ABSTRACT
Be c a u s e of their immense economic significance, plants have long been the subject of genetic analysis aimed at developing improved varieties. The advent of recombinant DNA technology has introduced a new dimen sion to this effort because the genome modifications made possible by this technology are almost limitless. No longer is breeding confined to selecting variants within the species. DNA can now be introduced from other species of plants, animals, or even bacteria. In this chapter will be reviewed the ba sic knowledge on DNA structure and function as well as the methods most commonly used in molecular biology to create and analyze recombinant DNA.
