- Phylogeographic and population genetic analyses of Cucurbita moschata reveal divergence of two mitochondrial lineages linked to an elevational gradient. And nuclear genes show there’s a distinct population in Yucatan.
- Advances in cryopreservation of in vitro-derived propagules: technologies and explant sources. Beyond shoot tips.
- Characterization of two leaf rust-resistant Aegilops tauschii accessions for the synthetic wheat development. Hyper-resistant, no less.
- The Genomic Basis for Short-Term Evolution of Environmental Adaptation in Maize. Adaptation of the phenology of tropical types to temperate conditions can happen quickly. So bring in those exotics, they’ll cope soon enough.
- The sequence and de novo assembly of the wild yak genome. Let the intensive yak production systems proliferate.
- Conservation prioritization can resolve the flagship species conundrum. Focusing on 500-odd charismatic mammals, birds and reptiles can account for 80-90% of the species that can be covered in an optimization not constrained by such flagships. But how many CWR? Or, looking at it from the other side, what if CWR were the flagships? Yeah, right, right?
- Spatiotemporal trends in adequacy of dietary nutrient production and food sources. Global production can provide everyone with all nutrients except vitamin A, but 120 countries are not self-sufficient. Another way we’re all interdependent. But at least we have trade. Right?
- First adaptation of quinoa in the Bhutanese mountain agriculture systems. Someone mention interdependence?
- Phenotypic Variation in Leaf Morphology of the USDA, ARS Sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas) Germplasm Collection. Everything is Normal.
- Characterization of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) in Europe. They’re ok but there could be more.
- Evaluation of pulse crops’ functional diversity supporting food production. Three groups of pulses: producers (biomass and seeds), competitors (against weeds) and fixers (N).
- Assessment of Genetic Diversity of the “Acquaviva Red Onion” (Allium cepa L.) Apulian Landrace. It’s a well-defined variety that is noticeably sweeter than others.
Nibbles: Columella, Thomas Bowrey, Dreamtime, Oz seedbank, Kenya sweetpotato, Dalla Ragione, Apple hunter, Cydonia, Caribbean nutmeg, Wheat synthetics, ICARDA forages, Land cover map
- Recreating Roman wine. It’s the tar, stupid.
- Decolonizing weed.
- Ancient Aboriginal foraging and cooking was quite something.
- The National Seed Bank at the Australian National Botanic Garden makes the news. See what I did there?
- So does sweetpotato in Kenya.
- Turning to art to find lost fruit varieties in Italy.
- Remembering Lee Calhoun of North American Fruit Explorers.
- Bringing back the quince. That’s the fruit trifecta.
- Might as well bring nutmeg back too.
- CIMMYT’s synthetic hexaploid wheat programme explained in a PowerPoint.
- Report on screening ICARDA’s wild forages.
- Nerd out with cool land cover map in Google Earth Engine. Mash up with above, for example?
Nibbles: Trade & nutrition, Apple trifecta, Cider, Neolithic migrations, IIED double
- Getting trade to contribute to nutrition. Hard row to hoe.
- Elegiac introduction & postscript by Robert Macfarlane to a fabulous pean to wild Kazakhstan apples by the late, great Roger Deakin called East to Eden.
- And the connection between the above and “wild” apples in Scotland.
- An expensive poster showing how domesticated apple varieties relate to each other. I have to say I’m sorely tempted.
- Sorely tempted by this documentary on some cidermakers’ trip to Kazakhstan too.
- Nice to see my map of barley genebank accessions used in a blog post about mapping human DNA phylogenies.
- Your regular reminder that “PCLG is an international network of organisations coordinated by IIED that promotes learning on the linkages between people and biodiversity conservation” and that their newsletter is well worth subscribing too.
- And here are IIED’s best publications of 2019, including “Biodiversity loss is a development issue,” which is one of the great titles of our time, and not a bad paper either.
Nibbles: Genebanks & CC, Cherokee seeds, CWR art, Chefs & diversity, Plant Treaty, Beer!
- Another pean to genebanks from Mike Jackson.
- Cherokee Nation shares seeds.
- Mitsuaki Tanabe’s wild rice sculptures.
- Weird menus are the best menus.
- Despite everything “…the International Seed Federation (ISF) says the ITPGRFA remains the preferred tool for access- and benefit-sharing of genetic resources for plant breeders.”
- The proteomics of beer. And beards.
Brainfood: Potato genebanks, Aichi 11, Taming foxes, Fruit diversity, Polyploidy review, Evaluating quinoa, Into Africa, IPCC review, Desiccation tolerance, Pig diversity, Oolong diversity, Wild millet, Sustainable diets
- Ex Situ Conservation of Potato [Solanum Section Petota (Solanaceae)] Genetic Resources in Genebanks. The only review of the subject you’ll need. Until the next one.
- Editorial Essay: An update on progress towards Aichi Biodiversity Target 11. Not bad, but the difficult stuff remains difficult. One of several interesting papers.
- The History of Farm Foxes Undermines the Animal Domestication Syndrome. Those Russian foxes were already pretty tame. Here’s a Twitter tread from one of the authors that lays it all out.
- Developing fruit tree portfolios that link agriculture more effectively with nutrition and health: a new approach for providing year-round micronutrients to smallholder farmers. 11 species can address micronutrient gaps.
- Plant Polyploidy: Origin, Evolution, and Its Influence on Crop Domestication. Extreme events and disasters drive polyploidy, which drives diversification at various levels, which facilitates domestication.
- Spectral Reflectance Indices and Physiological Parameters in Quinoa under Contrasting Irrigation Regimes. Phenotyping for drought tolerance from space.
- Asian Crop Dispersal in Africa and Late Holocene Human Adaptation to Tropical Environments. Via NE Africa always something new.
- Invited review: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, agriculture, and food — A case of shifting cultivation and history. The IPCC could have done a better job of synthesizing the data on the impact of climate change on crops and livestock.
- Seed comparative genomics in three coffee species identify desiccation tolerance mechanisms in intermediate seeds. Whole bunch of genes involved.
- Capturing genetic diversity – an assessment of the nation’s gene bank in securing Duroc pigs. Genebank doing a pretty good job in this case.
- Genetic diversity of oolong tea (Camellia sinensis) germplasms based on the nanofluidic array of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. It’s not all the same.
- Tapping Pennisetum violaceum, a wild relative of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), for resistance to blast (caused by Magnaporthe grisea) and rust (caused by Puccinia substriata var. indica). Out of 305 accessions, one was resistant to both diseases. IP21711 if you must know. A few more were resistant to one or the other disease.
- Can Diets Be Healthy, Sustainable, and Equitable? No, and they’ll be difficult to change, but the “burden of change should not be solely placed on the consumer’s ability to make healthy choices.”