as well as their implications for funding and training in the plant sci- ences. The following report is based on that discussion. I

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"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."

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