- DNA splits earthworms. Not many people hurt.
- Cookin’ up a mess of field peas. Not many people hurt.
- Talking about N.I. Vavilov at the NAL. I know, I know. He embodies a discredited and outmoded paradigm. But still.
- “I got hit in the back once,†said Mr. O’Hara. “It left an imprint of a fish.â€
- How Stuff Works: new one on genebanks; old one on seed banks.
- Cuba promotes hurricane-resistant cassava variety.
Equator Prize 2008 winners announced
The Equator Initiative, a United Nations-led partnership that supports grassroots efforts in biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation, has selected 25 winners of the Equator Prize 2008.
And here they all are. Lots of great stuff there on agrobiodiversity conservation and use. Somewhat invidious to single anyone out, but I can’t resist. Check out in particular the work of the Unión de Organizaciones Campesinas e Indígenas de Cotacachi.
Vavilov blogs up a storm in the Pamirs
Wheat database heaven?
The USDA is promising people like Luigi ((Remember when he was Lost in Genebank database hell?)) a get out of hell free card. Shiaoman Chao, a molecular geneticist, sequences and fingerprints thousands of wheat and barley samples sent to her by breeders around the country. The results can help breeders to decide whether a particular seedling is worth persevering with.
But those data on their own become much more valuable when they can be married to other kinds of information from other kinds of laboratory. Enter GrainGenes, “a treasure trove of genetic information about wheat, barley and other ‘small grains’ like rye, oats and triticale”.
Personally, I don’t have the knowledge to make use of GrainGenes, or any of the other massive portals dedicated to just a few crops each: maize, strawberry, potato and others. But there is help out there.
The bigger question is the extent to which all those portals can be brought together and interlinked with other kinds of data: where selections grow, their visible characteristics, their utility, etc. etc. I know there are people coming at this from the non-molecular side of things, but I do sometimes wonder whether they really have the chops (and the resources) to pull it off. If some of the gene-jockeys decided they wanted to do it, and could throw some of their brains, brawn and bucks at the problem, I reckon Luigi would have his lifeline sooner. And it might be more reliable.
Nibbles: Research, Chilli, Gardening, Mice
- IFPRI says exchange of genetic resources a “best bet” for large-scale research investment. Ok, but why just research it? Why not just do it?
- Too hot to handle.
- World Food Garden. Via.
- Another commensal fingerprinted.