The initial draft was developed by Abdelouahhab Zaid, whilst working as Chief Technical Adviser for a field project of FAO. He collaborated closely with Harrison G. Hughes, Professor of Horticulture, Colorado State University, USA.
As their field of expertise is in plant tissue culture, Enrico Porceddu, Professor of Agricultural Genetics, University of Tuscia, Italy, was asked to introduce associated terminology from the broader area of agricultural genetics.
The three first authors wish to acknowledge the assistance of Oluf Gamborg and James Quick for their review and suggestions and D. Strauss, Anna Hughes, Peggy Flaherty and Gretchen DeWeese for their work in typing the initial manuscript.
The whole draft was systematically read over by Frank Nicholas, Department of Animal Science, University of Sydney, who in particular, addressed animal-related terminology.
The draft benefited from the expert comments of a number of specialists which were collated under the guidance of Maria Zimmermann, Sustainable Development Department, FAO.
The final systematic editing for language and style, together with preparation for publication, was made by Thorgeir Lawrence.
In 2001 the process of revision of the Glossary was undertaken to update the definitions of this rapidly evolving scientific discipline and to enrich the number of terms defined. The revision process was coordinated by Andrea Sonnino, Sustainable Development Department, FAO.
The almost 1 300 members of FAO's Electronic Forum on Biotechnology in Food and Agriculture have been called upon for criticisms and suggestions. The call has been further publicized by some other biotechnological networks.
Two consultants, Robert Koebner from the John Innes Institute in the United Kingdom and Martin Shepherd, free-lance scientific editor, prepared a revised, augmented version of the Glossary, also taking into account all the suggestions received so far.
The draft of the new version was then scrutinized by the four original authors. F. Nicholas, in particular, thoroughly revised the manuscipt.
Finally, the corrected draft was critically read and edited by Phil Moss, formerly Director of the Cellular and Molecular Biology Division of ICRISAT. A number of members of the FAO Interdepartmental Working Group on Biotechnology provided suggestions and comments.
The new edition results from the addition of about 450 new terms and from the deletion of about 100 terms, so that it contains now 3,196 terms and related definitions. A number of definitions have been improved to enhance the coherence of the Glossary.
