News on GM Potatoes from the Americas

Scientists have assembled the genome sequences of nearly 300 varieties of potatoes and its wild relatives to develop more nutritious, disease-free, and weather-proof crop.

La Argentina es un centro de diversidad genética de papa. Crecen naturalmente numerosas especies silvestres y nativas que crean un gran acervo genético para la búsqueda de fuentes de tolerancias a diversos factores que le son adversos a la papa cultivada.

Como parte de las acciones para mejorar las condiciones de producción y productividad en el campo tlaxcalteca, la Secretaría de Impulso Agropecuario (SIA) y el Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (Inifap) dieron inicio con la siembra de papa mejorada genéticamente y de calidad industrial.

Humble potatoes are a rich source not only of dietary carbohydrates for humans, but also of starches for numerous industrial applications. Texas A&M AgriLife scientists are learning how to alter the ratio of potatoes’

Los trabajos, que aportarán al Programa de Mejoramiento Genético de Papa del INIA, serán desarrollados por la investigadora de INIA Remehue, Ana María Méndez.

Investigadores argentinos desarrollaron a través de modificaciones genéticas plantas de papa tolerantes a condiciones de sequía y con hasta 17% más de rendimiento que las de la variedad que actualmente se siembra en Argentina.

The USDA's National Institute of Food & Agriculture (NIFA) recently awarded four Potato Research grants  totaling USD 2.6 million  as part of their Special Research Grants program.

Losses in the United States' number one vegetable crop, potatoes, aren't only due to pests or drought, they’re due to damage in the handling and storage of potatoes as well. Understanding the wound-healing process in potatoes may help reduce these losses.

The Potato Leadership, Education and Advancement Foundation (Potato LEAF) is pleased to announce Thilani Jayakody, as the recipient of its 2021-22 Academic Scholarship.

Manipulating RNA can dramatically increase the yield of potato plants, as well as increasing drought tolerance, announced a group of scientists from the University of Chicago, Peking University and Guizhou University.

The United States pressured Mexico on Wednesday to allow genetically modified crops into the country and to open up access to U.S.-grown potatoes. Trade talks were held Wednesday in Mexico City.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is extending deregulation to J.R. Simplot Company’s (Simplot) potato variety developed using genetic engineering, designated as Snowden Z6 (Z6 potato).

El primer transgénico nacional aprobado para consumo humano directo finalmente fue aprobado, a pesar de la oposición de toda la cadena vinculada al cultivo.

La semana pasada se prolongó la moratoria al ingreso de cultivos transgénicos al Perú hasta el 2035. El tema suscita el debate a favor y en contra desde hace nueve años, cuando se estableció una primera moratoria que vencía el 2021.

The potential of the potato has only just begun to be realized. Some 368 million metric tons of potatoes were harvested globally in 2019, as people from Vietnam to Kenya, the Peruvian Andes to Rwanda produced a wide variety of the root vegetable, helping feed an estimated 1.3 billion people who rely on them as a staple food.

Uno de los primeros intercambios entre la población andina y la tierra, fue a través de la papa. Los primeros indicios de su cultivo datan los 8000 años de antigüedad. Desde entonces, generaciones de agricultores han domesticado miles de variedades.

In a work published recently in Frontiers in Plant Science, scientists from Argentina and Sweden reported the results of the research that consisted in the edition of a polyphenol oxidase gene in potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.).

The World Potato Congress (WPC) continues with its webinar series in its 2020 on January 24, with a webinar featuring Dr. David Douches of 'Feed the Future – Biotechnology Potato Partnership'