Genetic diversity

March 15, 2019March 15, 2019

The wheat in Spain grows all over

The researchers were also able to group Spaniards into five genetic clusters. On a map, these groups form five strips running north to south. Those strips line up neatly with history.

I wonder if you’d get a similar pattern looking at crops, say wheat. There’s lots of material in genebanks to play around with.

LATER: Thanks to David Marshall for pointing out that work has been done on barley.

It just needs someone to compare the patterns now. And repeat for other crops.

March 11, 2019February 26, 2019

Brainfood: Forage seeds, Meat is murder, Medieval farming, Bean breeding, Moth bean genomics, Red List definitions, Amaranth domestication, Seed networks, Local adaptation, Social norms, Food demand, Grasspea future, Strawberry evolution, Maracuoccio

Medium-term seed storage of diverse genera of forage grasses, evidence-based genebank monitoring intervals, and regeneration standards. One size does not fit all.
Sustainability gridlock in a global agricultural commodity chain: Reframing the soy–meat food system. Divide and conquer.
Farm establishment, abandonment and agricultural practices during the last 1,300 years: a case study from southern Sweden based on pollen records and the LOVE model. Medieval Swedes got high.
A review of breeding objectives, genomic resources, and marker-assisted methods in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Oh dear, a worldwide catalogue of germplasm needed.
Construction of genetic linkage map and genome dissection of domestication-related traits of moth bean (Vigna aconitifolia), a legume crop of arid areas. No word on whether a catalogue is needed.
Resources and opportunities for re-establishing Lathyrus cicera L. as a multipurpose cultivated plant. I’d try it. But do a catalogue first.
Ex situ seed banks and the IUCN Red List. When is extinct not extinct?
Convergent seed color adaptation during repeated domestication of an ancient new world grain. Grain amaranth selected 3 times independently from same wild precursor, but always for the same colour.
Modeling epidemics in seed systems and landscapes to guide management strategies: The case of sweetpotato in Northern Uganda. Spread of disease depends on where it starts. Watch out for places with lots of out-nodes.
A Molecular View of Plant Local Adaptation: Incorporating Stress-Response Networks. Adaptation here does not necessarily mean no adaptation there. Interesting for breeders?
Using social norms to encourage healthier eating. To get kids to eat broccoli, tell them their favourite youtuber does. Probably generalizable.
Nutrition Transition and the Structure of Global Food Demand. Lower growth in overall food demand than in the past, but a doubling of demand for animal calories.
Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.): orphan crop, nutraceutical or just plain food? Needs to shed its bad image.
Origin and evolution of the octoploid strawberry genome. All four parents tracked down.

March 6, 2019March 6, 2019

Nibbles: Food biodiversity, Crowdsourcing seeds, A2S, Women & seeds, Cowpea breeding, Heirlooms vs GM, Green Revolution revisionism, Plant health book, ICRISAT genebank, Chinese national genebank, Tea research, Paper mulberry genome, Grape map, Italian olive apocalypse

Chefs innovating with biodiversity.
Citizen seed science comes of age.
Which is just as well, because seed companies could be doing a better job.
Though women are trying.
Hang on there, the private sector set to rescue the cowpea.
A tale of two paradigms.
But is one of the paradigms in trouble?
50 years of plant health research in Africa.
Greening the genebanks.
But how green is “China’s Noah’s Ark“?
And does it have any tea?
Fortunately, the paper mulberry’s genome is consistent with Chinese philosophy.
Italy’s vineyards get mapped.
It may be too late for Italy’s olives though.

March 4, 2019February 26, 2019

Brainfood: Australian pigs, EAHB breeding, Megafauna lunch, Women & agrotourism, Biodiversity & productivity, US beans, Potato ploidy, Phenotyping forests, Sudan cattle genomics, Botanic gardens, Pepper resources, Vanillin, CWR maintenance

What does the ‘closed herd’ really mean for Australian breeding companies and their customers? Australia has enough pig diversity to be going on with.
Crossbreeding East African Highland Bananas: Lessons Learnt Relevant to the Botany of the Crop After 21 Years of Genetic Enhancement. Not completely sterile, but hardly very fertile either. Hard row to hoe.
Are we eating the world’s megafauna to extinction? Yes.
A systematic map of evidence on the contribution of forests to poverty alleviation. Always like a map.
Turismo Rural y Conservación Ambiental: La Participación de la Mujer Campesina en la Reserva de la Biosfera los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico. It would be a good idea.
Not even wrong: The spurious measurement of biodiversity’s effects on ecosystem functioning. Biodiversity likely not as important for ecosystem productivity as previously thought, because maths.
Evolution of SSR diversity from wild types to U.S. advanced cultivars in the Andean and Mesoamerican domestications of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). Some base-broadening may be called for.
Comparison of Methods to Distinguish Diploid and Tetraploid Potato in Applied Diploid Breeding. Count chloroplasts.
Phenotyping Whole Forests Will Help to Track Genetic Performance. You heard.
Signatures of positive selection in African Butana and Kenana dairy zebu cattle. Adapted to marginal environments, but with potential for higher milk production.
How cultivating wild plants in botanic gardens can change their genetic and phenotypic status and what it means for their conservation value. In the end, it’s a numbers game.
Genetic Resources of Capsicum. Could use more wild relatives, more.
Vanilla bahiana, a contribution from the Atlantic Forest biodiversity for the production of vanilla: A proteomic approach through high-definition nanoLC/MS. But does it taste the same?
Spontaneous hybridisation within Aegilops collection and biobanking of crop wild relatives (CWR). I guess that’s bad. But could it be useful?

February 26, 2019February 26, 2019

Nibbles: Homeric food, Two atlases, Cacao breeding, Smart foods, Lancet/EAT, Wild grapes, Landrace maize, Training breeders, Apios, Sustainable use, Cost of nutrition

Did Homeric heroes eat a lot of meat? The answer will surprise you. A thread.
Social food atlas to be launched.
Atlas of West African food systems already launched. Very different thing.
Saving chocolate through biotech.
What makes foods smart?
Pros and cons of the Lancet/EAT thing. And more.
Waking up the wine industry to the beauty grapevine wild relatives.
The magos of maize, from Mexico to the US, and back again.
Plant breeding training in Africa.
Pre-colonial North America: not wilderness, not dense forest, and not just the Three Sisters, lots of Apios too. Lots.
Food AND biodiversity.
Nutritious OR affordable.