Main description:

The present volume includes the large majority of papers given at the symposium entitled "Fundamental Approaches to Plant and Animal Improvement," held at Cali, Colombia, in November, 1972. The primary focal points were on various genetic mechanisms, including gene action and mutation, the development of phenotypic attributes, and on evolution, including that controlled by man for agricultural purposes. In fact, very little referring in any particular way to animal improvement was included, while a great deal of attention was paid to higher plants and to microorganisms. On the other hand, both the population genetics of insects and insect control were considered. Thus Genes, Enzymes, and Populations, the title given to this published work, seems to me to represent somewhat more fairly the contents than does the original symposium title. Given the intent of the symposium, which is expressed in the original title, the published record cannot be expected to be a neatly packaged presentation of some highly defined subject matter. Indeed the diverse subjects represent some, but by no means all, of the varied and dynamic scientific activities that need to be components in the improvement and production of agriculturally Significant plants at a time when world populations are rapidly increasing and shortages of food occurring. In any case, the organizers of the symposium wisely decided that considerations of environment as well as of genetics should be introduced into the thinking of the group and that physiology and molecular biology could not be ignored.

Contents:

1. Introductory Address.- 2. Ecological Problems in Latin America.- Basic Molecular Genetic Mechanisms.- 3. Recent Studies on the Origins of Cellular Organelles.- 4. Some Molecular Aspects of Mitochondrial Complementation and Heterosis.- 5. Studies on Protein Synthesis Elongation Factor 1 from Plant Seeds.- 6. Genetic Regulatory Mechanisms in the Fungi.- 7. Feedback-Resistant Mutants of Histidine Biosynthesis in Yeast.- Plant Tissue and Cell Culture: Genetic Aspects.- 8. Defined Mutants in Higher Plants.- 9. Potential of Cell and Tissue Culture Techniques as Aids in Economic Plant Improvement.- 10. Factors Favoring the Formation of Androgenetic Embryos in Anther Culture.- Plant Hormonal Mechanisms.- 11. Cytokinins in Regulation of Plant Growth.- 12. Environmental and Hormonal Control in Seedlings.- 13. Factors Affecting Flowering of Coffee.- Mutation and Mutation Repair.- 14. Increasing the Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Specificity of Mutation Induction in Flowering Plants.- 15. Repair of Radiation and Chemical Damage to DNA in Human Cells.- Evolution and Distribution of Economically Important Species.- 16. Geographical Distribution of Cultivated Cottons Relative to Probable Centers of Domestication in the New World.- 17. Potential Genetic Resources in Tomato Species: Clues from Observations in Native Habitats.- 18. Chromosome Knob Patterns in Latin American Maize.- Population Genetics.- 19. Population Genetics in the American Tropics. IX. Rhythmic Genetic Changes That Prove the Adaptive Nature of the Detrimental Load in Drosophila melanogaster from Caracolisito, Colombia.- Applications of Genetics.- 20. Breeding for Specific Amino Acids.- 21. Genetic Manipulation of Plant Protein Quality and Its Value in Human Nutrition.- 22. Solanum tuberosum x S. andigena Hybrids and Their Importance in Potato Breeding.- 23. Plant-Rhizobium Interaction and Its Importance to Agriculture.- 24. Exploratory Induction of Solid Mutations in Yams by ?-Irradiation.- 25. Insect Control with ?-Rays.- 26. Social and Economic Orientation of Crop Improvement: An Approach to Maize Breeding.