Rationale & Justification

Virus Resistance

I.   Production of Transgenic Local Varieties of Squash Plants and Some Varieties of Melon Plants Resistant to Zuccini Yellow Mosaic Potyvirus (ZYMV)

II.   Developing Genetically Engineered Resistance to Potato Viruses

III.  Development of Improved Strategies for the Control of Faba Bean Necrotic Yellows Virus (FBNYV) in Food Legume Crops of West Asia & North Africa

IV.  Engineering of Tomatoes to Induce Resistance to Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus (TYLCV) from Egypt

V.  Whitefly Biotypes & Biotype Specific Transmission of Geminiviruses in Egypt & Arizona

VI.  Development of Virus Resistance in Plants Using Ribosome-Inactivating Protein (RIP) Genes

VII.  Production of Transgenic Banana Plants Resistant to Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV) and/or Banana Cucumber Mosaic Cucumovirus (Banana-CMV)

VIII.  Establishment of a Regeneration & Transfomation System in Cucumber

Insect Resistance

I.   Isolation & Identification of Bt Toxin Gene from Local Isolates in Egypt

II.  Development of Potato Tuber Moth Resistance in Potato

III.  Maize Transformation for Development of Stem Borer (Sesamia cretica) Resistance Using Bt Genes

IV.  Production of Transgenic Egyptian Cotton Plants (Gossypium barbadense L.) Expressing Insecticidal Toxin Gene(s)

V.  Generation of Genetically Modified Baculoviruses for Insect Pest Control

VI.  Development of Transgenic Insects Using Transposon Elements for Autocidal Pest Control

VII.  Protein Engineering, an Efficient Approach for Controling Viruliferous Whiteflies

Fungal Resistance

I.  Isolation & Characterization of Chitinase Gene as a Plant Defense Gene against Fungal Infection

II.  Genetic Variability within Fusarium oxysporum sp. lycopersici

III.  Genetic Characterization of Certain Ascochyta sp. Using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD)

Nematode Resistance

I.  Molecular Characterization & Identification of the Most Important Species of the Root-Knot Nematode (Meloidogyne spp.)

Stress Tolerance

I.   Characterization & Identification of Stress-Related Genes from Local Habitat in the North-West Coastal Region of Egypt

II.  Cotton Improvement for Heat & Salt Stress Tolerance

III.  Development of Transgenic Wheat with Improved Salt & Drought Tolerance

IV.  Development of Transgenic Barley with Improved Tolerance to Abiotic Stress

V.  Breeding Triticum durum in Mediterranean Region by Using in vitro & Genetic Transformation Tools

Genome Mapping

I.  Genome Mapping for Development of Improved Rapeseed (Brassica napus) Varieties Using Molecular Markers (RFLPs & RAPDs)

II.  Use of RAPDs & STSs in Identifying Linkage Relationships of Important Trait Loci in Tomatoes (L. esculentum)

III. Fingerprinting of Elite Maize Lines Using Molecular Markers

Bio-molecular Engineering

I.  Molecular Cloning & Expression of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen (HBsAG) in Plants

II.  Designing a Hammerhead Ribozyme which Discriminates between bcr/abl Fusion Transcripts of Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) & bcr Transcripts of Normal Cells