Advances in Plant Biochemistry

The concept of 'biotech' or 'biotechnology' encompasses a wide range of procedures for modifying living organisms according to human purposes - going back to domestication of animals, cultivation of plants, and "improvements" to these through breeding programmes that employ artificial selection and hybridization. Modern biotechnology allows plants breeders to select genes that produce beneficial traits and move them from one organism to another. Plant biotechnology has been adopted by farmers worldwide at rates never before seen by any other advances in the history of agriculture. This unique, concise and uptodate resource book is offering students an innovative and valuable presentation of the subject. It covers all the topics of medicinal plant biotechnology for academic and industrial interest. The book will be valuable for students of Pharmacy, Agriculture, Botany, Biotechnology and Chemical Engineering. Contents: Respiration and Lipid Metabolism • Secondary Metabolites and Plant Defence • Phytochrome and Light Control of Plant Development • Abscisic Acid: A Seed Maturation and Antistress Signal • Stress Physiology • Plant-water Relations • A Primer on Photosynthesis and the Functioning of Cells • Phytochrome-mediated Responses • Recent Advances in Plant Biotechnology • Micropropagation in Plants