- CIAT genebank looking for a leader.
- IRRI soon-to-be-former (Thanks, Mike) DG looking for a new Green Revolution.
- Looking for pomegranates? Look no further.
- Cleome looking for markets. With genomics.
- Looking to the floating gardens of Bangladesh for answers.
- Looking for the origin of lager yeasts. And finding two of them.
- Looking to understand amaro.
- A good look at biofortification.
Maize too
Hot on the heels of the wheat data, here’s the contribution made by CIMMYT to new maize varieties released by India:
Eight of the nine hybrids owe something to CIMMYT germplasm, as shown by the yellow highlighting. The last one is an industry hybrid, and information on its parentage is unfortunately proprietary. Thanks to all at CIMMYT for sharing both the wheat and maize analyses.
Amen to that
Help line is not working for funding of genebanks – need our leaders to lead on biodiversity conservation #cf2015conf pic.twitter.com/3mHWyJ2ocm
— The Crawford Fund (@CrawfordFund) August 10, 2015
From Cary Fowler’s lecture at the Crawford Fund earlier today. I think I know what he means…
Brainfood: Apple diversity, Wheat diversity, Wild lettuce diversity, Picking cores, Saudi rice diversity, Indian minor millets, Species distribution modelling, Pollinator diversity
- Chloroplast heterogeneity and historical admixture within the genus Malus. Three genetic networks within the genus, with the cultivated species in one of them.
- Subgenomic Diversity Patterns Caused by Directional Selection in Bread Wheat Gene Pools. Five subpopulations, dividing the European from the Chinese material. Some parts of the genome more in need of diversity than others.
- Biodiversity of Lactuca aculeata germplasm assessed by SSR and AFLP markers, and resistance variation to Bremia lactucae. Some race-specific resistance in the wild relative in Israel-Jordan, but nothing extraordinarily efficient.
- Using Multi-Objective Artificial Immune Systems to Find Core Collections Based on Molecular Markers. Very fancy math not only picks populations to maximise diversity, but also potentially at the same time minimises distance from the office.
- Assessment of ISSR based molecular genetic diversity of Hassawi rice in Saudi Arabia. It’s not just one thing.
- Minor Millets as a Central Element for Sustainably Enhanced Incomes, Empowerment, and Nutrition in Rural India. Holistic mainstreaming pays dividends.
- Minimum required number of specimen records to develop accurate species distribution models. Depends on prevalance, but 15 is a good rule of thumb.
- Microsatellite Analysis of Museum Specimens Reveals Historical Differences in Genetic Diversity between Declining and More Stable Bombus Species. Species which declined less diverse than species which did not.
The impact pathways of international genebanks
This analysis does not attempt, in any manner, to undermine the significance of the exotic germplasm material received by India during the course of time, irrespective of the source. India is a recipient of a large amount of germplasm over the period of time from multiple donors including CG genebanks and other national genebanks.
That, you may possibly remember, is from a paper on the flow of genebank material out of India. Our commentary on that paper also brought into play a compilation of data by researchers at Bioversity which quantified the movement of germplasm from India and other countries not only outwards into the CGIAR genebanks, but also in the other direction. This turned out to be just as extensive. But, of course, national programmes like India’s do not just benefit from the CGIAR genebanks through the direct access they have to the material they conserve. They also benefit from the crop improvement programmes of CGIAR centres, which churn out breeding lines and varieties using the raw materials found in their genebanks, and make them freely available to national breeders.
We actually saw an example of that recently when India published a list of drought and flood resistant varieties of various crops that had just been released. Through the magic of Wheat Atlas, and some expert knowledge, for both of which we’re very grateful, we can actually work out the contribution of, say, CIMMYT, to the wheat varieties on that list. Here it is, at a first, rough approximation:
Along the same lines, a recent blog post from IRRI says that
Seventy percent of all varieties released in the Philippines were strongly linked with IRRI between 1985 and 2009.
I’m sure India, and the Philippines, would agree that those international genebanks, and the crop improvement programmes they feed, are well worth having. Maybe even worth paying for.