Filipino Scientists Hope to Develop Virus Resistant Sweet Potato

The Philippines hopes to have a genetically modified sweet potato in the next five years. Scientists from the Visayas State University (VSU) and the University of the Philippines Los Baños Institute of Plant Breeding (UPLB-IPB) are now working on the development of virus resistant sweet potato (VRSP) through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Sweet potato is a popular cash crop abundantly planted to more than 120,500 hectares in the Philippines. The most widely spread and important among these, is the sweet potato feathery mottle virus (SPFMV) which is associated with leaf curl, a disease known as "Kamote Kulot" in Luzon, which is reported to reduce yield of sweet potato by 40-60% in Leyte and 85-98% in Albay.

"Currently, we already have our gene of construct for the VRSP, and it is being validated. The transformation and tissue culture components are under optimization and hopefully, we expect to have the field trials of these VRSP sweet potato varieties by 2011," shares Ms. Lolita Dolores, a virologist and project leader from UPLB-IPB. The workshop was organized by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications, the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture through Biotechnology Information Center (SEARCA-BIC), Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), Program for Biosafety Systems Southeast Asia, and the VSU as part of the capacity building initiatives for the scientists and regulators in the region.

For additional information regarding the VRSP project initiatives in the Philippines, email lmd121552@yahoo.com or bic@agri.searca.org or visit www.searca.bic.org