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African farmers could soon grow virus-resistant cassava
October 31, 2012 Editor 0
From SciDev
[CAPE TOWN] Researchers in Zurich, Switzerland, have successfully developed a strain of virus-resistant cassava, and now hope to train scientists in Africa to develop the technology in laboratories on the continent.
The study, which demonstrated that researchers can now generate transgenic farmer- and industry-preferred cassava, was published inPLOS One last month (25 September).
Herve Vanderschuren, the study’s lead author, and head of the cassava research team at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, said the research team had developed a new cassava variety that is resistant to cassava mosaic disease and cassava brown streak virus, an infection that makes cassava roots unpalatable.
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