Outreach in Biotechnology

techniques dating back to the early 1900s enabling embryos incapable of developing into viable seeds to be cultured and grown into plants. Embryo rescue helps breeders acquire interspecific and intergeneric hybrids (hybrids between parents of different species or genera, respectively). See also classical breeding.

a trademarked line of pigs genetically engineered so that their urine and feces contain much less phosphorus than usual. (A single bacterial gene was introduced, which is expressed only in the pig's salivary gland.) That could be good for watersheds, since phosphorous causes algal blooms that deplete water oxygen levels, creating dead zones. It could also reduce feed costs for farmers, since there's no need to supplement the enviropig's diet with mineral phosphate or phytase (an enzyme that helps break down the phosphorous in grain). Some enviropig opponents would prefer a reduction in the scale of industrial hog production to earth-friendly hog poop.

the study of heritable changes caused by the activation and inhibition of an organism's genes (without altering its DNA). Through biotech applications of epigenetics, the expression of specific genes already present in plants or algae can be activated or inhibited in order to enhance the production of biofuels, biopharmaceuticals, etc.