Genome Sequencing Could Boost African Banana Production

Scientists from the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) and Genoscope have successfully sequenced the entire genome of the banana plant and with it opened up new frontiers in banana research and breeding programs in Africa and elsewhere. According to Angelique D'Hont, the study's lead researcher,  the research findings which were published in Nature on 11 July will be of particular value to work on improving various banana attributes.

"These attributes include yield capacity, bunch size, tolerance of adverse conditions such as drought and disease, and resistance to pests," explained D'Hont in an interview with SciDev.Net. "This now provides access to more than 36,000 genes of bananas and enables other researchers to re-analyse ongoing studies from new perspectives, as well helping to speed up research on other bananas," Explained D'Hont.

Story adapted from SciDev.Net - http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/agri-biotech/news/genome-sequencing-could-boost-african-banana-production-1.html Link to the full study in Nature: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v488/n7410/pdf/nature11241.pdf