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• January 22, 2010

Articles in the January 22, 2010 Issue of Crop Biotech Update

NEWS Global • China Completes Draft Sequence of Cassava Genome  • BASF and KWS SAAT AG Collaborate on Biotech Sugarbeet  Africa • Biotech Stewardship Training in Kenya  • WEMA Project Reaches Out to Stakeholders  • UN-Backed Project to Support Smallholder Agribusiness in Zambia  Americas • First Commercial Release of Locally Bred Biotech Soybean in Brazil; Approval of GM Maize in Argentina  • Danforth Center and Dow Collaborate to Develop High-Yielding Disease-Resistant Cassava Plants  Asia and the Pacific • Crop Biofortification, Key to Meeting MDGs  • Bangladesh Sets Sights on GM Crops  • Promote the Development of the Seed Industry, says China's Vice Minister of Agriculture  Europe • Novel Approach to Produce Biofortified Flour  • Organic Chickens Express More Cholesterol Gene  • Turkey Prepares to Ban GMOs  • Ukraine Amends Law on GMOs  • Russia Allows More Centers to Do Safety Assessment  • GM Notifications in the EU  Research • Scientists Successful in Synthesizing Rubisco  • Weed Employs Gene Amplification to Resist Glyphosate  • Changing Pollinators to Escape Herbivores  Announcements • 2010 AWARD Fellowships  • AgriBiotech in Developing Countries Conference  Document Reminders • Socio-Economic Impacts of Green Biotechnology

China Completes Draft Sequence of Cassava Genome

"A research team from the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS) has completed the deep genome sequencing of 3 cassava varieties in just one year and obtained more complete genome draft through several ultra-high-throughput sequencing technology," said Pengming, director of Tropical Bioscience and Biotechnology Institute of CATAS, during the 1^st China National Agriculture Innovation Forum held in Hainan, China.

Cassava, known as "King of starch", is one of the three major tuber crops, the world's sixth largest food crop and the main food for 600 million people in the world. The research team completes the deep genome sequencing of three cassava varieties of Ku50 (high-starch), W14 (wild ancestral species) and CAS36 (sugar cassava). They also completed the assembly of the complete genome data through Solexa, 454, and BAC Blending Strategy.

The United States has completed the draft sequence of one cassava variety. With China's contribution, these achievements will clarify the basic features of the cassava genome and provide an essential tool for the global adoption of new technologies to carry out basic and applied research in cassava. This will also lay the foundation for further research on the molecular regulatory mechanisms of high efficiency conversion of solar energy to starch accumulation and drought-resistance, as well as the ability of enduring leanness of cassava. Completion of the cassava whole-genome sequencing project has important scientific significance on global food security and bio-energy development.

View the press release at http://xw.catas.cn/xw/2009V_ReadNews.asp?NewsID=10344&ClassID=4

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This article is part of the Crop Biotech Update, a weekly summary of world developments in agri-biotech for developing countries, produced by the Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology, International Service for the Aquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications SEAsiaCenter (ISAAA)

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