The new edition of this exceptionally popular bestseller provides comprehensive coverage of a wide range of natural plant products. With six new chapters, the revision incorporates advances in molecular biology and plant biotechnology, extraction protocols, and analytical characterizations. Fully indexed, this well-known reference offers resources for conservation, medicinal and nutritional research, and private cultivation.

Several milestones in biology have been achieved since the first publication of the Handbook of Molecular and Cellular Methods in Biology and Medicine. This is true particularly with respect to genome-level sequencing of higher eukaryotes, the invention of DNA microarray technology, advances in bioinformatics, and the development of RNAi technology. Now in its third edition, this volume provides researchers with an updated tool kit that incorporates conventional as well as modern approaches to tackle biological and medicinal research in the post-genomics era.

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Plant biotechnology applies to three major areas of plants and their uses: (1) control of plant growth and development; (2) protection of plants against biotic and abiotic stresses; and (3) expansion of ways by which specialty foods, biochemicals, and pharmaceuticals are produced. The topic of recent advances in plant biotechnology is ripe for consideration because of the rapid developments in this ?eld that have revolutionized our concepts of sustainable food production, cost-effective alt- native energy strategies, environmental bioremediation, and production of pla- derived medicines...

This volume presents a full overview of plant biotechnology, from its roots in the basic sciences to its current applications in the biological and agricultural sciences, industry, and medicine. Coverage also examines the associated risks of biotechnology.