The male thynnine wasp's extreme sexual enthusiasm is crucial to reproduction of hammer orchids in the wild. Hammer orchids have co-evolved to produce odors identical to those manufactured by female thynnine wasps. The male wasp's superb sensitivity to the scent of his female mate is the basis for the hammer orchid's deceit--in effect, orchids exploit the male insect's highly adaptive sense of smell for their own propagation. While pollinating orchids is a waste of time, and thus a maladaptive activity for a wasp, his mistake comes about because he must react quickly whenever he senses a possible mate nearby. Alcock suggests that, "for insects, he who hesitates is lost, although perhaps it would be better to say that he who hesitates often loses a chance to pass on his genes."
This book abounds with clever explanations for how these exceptionally complex flowers came to be shaped as they are. The reader can explore many aspects of orchid biology and history ranging from how some species avoid inbreeding, to the origins of orchids from an ancestor that belonged to the asparagus family. Examining each component of an orchid's flower, Alcock explains how the various parts work together to produce the plant's minute offspring. Each element of an orchid, as quirky as it may seem, is biologically significant, bearing the imprint of natural selection. Readers can share in the delight that Darwin and all other orchid enthusiasts have felt in making sense of even the smallest of details of these most wonderful plants.

'A fascinating treasure trove for plant lovers and gardeners alike.' - Frances Tophill Often beautiful and sometimes strange, flowering plants have evolved to become masters of seduction. We are surrounded by extraordinary partnerships between plants and the birds, bees and other insects that pollinate them. In The Sexual Life of Flowers, botanist Simon Klein leads a beguiling and fascinating tour of the courtship between fifty flowers and the pollinators vital to their survival. From the siren scent of honeysuckle to the radiating warmth of the sunflower or the ultraviolet signal of the red poppy; tales of botanical charm, deception and intrigue are played out amid an annual explosion of activity in gardens, meadows and woodlands. Lavishly illustrated in full colour, this is a beautiful collection for gardeners and anyone with an interest in flowers.

Fungi range from being microscopic, single-celled yeasts to multicellular and heterotrophic in nature. Fungal communities have been found in vast ranges of environmental conditions. They can be associated with plants epiphytically, endophytically, or rhizospherically. Extreme environments represent unique ecosystems that harbor novel biodiversity of fungal communities. Interest in the exploration of fungal diversity has been spurred by the fact that fungi perform numerous functions integral in sustaining the biosphere, ranging from nutrient cycling to environmental detoxification, which involves processes like augmentation, supplementation, and recycling of plant nutrients - a particularly important process in sustainable agriculture. Fungal communities from natural and extreme habitats help promote plant growth, enhance crop yield, and enhance soil fertility via direct or indirect plant growth promoting (PGP) mechanisms of solubilization of phosphorus, potassium, and zinc, production of ammonia, hydrogen cyanides, phytohormones, Fe-chelating compounds, extracellular hydrolytic enzymes, and bioactive secondary metabolites. These PGP fungi could be used as biofertilizers, bioinoculants, and biocontrol agents in place of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in eco-friendly manners for sustainable agriculture and environments. Along with agricultural applications, medically important fungi play a significant role for human health. Fungal communities are useful for sustainable environments as they are used for bioremediation which is the use of microorganisms' metabolism to degrade waste contaminants (sewage, domestic, and industrial effluents) into non-toxic or less toxic materials by natural biological processes. Fungi could be used as mycoremediation for the future of environmental sustainability. Fungi and fungal products have the biochemical and ecological capability to degrade environmental organic chemicals and to decrease the risk associated with metals, semi-metals, and noble metals either by chemical modification or by manipulating chemical bioavailability. The two volumes of Recent Trends in Mycological Research aim to provide an understanding of fungal communities from diverse environmental habitats and their potential applications in agriculture, medical, environments and industry. The books are useful to scientists, researchers, and students involved in microbiology, biotechnology, agriculture, molecular biology, environmental biology and related subjects.

