After 5 years of study, the 973 project "Fundamental study on breeding improvement of the important tropical crop cassava" recently made final project examination in Haikou, and on December 2, 2014, was passed the final acceptance organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology. On behalf of the project team, Prof. Peng Zhang reported the research achievement entitled "Analysis and functional verification of key cassava genes".

The project is the first 973 Project to support tropical crops in China and was organized by eight research institutes, including the Institute of Tropical Bioscience and Biotechnology, Tropical Crop Germplasm Resources Institute, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences. During the project, the whole-genome sequencing of a wild ancestor species and a cultivar of cassava was completed. The evolutionary characteristics of efficient photosynthesis, high photo-assimilate transport and starch accumulation were revealed in cultivated cassava using the comparative genomic and transcriptomic approaches, leading to the establishment of molecular models of carbon flux distribution and starch accumulation in storage roots. The team also built a cassava genome database and developed biotechnologies with fruitful achievements, such as cassava with modified starch (including waxy), delayed post-harvest physiological deterioration, and abiotic stress resistance. New cassava varieties having high starch yield and cold tolerance were also released. The achievements greatly support the development of cassava industrialization by opening new opportunities.