Abstract: Early humans have domesticated plant and animal species based on ancient empirical concepts (DarwinDARWIN C. 1868. The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication. London, UK: John Murray. 1868, 1876). In 1886, MendelMENDEL G. 1866. Versuche uber Pflanzen-Hybriden. Journal of Hereditary 42: 3-47. established a new paradigm of hereditary laws (Mendel 1866MENDEL G. 1866. Versuche uber Pflanzen-Hybriden. Journal of Hereditary 42: 3-47., 1870MENDEL G. 1870. On Hleraclum-hybrids obtained by artificial fertilisation (English translation). In: Stern C, Sherwood ER (Eds), The origin of genetics: a Mendel source book, 1966. W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, p. 49-55., 1950MENDEL G. 1950. Gregor Mendel’s Letters to Carl Nägeli. Genetics 35(5, pt 2): 1-29 (Originally published as: Abhandlungen der Mathematisch-Physischen Klasse der Königlich Sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften 29: 189-265, 1905. Reprinted in “Carl Correns, Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur Vererbungswissenschaft aus periodischen Schriften” 1899-1924. (Fritz V. Wettstein Ed.) Berlin, Julius Springer 1924: 1237-1281.) based on genotypic and phenotypic traits of cross-compatible species, establishing a complex breeding technology that is currently utilized for the development of most food and livestock-derived products. Recently, studies on deciphering the double-helical structure (Watson and Crick 1953aWATSON JD and CRICK FHC. 1953a. Molecular structure of nucleic acids. A structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid. Nature 171: 737-738., bWATSON JD and CRICK FHC. 1953b. The structure of DNA. Cold Spring Harbor Symposium Quantitative Biology 18: 123-131.) and how to restrict DNA (Arber 2012) have established the foundation of recombinant DNA technology. A new era is paving the way for genetic manipulation of important traits among all the kingdom’s organisms, allowing for the development of innovative and widely utilized products for the agricultural, industrial and pharmaceutical production sectors (Mc Elroy 2003MC ELROY D. 2003. Sustaining agbiotechnology through lean times. Nature Biotechnol 21: 996-1002., 2004MC ELROY D. 2004. Valuing the product development cycle in agricultural biotechnology – what’s in a name. Nature Biotechnol 22: 817-822., ISAAA 2016ISAAA. 2016.. Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2016. ISAAA Brief No. 52. ISAAA: Ithaca, NY. ISBN: 978-1-892456-66-4.).
Key words
Biodiversity; Species conservation; DNA; Genetic engineering
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