ABSTRACT
Th e biotechnology of starch dates to the earliest period of cultivation of the cereal crops in the Fertile Crescent, with permanent cultivation of wheat and barley established by 7000 в с е . [1]. As starch-bearing plants were taken into cultivation, the genetic variation in the wild populations be came a feature of the landraces and, later, cultivars of agriculture. Today, breeders turn again to the wild progenitors and relatives of cultivated plants in search of genetic backgrounds conferring sought-after properties. Where this is not possible, genetic engineering of the relevant biochemical path way comes into play.