This book addresses Synthetic Biology (SynBio), a new and promising biotechnology that has attracted much interest from both a scientific and a policy perspective. Yet, questions concerning the patentability of SynBio inventions have not been examined in detail so far; as a result, it remains unclear whether these inventions are patentable on the basis of current norms and case law. The book addresses this question, focusing especially on the subject matter's eligibility and moral criteria. It provides an overview of the legislation and decisions applicable to SynBio patents and examines this new technology in view of the ongoing debate over the patentability of biotechnologies in general. The legal analysis is complemented by the practical examination of several patent applications submitted to the European and US patent offices (EPO and USPTO), and by an assessment of the patent issues that are likely to be raised by future SynBio developments.

This book reports on the current global status of mungbean and its economic importance. Mungbean (Vigna radiata)-also called green gram-is an important food and cash crop in the rice-based farming systems of South and Southeast Asia, but is also grown in other parts of the world. Its short duration, low input requirement and high global demand make mungbean an ideal rotation crop for smallholder farmers. The book describes mungbean collections maintained by various organizations and their utilization, especially with regard to adapting mungbean to new environments. It provides an overview of the progress made in breeding for tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses; nutritional quality enhancement including genomics approaches; and outlines future challenges for mungbean cultivation. In addition, genomic approaches to evaluating the evolutionary relationship between Vigna species and addressing questions concerning domestication, adaptation and genotype-phenotype relationships are also discussed

This book describes the history of tobacco genomics, from its "discovery" by Europeans to next-generation omics approaches in plant science. The authors primarily focus on the allotetraploid common tobacco plant (N. tabacum); however, separate chapters are dedicated to closely related Nicotiana species, such as N. benthamiana and N. attenuata, for which substantial progress in omics data analysis has been already achieved. While genetic maps, transcriptomes, and physical maps of BAC libraries have significantly enhanced our understanding of the tobacco plant, the genome of tobacco and related Nicotiana species has opened a new era in modern tobacco research. This book addresses current and future industrial and research applications as well as central challenges in tobacco science, including diseases, low variability of cultivars, the genome's large size, polyploidy, and gene duplication.

This book offers comprehensive information on the genomics of spruces (Picea spp.), naturally abundant conifer tree species that are widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere. Due to their tremendous ecological and economic importance, the management of forest genetic resources has chiefly focused on conservation and tree improvement. A draft genome sequence of the 20-gigabase Norway spruce genome was published in the journal Nature in 2013. Continuous efforts to improve the spruce genome assembly are underway, but are hindered by the inherent characteristics of conifer genomes: high amounts of repetitive sequences (introns and transposable elements) in the genome and large gene family expansions with regards to abiotic stress, secondary metabolism and spruces' defense responses to pathogens and herbivory. This book presents the latest information on the status of genome assemblies, provides detailed insights into transposable elements and methylation patterns, and highlights the extensive genomic resources available for inferring population genomics and climate adaptation, as well as emerging genomics tools for tree improvement programs. In addition, this volume features whole-genome comparisons among conifer species, and demonstrates how functional genomics can be used to improve gene function annotations. The book closes with an outlook on emerging fields of research in spruce genomics.

Fruit development and seed dispersal are major topics within plant and crop sciences research with important developments in research being reported regularly. Drawing together reviews by some of the world's leading experts in these areas, the Editor of this volume, Lars Ostergaard has provided a volume which is an essential purchase for all those working in plant and crop sciences worldwide.

This book on lupin genomics primarily focuses on the narrow-leafed lupin (NLL), and details the genomic resources that have been developed and how they are currently being used to help advance both fundamental and applied research on NLL in areas ranging from its domestication to plant-microbe interactions and syntenic relationships between NLL and other legume crops. It also reports on genomic efforts being pursued with regard to other lupin crops. Lupins are important ecological 'engineers': they can colonise and thrive in low-nutrient soils due to their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen in symbiosis with bacteria and efficiently take up phosphorous. Recently, lupins have attracted considerable interest, not only because of their value for sustainable farming as a break crop, but also as a potential 'super food' for fighting major health issues in connection with diabetes and obesity. Narrow-leafed lupin is the main grain legume crop, grown primarily in Australia, and was therefore selected for the development of a reference lupin genome and associated genomic resources. Its genome has recently been sequenced with a focus on the gene-rich space, which has advanced the development of new breeding tools for the improvement of NLL and related lupin crops.

