Molecular biology and biotechnology of plant organelles : chloroplasts and mitochondria

We have taught plant molecular biology and biotechnology at the undergraduate and graduate level for over 20 years. In the past few decades, the field of plant organelle molecular biology and biotechnology has made immense strides. From the green revolution to golden rice, plant organelles have revolutionized agriculture. Given the exponential growth in research, the problem of finding appropriate textbooks for courses in plant biotechnology and molecular biology has become a major challenge. After years of handing out photocopies of various journal articles and reviews scattered through out the print and electronic media, a serendipitous meeting occurred at the 2002 IATPC World Congress held in Orlando, Florida. After my talk and evaluating several posters presented by investigators from my laboratory, Dr. Jacco Flipsen, Publishing Manager of Kluwer Publishers asked me whether I would consider editing a book on Plant Organelles. I accepted this challenge, after months of deliberations, primarily because I was unsuccessful in finding a text book in this area for many years. I signed the contract with Kluwer in March 2003 with a promise to deliver a camera-ready textbook on July 1, 2004. Given the short deadline and the complexity of the task, I quickly realized this task would need a co-editor. Dr. Christine Chase was the first scientist who came to my mind because of her expertise in plant mitochondria, and she readily agreed to work with me on this book.

Plant organelles have intrigued biologists since the discovery of their endosymbiontic origin and maternal inheritance. The first application of organelle biotechnology was the role of cytoplasmic male sterility in hybrid seed production and "Green Revolution". In modern times, plant organelles are again leading the way for the creation of genetically modified crops. On a global scale, 75% of GM crops are engineered for herbicide resistance and most of these herbicides target pathways that reside within plastids. Several thousand proteins are imported into chloroplasts that participate in biosynthesis of fatty acids, amino acids, pigments, nucleotides and numerous metabolic pathways including photosynthesis. Thus, from green revolution to golden rice, plant organelles have played a critical role in revolutionizing agriculture.

This book details not only basic concepts and current understanding of plant organelle genetics and molecular biology but also focuses on the synergy between basic biology and biotechnology. Forty four authors from nine countries have contributed twenty four chapters containing many figures and tables. Section 1 on organelle genomes and proteomes discusses molecular features of plastid and mihondrial genomes, evolutinary origins, somatic and sexual inheritance, proteomics, bioinformatics and functional genomics. Section 2 on organelle gene expression and signalling discusses transcription, translation, RNA processing/editing, introns and splicing, protein synthesis, proteolysis, import of proteins into chloroplast and mihondria and their regulation. Section 3 on organelle biotechnology discusses chloroplast and nuclear genetic engineering for biotic/abiotic stress tolerance, improved fatty acid/amino acid biosynthesis, biopharmaceuticals, biopolymers and biomaterials, cytoplasmic male sterility for hybrid seed production, plant improvement and restoration of fertility.

This book is designed to serve as a comprehensive volume and reference guide for teachers, advanced undergraduates and graduate students and researchers in plant molecular biology and biotechnology.

Plant organelles have intrigued biologists since the discovery of their endosymbiontic origin and maternal inheritance. The first application of organelle biotechnology was the role of cytoplasmic male sterility in hybrid seed production and "Green Revolution". In modern times, plant organelles are again leading the way for the creation of genetically modified crops. On a global scale, 75% of GM crops are engineered for herbicide resistance and most of these herbicides target pathways that reside within plastids. Several thousand proteins are imported into chloroplasts that participate in biosynthesis of fatty acids, amino acids, pigments, nucleotides and numerous metabolic pathways including photosynthesis. Thus, from green revolution to golden rice, plant organelles have played a critical role in revolutionizing agriculture. This book details not only basic concepts and current understanding of plant organelle genetics and molecular biology but also focuses on the synergy between basic biology and biotechnology. Forty four authors from nine countries have contributed twenty four chapters containing many figures and tables. Section 1 on organelle genomes and proteomes discusses molecular features of plastid and mitochondrial genomes, evolutinary origins, somatic and sexual inheritance, proteomics, bioinformatics and functional genomics. Section 2 on organelle gene expression and signalling discusses transcription, translation, RNA processing/editing, introns and splicing, protein synthesis, proteolysis, import of proteins into chloroplast and mitochondria and their regulation. Section 3 on organelle biotechnology discusses chloroplast and nuclear genetic engineering for biotic/abiotic stress tolerance, improved fatty acid/amino acid biosynthesis, biopharmaceuticals, biopolymers and biomaterials, cytoplasmic male sterility for hybrid seed production, plant improvement and restoration of fertility. This book is designed to serve as a comprehensive volume and reference guide for teachers, advanced undergraduates and graduate students and researchers in plant molecular biology and biotechnology Introduction to the molecular biology and biotechnology of plant organelles -- Henry Daniell, -- Christine D. Chase -- The evolutionary origins of plant organelles -- Michael W. Gray -- The somatic inheritance of plant organelles -- S. Heinhorst ... [et al.] -- The sexual inheritance of plant organelles -- Rudolph Hagemann Plastid genomes -- R.M. Maier, -- C. Schmitz-Linneweber Plant mitochondrial genomes -- C. Fauron ... [et al.] Proteomics, bioinformatics, and genomics applied to plant organelles -- C. Colas des Francs-Small, -- B. Szurek, -- I. Small -- The transcription of plant organelle genomes -- Andreas Weihe RNA editing in plant organelles -- R. Michael Mulligan Plastid and plant mitochondrial RNA processing and RNA stability -- A. Marchfelder, -- S. Binder Intron splicing in plant organelles -- Alice Barkan Translational machinery in plant organelles -- Linda Bonen Regulation of translation in chloroplasts -- William Zerges Targeting signals and import machinery of plastids and plant mitochondria -- Elzbieta Glaser, -- Jürgen Soll Proteolysis in plant organelles -- Zach Adam Chloroplast genetic engineering -- Henry Daniell ... [et al.] Engineering herbicide resistance pathways in plastids -- Amit Dhingra, -- Henry Daniell Metabolic engineering of chloroplasts for abiotic stress tolerance -- Joe H. Cherry, -- Brent L. Nielsen Metabolic pathway engineering for nutrition enrichment -- Niranjan Baisakh, -- Swapan Datta Plastid metabolic pathways for fatty acid metabolism -- Ikuo Nishida Metabolic engineering : plastids as bioreactors -- Karen Bohmert, -- Oliver P. Peoples, -- Kristi D. Snell Cytoplasmic male sterility and fertility restoration by nuclear genes -- Christine D. Chase, -- S. Gabay-Laughnan -- The use of cytoplasmic male sterility for hybrid seed production -- Michael J. Havey Somatic cell cybrids and hybrids in plant improvement-- W.W. Guo,-- X.D. Cai,-- J.W. Grosser. Plant organelles have fascinated biologists since the discovery of their endosymbiontic origin and maternal inheritance. The first application of organelle biotechnology was the application of cytoplasmic male sterility in hybrid seed production and this led to the "This book is designed to serve as a comprehensive volume and reference guide for teachers, advanced undergraduates and graduate students and researchers in plant molecular biology and biotechnology."--BOOK JACKET Plant organdíes have fascinated geneticists since the rediscovery of Mendel's laws.