Oil palm genome sequencing may aid sustainability

A US-Malaysian partnership has completed the first phase of annotating the oil palm genome in a process it hopes will enable increased oil yields and sustainability.

California-based Synthetic Genomics (SGI) and the Asiatic Centre for Genome Technology Sdn Bhd (ACGT) announced the joint venture last year, with the aim of developing more high-yielding and disease-resistant crops.
“Unlocking the knowledge encoded in the genomes could further increase our understanding of these important crops, which could lead to substantially improved oil yield,” said Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, chief executive of Asiatic Development Berhad.

“With such enhanced productivity, growing oil palm and jatropha could be sustainable solution to fulfilling the world’s need for a wide variety of products.”

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