[Soure: Eureka Alert] - A team of academic, government and industry researchers has completed a first draft of the cassava (Manihot esculenta) genome. The project is an important first step in accelerating the pace of research on this subsistence crop and addressing some of the many limitations that face cassava farmers around the world.
Cassava is a root crop that serves as the primary food source for more than 750 million people each day. Although it has many properties that make it an important food across much of Africa and Asia, it also has many limitations. Cassava has poor nutritional content and is susceptible to many pathogens, particularly in Africa, where one third of the continental harvest is lost each year to viral diseases. One of these, Cassava Brown Streak Disease, or CBSD, is currently the major threat to food security in some parts of Eastern Africa.
In response to the urgency of this threat, and building upon the newly available cassava genome sequence, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded a $1.3 million grant to University of Arizona researchers who will lead an international consortium 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 the CBSD virus.
For more information: Researchers complete draft genome sequence for cassava
Showing posts with label genome. Show all posts
Showing posts with label genome. Show all posts
1000 Genomes Project provides an in-depth look across multiple genomes A new international effort – the 1000 Genomes Project – aims to sequence, or spell out, the complete genomes of more than 1,000 individuals, establishing by far the most detailed catalogue of human genetic variation as a tool for medical research.
Full Story: TGen Education and Outreach - Life: It’s Variations of A ThemeComplete Genomics publishes in Science on low-cost sequencing of 3 human genomes
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Nov. 5, 2009 - Complete Genomics, a third-generation human genome sequencing company, today announced publication of a report in the journal Science describing its proprietary DNA sequencing platform, including analysis of sequence data from three complete human genomes. The consumables cost for these three genomes sequenced on the proof-of-principle genomic DNA nanoarrays ranged from $8,005 for 87x coverage to $1,726 for 45x coverage for the samples described in this report.
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