Genetically Modified Plants, Second Edition, provides an updated roadmap and science-based methodology for assessing the safety of genetic modification technologies, as well as risk assessment approaches from regulators across different agroecosystems. This new edition also includes expanded coverage of technologies used in plant improvement, such as RNA-dependent DNA methylation, reverse breeding, agroinfiltration, and gene-editing technologies such as CRISPR and TALENS. This book is an essential resource for anyone interested in crop improvement, including students and researchers, practitioners in regulatory agencies, and policymakers involved in plant biotechnology risk assessment. - Provides a roadmap for assessing the safety of genetically modified plants - Expands coverage of technologies used in plant improvement, such as RNA-dependent DNA methylation, Reverse Breeding and Agro-infiltration - Introduces new chapters addressing the potential applications and associated risks of new gene editing technologies such as CRISPR and TALENS

From the same author as the popular first edition, the second edition of this trusted, accessible textbook is now accessible online, anytime, anywhere on Kerboodle. It breaks down content into manageable chunks to help students with the transition from GCSE to A Level study, and has been fully revised and updated for the new A Level specifications for first teaching September 2015. This online textbook provides plenty of examples and practice questions for consolidation of learning, with 'Biology at Work', 'Key Skills in Biology' and 'Study Skills' sections giving many applications of biology throughout. Suitable for AQA, OCR, WJEC and Edexcel.

Mitosis and Meiosis, Part B, Volume 145, a new volume in the Methods in Cell Biology series, continues the legacy of this premier serial with quality chapters authored by leaders in the field. Unique to this updated volume are chapters on Mitotic live cell imaging at different time scales, the characterization of mitotic spindle by multi-mode correlative microscopy, STED microscopy of mitosis, Correlating light microscopy with serial block face scanning electron microscopy to study mitotic spindle architecture, quantification of three-dimensional spindle architecture, Imaging based assays for mitotic chromosome condensation and dynamics, and more. - Contains contributions from experts in the field from across the world - Covers a wide array of topics on both mitosis and meiosis - Includes relevant, analysis based topics

Apomixis is the consequence of a concerted mechanism that harnesses the sexual machinery and coordinates developmental steps in the ovule to produce an asexual (clonal) seed. Altered sexual developments involve widely characterized functional and anatomical changes in meiosis, gametogenesis, and embryo and endosperm formation. The ovules of apomictic plants skip meiosis and form unreduced female gametophytes whose egg cells develop into a parthenogenetic embryo, and the central cells may or may not fuse to a sperm to develop the seed endosperm. Thus, functional apomixis involves at least three components, apomeiosis, parthenogenesis, and endosperm development, modified from sexual reproduction that must be coordinated at the molecular level to progress through the developmental steps and form a clonal seed. Despite recent progress uncovering specific genes related to apomixis-like phenotypes and the formation of clonal seeds, the molecular basis and regulatory network of apomixis is still unknown. This is a central problem underlying the current limitations of apomixis breeding. This book collates twelve publications addressing different topics around the molecular basis of apomixis, illustrating recent discoveries and advances toward understanding the genetic regulation of the trait, discussing the possible origins of apomixis and the remaining challenges for its commercial deployment in plants.

During the 1970s, renewed interest in plant mechanical signaling led to the discovery that plants subjected to mechanical stimulation develop shorter and thicker axes than undisturbed plants, a syndrome called thigmomorphogenesis. Currently, mechanosensing is being intensively studied because of its involvement in many physiological processes in plants and particularly in the control of plant morphogenesis. From an ecological point of view, the shaping of plant architecture has to be precisely organized in space to ensure light capture as well as mechanical stability. In natural environments terrestrial plants are subjected to mechanical stimulation mainly due to wind, but also due to precipitation, while aquatic and marine plants are subjected to current and wave energy. Plants acclimate to mechanically challenging environments by sensing mechanical stimulations and modifying their growth in length and diameter and their tissue properties to reduce potential for buckling or breakage. From a morphogenetic point of view, both external and internal mechanical cues play an important role in the control of cell division and meristem development likely by modulating microtubule orientation. How mechanical stimulations are being sensed by plants is an area of intense research. Different types of mechanosensors have been discovered or proposed, including ion channels gated by membrane tension (stretch activation) and plasma membrane receptor-like kinases that monitor the cell wall deformations. Electrophysiologists have measured the conductances of some stretch-activated channels and have showed that SAC of different structures can exhibit different conductances. The role of these differences in conductance has not yet been established. Once a mechanical stimulus has been perceived, it must be converted into a biological signal that can lead to variations of plant phenotype. Calcium has been shown to function as an early second messenger, tightly linked with changes in cytosolic and apoplastic pH. Transcriptional analyses of the effect of mechanical stimulation have revealed a considerable number of differentially expressed genes, some of which appear to be specific to mechanical signal transduction. These genes can thus serve as markers of mechanosensing, for example, in studies attempting to define signalling threshold, or variations of mechanosensitivity (accommodation). Quantitative biomechanical studies have lead to a model of mechanoperception which links mechanical state and plant responses, and provides an integrative tool to study the regulation of mechanosensing. This model includes parameters (sensitivity and threshold) that can be estimated experimentally. It has also been shown that plants are desensitized when exposed to multiple mechanical signals as a function of their mechanical history. Finally, mechanosensing is also involved in osmoregulation or cell expansion. The links between these different processes involving mechanical signalling need further investigation. This frontier research topic provides an overview of the different aspects of mechanical signaling in plants, spanning perception, effects on plant growth and morphogenesis, and broad ecological significance.

This second edition details new and updated protocols for experimental approaches that are currently used to study the formation of flowers. Chapters guide readers on genetic methods, phenotypic analyses, genome-wide experiments, modeling, and system-wide approaches. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and key tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Flower Development: Methods and Protocols, Second Edition aims to be a useful and practical guide to new researchers and experts looking to expand their knowledge.

The importance of haploids is well known to geneticists and plant breeders. The discovery of anther-derived haploid Datura plants in 1964 initiated great excitement in the plant breeding and genetics communities as it offered shortcuts in producing highly desirable homozygous plants. Unfortunately, the expected revolution was slow to materialise due to problems in extending methods to other species, including genotypic dependence, recalcitrance, slow development of tissue culture technologies and a lack of knowledge of the underlying processes. Recent years have witnessed great strides in the research and application of haploids in higher plants. After a lull in activities, drivers for the resurgence have been: (1) development of effective tissue culture protocols, (2) identification of genes c- trolling embryogenesis, and (3) large scale and wide spread commercial up-take in plant breeding and plant biotechnology arenas. The first major international symposium on “Haploids in Higher Plants” took place in Guelph, Canada in 1974. At that time there was much excitement about the potential benefits, but in his opening address Sir Ralph Riley offered the following words of caution: “I believe that it is quite likely that haploid research will contr- ute cultivars to agriculture in several crops in the future. However, the more extreme claims of the enthusiasts for haploid breeding must be treated with proper caution. Plant breeding is subject from time to time to sweeping claims from ent- siastic proponents of new procedures.