How does plant biotechnology work with papayas?
Researchers inserted a gene that made the plants resistant to the ringspot virus – similar to the way a vaccine makes people immune to disease.5 Researchers identified and cloned the gene that produces the coat protein in the virus, then inserted the gene into the papaya. The gene then makes the plant resistant to the ringspot virus,6 just as a flu shot makes people resistant to the flu. Worldwide, PRSV is the most deadly papaya virus there is.7 Research is also underway in other papaya growing regions to use biotechnology to combat papaya diseases.
