700 million of 4.5 billion people in the world are undernourished
Plant biotechnology can be used to increase the quality of:
-Nutrition
-Plant composition
-Flavor
-Storage capability
-Pest and disease resistance
-Vaccines
NUTRITION
Gene expression strategies can modify proteins to have more beneficial amino acid sequences, also can delete anti-nutritional proteins.
COMPOSITION
Oils, sugars and starches can be altered, resulting in plants that taste better and last longer after ripening.
PEST and DISEASE RESISTANCE
Corn can be genetically altered to resist corn borer
Potatoes can be made resistant to the potato beetle
Wheat and rice are presently undergoing genetic tests for resistance
VACCINES
This field is concerned with phytopharmeceuticals
Underdeveloped countries have problems with vaccines being rare and very expensive
Plants such as alfalfa, bananas and potatoes genetically enhanced with a protein that can give immunity to bacterial diseases.
