Vegetable breeder Enza Zaden, based in The Netherlands, has identified a gene that resists the Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus (ToBRFV).
Enza Zaden researchers believe the gene is unlike any other currently known in the field, and offers a “high resistance” to the virus, according to a news release.
“We know there’s a lot at stake for our customers,” Sergio de la Fuente van Bentem, plant pathology researcher for Enza Zaden, said in the release. “That’s why our company has worked very hard to find a solution.”
He said now that the company has found the gene, it will develop tomato varieties that are resistant to ToBRFV.
The virus was first discovered in Israel in 2014, and it quickly spread to Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. It has an incubation period of several weeks before symptoms appear, which makes it difficult to contain the spread of the disease, according to the release.
Enza Zaden has produced a video on the research.
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