Producing New Crop Species

new crop speciesNew technologies enable the introduction of new genes derived from unrelated species into plants. This has produced crops with novel properties, such as:

  • Enhanced defense against pathogens
  • Flowering patterns that are altered both in time and color
  • Enhanced nutritional features reflecting changes in either protein or oil content
  • Dramatic reduction in the generation time for certain woody species
  • Modified tobacco plants that produce life-saving biochemical compounds
  • Altered abidopsis plants, from the mustard family, that produce plastic
  • Genetically modified plants that remove toxic compounds from the soil– this development has enormous potential for the bioremediation of toxic land sites