During the past ten years, great advances have been made in the area of plant molecular biology. Such formerly esoteric techniques as gene transfer and plant regeneration are now routinely performed, making the dissection of regulatory elements of genes a common practice in many laboratories. Along with this new technology has come an almost bewildering array of rapidly changing techniques, often making it difficult for the novice to select and perform the technique most appropriate for answering a given biological question. In 1986, some of us felt that many of these techniques had become...

A comprehensive manual dealing with the molecular aspects of plant molecular biology, which is designed both as a teaching aid for advanced laboratory courses and as a guide for laboratory research. Subjects covered include the introduction of genes into plants, assays of gene activity, plant nucleic acid extraction and characterization procedures, and the use of selectable and screenable markers in transgenic plants. Special emphasis is placed on the use of Agrobacterium tumefaciens to introduce genes into plants, but other gene introduction techniques are also presented. Each chapter,...