This book compiles the fundamental advances resulting from of oil-palm genome and transcriptome sequencing, and describes the challenges faced and strategies applied in sequencing, assembling and annotating oil palm genome sequences. The availability of genome and transcriptome data has made the mining of a high number of new molecular markers useful for genetic diversity as well as marker-trait association studies and the book presents high-throughput genotyping platforms, which allow the detection of QTL regions associated with interesting oil palm traits such as oil unsaturation and yield components using classical genetic and association mapping approaches. Lastly, it also presents the discovery of major genes governing economically important traits of the oil palm. Covering the history of oil palm expansion, classical and molecular cytogenetics, improvements based on wild and advanced genetic materials, and the science of oil palm breeding, the book is a valuable resource for scientists involved in plant genetic research.

This book presents the first comprehensive compilation of genome research on the Hevea brasiliensis rubber tree. The genomes of Hevea tree clones (cultivars) are described by three major international groups. Chapters on omics-driven investigations address a broad range of topics including genome annotation and utilisation, transcriptome and gene family analysis, genetic mapping, metabolic pathways in latex and molecular breeding. Additionally, an overview of fundamental rubber biology, especially on laticifers, provides a historical background that is relevant to rubber genome analysis. The book concludes with several perspectives on the future needs of rubber investigations and prospects of rubber genomics. Given the scope of topics, this book will appeal to researchers and university students working in genomics and biotechnology of the rubber tree, and to rubber breeders with an interest in non-conventional approaches to trait analysis, selection and breeding.

Nanotechnology is the application of science to control matter at the molecular level. It has become one of the most promising applied technologies in all areas of science. Nanoparticles have multi-functional properties and have created very interesting applications in various fields such as medicine, nutrition, bioenergy, agriculture and the environment. But the biogenic syntheses of monodispersed nanoparticles with specific sizes and shapes have been a challenge in biomaterial science. Nanoparticles are of great interest due to their extremely small size and large surface-to-volume ratio, which lead to both chemical and physical differences in their properties (e.g., mechanical properties, biological and sterical properties, catalytic activity, thermal and electrical conductivity, optical absorption and melting point) compared to bulk of the same chemical composition. Recently, however, synthesizing metal nanoparticles using green technology via microorganisms, plants, viruses, and so on, has been extensively studied and has become recognized as a green and efficient way for further exploiting biological systems as convenient nanofactories. Thus the biological synthesis of nanoparticles is increasingly regarded as a rapid, ecofriendly, and easily scaled-up technology. Today researchers are developing new techniques and materials using nanotechnology that may be suitable for plants to boost their native functions. Recently, biological nanoparticles were found to be more pharmacologically active than physico-chemically synthesized nanoparticles. Various applications of biosynthesized nanoparticles have been discovered, especially in the field of biomedical research, such as applications to specific delivery of drugs, use for tumor detection, angiogenesis, genetic disease and genetic disorder diagnosis, photoimaging, and photothermal therapy. Further, iron oxide nanoparticles have been applied to cancer therapy, hyperthermia, drug delivery, tissue repair, cell labeling, targeting and immunoassays, detoxification of biological fluids, magnetic resonance imaging, and magnetically responsive drug delivery therapy. Nanoparticle synthesis for plant byproducts for biomedical applications has vast potential. This book offers researchers in plant science and biomedicine the latest research and opportunity to develop new tools for the synthesis of environmentally friendly and cost-effective nanoparticles for applications in biomedicine as well as other various fields.

