Tourte Y. Genetically modified organisms: transgenesis in plants.

Abstract

This is one of many recently published books describing the production and application of GMOs. It is pitched at ‘students and anyone concerned or curious about GMOs’ and, although a attempt has been made to keep the jargon to a minimum, detailed explanations of, for example ‘haplodiploidization to create homozygotes’ are unnecessary and set to trip the non‐specialist reader. The first part of the book gives a brief history of genetic engineering and summarizes the techniques used to integrate recombinant DNA into the plant genome. The latter part uses a dispassionate and generally positive tone to describe potential applications, and the concerns and questions raised by GMOs. The author draws specific examples from his own interests in modifying isoprene biosynthesis and describes other specialized potential applications such as making pharmaceuticals in plants, improving quality or nitrogen uptake, but fails to discuss the impact of the few GM traits currently grown in increasing area around the world. Specific points are well illustrated with examples, some of which hint at the author’s nationality and the fact that the book is a translation from its original 2001 title Les OGM in French. Particularly parochial is the section on regulatory and legal issues which describes, in too much detail, the independent workings of the commission du genie genetique and the commission du genie biomoleculaire in the release of GMOs in France. There is no colour except for the pink inset boxes used to exemplify or add detail throughout the chapters. The figures and photographs are generally helpful but it is a pity that the publishers chose to reproduce them at such a low image quality. It is an interesting little book that provides an insight into the underpinning science, the research applications and the concerns of genetic modification. If you want basic information covering the whole gamut of the GMO field under one cover, then this is a good start but it is less well presented and more parochial than others in the same genre (e.g. Halford, 200?)