Part I Selective Breeding and Genetic Diversity.- Genetic Improvement of Edible and Non-Edible Jatropha for Marginal Environments in Sub-Saharan Africa.- Genetic Resources and Advances in the Development of New Varieties of Jatropha curcas L. in México.- Strategies in the Genetic Breeding of Jatropha curcas for Biofuel Production in Brazil.- Prebreeding and Genetic Enhancement in Jatropha through Interspecific Hybridization.- Genetic Transformation and Transgenics of Jatropha curcas, a Biofuel Plant.- Fatty Acid Biosynthesis and Triacylglycerol Accumulation in the Biofuel Plant Jatropha curcas.- Genetic Engineering for the Improvement of Oil Content and Associated Traits in Jatropha curcas L..- Transcriptomic View of Jatropha curcas L. Inflorescence.- Application of Molecular Markers in Genetic Improvement of Jatropha.- Genomic Resources and Marker-Assisted Selection in Jatropha curcas. Part II Metabolism.- Proteomics Studies in Jatropha curcas Seeds.- Pervasive System Biology for Active Compound Valorization in Jatropha.- Part III Physiology and Plant Production.- Agronomy of Jatropha curcas in Mexico.- Phenology and Photosynthetic Physiology of Jatropha curcas L. Grown Under Elevated Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide in a Semi-Arid Environment.- Can One Use Chlorophyll A Fluorescence as a Physiological Marker of Jatropha curcas L.?.- Jatropha: from Seed to Plant, Seed, Oil and Beyond.- Part IV Feeding Use.- Influence of the Acid Soils of Tabasco Mexico in the Physico-chemical Composition of Xuta or Edible Mexican Pinion (Jatropha curcas L.).- Applications of Jatropha curcas Cake.- Part V Coproducts.- Conversion of Glycerine into 1,2-Propanediol for Industrial Applications.- Jatropha - Phytochemistry, Pharmacology and Toxicology.- Jatropha curcas L. Latex Production, Characterization and Biotechnological Applications.- Part VI Processing.- Biodiesel: A Survey on Production Methods and Catalysts.- The Characterization and Technologies for the Use of Jatropha curcas l. By-products as Energy Sources. Part VII Socio-economic Sustainability.- Economic feasibility and sustainability of Jatropha as a crop.- Experience with Farming Models, Socio-Economic Issues and Agronomic Performance of Jatropha curcas L. in Sub-Saharan Africa.
About the Author: Mulpuri Sujatha graduated in Plant Sciences from the University of Hyderabad (UoH), India. She has a Ph.D. in Genetics from Osmania University (OU), Hyderabad, and has worked on intergeneric and interspecific affinities between Ricinus and Jatropha. Dr. Sujatha is a versatile researcher, adopting conventional and modern tools for the improvement of oilseed crops encompassing the areas of genetics, tissue culture and biotechnology. Her achievements include the development stable male sterile lines in safflower, sunflower and niger; optimization of tissue culture and genetic transformation protocols; development of transgenic events in castor for foliage feeders and sunflower for resistance to necrosis disease; use of molecular markers in diversity analysis and tagging of desirable traits in sunflower (downy mildew, fertility restoration) and Jatropha (non-toxicity). Dr. Sujatha has also carried out pioneering work on Jatropha with regard to tissue culture, genetic diversity analysis of native and world collections and interspecific hybridization, which have provided valuable leads for genetic enhancement of J. curcas.
Nicolas Carels graduated in Agronomy in Belgium and completed a PhD in Plant Pathology (FUSAGx, Gembloux) prior to working as a scientist on the elaboration of the first genetic map of sugarbeet at the end of the 1980's (ICIseed-SES, Belgium). He then moved to Paris (IJM, CNRS, France) where he completed a second PhD on the genome organization in plants. He continued his work on genomics in Italy (SZN, Naples) and Spain (INTA-CAB, Madrid, Torrejon de Ardoz) before moving to Brazil (Bahia, Ilhéus, UESC), where he contributed to the application of bioinformatics and genomics to the improvement of Cacao and Rubber Tree for resistance to fungal diseases. His initial investigations on Jatropha covered the measurement of the genome size by flow cytometry and the application of reverse genetics to detect QTLs for oil production with the purpose of breeding Jatropha for this trait. He is now a Federal Officer of Fiocruz (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and is interested in the exploration of genomics, system modeling, bioinformatics, computational biology, and natural products for the benefit human health, with a particular focus on therapeutics for cancer. Bir Bahadur, formerly Professor, Chairman and Head of the Department, and Dean of the Faculty of Science at Kakatiya University, Warangal, India, he has also taught at Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. He obtained his Ph.D. in Plant Genetics from Osmania University and was closely associated with Prof. J.B.S. Haldane, F.R.S, a renowned British geneticist. He made significant contributions in several areas of plant biology, especially heteromorphic incompatibility; genetics; mutagenesis; plant tissue culture morphogenesis; biotechnology; plant asymmetry and handedness; ethnobotany; application of SEM pollen and seeds in relation to systematics; medicinal plants; and Jatropha and Castor. He has mentored thousands of graduates and postgraduate students and taught genetics, biotechnology, plant molecular biology, plant reproduction, and related subjects for over 45 years and has accumulated 50 years of research experience in these areas. He has been the recipient of nu, erous awards, fellowships and honors, including the Prof. Vishwambar Puri Gold Medal, Bharath Jyoti Award, Royal Society Bursary & Honorary Fellow of Birmingham University (UK).
