Advances in genetic modification of cassava

Publication date: 31/03/2017
Extent: 20 pages

Contributions by: P. Zhang, Q. Ma, M. Naconsie, X. Wu, W. Zhou, National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China and J. Yang, Shanghai Chenshan Plant Science Research Center, Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden, China

Chapter synopsis: Until recently, hybridization was used to breed new varieties of the common tropical and subtropical crop cassava, but changes in global climate, food security and industrialization have accelerated the breeding of new cassava varieties with increased nutrition, high stress resistance and starch content. Genetic engineering shows great potential for cassava, particularly for enhancing starchy storage root development, starch accumulation, health-promoting components, and stress response and regulation. This chapter describes recent progress relating to transgenic modification of cassava. As a vital component of an integrated breeding system, genetic engineering, together with functional genomics, proteomics, marker-assisted selection and traditional hybridization, has greatly promoted the efficiency of cassava production. The chapter also addresses how future research on cassava can strengthen food security, commercialization and bioenergy development.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2016.0014.17