Here’s a cool idea. Apparently the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University and an international committee of taxonomists get together regularly and pick the top 10 new species described in the previous year. They’ve just announced the 2008 picks, and they include a crop wild relative. It’s Coffea charrieriana, a caffeine-free coffee from Cameroon. It was named after “Professor A. Charrier, who managed coffee breeding research and collecting missions at IRD during the last 30 years of the 20th century.” And with whom I had the privilege to work some years back in the early days of the African Coffee Research Network. Congratulations to all concerned.
Sardonic grin greets paper on sardonic grin
Damn you, agrobiodiversity. Every day something new. For example, did you know that a plant is behind the phrase “sardonic grin”? Well, apparently, the roots of the word “sardonic” go back to Homer, who adapted the ancient word for the Sardinians “because of the belief that the Punic people who settled Sardinia gave condemned men a potion that made them smile before dying”? That’s from an ANSA press release which goes on to describe some recent research which purports to nail down the active ingredient of the potion.
It turns out to be polyacetylenes from Oenanthe fistulosa, an umbel. They “cause facial muscles to contract and produce a grimace or rictus.” This species is not cultivated, I don’t think, but a congeneric is: O. javanica is used as a vegetable in parts of Asia. So O. fistulosa is a crop wild relative, sort of. Anyway, the ANSA release doesn’t give details of the paper, but I believe it might be a February article in Journal of Natural Products by a group of Italian and Polish researchers.
One of the authors, Mauro Ballero from the botany department of the Universita di Cagliari, which is in Sardinia, had this to say about the significance of the research, no doubt with a sardonic grin on his face:
The good news is that the molecule in this plant may be retooled by pharmaceutical companies to have the opposite effect.
Nibbles: Biodiversity loss, Mapping, Mongolia, Ag origins, Polynesian voyaging, Hybrid fruits, Apricots, Bedouins, Donkeys, Chile, Cuba
- How should journalists report biodiversity loss?
- Ireland maps its threatened species, including a crop wild relative or two.
- Eat like a nomad.
- Why agriculture was such a bad idea.
- “The heightened voyaging from A.D. 1000 to 1450 in eastern Polynesia was likely prompted by ciguatera fish poisoning.”
- Is Floyd Zaiger the most prolific fruit breeder in the world? Read about his “designer fruits.”
- “It is truly the apricots that have kept me interested and focused at this job for the past 22 years.”
- Jordan’s Bedouins struggling to cope.
- Donkeys running for their lives in Ghana.
- Chile’s winemakers move south.
- The continuing success story that is Cuban urban agriculture.
Nibbles: Sacred sites, Pollan, Atlas of Food, Bison, Urban trees
- Sacred places conserve biodiversity.
- Amy Goodman interviews Michael Pollan.
- Mapping food.
- Bringing back the prairie.
- Urban forestry in Toronto.
The Future of Plant Genetic Resources discussed in London
From our friend Ola Westengen.
Thanks to the announcement on this blog I learned that the Linnean Society were having a meeting entitled “The Future of Plant Genetic Resources.” When I saw the list of speakers a couple of names triggered me to search the dark corners of my budget, were I found just enough for a cheap return ticket to London. It was definitely worth the trip. I owe you a report, and I actually intended to write one up on the flight back, but the wine reception at the end of the meeting took its toll on my concentration.
So now, three days later, instead of decoding my notes from the many excellent talks, I’ll just direct you to the “Abstract book.” I wish I also could show you some of the great pictures in Sandra Knapp’s presentation, such as the one where Professor Jack Hawkes crosses an Andean river with the water waist high — still with his hat and tie on. Jack Hawkes definitely deserves his prominent place in the PGR pantheon, and his formative role for collecting, taxonomy, conservation and policy in this field was highlighted by several speakers. Quite a few, but not the majority, of the talks centered around the Solanum genus and the potatoes. The taxonomists are still arguing about splitting and lumping in the cultivated potato’s extended family, but no one disputes the important contribution made by Jack Hawkes, which still seems to serve as the baseline. Molecular markers are elusive stuff compared to the morphological characters recognized by the trained eye of an aficionado.
Actually, traditional molecular marker studies took a beating from more than one speaker, including by the new King of Corn, Ed Buckler, on some pretty breathtaking methods and results with implications for genetics that go far beyond that even the world’s most produced cereal. Did you know that two lines of maize are in average as divergent from each other as humans are from chimpanzees? Think about that the next time you eat popcorn at the zoo.
The Scottish Crop Research Institute was represented with three good talks, two on potatoes and one on an awesome barley landrace study done with ICARDA. The results will soon be published, and if you fancy beer and other barley products you should keep an eye on their website. PGR collectors, like few other scientists, can claim that their work lives on after they are gone. While Jack Hawkes’ legacy is indisputable, his potatoes are still flowering in the fields of the world’s genbanks. The Commonwealth Potato Collection sports a great website where these flowers can be seen online. Some of you will appreciate their use of Google Earth on their accession list. Check out the abstracts for more. Thanks to the Linnean Society for organizing this inspiring meeting and thanks to the Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog for making it known! At least to me.