Describing recent developments in the engineering and generation of plants as production platforms for biopharmaceuticals, this book includes both vaccines and monoclonal antibodies. It has a particular emphasis on targeting diseases which predominate in less developed countries, encompassing the current state of technologies and describing expression systems and applications. This book also includes a variety of vaccine case studies, protecting against pervasive infectious diseases such as rabies, influenza and HIV.

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) bacteria use Cry proteins to kill their insect larval hosts. The expression of certain Cry toxins in transgenic crops has been widely used to achieve efficient control of insect pests. This book describes the use of Bt crops and the emerging problem of resistance, recent progress in understanding the mechanism of action of Bt toxins, and different resistance mechanisms and strategies to cope with resistance in the field. It describes resistant insects found in the field in different countries, particularly in the developing world, and ways to counter resistance...

Plant gene silencing is a crucially important phenomenon in gene expression and epigenetics. This book describes the way small RNA is produced and acts to silence genes, its likely origins in defence against viruses, and also its potential to improve plants. Plant gene silencing can be used to improve industrial traits, make plants more nutritious or more valuable to consumers, to remove allergens, and to improve resistance to weeds and pathogens.

New technologies can create ethical tensions when there is a conflict of interests, values or rights. One of the key examples of such technology is agricultural biotechnology. This book explores the reasons for those tensions, and potential solutions.

This is an updating of the successful book on aquaculture and fisheries biotechnology that introduces traditional techniques but also adds the very latest in molecular genetic analysis.