Engineering with precision: Tools for the new generation of transgenic crops

In the past 25 years, a major revolution in agricultural practice and crop production has occurred. Genetically engineered crops with improved agronomic traits have made the transition from laboratory benches and greenhouses to fields all over the world, where they are being grown commercially. Genetic engineering technologies have evolved as a science and continue to provide the tools for making the crops of tomorrow. Armed with genomic information and nanotechnology plant molecular biologists are redesigning molecular tool kits to engineer plants with more precision, This article describes the current major transformation methods, discusses their strengths and limitations, and focuses on a number of research areas that are likely to be used for producing the new generation of transgenic crops.