Successfully decode the genome of orange and tangerine plants

For the first time, scientists announced the decoding of the genomes of oranges and tangerines that could help treat many of their diseases as well as fight insects that harm them.

At the international conference in San Diego (USA), on January 18, the International Citrus Genome Consortium team published preliminary results in deciphering orange genome (Citrus sinensis) and tangerine (Citrus reticulata) conducted over the past four years at a cost of $ 3.5 million.

Scientists in Italy, Spain, France and the United States studying this fruit family have used gene reading methods at higher costs but read longer DNA segments.

Scientists hope that their work will help treat diseases that destroy oranges and mandarins, including infectious diseases caused by Liberobacter bacteria that cause no color and deformity, and The tree is weakened, leading to mass death. It is this disease that devastated many plantations of oranges and tangerines around the world.

In addition, genome data can help to breed higher quality fruit trees, withstand high temperatures and bad soils.