Domestication

October 17, 2011October 16, 2011

Brainfood: Ectomycorrhiza, Synthetic peanuts, Ancient Greek amphorae, European bison, Pea breeding, Animal domestication

Ectomycorrhizas and climate change. One more damn thing to worry about.
Meiotic analysis of the hybrids between cultivated and synthetic tetraploid groundnuts. It’s normal. The meiosis I mean. Why isn’t this sort of thing done with more crops?
Aspects of Ancient Greek trade re-evaluated with amphora DNA evidence. More than just wine and olive oil.
Reconstructing range dynamics and range fragmentation of European bison for the last 8000 years. More eastern and northern than thought, and more affected by the spread of farming than climate change in the Holocene.
Resistance to downy mildew (Peronospora viciae) in Australian field pea germplasm (Pisum sativum). It comes from Afghanistan.
Deciphering the genetic basis of animal domestication. Despite all that selection and all those bottlenecks, they really are diverse.

Don’t forget the open Mendeley group for the papers we link to here.

October 10, 2011October 11, 2011

Brainfood: Indian domestication, Canna domestication, Indigenous knowledge, Sunflower history, Diets and diversity, Immature grains

Finding Plant Domestication in the Indian Subcontinent. Maybe five independent centers of domestication, but maybe not. It’s complicated.
The Origin of Southeastern Asian Triploid Edible Canna (Canna discolor Lindl.) Revealed by Molecular Cytogenetical Study. It’s simple. C. indica var. indica and C. plurituberosa.
Diversity of Plant Knowledge as an Adaptive Asset: A Case Study with Standing Rock Elders. You’d be amazed what they know. It’s diverse.
Morphometric Analysis of Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) Achenes from Mexico and Eastern North America. It’s interesting. Size is a better descriptor than computerized shape analysis.
A Systematic Review on the Contributions of Edible Plant and Animal Biodiversity to Human Diets. It’s lacking; there isn’t nearly as much good evidence as you might expect.
Experimental approaches to understanding variation in grain size in Panicum miliaceum (broomcorn millet) and its relevance for interpreting archaeobotanical assemblages. It’s misleading. You need to make allowances for immature grains.

Don’t forget the open Mendeley group for the papers we link to here.

September 26, 2011September 26, 2011

Nibbles: Elm disease, Kew genebank, Maize domestication, Wildlife vs livestock, Medieval figs, Alternative food security, Spineless lulo, Mangos for Haiti, Aubergine breeding, Urban ag in Japan, West African research

“Beginning in the late 1990s, Kock travelled throughout Ontario collecting twigs of seemingly healthy mature elms, in what amounted to an elm dating service.”
“…a curated inventory of miscellaneous interestingness” lands on the Millennium Seed Bank. Hilarity ensues.
What do hopscotch, architecture and maize have in common?
Zebras good for cattle.
The fig deconstructed.
“Improve yields through crop diversity…” ??? Who are these people?
Crops for the Future bemoans the loss of “a spineless variety of Solanum quitoense.” Someone, somewhere must still have it, surely.
Mangos: Haiti’s new best friend?
Home-bred eggplants. Or aubergines.
“Urban agriculture in Japan, cultivating sustainability and well being.” Again? Still?
West Africa to get bunch of specialist biotechnology centres for crop improvement. No word on where the existing national genebanks fit in. Nor, ahem, what role IITA, ICRISAT and the other CGIAR Centres are going to play in all this.

September 12, 2011September 13, 2011

Brainfood: Millet diversity, Maize landraces and hybrids, Potato carotenoids, Wheat domestication, Value chains, Population modeling, Rhizobium diversity, Yeast diversity, Core collection, Wild Zea, Cotton geneflow, Forest fires, Forest diseases

Identification of trait-specific germplasm and developing a mini core collection for efficient use of foxtail millet genetic resources in crop improvement. All the goodness of Setaria italica diversity in just 35 accessions.
Farmers’ adoption of maize (Zea mays L.) hybrids and the persistence of landraces in Southwest China: implications for policy and breeding. There are pros and cons to both hybrids and landraces, and participatory plant breeding could bring together the pros and get rid of the cons.
Carotenoid concentrations of native Andean potatoes as affected by cooking. Some carotenoids were decreased by boiling, others not so much.
Domestication evolution, genetics and genomics in wheat. A big summary of what we know so far and what we might learn by sequencing some wild wheat relatives.
Research Principles for Developing Country Food Value Chains. Multidimensional demands by consumers demand multidimensional research by scientists. I think.
Range shift promotes the formation of stable range edges. Species can move for reasons other than climate change.
Genetic diversity of rhizobia associated with indigenous legumes in different regions of Flanders (Belgium). A new genus? In Flanders?
Assessment of yeast diversity in soils under different management regimes. Type of management and vegetation has an effect. Yeah, well, you had to be there.
Efficiency of PowerCore in core set development using amplified fragment length polymorphic markers in mungbean. Software for making core collections seems to work.
Three new teosintes (Zea spp., Poaceae) from México. New entities, apparently. Species? Subspecies? More study needed, natch.
Recent long-distance transgene flow into wild populations conforms to historical patterns of gene flow in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) at its centre of origin. Four out of eight populations have transgenes.
Effectiveness of strict vs. multiple use protected areas in reducing tropical forest fires: A global analysis using matching methods. Indigenous areas and multiple use are best.
The sudden emergence of pathogenicity in insect–fungus symbioses threatens naive forest ecosystems. It can happen anywhere, any time.

September 7, 2011September 7, 2011

Nibbles: Food Fest, Orange sweet potatoes, Land grab, Tackling hunger, Tomato evolution, Perennial grains

The Eden Project in Cornwall to host harvest festival in October, featuring BBC TV presenter of Grow Your Own Drugs.
“Super spuds help beat hidden hunger in Uganda.” Where NatGeo leads, DFID follows.
A land grab story with a difference! Russia to lease land to North Korea.
UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food offers G20 (more) advice: act on 8 priorities.
The Scientist Gardener tackles the evolution of tomato fruit shape.
Al Jazeera gives The Land Institute a soapbox for perennial grains.