Molecular Genetic Approaches to Maize Improvement - an Introduction -- Maize Tissue Culture and Transformation: The First 20 Years -- Transgenic Traits -- Insect Resistance in Corn Through Biotechnology -- Seed Total Phosphate and Phytic Acid -- Traits and Genes for Plant Drought Tolerance -- Biotechnology Approaches to Improving Maize Nitrogen Use Efficiency -- Enhancement of Amino Acid Availability in Corn Grain -- Over-expression of Novel Proteins in Maize -- Global Regulation of Transgenic Crops -- Breeding and Genetics -- Doubled Haploids -- Transposon Tagging and Reverse Genetics -- EMS Mutagenesis and Point Mutation Discovery -- Applications of Linkage Disequilibrium and Association Mapping in Maize -- Maize Genetic Resources -- The Corn Genome -- The Structure of the Maize Genome -- Molecular Markers -- Applied Cytogenetics -- The Wonderland of Global Expression Profiling -- Molecular Biology and Physiological Studies -- Zein Storage Proteins -- The Complexities of Starch Biosynthesis in Cereal Endosperms -- Development of a High Oil Trait for Maize -- Chloroplasts -- Biomass and Energy -- Ethanol Production from Maize. During the past decade, there has been tremendous progress in maize biotechnology. This volume provides an overview of our current knowledge of maize molecular genetics, how it is being used to improve the crop, and future possibilities for crop enhancement. Several chapters deal with genetically engineered traits that are currently, or soon will be, in commercial production. Technical approaches for introducing novel genes into the maize genome, the regeneration of plants from transformed cells, and the creation of transgenic lines for field production are covered. Further, the authors describe how molecular genetic techniques are being used to identify genes and characterize their function, and how these procedures are utilized to develop elite maize germplasm. Moreover, molecular biology and physiological studies of corn as a basis for the improvement of its nutritional and food-making properties are included. Finally, the growing use of corn as biomass for energy production is discussed.