Rift Valley fever is a zoonotic disease, which has caused several epidemics in humans in many countries of Africa. Using an inhibition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), real-time reverse transcription PCR, and nested one-step reverse transcription PCR, this research conducted a cross-sectional study in populations of sheep and goats from the Mongo County, southern Gabon, in 2014 to determine the circulation of the Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) in small ruminants from this area. Read more: http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/vbz.2016.2065


Wild sorghum will provide a reservoir for resistance genes against Striga. A research team lead by Dr. Steven Runo of the Plant Transformation Laboratory (PTL) at Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya, and Professor Michael Timko of University of Virginia, has identified three wild sorghum accessions resistant to Striga hermonthica, a parasitic plant devastating cereal production in sub-Saharan Africa. The study provides a potential to increase the genetic basis of cultivated sorghum with wide-reaching implications for Striga control in other cereal crops by pyramiding multiple resistance genes. Read more: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2017.00116/full


Drought and poor soil fertility are among the major abiotic stresses affecting maize productivity in sub-Saharan Africa. Maize breeding efforts at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) have focused on incorporating drought stress tolerance and nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE) into tropical maize germplasm. Read more: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pbr.12464/full