Nanotechnology and synthetic biology - Potential in crop improvement

Crop improvement is a necessary continual process to increase food security and crop production by improving yields and product quality. With the ever growing concerns of adverse environmental effects, technologies that will enhance the development and utilisation of new crop varieties that can perform more efficiently under adverse soil, water and climate conditions are sought. Advances in life science have enabled plant scientists to develop a host of tools that have expanded our knowledge of the genetics and physiological processes involved in many crop traits of interest. However, the anticipated increase in the efficiency of crop improvement has not yet been realised for the vast majority of crops due in part to the limitation of current techniques to incorporate desired alleles, or replace less complementary ones in desired crop genotypes. As such, techniques which would eliminate the need for extensive testing are desired. This paper reviews the potential applications of synthetic biology which involves designing and constructing new biological entities and nanotechnology, a recent science that deals with the design and manufacture of small and complex molecules, electronic circuits and mechanical devices in crop improvement efforts, and food security.