Genes from the Wild: Using Wild Genetic Resources for Food and Raw Materials

Tomatoes could not be grown commercially without the help of their wild relatives. A single wild species of rice has helped double rice production in Asia. Wild silk-worms are enabling India to expand its silk industry. A wild carp with resistance to cold has been used to extend Soviet carp production further into the north.

Wild genetic resources - the heritable characteristics of wild plants and animals - are used increasingly to improve domesticated crops and livestock and as new sources...