This book describes the current state of international grape genomics, with a focus on the latest findings, tools and strategies employed in genome sequencing and analysis, and genetic mapping of important agronomic traits. It also discusses how these are having a direct impact on outcomes for grape breeders and the international grape research community. While V. vinifera is a model species, it is not always appreciated that its cultivation usually requires the use of other Vitis species as rootstocks. The book discusses genetic diversity within the Vitis genus, the available genetic resources for breeding, and the available genomic resources for other Vitis species. Grapes (Vitis vinifera spp. vinifera) have been a source of food and wine since their domestication from their wild progenitor (Vitis vinifera ssp. sylvestris) around 8,000 years ago, and they are now the world's most valuable horticultural crop. In addition to being economically important, V. vinifera is also a model organism for the study of perennial fruit crops for two reasons: Firstly, its ability to be transformed and micropropagated via somatic embryogenesis, and secondly its relatively small genome size of 500 Mb. The economic importance of grapes made V. vinifera an obvious early candidate for genomic sequencing, and accordingly, two draft genomes were reported in 2007. Remarkably, these were the first genomes of any fruiting crop to be sequenced and only the fourth for flowering plants. Although riddled with gaps and potentially omitting large regions of repetitive sequences, the two genomes have provided valuable insights into grape genomes. Cited in over 2,000 articles, the genome has served as a reference in more than 3,000 genome-wide transcriptional analyses. Further, recent advances in DNA sequencing and bioinformatics are enabling the assembly of reference-grade genome references for more grape genotypes revealing the exceptional extent of structural variation in the species.

The scientific and technical development of any kind of germplasm is regulated by a vast network of treaties, conventions, international agreements, and national and regional legislation. These regulations govern biotechnological innovations in plants and microorganisms, access to and use of plant genetic resources, and biosafety. This complex mix has made it difficult to arrive at global interpretations, due to overlaps, gaps, ambiguities, contradictions, and lack of consistency. The big picture is even more complex, as a series of scientific developments - gene editing in particular - have in some cases rendered these international regulatory frameworks obsolete. This book puts forward an innovative approach: a "Comprehensive Plant Germplasm System". The System is a cooperative game theory-based proposal for a binding international convention which would supersede all other conventions, treaties, national and regional legislation covering native varieties and traditional developments, heterogeneous plant varieties, microorganisms, biotechnological inventions, plant genetic resources, and biosafety regulation. In short, it offers a comprehensive framework regarding intellectual property, biosafety, and business regulation and covers all types of germplasm. If applied, the system is expected to yield higher productivity rates in crops and improved food biodiversity, as well as a new paradigm based on the promotion of innovation for "Agriculture 4.0."

Bioinformatics is an integrative field of computer science, genetics, genomics, proteomics, and statistics, which has undoubtedly revolutionized the study of biology and medicine in past decades. It mainly assists in modeling, predicting and interpreting large multidimensional biological data by utilizing advanced computational methods. Despite its enormous potential, bioinformatics is not widely integrated into the academic curriculum as most life science students and researchers are still not equipped with the necessary knowledge to take advantage of this powerful tool. Hence, the primary purpose of our book is to supplement this unmet need by providing an easily accessible platform for students and researchers starting their career in life sciences. This book aims to avoid sophisticated computational algorithms and programming. Instead, it will mostly focus on simple DIY analysis and interpretation of biological data with personal computers. Our belief is that once the beginners acquire these basic skillsets, they will be able to handle most of the bioinformatics tools for their research work and to better understand their experimental outcomes. The third volume is titled In Silico Life Sciences: Agriculture. It focuses on plant genetic, genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomics data. Using examples of new crop diseases-emergence, crop productivity and biotic/abiotic stress tolerance, this book illustrates how bioinformatics can be an integral components of modern day plant science research.

