Bio-venture companies have undertaken harsh environment after 2000 bubble corruption. It is unlike to be changed in the near future. The business model of near-term cash flow, financial stability and survival is a key issue to be discussed. The company shall be rearranged to achieve fast recovery from investment and have to show clear and quantitative business model to the investors. Nevertheless, bio-venture should not drop long-term value creation by sacrificing the possibility of emerging technologies. Prior to clarifing agro-bioventure business model, GMO strategy should have broad supports from stakeholders. The interests and worries of stakeholders are discussed and SWOT is analyzed. For sustainable economy of future, new technology continuously should be invested to fit ROI model of genomics-based GMO developments. Hybrid of products ${\varepsilon}$ technologies may be one of the favorites in this stormy season.

The ornamental industry encompasses cut flower, pot plant, turfgrass and nursery stock production and is an important part of the agricultural sector. As internationally traded commodities, cut flowers and plants are an integral part of the economy of a number of developing countries in South America, the Caribbean and Africa. Genetic modification (GM) is a tool with great potential to the ornamental horticulture industry. The rapid progress in our knowledge of plant molecular biology can accelerate the breeding ornamental plants using recombinant DNA technology techniques. Not only is there the possibility of creating new, novel products the driver of the industry but also the potential to develop varieties requiring less chemical and energy inputs. As an important non-food agricultural sector the use of genetically modified (GM) ornamental crops may also be ideal for the intensive farming necessary to generate pharmaceuticals and other useful products in GM plants. To date, there are only a few ornamental GM products in development and only one, a carnation genetically modified for flower colour, in the marketplace. International Flower Developments, a joint venture between Florigene Ltd. in Australia and Suntory Ltd.of Japan, developed the GM carnations. These flowers are currently on sale in USA, Japan and Australia. The research, development and commercialisation of these products are summarised. The long term prospects for ornamental GM products, like food crops, will be determined by the regulatory environment, and the acceptance of GM products in the marketplace. These critical factors will be analysed in the context of the current legislative environment, and likely public and industry opinion towards ornamental genetically modified organisms (GMO's).

The morphology of the leaves and the flowers of angiosperms exhibit remarkable diversity. One of the factors showing the greatest variability of leaf organs is the leaf index, namely, the ratio of leaf length to leaf width. In some cases, different varieties of a single species or closely related species can be distinguished by differences in leaf index. To some extent, the leaf index reflects the morphological adaptation of leaves to a particular environment. In addition, the growth of leaf organs is dependent on the extent of the expansion of leaf cells and on cell proliferation in the cellular level. The rates of the division and enlargement of leaf cells at each stage contribute to the final shape of the leaf, and play important roles throughout leaf development. Thus, the control of leaf shape is related to the control of the shape of cells and the size of cells within the leaf. The shape of flower also reflects the shape of leaf, since floral organs are thought to be a derivative of leaf organs. No good tools have been available for studies of the mechanisms that underlie such biodiversity. However, we have recently obtained some information about molecular mechanisms of leaf morphogenesis as a result of studies of leaves of the model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana. For example, the ANGUSTIFOLIA (AN) gene, a homolog of animal CtBP genes, controls leaf width. AN appears to regulate the polar elongation of leaf cells via control of the arrangement of cortical microtubules. By contrast, the ROTUNDIFOLIA3 (ROT3) gene controls leaf length via the biosynthesis of steroid(s). We provide here an overview of the biodiversity exhibited by the leaf index of angiosperms. Taken together, we can discuss on the possibility of the control of the shapes and size of plant organs by transgenic approaches with the results from basic researches. For example, transgenic plants that overexpressed a wild-type ROT3 gene had longer leaves than parent plants, without any changes in leaf width. Thus, The genes for leaf growth and development, such as ROT3 gene, should be useful tools for the biodesign of plant organs.

Bax, a mammalian pro-apoptotic member of the Bcl-2 family, induces cell death when expressed in yeast. To investigate whether Bax expression can induce cell death in plant, we produced transgenic Arabidopsis plants that contained murine Bax cDNA under control of a glucocorticoid-inducible promoter. Transgenic plants treated with dexamethasone, a strong synthetic glucocorticoid, induced Bax accumulation and cell death, suggesting that some elements of cell death mechanism by Bax may be conserved among various organisms. Therefore, we developed novel yeast genetic system, and cloned several Plant Bax Inhibitors (PBIs). Here, we report the function of two PBIs in detail. PBI1 is ascorbate peroxidase (sAPX). Fluorescence method of dihydrorho-damine 123 oxidation revealed that expression of Bax in yeast cells generated reactive oxygen species (ROS), and which was greatly reduced by co-expression with sAPX. These results suggest that sAPX inhibits the generation of ROS by Bax, which in turn suppresses Baxinduced cell death in yeast. PBI2 encodes nucleoside diphosphate kinase (NDPK). ROS stress strongly induces the expression of the NDPK2 gene in Arabidopsis thaliana (AtNDPK2). Transgenic plants overexpressing AtNDPK2 have lower levels of ROS than wildtype plants. Mutants lacking AtNDPK2 had higher levels of ROS than wildtype. $H_2O_2$ treatment induced the phosphorylation of two endogenous proteins whose molecular weights suggested they are AtMPK3 and AtMPK6. In the absence of $H_2O_2$ treatment, phosphorylation of these proteins was slightly elevated in plants overexpressing AtNDPK2 but markedly decreased in the AtNDPK2 deletion mutant. Yeast two-hybrid and in vitro protein pull-down assays revealed that AtNDPK2 specifically interacts with AtMPK3 and AtMPK6. Furthermore, AtNDPK2 also enhances the MBP phosphorylation activity of AtMPK3 in vitro. Finally, constitutive overexpression of AtNDPK2 in Arabidopsis plants conferred an enhanced tolerance to multiple environmental stresses that elicit ROS accumulation in situ. Thus, AtNDPK2 appears to play a novel regulatory role in $H_2O_2$-mediated MAPK signaling in plants.

Metabolic engineering for production of isoflavones in non-legume plants could distribute the health benefits of these phytoe-strogens in more widely-consumed grains. We investigate the ability of the heterologous isoflavone synthase enzyme to interact with the endogenous phenylpropanoid pathway. Overall, results provide possibility of production of isoflavonoids in several plant tissue systems including soybean and non-legumes. In tissue that undergoes naturally enhanced synthesis of anthocyanins, genistein production was enhanced. In a monocot cell system, introduced expression of a transcription factor regulating genes of the antho-cyanin pathway was effective in conferring the ability produce genistein in the presence of the isoflavone synthase gene. However, in this case the intermediate accumulated to high levels indicating an inefficiency in its conversion. Introduction of a third gene, chalcone reductase, provided the ability to synthesize an additional substrate of isoflavone synthase resulting in production of the isoflavone daidzein. These research efforts provide insight into requirements for metabolic engineering for isoflavone production in non-legume dicot and monocot tissues.