Cassava Research

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is an important starchy food crop in the tropics and subtropics. Our cassava projects focus on capacity development of cassava transformation, specific gene and promoter discovery, sustainable disease resistance and quality improvement. Several routine biotechnology tools have been well-established for this recalcitrant tropical crop in our group, including somatic embryogenesis, transformation system with Agrobacterium and particle bombardment. As a member of “BioCassava Plus Consortium”, we dedicate our research to produce transgenic cassava with elevated resistance to cassava mosaic disease (CMD) and cassava brown streak disease (CBSD), enhanced protein content and improved post-harvest storage. By collaborating with international institutions, e.g. CIAT (Cali, Columbia), IITA (Ibadan, Nigeria), BeCA (Nairobi, Kenya), MARI (Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania), University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, South Africa), we help transferring the technologies to regions where it is currently needed.
The cassava research group is also applying "OMICS" technologies in order to investigate several fundamental aspects of cassava biology and stress responses (i.e. root development, drought response, post-harvest physiological deterioration).

• Cassava: facts and figures

• BioCassava Plus - Improving cassava for nutrition, health and sustainable development

• Development of cassava biotechnology tools

• Isolation and characterization of organ-, condition-, time-specific promoters

• Genetically engineered resistance to African cassava geminivirus

• Genetically engineered resistance to cassava brown streak virus

• Investigation of the staygreen phenotype in cassava

• Improving the nutritional value of cassava

• Gene and protein expression profiling during post-harvest physiological deterioration of cassava storage roots

Contacts: Dr. Herve Vanderschuren, Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Gruissem

Cassava Research Group