The diversity and specialization in orchid floral morphology have fascinated botanists and collectors for centuries. In the past 10 years, the orchid industry has been growing substantially worldwide. This interesting book focuses on the recent advances in orchid biotechnology research since the last 10 years in Taiwan. To advance the orchid industry, enhancement of basic research as well as advanced biotechnology will provide a good platform to improve the flower quality and breeding of new varieties. Important topics covered include the new knowledge of basic genome, through floral morphogenesis, floral ontology, embryogenesis, micropropagation, to functional genomics such as EST, virus-induced gene silencing, and genetic transformation.

Contents:

• Breeding and Development of New Varieties in Phalaenopsis (C-Y Tang & W-H Chen)
• Embryo Development of Orchids (Y-I Lee et al.)
• In vitro Morphogenesis and Micro-Propagation of Orchids (W-C Chang)
• Somaclonal Variation in Orchids (F-C Chen & W-H Chen)
• The Screening of Orchid Mycorrhizal Fungi (OMF) and their Applications (D C N Chang)
• Analysis of the Orchid Genome Size Using Flow Cytometry (T-Y Lin & H-C Lee)
• The Cytogenetics of Phalaenopsis Orchids (Y-Y Kao et al.)
• Analysis of the Chloroplast Genome of Phalaenopsis aphrodite (C-C Chang et al.)
• Analysis of Expression of Phalaenopsis Floral ESTs (W-C Tsai et al.)
• Orchid MADS-Box Genes Controlling Floral Morphogenesis (W-C Tsai et al.)
• Pseudobulb-Specific Gene Expression of Oncidium Orchid at the Stage of Inflorescence Initiation (J Tan et al.)
• Application of Virus-induced Gene Silencing Technology in Gene Functional Validation of Orchids (H-C Lu et al.)
• Genetic Transformation as a Tool for Improvement of Orchids (Sanjaya & M-T Chan)