 The hundreds of thousands of cassava land races
held by farmers in Latin America, Africa and Asia are the results of thousands or hundreds
of years of evolution and natural selection, and are an invaluable resource for the
future. However collecting using them in a systematic way to increase the crop's
productivity and to protect the future harvest is a task beyond any particular
organization or country. The cassava molecular diversity network (MOLCAS) seeks to
collect and characterize using molecular markers cassava land races in Africa and Latin
America by supporting its members with tools, funds and relevant existing information.
The network, funded by the International Chemical Sciences Program (IPICs),
University of Uppsala, comprises of scientists drawn from institutes in Malawi, Uganda,
Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria, Brazil, Sweden, Peru, Colombia, France, and the USA.The goal
of MOLCAS remains to enhance the productivity of cassava by:
Collection and molecular
marker study of genetic variation of cassava land races.
Elucidation of the genetic
diversity and differentiation of land races in Africa compared to what exists in the
crop’s primary center of diversity.
The exploitation of this
information in systematic improvement of the crop.
Build capacity in the sub
Saharan region for molecular diversity assessment and interpretation.
The network achieves its objectives by linking up with different national and
international institutes in Africa and South America and advanced labs and universities in
developed countries interested in studying the genetic diversity of cassava. Members
conduct germplasm collection, molecular characterization, and field trials with cassava
land races in Africa and Latin America.
Studies concluded to date by members of the network include:
A SSR study of cassava land
races in Northern Malawi (Bvumbwe Agricultural Research Station Malawi, SLU, Uppsala,
Sweden)
A SSR study of cassava land
races in Southern Tanzania (CIAT, SLU, ARI Mwanza, ARI Mikocheni Tanzania)
A molecular marker SSR study
of cassava land races from the Amazonian basin and North Eastern coast of Brazil
(ICA-Campinas, Brazil)
Ongoing studies include:
SSR study of a cassava
collection from the Amazonian region of Colombia (CIAT, Uni Valle Colombia)
SSR study of land races in
Nigeria (IITA, NRCRI Nigeria, CIAT)
Test for heterotic (hybrid
vigor) patterns in clusters of previous collections (CIAT).
The primary mode of disseminating the research results obtained through the network has
been through refereed journal papers and MOLCAS workshops held bi-annually. However
to improve access to data from the germplasm studies consideration has been given to
dissemination by the internet through a MOLCAS web site.
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