Plant Genetics: Principles and Practices

Plant genetics is the science of studying genes, variation and heredity in plants. Plants display distinct characteristics such as their ability to self-fertilize and adaptability to polyploidy. The study of these aspects of plants has an economic significance. Staple crops can be engineered to develop traits of increased yields, better nutritional value, disease resistance, etc. The genetic engineering of plants is possible with the use of techniques such as, electroporation, microinjection, gene guns and agrobacterium. Introducing a new gene into a plant involves the presence of a promoter in the area where the new gene is required to be introduced. Such genetic manipulation can be transgenic, cisgenic or subgenic. This book contains some path-breaking studies in the area of plant genetics. It outlines the principles and practices of genetic engineering of plants in detail. This book is a complete source of knowledge on the present status of this important field.