National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China.
J Integr Plant Biol. 2011 Jul;53(7):552-69. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-7909.2011.01048.x. Epub 2011 Jun 22.
As a major source of food, cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is an important root crop in the tropics and subtropics of Africa and Latin America, and serves as raw material for the production of starches and bioethanol in tropical Asia. Cassava improvement through genetic engineering not only overcomes the high heterozygosity and serious trait separation that occurs in its traditional breeding, but also quickly achieves improved target traits. Since the first report on genetic transformation in cassava in 1996, the technology has gradually matured over almost 15 years of development and has overcome cassava genotype constraints, changing from mode cultivars to farmer-preferred ones. Significant progress has been made in terms of an increased resistance to pests and diseases, biofortification, and improved starch quality, building on the fundamental knowledge and technologies related to planting, nutrition, and the processing of this important food crop that has often been neglected. Therefore, cassava has great potential in food security and bioenergy development worldwide.
木薯（Manihot esculenta Crantz）作为一种主要的食物来源，是非洲和拉丁美洲热带和亚热带地区的重要块根作物，也是热带亚洲生产淀粉和生物乙醇的原料。通过基因工程改良木薯不仅克服了传统育种中存在的高度杂合性和严重的性状分离，而且还能迅速实现目标性状的改良。自 1996 年首次报道木薯遗传转化以来，经过近 15 年的发展，该技术逐渐成熟，克服了木薯基因型的限制，从模式品种转变为农民首选品种。在提高对病虫害的抗性、生物强化和改善淀粉质量方面取得了显著进展，这是基于对这种重要粮食作物的种植、营养和加工相关的基础知识和技术的重视，而这些技术往往被忽视。因此，木薯在全球粮食安全和生物能源发展方面具有巨大的潜力。
