A Taiwanese academia-industry collaboration research project has successfully developed biochip systems which can detect some of the most common viruses that can affect banana and potato crops, and improves the efficiency and cost of screening the seedlings, the systems’ makers say.
The project was funded by the National Science Council and was led by Chang Chin-an (張清安), a professor at Chaoyang University of Technology’s Department of Applied Chemistry, in cooperation with DR Chip Biotech Inc.
“Bananas and potatoes are two common crops around the world. Like people and animals, plants can be infected by viruses, which can have a negative effect on their growth, harvest and quality,” Chang said.
Asexual reproduction, or plant tissue culture, is used for both crops to produce harvests with the same traits, he said.
However, if the seedlings are infected before reproduction, the viruses will be vertically transmitted to the entire crop, so screening for viruses is very important in the process of seedling reproduction, he added.
Chang said that the screening methods are developing from the species specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection technology, which is only able to screen one specific virus species at a time — to multipurpose PCR, which is able to screen for more than one virus species.
Chang said traditional PCR methods, which use gel electrophoresis to show detection results, can sometimes yeild unclear results — making it difficult to determine whether the seedling is infected — take about six hours to return a result, and can have genotoxic side effects.
The research team developed biochip detection systems that can detect multiple viruses at once and also have a detection sensitivity about eight times higher than traditional methods, he said.
So far, the biochip detection system for bananas has been able to detect the three most common virus species: cucumber mosaic virus, banana bunchy top virus — which can be found in bananas in Taiwan — and banana bract mosaic virus — which is common in the Philippines.
Chang said the researchers are still working to include the capability to detect the banana streak virus, which is a common virus in many parts of the world, to their biochip.
The researcher’s biochip for detecting viruses on potato seedlings can simultaneously detect all five common virus species in Taiwan: potato viruses Y, A, S, M and X from three virus genera, he said.
“While the detection methods currently being used take six hours for each species-specific detection process, the biochip detection systems only take five hours to detect several viruses at once, saving time and experiment costs,” he said.
DR Chip chief executive officer Sino Wang (王獻煌) said the company has completed the feasibility evaluation for comodifying the biochip detection systems for bananas and potatoes, conforms to the EU’s plant disease testing standards, and can hopefully acquire a worldwide market share of 10 percent and estimated revenue of between NT$200 million and NT$300 million (US$6.8 million and US$10 million) in two to three years.
The first global hotel Keys Selection by the Michelin Guide includes four hotels in Taiwan, Michelin announced yesterday. All four received the “Michelin One Key,” indicating guests are to experience a “very special stay” at any of the locations as the establishments are “a true gem with personality. Service always goes the extra mile, and the hotel provides much more than others in its price range.” Of the four hotels, three are located in Taipei and one in Taichung. In Taipei, the One Key accolades were awarded to the Capella Taipei, Kimpton Da An Taipei and Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Capella Taipei was described by
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of
INDUSTRY: Beijing’s latest export measures go beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related tech, an academic said Taiwanese industries could face significant disruption from China’s newly tightened export controls on rare earth elements, as much of Taiwan’s supply indirectly depends on Chinese materials processed in Japan, a local expert said yesterday. Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈), director of the Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, said that China’s latest export measures go far beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related technologies. With Japan and Southeast Asian countries among those expected to be hit, Taiwan could feel the impact through its reliance on Japanese-made semi-finished products and
RSS