Viruses are a huge threat to agriculture. In the past, viruses used to be controlled using conventional methods, such as crop rotation and destruction of the infected plants, but now there are more novel ways to control them. This volume focuses on natural and engineered virus resistance, the two major strategies used for crop protection. - Contributions from leading authorities - Informs and updates on all the latest developments in the field

Concern about the environmental consequences of the widespread use of pesticides has increased, and evidence of pesticide-resistant virus vectors have continued to emerge. This volume presents a timely survey of the mechanisms of plant resistance and examines current developments in breeding for resistance, with particular emphasis on advances in genetic engineering which allow for the incorporation of viral genetic material into plants. Discusses the mechanisms of innate resistance in strains of tobacco, tomato, and cowpea; various aspects of induced resistance, including the characterization and roles of the pathogenesis-related proteins; antiviral substances and their comparison with interferon; and cross-protection between plant virus strains. Also presents several papers which evaluate the status of genetic engineering as it relates to breeding resistant plants. Among these are discussions of the potential use of plant viruses as gene vectors, gene coding for viral coat protein, satellite RNA, and antisense RNA, and practical issues such as the durability of resistant crop plants in the field.

Viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) are a group of illnesses that are caused by several distinct families of viruses. While some types of hemorrhagic fever viruses can cause relatively mild illnesses, many of these viruses cause severe life-threatening disease. Some examples include: Lassa fever, Marburg virus, Ebola virus, Bolivian hemorrhagic fever, Korean hemorrhagic fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and Dengue hemorrhagic fever. No current treatment can cure viral hemorrhagic fevers, and immunizations exist for only two (yellow fever and Argentine hemorrhagic fever) of the many VHFs. Researchers are working to develop other vaccines, but in the meantime, the best approach is prevention. This volume will provide a review of what is known to date on these virus families as well as highlighting recent advances and future needs. Key features: * Provides comprehensive overview of what is known to date, recent advances and future needs * Examines transmission and risk factors * Highlights what has been done to help in outbreak control * Discusses the need for vaccines and antivirals

Assists policymakers in evaluating the appropriate scientific methods for detecting unintended changes in food and assessing the potential for adverse health effects from genetically modified products. In this book, the committee recommended that greater scrutiny should be given to foods containing new compounds or unusual amounts of naturally occurring substances, regardless of the method used to create them. The book offers a framework to guide federal agencies in selecting the route of safety assessment. It identifies and recommends several pre- and post-market approaches to guide the assessment of unintended compositional changes that could result from genetically modified foods and research avenues to fill the knowledge gaps.

One hundred years ago, when Martinus W. Beijerinck in Delft and Friedrich Loeffler on Riems Island discovered a new class of infectious agents in plants and animals, a new discipline was born. This book, a compilation of papers written by well-recognized scientists, gives an impression of the early days, the pioneer period and the current state of virology. Recent developments and future perspectives of this discipline are sketched against a historic background. With contributions by A. Alcami, D. Baulcombe, F. Brown, L. W. Enquist, H. Feldmann, A. Garcia-Sastre, D. Griffiths, M. C. Horzinek, A. van Kammen, H.-D. Klenk, F. A. Murphy, T. Muster, R. O'Neill, P. Palese, C. Patience, R. Rott, H.- P. Schmiedebach, S. Schneider-Schaulies, G. L. Smith, J. A. Symons, Y. Takeuchi, V. ter Meulen, P. J. W. Venables, V. E. Volchkov, V. A. Volchkova, R. A. Weiss, W. Wittmann, H. Zheng.

Genetically engineered (GE) crops were first introduced commercially in the 1990s. After two decades of production, some groups and individuals remain critical of the technology based on their concerns about possible adverse effects on human health, the environment, and ethical considerations. At the same time, others are concerned that the technology is not reaching its potential to improve human health and the environment because of stringent regulations and reduced public funding to develop products offering more benefits to society. While the debate about these and other questions related to the genetic engineering techniques of the first 20 years goes on, emerging genetic-engineering technologies are adding new complexities to the conversation. Genetically Engineered Crops builds on previous related Academies reports published between 1987 and 2010 by undertaking a retrospective examination of the purported positive and adverse effects of GE crops and to anticipate what emerging genetic-engineering technologies hold for the future. This report indicates where there are uncertainties about the economic, agronomic, health, safety, or other impacts of GE crops and food, and makes recommendations to fill gaps in safety assessments, increase regulatory clarity, and improve innovations in and access to GE technology.

In November 1990 Indo-American Hybrid Seeds (IAHS), one of the largest and very innovative horticultural enterprises of its kind in India, celebrated its silver jubilee year in the town of Bangalore, India. On the occasion of this silver jubilee of IAHS an International Seminar on 'New Frontiers in Horticulture' was organized from 25-28th of November 1990 at the Ashok Radisson Hotel in Bangalore. IAHS was almost fully responsible in terms of organization and financially for this International Seminar. Assisted by an International Scientific Advisory Board, the organizing committee, all members of the company IAHS, really did a great job. I would like to thank in particular Mr. Mammohan Attavar (the company's founder) and Mr. Sri N.K. Bhat (partner of the company), respectively chairman and treasurer of the organizing committee, for their organizational and financial support in organizing this conference. Very special words of thanks go to my colleague editor, Dr. Jitendra Prakash, Secretary Organizing committee and Director of Biotechnology - IAHS, who was really the spill in the whole organization of our very successful conference.

The main theme of the book is sustainable disease management in a European context. Some of the questions addressed are: How does society benefit from plant pathology research? How can new molecular approaches solve relevant problems in disease management? What other fields can we exploit in plant pathology research? What challenges are associated with free trade across the new borders? How can we contribute to solving problems of developing countries? How does plant pathology contribute to food quality and safety? How does globalization/internationalization affect teaching and extension in plant pathology?

This book describes the historical importance of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.),potato genetic resources and stocks (including S. tuberosum group Phureja DM1-3 516 R44, a unique doubled monoploid homozygous line) used for potato genome sequencing. It also discusses strategies and tools for high-throughput sequencing, sequence assembly, annotation, analysis, repetitive sequences and genotyping-by-sequencing approaches. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.; 2n = 4x = 48) is the fourth most important food crop of the world after rice, wheat and maize and holds great potential to ensure both food and nutritional security. It is an autotetraploid crop with complex genetics, acute inbreeding depression and a highly heterozygous nature. Further, the book examines the recent discovery of whole genome sequencing of a few wild potato species genomes, genomics in management and genetic enhancement of Solanum species, new strategies towards durable potato late blight resistance, structural analysis of resistance genes, genomics resources for abiotic stress management, as well as somatic cell genetics and modern approaches in true-potato-seed technology. The complete genome sequence provides a better understanding of potato biology, underpinning evolutionary process, genetics, breeding and molecular efforts to improve various important traits involved in potato growth and development.

Viruses are a huge threat to agriculture. In the past, viruses used to be controlled using conventional methods, such as crop rotation and destruction of the infected plants, but now there are more novel ways to control them. This volume focuses on topics that must be better understood in order to foster future developments in basic and applied plant virology. These range from virus epidemiology and virus/host co-evolution and the control of vector-mediated transmission through to systems biology investigations of virus-cell interactions. Other chapters cover the current status of signalling in natural resistance and the potential for a revival in the use of cross-protection, as well as future opportunities for the deployment of the under-utilized but highly effective crop protection strategy of pathogen-derived resistance. Contributions from leading authorities Informs and updates on all the latest developments in the field