University of Arizona Receives $1.3 Million From Gates Foundation
University of Arizona Receives $1.3 Million From Gates Foundation
The University of Arizona has announced a $1.3 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to fund the next phase of a research project that is working to address some of the limitations faced by cassava farmers around the world.
With the grant, UA researchers and partners from the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, 454 Life Sciences, and the Institute for Genome Sciences at the University of Maryland, Baltimore will build on the work of a group of international scientists who recently completed the first draft of the cassava genome. Led by UA School of Plant Sciences associate professor Steve Rounsley, the project will seek to develop a genome variation database that will provide breeding tools to aid farmers in improving cassava, with a special focus on increased resistance to Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD).
Cassava is a root crop that serves as the primary food source for more than 750 million people. Although it has many properties that make it an important food across much of Africa and Asia, it also has poor nutritional content and is susceptible to pathogens, particularly in Africa, where one third of the continental harvest is lost each year to viral diseases such as CBSD.
"With the first cassava genome in hand," said Rounsley, "we can cheaply and quickly sequence other varieties that will give us thousands of little signposts — mile markers if you like — that will help us identify key genes for increasing the plant's resistance to the virus."
“Researchers Complete Draft Genome Sequence for Cassava.”
University of Arizona Press Release
11/09/09.
Primary Subject: Science/Technology
Secondary Subject(s): Agriculture/Food, Higher Education
Location(s): Africa, Arizona, Asia, Baltimore, International, Maryland, Seattle, Tucson, Washington
FC014158
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