Nigel Taylor, Ph.D.
Assistant Research Member
My research is focused on development of biotechnologies required to genetically
enhance the tropical root crop cassava for improved disease resistance and
enhanced nutritional quality.
ntaylor@danforthcenter.org
The tropical root crop cassava (Manihot esculenta) is of central
importance to food security and local economies throughout the
tropics, most especially in Africa. Research in our laboratory
utilizes transgenic technologies to address two of the most
important constraints to cassava production and utilization –
susceptibility to virus disease and poor nutritional content of
foodstuffs derived from the cassava storage root. As Technical
Director and Operations Manager for VIRCA (Virus Resistant
Cassava for Africa), a project funded by the Monsanto Fund
and the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID), I manage the development of transgenic cassava with
enhanced resistance to cassava mosaic disease and cassava
brown streak virus. In 2008, as a Principal Investigator in
BioCassava Plus, a project sponsored by the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation, I began to coordinate efforts to develop
methods to produce transgenic plants of farmer-preferred
cultivars of cassava from Nigeria and Kenya.
2008 saw significant progress on several fronts. First, the
Danforth Center established itself as the worldwide leader in
Leaf of cassava expressing the visual marker gene GFP under control
developing transgenic plants. Approximately 1500 independent
of the 35S promoter.
transgenic plant lines of cassava were generated in support of
the virus resistance projects or within BioCassava Plus, and Training scientists from the world’s tropical regions in
we introduced genes that caused increased accumulation of technologies of value to their agricultural systems remains
pro-Vitamin A, zinc and nutritionally valuable proteins in the a central component of our mission. Through enhancing the
storage roots. Most of these efforts have exceeded expectations, physical infrastructure and increasing human capacity in
and several hundred transgenic plants are currently undergoing country, our goal is to establish functional cassava biotechnology
field trials with collaborators in Puerto Rico. This work will laboratories in Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria. Researchers from
form the basis of the first field trial of materials in Nigeria. each of these countries continue to receive training in our
laboratory on the transgenic technologies required to improve
Technical and scientific challenges remain before enhanced cassava.
cassava can be delivered to farmers in Africa: much effort is
being focused on this goal. Most importantly we must extend
efficient genetic transformation systems into cultivars favored
by farmers and consumers in East and West Africa, and develop
capacity to stack different transgenic traits in the same plant.
Recent progress indicates that these goals are achievable;
in particular, we recently developed transgenic plants from
several East African and one Nigerian cassava cultivar by
Lab Members:
Mala Jayatilleke, Postdoctoral Researcher
using improved transformation vector plasmids that double
Mindy Fitter, Postdoctoral Researcher
the number of useful plants being recovered in our systems. Sareena Sahab, Postdoctoral Researcher
Concurrently, work in collaboration with Dr Ed Cahoon
Tira Jones, Lab Technician
(University of Nebraska) resulted in production of the first
Theodore Moll, Lab Technician
transgenic cassava plants co-expressing genes that increased the
Danielle Posey, Lab Technician
Brent Trauterman, Lab Technician
levels of pro-Vitamin A and a nutritional protein in the model
Ginger Thomas, Lab Technican
cassava variety 60444, and the Kenyan cultivar Teraka.
Lamont Jones, Lab Technician
Recent Publications:
Owor BE, Shepherd DN, Taylor NJ, Edema R, Monjane AL, Thomson JA, Martin DP and Varsani A. 2007. Successful application
of FTA® Classic Card technology and use of bacteriophage 29 DNA polymerase for large-scale field sampling and cloning of
complete maize streak virus genomes. Journal of Virological Methods, 140: 100-105.
Mark E. Halsey, Kenneth M. Olsen, Nigel J. Taylor, and Paul Chavarriaga-Aguirre Reproductive Biology of Cassava (Manihot esculenta
Crantz) and Isolation of Experimental Field Trials. 2008. Crop Sci. 48: 49-58.
2008 Scientific Report The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center 21
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