Summary: <br> <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.talkingbiotechpodcast.com%2F021-solutions-for-cassava-biofortification-and-characterizing-disease-vectors%2F&via=talkingbiotech" class="twitter-share-button">Tweet</a><br> <a href="https://i0.wp.com/www.talkingbiotechpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/21-COVER.jpg"></a><br> Cassava (Manihot esculentum) is a critical world food crop, the third most consumed staple outside of rice and maize. It is even more critical because it is a vigorous plant that grows well in challenging areas. The crop feeds close to 800,000 people worldwide, mostly in Africa, South America and Asia.<br> Production is challenged by a number of biotic and abiotic factors. Viral diseases move quickly through growing regions, vectored by whiteflies. The starchy tuber also lacks key nutrients.<br> This Talking Biotech episode features Prof. Herve Vanderschuren from the University of Leige. He is part of a team that has engineered key enzymes into cassava to enable the production of Vitamin B6, a key nutrient. The second part speaks to Dr. Laura Boykin, a scientist using bioinformatics tools to characterize the whitefly pest that spreads the devastating viral diseases. She also speaks passionately about the people of eastern Africa, and presents a palpable mission to bring them the technical tools and computational know-how to address their continent’s pressing food problems.<br> Like the podcast? Please subscribe and review!<br> <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=68340&refid=stpr"> Stitche</a>r <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-biotech-podcast/id1006329802">iTunes</a> <a href="https://player.fm/series/talking-biotech-podcast">Player FM</a><br>
