Bioengineered foods face both promise and peril.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

SAN FRANCISCO _ Despite heightened consumer concerns about bioengineered foods, industry leaders remain convinced the sector has a future.

During an agricultural biotechnology conference held in San Francisco this week, speakers from industry and academia pointed to a genetic-information explosion that has greatly expanded opportunities for companies. But at the same time, they warned that public wariness for bioengineered foods could dampen the industry's progress.

"This (public wariness) is a big red flag for investors. We can't take this lightly," Roger Wyse, a managing director for Burrill & Co., a private merchant bank, told about 45 scientists at the Sheraton Hotel at Fisherman's Wharf.

On the one hand, agricultural biotechnology has never shown more promise. A project revealing the entire genetic code of a weed called Arabidopsis, and similar projects underway for rice, tomato and potato, have given scientists access to data important for plant manipulation. The possibility of engineering plants that can withstand drought, have shorter growing cycles or offer enhanced nutrition will become a reality in the not-too-distant future.

For example, David Summa, president and chief executive officer of Mendel Biotechnology Inc., said his company now has more than 100 leads for new bioengineered plants.

By focusing on Arabidopsis' regulatory genes _ the genes that turn other genes on and off _ Summa said the company has discovered how to harden plants against cold and drought, how to make plants grow larger, and how to control a plant's flowering cycle. In fact, the company has so many leads for developing new products, it will be hard to decide where to start, he said.

Also on the plus side, companies have proved they can sell bioengineered products. Despite consumer concerns, crops engineered to resist insects or herbicides have made swift and successful entries onto the U.S. market because they offer economic advantages for farmers, said Marshall Martin, a professor and associate head of the department of agricultural economics at Purdue University.