Mainstream

October 23, 2018October 23, 2018

Free the podcast

I’m sure it’s pure coincidence, but hot on the heels of CIMMYT launching a new podcast, here comes the Open Source Seed Initiative with Free the Seed! Good to see the mainstream trying to catch up with Jeremy.

And this seems as good a time and place as any to celebrate the 20th birthday of the greatest podcast of them all, In Our Time. My work will only truly be done when Lord Bragg asks some pointy-headed boffin to “please develop that a bit” of some arcane recess of agricultural biodiversity.

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.

October 10, 2018October 10, 2018

Agrobiodiversity methods dissected

PAR has developed an online compendium of methods for assessing agrobiodiversity. Drawing on experiences from around the world, the Compendium was created to support the documentation, co-creation and sharing of knowledge about diversity and its management. The Compendium provides guidelines for the collection and analysis of data about the diversity of crops, livestock, pollinators and harvested wild plants.

PAR is the Platform for Agrobiodiversity Research. They’ve been very quiet on its various online channels since July, but clearly they haven’t been idle. Good stuff.

Oh, and since I’m on here, let me link to the latest offerings from Uli Westphal by way of agrobiodiversity illustrations, featuring the maize collections of Native Seeds/SEARCH and CIMMYT.