Significant Stages in the Evolution of Plant Biotechnology Research in Romania

Abstract

Biotechnology is a horizontal domain spread today in almost all others sciences. Even from the beginning of our civilization, humankind accessed biotechnology based on traditional knowledge bringing up today old wine beer or yogurt technologies the major steps in the evolution of this domain took place in the last century. Accessing life either as cells, organisms or part of them or even products of living organisms was part of the classical biotechnology. Today, accessing modelling in living forms and transferring them in new products and services may create nano-technologies. Changing the DNA of the cells will ground modern biotechnology with all implications in our daily life. Romania, is positioned in Central - East Europe and due to political climate it was not an important part in the green revolution that starts late in 1960 in Pakistan. Still, we mention that Andronescu was the first agronomist working in the USA and developing in 1928 the first collection of maize germ plasm following the model already started all over the world after the publication in 1916 of Nikolai Vavilov regarding the theory of centres of origin of species. Over 3000 accession have been developed in the Institute for Agronomy Bucharest being the very first catalyst for maize breeding for our country. Still, due to the Second World War it was almost everything lost and starting later a new strategy for research in the domain.