The cassava, a food staple for Tanzanians, has recently been struck by a class of viruses called geminiviruses, causing famine across the country. However, N.C. State has been bringing aid to those suffering by aiding in the research effort.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation sponsored a grant to fund research. It awarded $9.4 million to the Mikocheni Agricultural Research Institute, which is funding international teams of researchers, including a team at N.C. State.
Cassavas are ideal for the Tanzanian ecosystem as they require very little water and can be grown year-round.
It is the sole crop grown by the majority of Tanzanian farmers, who practice monoculture. The people of Tanzania depend on it for survival and as a source of income.
There have been reports of problems with the cassava crops for at least the past ten years, but recently the threat became much more serious. There has been a recorded movement of the African cassava mosaic virus, one of the geminiviruses, from East Africa westward.
“Geminiviruses are DNA viruses, which are rarer than their counterparts, RNA viruses,” Niki Robertson, a professor of plant biology involved in the research, said. “There are a multitude of new diseases appearing in plants due to geminiviruses.”
For several years it was thought there was a line of cassavas resistant to geminiviruses. However, recently that resistance has been broken, which has resulted in countless plants going through root necrosis. The crops are rotting in the ground.
Therefore, researchers at N.C. State are looking into what makes certain cassava plants resistant and how the DNA viruses are breaking their resistance. To do this, the researchers are comparing certain genes in different lines of crops and identifying resistant breeding lines to pinpoint the allele responsible. Once researchers know where the crop’s resistance is breaking, they hope to be able to prevent it.
Robertson and her colleagues want to have the resistance gene mapped out within the next two years — there are people who are in desperate need of results. Once resistance can be understood, the researchers hope to introduce it into cassava crops through breeding or genetic engineering.
Because of the fast pace of the research, researchers are in need of participation by N.C. State students, according to Trino Ascencio-Ibanez, an assistant professor in biochemistry who has been working with geminiviruses for many years.
“There are a lot of openings for undergrad students in this research. There is a lot of work to do,” Ascencio-Ibanez said.
Students can contribute to the effort in other ways as well — Ascencio-Ibanez said they are always prepared to hear ideas concerning other approaches to the famine that would help the people of Tanzania.
“This type of problem opens opportunities for everyone. It is important for people to get engaged. If they have good ideas they need to share them, because we need all of the help we can get.”
