Biotech Updates

More Sugar in the Beet

October 21, 2011

A number of German university scientists are collaborating on the project called ‘Betamorphosis' to develop sugarbeets with increased sugar yield. Traits for sugarbeet yield and sugar concentration are linked negatively, such that sugarbeets with high yield have low sugar concentration and vice versa. Scientists believe that the genes controlling the traits are inherited together and/or are controlled by similar factors. Thus, the project aims to increase both the yield and the sugar content of the beets through genetic engineering techniques.

The project which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Research involves universities of Cologne, Erlangen, Kaiserslautern and Würzburg and the Südzucker and the KWS Saat AG, and led by Cologne University botanist Professor Ulf-Ingo Flügge.

The story in Deutsch can be viewed at  http://www.botanik.uni-wuerzburg.de/verschiedenes/aktuelle_meldungen/single/artikel/mehr-zucke/