Genetic Glass Ceilings

Jonathan Gressel is professor emeritus of plant sciences at Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.

• Foreword by Klaus Ammann: The Needs for Plant Biodiversity: The General CasePreface1. Why Crop Biodiversity?2. Domestication: Reaching a Glass Ceiling3. Transgenic Tools for Regaining Biodiversity: Breaching the Ceiling4. Biosafety Considerations with Further Domesticated Crops5. Introduction to Case Studies: Where the Ceiling Needs to be Breached6. Evil Weevils or Us: Who Gets to Eat the Grain?7. Kwashiorkor, Diseases, and Cancer: Needed: Food without Mycotoxins8. Emergency Engineering of Standing Forage Crops to Contain Pandemics—Transient Redomestication9. Meat and Fuel from Straw10. Papaya: Saved by Transgenics11. Palm Olive Oils: Healthier Palm Oil12. Rice: A Major Crop Undergoing Continual Transgenic Further Domestication13. Tef: The Crop for Dry Extremes14. Buckwheat: The Crop for Poor Cold Extremes15. Should Sorghum Be a Crop for the Birds and the Witches?16. Oilseed Rape: Unfinished Domestication17. Reinventing Safflower18. Swollen Necks from Fonio Millet and Pearl Millet19. Grass Pea: Take This Poison20. Limits to Domestication: Dioscorea deltoidea21. Tomato: Bring Back Flavr Savr: Conceptually22. Orchids: Sustaining Beauty23. Olives: and Other Allergenic, Messy Landscaping SpeciesEpilogueReferencesIndex

I urge you to read Jonny Gressel's book, Genetic Glass Ceilings. I have read the first nine chapters, to the point where he begins his discussion of specific case studies (papaya, tef buckwheat, and others). I have learned so much from Jonny's book. Jonny asks challenging questions and then discusses realistic, clear-eyed solutions to the questions -- all about the genetic glass ceilings faced by plant breeders. AgBioChatter 2008 Offers refreshing hope of successfully feeding the world's population... Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. Choice 2008 Everyone who wants to learn and understand more about plant breeding and agricultural biotechnology should read Jonathan Gressel's book. Its wealth of erudition and wisdom makes it worthy of recognition as a modern classic. -- Drew L. Kershen Journal of Commercial Biotechnology 2008 A compelling synthesis of ideas. CAB Abstracts Database 2008 This book would serve as a good basis for a serious course in agronomy departments around the world. -- Lawrence Davis Plant Science Bulletin 2009 The book is indeed an eye-opener... Well worth the effort. -- V. Moses Journal of Agricultural Science 2009 Professor Jonathan Gressel has written a thought-provoking book that contains something for everyone with an interest in the application of modern genetics to crop-based agriculture. I hope it will be read by both enthusiasts and skeptics about the application of genetic engineering to crop genetic improvement. -- Ian Crute Food Security 2009 This book provides an erudite documentation of the limited biodiversity in agricultural systems and the concomitant poor quality of the human diet. -- Elena R. Alvarez-Buylla Quarterly Review of Biology A valuable reference for all interested in the role of TGVs [transgenetic crops] in the future of food and agriculture. -- David A. Cleveland Economic Botany 2009