Agricultural Biotechnology Progress Timeline

Agricultural Biotechnology Progress Timeline

• Early Crop Domestication, 8000–6000 BCE, Ancient
  Humans begin cultivating plants and domesticating animals, laying the foundation for agriculture

• Selective Breeding Practices, 4000 BCE, Ancient
  Early civilizations practice selective breeding to enhance desirable traits in plants and animals

• Gregor Mendel’s Genetic Laws, 1866, CE
  Gregor Mendel publishes foundational work on inheritance patterns in pea plants

• Hybrid Corn Development, 1920s, CE
  Introduction of hybrid corn varieties to improve yield and resilience using heterosis

• Radiation-Induced Mutagenesis, 1940s, CE
  Use of radiation to induce mutations in plants, leading to new crop varieties

• Recombinant DNA Technology, 1973, CE
  Development of techniques to combine DNA from different species

• First Genetically Engineered Plant, 1983, CE
  Creation of the first genetically modified tobacco plant using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation

• Flavr Savr Tomato Approved, 1994, CE
  First genetically engineered food approved for sale

• Bt Cotton Commercialized, 1996, CE
  Introduction of Bt cotton engineered to produce toxin against specific insect pests

• Golden Rice Development, 2000, CE
  Development of rice enriched with provitamin A to combat vitamin A deficiency

• CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing, 2012, CE
  Development of CRISPR-Cas9 as a precise gene-editing tool

• First CRISPR-Edited Crop Approved, 2015, CE
  Approval of the first CRISPR-edited tomato with increased GABA content

• Gene-Edited Crops Commercialized, 2020s, CE
  Approval and commercialization of several gene-edited crops with enhanced traits