This is the first scholarly reference work to cover all the major scientific themes and facets of the subject of seeds. It outlines the latest fundamental biological knowledge about seeds, together with the principles of agricultural seed processing, storage and sowing, the food and industrial uses of seeds, and the roles of seeds in history, economies and cultures. With contributions from 110 expert authors worldwide, the editors have created 560 authoritative articles, illustrated with plentiful tables, figures, black-and-white and color photographs, suggested further reading matter and 670 supplementary definitions. The contents are alphabetically arranged and cross-referenced to connect related entries.

Attaining sustainable agricultural production while preserving environmental quality, agro-ecosystem functions and biodiversity represents a major challenge for current agricultural practices; further, the traditional use of chemical inputs (fertilizers, pesticides, nutrients etc.) poses serious threats to crop productivity, soil fertility and the nutritional value of farm produce. Given these risks, managing pests and diseases, maintaining agro-ecosystem health, and avoiding health issues for humans and animals have now become key priorities. The use of PGPR as biofertilizers, plant growth promoters, biopesticides, and soil and plant health managers has attracted considerable attention among researchers, agriculturists, farmers, policymakers and consumers alike. Using PGPR as bioinoculants can help meet the expected demand for global agricultural productivity to feed the world's booming population, which is predicted to reach roughly 9 billion by 2050. However, to provide effective bioinoculants, PGPR strains must be safe for the environment, offer considerable plant growth promotion and biocontrol potential, be compatible with useful soil rhizobacteria, and be able to withstand various biotic and abiotic stresses. Accordingly, the book also highlights the need for better strains of PGPR to complement increasing agro-productivity.

Over the last decade considerable progress has been made in white biotechnology research and further major scientific and technological breakthroughs are expected in the future. The first large-scale industrial applications of modern biotechnology have been in the areas of food and animal feed production (agricultural/green biotechnology) and in pharmaceuticals (medical/red biotechnology). In contrast, the productions of bioactive compounds through fermentation or enzymatic conversion are known as industrial or white biotchnology. The fungi are ubiquitous in nature and have been sorted out from different habitats, including extreme environments (high temperature, low temperature, salinity and pH); and associated with plants (Epiphytic, Endophytic and Rhizospheric). The fungal strains are beneficial as well as harmful for human beings. The beneficial fungal strains may play important roles in the agricultural, industrial, and medical sectors. The fungal strains and its product (enzymes, bioactive compounds, and secondary metabolites) are very useful for industry (e.g., the discovery of penicillin from Penicillium chrysogenum). This discovery was a milestone in the development of white biotechnology as the industrial production of penicillin and antibiotics using fungi moved industrial biotechnology into the modern era, transforming it into a global industrial technology. Since then, white biotechnology has steadily developed and now plays a key role in several industrial sectors providing both high value nutraceutical and pharmaceutical products. The fungal strains and bioactive compounds also play an important role in environmental cleaning. This volume covers the latest research developments related to value-added products in white biotechnology through fungi.

Natural remedies play an important role in curing ailments that happen by chance or adoptively. Adhatoda vasica is a natural Asian remedy that has the potential to treat respiratory disorders, among others. While existing literature does exist on this medicinal plant, it can be cumbersome to sort through for information relevant to academics, research, and practice. This work reframes and consolidates information on Adhatoda vasica so that it is easier to approach through academic, research, and practitioner perspectives.

This book describes the sequencing efforts for Neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss), one of the most versatile tropical evergreen tree species. The neem tree is a source of various natural products, including the potent biopesticide azadirachtin and limonoids, which have a broad spectrum of activity against insect pests and microbial pathogens. To identify genes and pathways in neem, three neem genomes and several transcriptomes are studied using next-generation sequencing technologies. Neem has been extensively used in Ayurveda, Unani and homoeopathic medicine and is often referred to as the 'village pharmacy' by natives due to its wealth of medicinal properties. Besides the description of the genome, this book discusses the neem microbiome and its role in the production of neem metabolites like salanin, nimbin and exopy-azadirachtin under in vitro conditions. It also highlights cell and tissue culture using various neem explants including the leaf, root, shoot, cambium, etc.

