Green revolution to gene revolution: Technological advances in agriculture to feed the world
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-1-2022
Abstract
Technological applications in agriculture have evolved substantially to increase crop yields and quality to meet global food demand. Conventional techniques, such as seed saving, selective breeding, and mutation breeding (variation breeding), have dramatically increased crop production, especially during the `Green Revolution' in the 1990s. However, newer issues, such as limited arable lands, climate change, and ever-increasing food demand, pose challenges to agricultural production and threaten food security. In the following `Gene Revolution' era, rapid innovations in the biotechnology field provide alternative strategies to further improve crop yield, quality, and resilience towards biotic and abiotic stresses. These innovations include the introduction of DNA recombinant technology and applications of genome editing techniques, such as transcription activator-like effector (TALEN), zinc-finger nucleases (ZFN), and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR associated (CRISPR/Cas) systems. However, the acceptance and future of these modern tools rely on the regulatory frameworks governing their development and production in various countries. Herein, we examine the evolution of technological applications in agriculture, focusing on the motivations for their introduction, technical challenges, possible benefits and concerns, and regulatory frameworks governing genetically engineered product development and production.
Keywords
Biotechnology, Breeding, Crop improvement, Genetically modified crops, Genome editing
Divisions
cebar
Funders
Fundamental Research GrantScheme from the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia [Grant No: FRGS/1/2018/STG03/UM/02/2],Royal Society [Grant No: NA170200 & IF004-2018],Universiti Malaya [Grant No: ST003-2021 & RU004A-2020]
Publication Title
Plants-Basel
Volume
11
Issue
10
Publisher
MDPI
Publisher Location
ST ALBAN-ANLAGE 66, CH-4052 BASEL, SWITZERLAND