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(NAS Colloquium) Plants and Population Is There Time? (1999) / Chapter Skim
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Transgenic plants for tropical regions: Some considerations about their development and their transfer to the small farmer
Pages 5978-5981

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From page 5978...
... Food production will have to be doubled or preferably tripled by the year 2050 to meet the needs of the expected 11 billion people, of whom ninety percent will reside in the developing world. The enormity of the challenge is significantly increased by the declining availability of water and the fact that this additional food will have to be produced on existing agricultural land or in regions considered as marginal soils, if we want to preserve the forested regions and the environment as a whole.
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From page 5979...
... This economical emphasis is understandable, because important investments are needed to develop, field test, and commercialize new transgenic plant varieties. However, in terms of global food production, it is necessary to ensure that this technology is effectively transferred to the developing world and adapted to the local crops and/or local varieties of crops for which it was originally developed.
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From page 5980...
... Citrate overproduction, therefore, appears to be an ideal candidate to produce Al-tolerant transgenic plants. To test whether citrate overproduction could be achieved in transgenic plants and to assess the impact of elevated levels of citrate on aluminum tolerance, our research team produced transgenic tobacco lines that overexpress the citrate synthase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa in their cytoplasm (24~.
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From page 5981...
... It would be more interesting if transgenic seeds were transferred to national breeding programs, which could be used as the basis for developing local varieties better suited to local environment and soil conditions. Another possibility is to transfer gene constructs to research institutes that have the capacity to introduce this genetic material into local crops or varieties.
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Key Terms

  • developing world
  • transgenic plants
  • plant varieties
  • plant species
  • plant biotechnology

  • local crops
  • food production
  • aluminum toxicity
  • citrate synthase
  • transgenic plant

  • root growth
  • local varieties
  • increased capacity
  • agricultural production
  • crop production

  • transgenic tobacco
  • increase productivity
  • organic acids
  • arable land
  • research institutes

  • elevated levels
  • acid savannas
  • potentially arable
  • agricultural productivity
  • improved transgenic

  • delayed ripening
  • improve productivity
  • climatic conditions
  • rockefeller foundation
  • organic acid


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