A team of archaeologists affiliated with several institutions in Chile reports evidence that early settlers on the island of Rapa Nui sailed to South America, interacted with people living there and then returned. In their ...
Cassava is one of the most important crops in the tropics, feeding half a billion people in more than 80 countries. Cassava bacterial blight (CBB) is a devastating disease that causes crop losses worldwide.
Biotechnology
Feb 7, 2023
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Research led by Rebecca Bart, Ph.D., associate member, and Nigel Taylor, Ph.D., associate member and Dorothy King distinguished investigator, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, and their collaborators at ETH Zurich, University ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jul 13, 2022
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Using gene-editing technology to create virus-resistant cassava plants could have serious negative ramifications, according to new research by plant biologists at the University of Alberta, the University of Liège in Belgium ...
Biotechnology
Apr 26, 2019
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A new study led by Danforth Center principal investigator Nigel Taylor and research scientist Narayanan Narayanan, shows that field-grown cassava plants overexpressing a combination of plant genes can accumulate significantly ...
Biotechnology
Jan 28, 2019
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30
Using the famous CRISPR-Cas9 gene scissors, plant biotechnologists at ETH Zurich have been able to improve cassava. The new variety has amylose-free or 'waxy' starch, which is preferred by industry.
Biotechnology
Sep 6, 2018
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Cassava is a staple in the diet of more than one billion people across 105 countries, yet this "orphaned crop" has received little attention compared to popular crops like corn and soybeans. While advances in breeding have ...
Biotechnology
May 10, 2018
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66
For breeders of cassava, a staple food for hundreds of millions in the tropics, producing improved varieties has been getting harder over time. A team at Cornell used genomic analysis of cassava varieties and wild relatives ...
Biotechnology
Apr 28, 2017
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For nearly a billion people around the world, cassava is a staple crop and a primary source of calories. The plant is easy to cultivate—cuttings grow well on marginal land—and it is very tolerant of drought. For the U.S. ...
Biotechnology
Apr 18, 2016
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(Phys.org)—PLOS ONE, an open access peer review journal (launched in 2006) has issued a retraction regarding a paper it published recently touting the benefits of genetically enhanced cassava, saying that the results achieved ...
Cassava (Manihot esculenta), also called yuca or manioc, a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae (spurge family) native to South America, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates. It differs from the similarly-spelled yucca, an unrelated fruit-bearing plant.
Cassava is the third largest source of food carbohydrates in the world. Nigeria is the world's largest producer of cassava. It is classified as sweet or bitter, depending on the level of toxic cyanogenic glucosides. (However, bitter taste is not always a reliable measure.) Improper preparation of cassava can leave enough residual cyanide to cause acute cyanide intoxication and goiters, and has been linked to ataxia or partial paralysis. Nevertheless, farmers often prefer the bitter varieties because they deter pests, animals, and thieves. In some locations the more toxic varieties serve as a fall-back resource (a "food security crop") in times of famine.
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