Biotech Updates

Discovery of Wild Strawberry Provides New Genetic Material for Research

July 17, 2013

Kim Hummer, scientist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (USDA ARS), recently discovered wild strawberry species during a plant collection expedition in Oregon's Cascade Mountains. Named Fragaria cascadensis, it is endemic to the Oregon Cascades.

F. cascadensis provides new genetic material for plant research and may lead to a new class of commercial strawberries, according to Hummer. She added that crossing this new species with other strawberries may reveal new flavors or genetic disease resistance. F. cascadensis is now included in the living collections of the Corvallis germplasm repository, which preserves plant genetic resources of temperate fruit, nut, and other crops.

For more details about this discovery, read the July 2013 issue of Agricultural Research magazine at http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/jul13/.