The introduction and expression of transgenes in plants

Scientists have entered a new era of agricultural biotechnology. No longer is it sufficient merely to introduce a gene into a plant. The new generation of technology requires that genes be introduced into agronomically important crops in single copy and without the integration of extraneous vector 'backbone' sequences and, perhaps, even selectable markers. The expression of transgenes must be predictable and consistent among numerous independent transformants. Recent research has more clearly defined these problems and pointed the way to their solution.