Biotech Updates

Argentine Scientists Develop Virus Resistant GM Potato

August 7, 2013

Argentine scientists have developed potato plants resistant to Potato Virus Y (PVY), a disease that reduces crop yields from 20 to 80 percent. The team is led by Fernando Bravo Almonacid from the National Research Council of Argentina, CONICET at the Institute for Research on Genetic Engineering and Molecular Biology (INGEBI, CONICET-UBA).

For six years, researchers have tested 2,000 plants from two different lines from the provinces of Córdoba, Mendoza and Buenos Aires. Results showed that the genetically modified (GM) plants were not infected, while the infection rate was 60 to 80 percent in non-GM plants.

The research was done under the supervision of Argentina's Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries.

For more, read the news release available in Spanish at Agro-Bio's website: http://www.agrobio.org/fend/index.php?op=YXA9I2NIVmliR2xqWVdOcGIyND0maW09I05UQT0maT0jTmpNMw.