GMW: Boosting cassava roots the non-GM way

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GMW: Boosting cassava roots the non-GM way

" GM WATCH " <info

Mon, 5 Jun 2006 16:01:02 +0100

 

 

 

 

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The non-GM approach produced cassava roots 5 times bigger than the much

hyped GM approach and for a small cost.

 

EXCERPT: " My colleagues and I have produced cassava with roots that are

ten times the normal size without resorting to genetic modification.

The cost of our research was extremely low. " - Professor Nagib Nassar

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Boosting cassava roots the non-GM way

Author: Nagib Nassar

Affiliation: Professor of genetics, University of Brasilia, Brazil

SciDev.Net, 31 May 2006

http://www.scidev.net/editorletters/index.cfm?fuseaction=readeditorletter & itemid\

=93 & language=1

 

SciDev.Net recently published a news story about researchers who had

genetically modified cassava to boost the size of its starch-rich roots

(see GM cassava has 'super size' roots). The researchers produced roots

that were double the normal size by inserting a bacterial gene into the

cassava DNA.

http://www.scidev.net/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=readnews & itemid=2839 & language=1

 

My colleagues and I have produced cassava with roots that are ten times

the normal size without resorting to genetic modification.

 

The cost of our research was extremely low. We simply hybridised

cassava (Manihot esculenta) with the related wild species Manihot

caerulescens. No foreign genes were inserted.

 

An image of the hybrid cassava roots is available online here.

http://www.geneconserve.pro.br/fig90.htm

 

 

 

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