In situ

October 31, 2018October 31, 2018

Who feeds Africa?

I thought I’d share the summary poster from that GRAIN paper on African farmers’ seed systems that I just Nibbled.

I may blog in more detail about this, but for now let me just say that even if you fully agree with all this it’s still possible to see a role for “formal sector” genebanks, as back-ups and facilitators of (especially long-distance) germplasm exchange. Why doesn’t the paper recognize this? Even if farmers’ seed systems do feed Africa, do they necessarily have to do it on their own?

October 31, 2018October 31, 2018

NIbbles: Banana collecting, Perennial staples, Gender myths, Biodiversity on farm, Farmers’ seeds

Collecting bananas in Bougainville.
More about breeding perennial versions of staple crops.
Surveys and statistics are not enough to better understand respective roles of women and men in food production and security.
There are diverse farms in California too.
GRAIN paper says farmers’ seed systems feed Africa. But surely all those community seed banks could do with support and back-up, not to mention new, additional diversity, from formal sector genebanks?

October 22, 2018October 22, 2018

Nibbles: ITPGRFA, CIMMYT, VIR, Livestock & CC, Vesuvius, Apple pie, Biobanking

The Plant Treaty tries to enhance itself: the story so far.
CIMMYT gets a podcast. Here’s one on blue maize.
The Vavilov collection put to good use. Again.
“Cow farts cause more climate change than cars.” Not really. Here comes the science, by way of a Twitter thread, of all things.
The Pompeii eruption: August, or October? Here comes the archaeobotany, among other things, by way of a Twitter thread, of all things.
It was World Apple Day or somesuch, so here’s two canonical feel-good heirloom apple stories.
Fancy an open-access special issue of Biopreservation and Biobanking? Too nerdy? It’s on agricultural genebanks… Yeah, I thought you might.

October 15, 2018October 15, 2018

Brainfood: Yak diversity, Wheat pre-breeding, Gene conservation, Genome conservation, Wild lentils, Biodiversity definition, Conservation reviews, Bananas treble, Cotton diversity, Pollinator health, Aurochs DNA, USDA cucumbers, Physalis editing, Tomato re-domestication

Identification and diversity of Y‐chromosome haplotypes in Qinghai yak populations. 2 paternal lineages but weak genetic structure among the 9 populations and 3 breeds.
Development and characterization of Triticum turgidum–Aegilops umbellulata amphidiploids. A bridge to bread wheat.
Variation in total root length and root diameter of wild and cultivated lentil grown under drought and re-watered conditions. Some wild species have longer total root length under drought stress than crops. No word on whether bridges needed.
The Peril of Gene-Targeted Conservation. Only warranted when said targeted genes are important for viability and have large phenotypic effects. Suspect crop breeders (see above) may beg to differ.
Conservation of biodiversity in the genomics era. Need to target the whole genome, I guess.
“What Matters Is Species Richness” — High School Students’ Understanding of the Components of Biodiversity. Must try harder.
What Conservation Does. The right things, more or less, and not at all badly, so stop complaining.
Absence of evidence for the conservation outcomes of systematic conservation planning around the globe: a systematic map. It’s not evidence of absence of conservation outcomes, but still. Maybe should get together with the above?
East African diploid and triploid bananas: a genetic complex transported from South-East Asia. All introduced by Austronesian people, probably via Madagascar, but no longer to be found in Asia (much).
Molecular and Cytogenetic Study of East African Highland Banana. Focuses on one of the 4 groups discussed in the above (Mutika). All derived from maybe a single hybrid clone.
Sources of resistance to Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum, the causal agent of banana Xanthomonas wilt. Why bother with the above, you ask?
Genetic diversity of day-neutral converted landrace Gossypium hirsutum L. accessions. Eastern and western hemisphere groups, with US varieties closer to the eastern.
Crop Domestication Alters Floral Reward Chemistry With Potential Consequences for Pollinator Health. In highbush blueberry, domestication has decreased the chemical diversity of nectar and pollen, possibly increasing infection by bee gut pathogens.
Ancient DNA analysis of Scandinavian medieval drinking horns and the horn of the last aurochs bull. Aurochs interbred with domestic cattle way back. In other news, you can extract aurochs DNA from medieval Scandinavian drinking horns.
The USDA cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) collection: genetic diversity, population structure, genome-wide association studies, and core collection development. Three groups, more or less: India, E. Asia, and everything else. A third of 1200 accessions recovers 96% of variation.
Rapid improvement of domestication traits in an orphan crop by genome editing. Tomato orthologues in groundcherry mutated for more fruits and better plant architecture.
Domestication of wild tomato is accelerated by genome editing. Or you can do it with the actual tomato genes. As suggested a couple of years ago.

October 11, 2018

Nibbles: Banana leaf wilt, EIB, Wheat rust, NUS, Amazon conservation, Snakes & carob, Global farmers, Spud genes

Bananas resistant to bacterial wilt found at last.
The Ethiopian genebank gets the very cool Atlas Obscura treatment.
It needs a helping hand, though. Technology to the rescue in wheat rust management.
Diversify your diet, why don’t you.
Giving standing trees value in the Amazon. Great drone shots too.
Carob trees have value in Cyprus.
Also nice pix in this Guardian photo essay on how farmers fight climate change.
Genotyping the CIP collection. That includes the humble potato, of course.