The Dawn of Biotechnological Applications on Wild Harvests and Cultivated Crops

Abstract

Since the word genome (blend of words gene and chromosome) was coined in 1920 by Hans Winkler, biological research has placed great importance on the idea that genes direct all processes within a cell, and thus the organism. Underlying this concept is the assumption that proteins, via mRNA, and then metabolites are only synthesized when genes are activated. However, scientists now recognize that complex positive and negative feedback mechanisms from protein and metabolite fluxes also have major influences over gene expression. To highlight this new thinking, a radiation of biology fields under the ‘omics’ term has revolutionized biotechnological research. While a variety of new terms continue to be generated under theomicsbanner, the core fields of genomics (what can happen), transcriptomics (what appears to happen), proteomics (what makes it happen) and metabolomics (what is happening) have produced a wealth of genotype to phenotype research avenues. This approach is facilitated by rapidly expanding bioinformatics capabilities, which allow us to mine huge amounts of data in search for often unexpected discoveries.