Complete Cassava Chloroplast Genome Sequenced
February 8, 2008| |
Cassava is the major source of dietary energy for more than 500 million people, mostly from the developing world. It is also being valued as a raw material for manufacturing starch and livestock feed. Based on recent estimates, cassava is planted on more than 16 million hectares of land, 50 percent accounted for by Africa. Because of its importance, it is necessary that the genetic basis of stress and disease resistance in cassava be fully elucidated.
A group of researchers from the United States has produced the crop’s complete chloroplast genome sequence. The genome, composed of approximately 164,450 basepairs, includes about 128 genes. Forty nine percent of the genes code for proteins. The atpF intron (non-coding region), which was first thought to be conserved in land plants, was found to be absent in the cassava chloroplast genome. The scientists found out that the intron loss is a characteristic of most species belonging to the cassava family (spurges).
The availability of the cassava chloroplast genome may facilitate the development of pathogen and herbicide resistant and drought tolerant cassava varieties through plastid transformation.
The abstract of the paper published by Theoretical and Applied Genetics, including links to the complete article, is available at http://www.springerlink.com/content/4033416h305833u4/?p=58d678bc0ffd4e3b9fcbc4ce98dd16bf&pi=5
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