Engineered TALE Nucleases for Broad-Spectrum Resistance Against Cassava-Infecting Geminiviruses

Savithramma Dinesh-Kumar of the University of California, Davis, along with David Segal of the University of California, Davis and Vincent Fondong of Delaware State University in the U.S., seek to design custom TALE nucleases that target and cleave critical regions of DNA from cassava-infecting geminiviruses (CMGs) to completely inactivate the viruses. CMGs are a major threat to cassava production in Africa, and targeted nucleases could be used to engineer CMG resistance into staple African cassava varieties to promote regional food security.