ABSTRACT
Similarly to other disciplines in life sciences, the agro-food branch is increasingly applying microarray technology to answer fundamental and applied research questions. The aim of this chapter is to offer a view of the scope of microarray technology in agricultural research through one of the major issues of modern agriculture biotechnology: the development of genetically modified crops. In the following sections we will describe which types of platform are available for functional genomics studies in agriculture and how researchers are developing new tools for specific needs. We will introduce the problems posed by the introduction of transgenic material to food and feed and extensively discuss the role of microarray technology in addressing these problems. Finally, we will illustrate this role through a data analysis example of the differential response of a transgenic plants to environmental stresses.
