The above mentioned conference, held in the International Agricultural Centre in Wageningen from December 8-11, 1991, was attended by approximately 200 participants representing 20 countries, with 40% of these participants affiliated with industry.

The main body of the programme covered three topics together with a special session on applications. A detailed outline of the presented papers is provided hereunder.

It was felt that the programme considerably stimulated the multidisciplinary interactions required in today's research in biotechnology, while further contributing to fruitful interactions between industrial and academic research.