Biotechnology at the Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Institute: Progress and prospects
| MSI99P2081 | |
| Dookun, A. | |
| Biotechnology at the Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Institute: Progress and prospects | |
| Antoine, R., ed. - Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting of Agricultural Scientists, Réduit, Mauritius, 12-13 June 1995 | |
| Book chapter | |
| 1996 | |
| p. 30-32 | |
| Réduit, Food and Agricultural Research Council (FARC), MU | |
| En | |
| En | |
| Projects in biotechnology have been initiated at the Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Institute in 1986. Tissue culture was adopted for the rapid micropropagation of potato and extended to sugar cane in 1991. Presently, the technique is being applied for the bulking of newly released varieties free from diseases for the planting community. Tissue culture also forms the basis for more advanced techniques such as genetic transformation. The introduction of the bar gene which imparts resistance to the herbicide Basta using the Biolistic particle delivery system in embryongenic calli of sugar cane has recently been initiated as a model system. The search for molecular markers associated with two major fungal diseases of sugar cane namely, rust (Puccinia melanocephala) and yellow spot (Mycovellosiella koepkei) using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) is in progress along with collaborative projects on the genome mapping of sugar cane. Monoclonal antibodies and nucleic acid technologies have been applied to the gumming disease pathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv vasculorum to study variation. Race 1 of the bacterium has been shown to be distinct from races 2 and 3 by both methods. The same techniques are being extended to leaf scald (Xanthomonas albilineans) to distinguish between the African and Mascarene serotypes that occur in Mauritius. Furthermore, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is being used for detection of latent infection by Pseudomonas solanacearum in potato tubers. Using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis, variation has been found to exist in the pathogen isolated from various hosts. | |
| BIOTECHNOLOGY POTATOES SUGARCANE MICROPROPAGATION TISSUE CULTURE DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES GENETIC TRANSFORMATION DISEASE RESISTANCE PUCCINIA MELANOCEPHALA MYCOVELLOSIELLA KOEPKEI RUST YELLOW SPOT | |
| MAURITIUS | |
| Biotechnology | |
| 1996-02-12 | |
| En | |
| LIB | |
| CAT | |
| 1 | |
| BIOTECH |