Agro-Biotech News

For decades, the sweet potato, a vital crop for millions, has kept its genetic secrets due to its complex genome. Unlike humans, who have two sets of chromosomes, sweet potatoes have six, a condition called hexaploidy, which made decoding its DNA an immense challenge. A team of scientists at the Boyce Thompson Institute, led by Professor Zhangjun Fei, has finally decoded the complete genome of a sweet potato variety called 'Tanzania,' known for its disease resistance. Published in Nature Plants, the study used advanced DNA sequencing to untangle the plant's 90 chromosomes and separate them into their six original sets. This groundbreaking achievement provides an "unprecedented level of clarity," according to Fei.