Apomixis, the asexual reproduction of plants through seeds, has received increasing attention as technological advances have led to a rapid increase in knowledge about cellular biology, molecular genetics, and the mechanisms and pathways behind plant reproduction. The fourteen chapters of this book address a wide range of theoretical and technical issues related to apomixis, as well as its potential impact on agriculture in both the developing and developed world. The technical chapters address aspects of two complementary research paths in the ultimate quest to produce apomictic food crop plants. One path essentially seeks to either transfer the apomictic trait from a wild apomictic relative into a crop plant or mutagenize sexual genes into apomictic genes in the crop plant itself. This research is currently being conducted in important food crops such as maize, wheat, and millet, as well as forages used for livestock, and model plant species such as Arabidopsis. The other path is rigorously exploring apomictic and sexual mechanisms and pathways in order to provide a more complete understanding of the overall apomixis process. This could ultimately allow scientists to target and induce the interrelated processes of apomixis through natural or artificial means.xii, 243 pages