Development of cassava biotechnology tools

In the last decade, three cassava plant regeneration modes, somatic embryogenesis, shoot organogenesis and friable embryogenic callus (FEC), have been well-established in various cassava genotypes. In order to develop a reliable cassava transformation protocol that could be transferred to laboratories located in developing countries, the cassava research group is working on the improvement of the FEC-based transformation protocol. Several optimization steps have been included in the currently available protocols (Zhang et al., 2000; Zhang and Gruissem, 2004) to transform the cassava model cultivar TMS60444 with high efficiency.

Another important challenge for the cassava biotechnology community is the development of transformation protocols that can be used with farmer-preferred cassava cultivars. Using a visual marker (GUS gene), the optimized cassava transformation protocol is currently used to transform a selection of farmer-preferred cassava cultivars from Africa.

References:

Niklaus, M., Gruissem, W., Vanderschuren, H. (2011).
Efficient transformation and regeneration of transgenic cassava using the neomycin phosphotransferase gene as aminoglycoside resistance marker gene.
GM Crops, 2(3) [Link]

Bull, S.E., Ndunguru, J., Gruissem, W., Beeching, J.R., Vanderschuren, H. (2011).
Cassava: constraints to production and the transfer of biotechnology to African laboratories.
Plant Cell Reports, 30(5):779-87 [Link]

Bull S.E., Owiti J., Niklaus M., Beeching J., Gruissem W., Vanderschuren H. (2009)
Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of friable embryogenic calli and regeneration of stable transgenic cassava.
Nature Protocols 4, 1845 - 1854 [Link]

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

Supported by: ZIL, ETH Zürich; Grand Challenges in Global Health