Linum (flax) is a genus of about 200 species in the flowering plant family Linaceae. The genus includes common flax, which is one of the best fibers to produce linen, the seeds to produce linseed oil and has health-related properties of flax in human and animal nutrition. This book describes the genetics and genomics of Linum including the development of extensive experimental resources (e.g. whole genome sequence, efficient transformation methods, insertional mutant collections, large germplasm collections, resequenced genomes) that have led much progress and its economic importance. The methods and use of Linum to address a wide range of applications (e.g. disease resistance, cell wall composition, abiotic stress tolerance, floral development, natural diversity) is also discussed.

This is the first book on the genome of Salvia miltiorrhiza, summarizing the research advances in the molecular mapping, whole genome sequencing, chloroplast and mitochondria genomes, epigenetics, transcriptomics and functional genomics of this emerging model plant with great economic and medicinal value. It also describes its distribution, taxonomy and morphology and provides useful information on its cultivation and breeding. Further, it highlights the biosynthetic pathways of tanshinones and phenolic acids - two main classes of bioactive components produced in this plant species - and reviews and discusses the technology of hairy root induction, tissue culture and genetic transformation of S. miltiorrhiza. The book is a valuable resource for students, teachers and researchers in academia and industry interested in medicinal plants and pharmacy.

This book discusses the role of salt in current agricultural approaches, including the low salt tolerance of agricultural crops and trees, impact of saline soils, and salt-resistant plants. Halophytes are extremely salt tolerant plants, which are able to grow and survive under salt at concentrations as high as 5 g/l by maintaining negative water potential. The salt-tolerant microbes inhabiting the rhizospheres of halophytes may contribute to their salt tolerance, and the rhizospheres of halophytic plants provide an ideal opportunity for isolating various groups of salt-tolerant microbes that could enhance the growth of different crops under salinity stress. The book offers an overview of salt-tolerant microbes' ability to increase plant tolerance to salt to facilitate plant growth, the potential of the halophytes' rhizospheres as a reservoir of beneficial salt-tolerant microbes, their future application as bio-inoculants in agriculture and a valuable resource for an alternative way of improving crop tolerance to salinity and promoting saline soil-based agriculture. This special collection of reviews highlights some of the recent advances in applied aspects of plant (halophytes)-microbe interactions and their contribution towards eco-friendly approaches saline soil-based agriculture.

This edited volume summarizes the recent advancements made in plant science including molecular biology and genome editing , particularly in the development of novel pathways tolerant to climate change-induced stresses such as drought, extreme temperatures, cold, salinity, flooding, etc. These stresses are liable for decrease in yields in many crop plants at global level. Till date conventional plant breeding approaches have resulted in significant improvement of crop plants for producing higher yields during adverse climatic conditions. However, the pace of improvement through conventional plant breeding needs to be accelerated in keeping with the growing demand of food and increasing human populationl, particularly in developing world. This book serves as a comprehensive reference material for researchers, teachers, and students involved in climate change-related abiotic stress tolerance studies in plants.

Plant tissue culture and advanced biotechnologies have proven to be influential tools that complement conventional breeding and accelerate development of many medicinal plants. Various approaches, such as pathway engineering, precursor feeding, transformation, elicitation with biotic and abiotic elicitors and scaling up in bioreactors, have been explored to improve the production of secondary metabolites from different medicinal plants. This book provides a comprehensive description of various studies, carried out on in vitro culture and hairy root cultures of Catharanthus roseus, Silybum marianum and Digitalis species which have been considered as alternative sources for the production of anti-tumour compounds, flavonolignans and cardenolides. Specific focus is on elicitation strategy for increasing production of bioactive compounds of C. roseus L., S. marianum and Digitalis species to overcome the constrains of conventional propagation. This book is valuable for researchers or students working on medicinal plants, phytochemistry, and plant tissue culture. It also serves as a reference for the pharmaceutical industry.