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Summary: Papaya genome project bears fruit : Nature News http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080423/full/news.2008.772.html
1 of 2 4/24/2008 7:05 PM
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Papaya: Hawaii's 5th
largest crop.
Published online 23 April 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.772
News
Papaya genome project bears fruit
Hawaiian researchers aim to help transgenic crop gain a bigger market.
Brendan Borrell
The Hawaii Papaya Genome Project published the complete genome of the
transgenic 'SunUp' papaya in Nature this week. The papaya marks the fifth plant
genome to be completed and the first transgenic fruit crop.
Papaya (Carica papaya ) is a tropical fruit tree, first domesticated in the
Americas and now cultivated around the world, including in Hawaii, where it
ranks as the fifth largest crop. The orange-fleshed papaya ranks number one
among fruits for vitamin A, folate, and riboflavin. The enzyme papain has also
been used in medicine and even as a meat tenderizer.
The SunUp papaya was created by Cornell University scientists to confer
resistance to the papaya ringspot virus, which decimated Hawaii's crops in the
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