We are now well into the era of biotechnology. It is an era in which scientists have made tremendous strides in discovering the structures and functions of genes and in manipulating them for a wide variety of purposes. THE WORLD & I invites you to read about many of these discoveries and their ramifications in this special collection on Genes and Biotechnology.

         The articles in this collection are grouped according to separate topics, listed on the right. For instance, articles dealing with medical applications are grouped under Biotechnology and Medicine, while those related to agricultural applications can be found in Genetically Modified Plants and Animals. The topic of Cloning includes articles that deal with the cloning of animals as well as isolated genes. The scientific work to determine DNA sequences in the chromosomes of humans and other organisms is presented in Genomes and Beyond, while articles dealing with the connection between genetic information and external features can be found in Invisible Genes, Visible Traits.