S20: The dominating role of microbial genes in modern agricultural biotechnology: Bacillus thuringiensis and much more

Plant biotechnology has clearly changed the trajectory of modern crop production, impacting food productivity, agricultural practices and now, even industrial practices for bioconversion steps beyond the farm gate.  One could argue that modern agricultural practices are inconceivable in the absence of transgenes, and today, the transgenes in commercialized products are primarily of microbial origin.  This presentation will review the impact on agriculture derived from over 100 years of development and deployment of Bacillus thuringiensis.  The prevalence of other genes of microbial origin in areas beyond insect control, such as herbicide tolerance, drought tolerance and disease resistance will be examined.  Recent deployment of microbial genes for use in post-harvest bioprocessing will be highlighted.  Finally the potential role new technologies might play in discovery and deployment of genes from microbes will be presented.