ORMOC CITY, Leyte—The Philippines hopes to have a genetically modified (GM) kamote (sweet potato) in the next five years.

Scientists from the Visayas State University (VSU) and the University of the Philippines Los Baños, Institute of Plant Breeding (UPLB-IPB) are now working on the development of virus-resistant sweet potato (VRSP) through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation.

Sweet potato is a popular cash crop abundantly planted in more than 120,500 hectares in the Philippines. Of 15 known sweet-potato viruses worldwide, eight of these can be found in the country.

The most widely spread and important among these, is the sweet potato feathery mottle virus (SPFMV), which is associated with leaf curl, a disease known as “Kamote Kulot” in Luzon.

“The virus-disease complex has been reported to reduce the yield of sweet potato by 40 percent to 60 percent in Leyte and 85 percent to 98 percent in Albay,” says Dr. Manuel Palomar, vice president and VRSP project leader of VSU.

Dr. Palomar said VRSP sweet potato can be developed through the transfer of coat protein gene of the SPFMV into local varieties of sweet potato through a phenomenon called “cross-protection.”

“Currently, we already have our gene of construct for the VRSP, and it is being validated. The transformation and tissue-culture components are under optimization and hopefully, we expect to have the field trials of the VRSP by 2011,” shares Lolita Dolores, a virologist and project leader from UPLB-IPB, at the recent Training-Workshop on Risk Assessment and Social Marketing of Public-Sector Biotech Product held at Sabin Resort Hotel, Ormoc City, Leyte.

The workshop was organized by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture through Biotechnology Information Center, Department of Science and Technology- Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCARRD), Program for Biosafety Systems Southeast Asia and the VSU as part of the capacity-building initiatives for the scientists and regulators in the region.

The VRSP project is being supported by the DOST-PCARRD and ISAAA Southeast Asia.

Note: This is SEARCA BIC press release published in BusinessMirror. View copy of press release here.