Producing New Crop Species

New technologies enable the introduction of new genes derived from unrelated species into plants. This has produced crops with novel properties, such as:

• Enhanced defense against pathogens.
• Flowering patterns that are altered both in time and color.
• Enhanced nutritional features reflecting changes in either protein or oil content.
• Dramatic reduction in the generation time for certain woody species.
• Modified tobacco plants that produce life-saving biochemical compounds.
• Altered abidopsis plants--from the mustard family--that produce plastic.
• Genetically modified plants that remove toxic compounds from the soil. This development has enormous potential for the bioremediation of toxic land sites.