In January, the Citrus Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) board of directors took up several projects aimed at plant transformation to improve HLB disease resistance in plants.
MANJUL DUTT
The board voted to fund work by Manjul Dutt, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) assistant professor of horticultural sciences, to graft the most promising non-genetically modified scions and genetically modified scions onto the most promising genetically modified rootstocks.
“This will answer a question not fully understood,” said Rick Dantzler, CRDF chief operating officer. “How much tolerance or resistance does a healthy rootstock impart to healthy or unhealthy scions?
NIAN WANG
“The board also funded a project by Nian Wang, UF/IFAS microbiologist, on ways to pull non-genetically modified scions, which silence the EDS1 and DMR6 genes, out of juvenility more quickly,” reported Dantzler. “Most transformations occur with immature tissue, which makes the trees struggle to pull out of juvenility. Until trees pull out of juvenility, it is impossible to determine how much value they will be to growers, so this could speed up that process.”
CRISPR PROJECTS
There were several proposals on non-genetically modified CRISPR mature tissue transformations that were either sent back for revisions, or, in the case of pre-proposals, the researchers were invited to submit full proposals.
Share this Post