Research and Development of Transgenic Plants in Malaysia: An Example from An Asian Developing Country

Abstract

In 2000, agriculture contributed 13% to the national gross domestic product of Malaysia. The country of 23 million people has created a competitive program coordinated by the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment, research institutions, and universities to undertake biotechnology research in several areas. Intensified research efforts are under way on oil palm, rubber, rice, papaya, and orchids. Although the most progress has been made in rice and papaya, no transgenic crop is ready for field trials. Nonetheless, preliminary steps have been taken to prepare for the trials, and detailed testing protocols are being developed.

Complete Genome Sequence of Rice Tungro Bacilliform Virus Infecting Asian Rice (Oryza sativa) in Malaysia

“…Despite the importance of tungro viruses, less research work has been conducted on RTBV in Malaysia (19). The only genome of RTBV in Malaysia, RTBV-Serdang (GenBank accession no.…”

The Feasibility of Producing Oil Palm with Altered Lignin Content to Control Ganoderma Disease

“…The G type have a 5‐ aromatic position available for strong C–C bonds which makes them resistant and this position is blocked by methoxy groups in the case of the S type (Poerschmann et al., 2005). Obviously, the Bt ‐modified oil palm discussed in Hashim et al. (2002) requires to be assessed for lignin content and Ganoderma resistance.…”

“…Oil palm is being researched intensively by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board as an ‘anchor institution’ (Hashim et al., 2002) (Table 1). Conventional oil palm breeding is inefficient and time‐consuming.…”

“…Field trials of Papaya ring spot virus ‐resistant papaya and tungro‐resistant rice are expected in the near future after enough seeds have been acquired and approval by the Genetic Modification Advisory Committee has been secured. However, Indonesia is reported to have obtained commercial field release status for Bt cotton (Hashim et al., 2002).…”

Sharing Malaysian Experience with the Development of Biotechnology-Derived Food Crops

“…The biotechnology-derived food crops being developed in Malaysia and their targeted traits have been described recently [3,4]. The research is still ongoing, and to date no local biotechnology-derived food crops have been commercialized.…”