The International Consortium for Sugarcane Biotechnology (ICSB) approved a proposal submitted by Cenicaña to develop the Genome Assembly project for brown rust, orange rust and ocher rust pathogens.
This project was taken by the Research Center to the most recent ICSB meeting that was held between February 25 and 26 in Pune, India, with the aim of seeking strategic allies for its financing and development.
Colombia, through Cenicaña, has been linked to the Consortium since 1998, and it is the first time that it has submitted a project to the ICSB. Said project also contemplates the sequencing of ocher rust, which is not present in the country, but is present in South Africa, an agro-industry with which work will be done in collaboration.
"The objective of having these three genomes is to know more about the pathogen from its genetics and have reference genomes to compare individuals and know their variability," said John Jaime Riascos, director of the Cenicaña Varieties Program and who accompanied the presentation of the project. before the ICSB.