Dr. Qing-Yao Shu is now a professor of plant breeding and biotechnology in Zhejiang University, China. He had worked as a plant geneticist and breeder in the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria for seven years, when he served as technical officer for several dozens of projects on plant mutation breeding and related biotechnologies in Asia, Africa and Europe. Dr. Shu has worked on rice mutation breeding and biotechnologies for more than twenty years, with significant achievement on both practical breeding (a dozen mutant rice new varieties that had been widely grown) and scientific researches (with 150 publications including 61 on international journals).

• SECTION I: Concepts, Historical Development and Genetic Basis 1: Plant Mutagenesis in Crop Improvement: Basic Terms and Applications 2: A Brief History of Plant Mutagenesis 3: The Structure and Regulation of Genes and Consequences of Genetic Mutations 4: Mutation Categories 5: DNA Repair Pathways and Genes in Plant 6: Double-Stranded DNA Break, Repair and Associated Mutations SECTION II: Mutagens and Induced Mutagenesis 7: Mutagenic Radiations: X-Rays, Ionizing Particles and Ultra Violet 8: Gamma Irradiation 9: Ion Beam Radiation Mutagenesis 10: Ion Implantation Mutagenesis 11: Effects of Radiation on Living Cells and Plants 12: Chemical Mutagenesis 13: Sodium Azide as a Mutagen SECTION III: Mutation Induction and Mutant Development 14: Methodology for Physical and Chemical Mutagenic Treatments 15: Chimeras and Mutant Gene Transmission 16: Chimeras: Properties and Dissociation in Vegetatively Propagated Plants 17: Mutation Induction in Cytoplasmic Genomes 18: Strategies and Approaches in Mutant Population Development for Mutant Selection in Seed Propagated Crops 19: Irradiation - Facilitated Chromosomal Translocation: Wheat As An Example 20: Molecular Techniques and Methods for Mutation Detection and Screening in Plants 21: Discovery of Chemically Induced Mutations by TILLING 22: A Protocol for TILLING and EcoTILLING 23: Applications of DNA Marker Techniques in Plant Mutation Research SECTION IV: Mutation Breeding 24: Principles and Applications of Plant Mutation Breeding 25: Mutant Phenotyping and Pre-Breeding in Barley 26: Mutation Breeding of Vegetatively Propagated Crops 27: Uses of TILLING® For Crop Improvement 28: Applications of in vitro Techniques in Mutation Breeding of Vegetatively Propagated Crops 29: Haploid Mutagenesis 30: Use of Irradiated Pollen to Induce Parthenogenesis and Haploid Production in Fruit Crops 31: Herbicide - Tolerant Crops Developed from Mutations 32: Mutation Breeding for Fatty Acid Composition in Soybean 33: Genetic Improvement of Basmati RiceThrough Mutation Breeding 34: Mutation Breeding of Sweet Cherry (Prunus avium L.) var. 0900 Ziraat SECTION V: Mutations in Functional Genomics 35: Cloning Genes for Mineral Uptake: Examples Using Rice Mutants 36: Molecular Genetics of Symbiotic Plant-Microbe Interactions in a Model Legume, Lotus Japonicus 37: Mutational Dissection of the Phytochrome Genetic Systems in Rice 38: T-DNA Insertion Mutagenesis 39: Transposon Mutagenesis for Functional Genomics 40: Site-Directed Mutagenesis in Higher Plants 41: Phenomics in Plant Biological Research and Mutation Breeding"