Mango introduction in Florida and the ’haden’ cultivar’s significance to the modern industry

Mango (Mangifera indica L.) introductions to Florida began in 1861 with the importation of ’No. 11’, a polyembryonic, seed-propagated (nucellar) cultivarfrom Cuba. In the 1880s a collection of Cuban mangos was established near Bradenton. One resulting popular cultivar was ’Turpentine’, now widely used as a rootstock. The U. S. Department of Agriculture introduced ’Mulgoba’, an improved cultivarfrom India, in 1889. Other mangos were later brought from India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Israel, Australia and Kenya. Related Mangifera species were collected in East Malaysian Borneo in 1990. Inasmuch as the breeding system of Mangifera favors outcrossing, the proximity of numerous genotypes of disparate geographic origin in Florida has made that state a secondary center of diversity for the mango and enabled it to make a unique contribution to the fruit industry.     

From the editor’s desk

Improving cotton fibre quality is a major breeding goal for Upland cotton in China. To investigate the genetic mechanisms of fibre quality, a diverse panel of 403 Upland cotton accessions was grown, and the fibre quality traits were measured in six different environments. Genotyping was performed with genomewide simple sequence repeats. A total of 201 markers were polymorphic and generated 394 allele loci, and 403 accessions were arranged into two subgroups using Structure software. Of the marker loci, 18.94% showed significant linkage disequilibrium (\(P< 0.05\)). A mixed linear model in association mapping showed that 51 associations were significant between 39 polymorphic loci and five fibre quality traits, according to best linear unbiased prediction, and in at least three of six environments. Of the 39 associated marker loci, 12 were coincident with previous studies. There were 41 typical accessions identified as containing favourable allele loci related to fibre quality traits. The identified favourable QTL alleles and typical accessions for fibre quality are excellent genetic resources for future cotton breeding in China.     

Rhg1 alleles from soybean PI 437654 and PI 88788 respond differentially to isolates of Heterodera glycines in the greenhouse

The production of resistant soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] cultivars is the most effective means for controlling losses from soybean cyst nematode (SCN) (Heterodera glycines Ichinohe). The major resistance gene in most SCN resistance sources is rhg1, which has been mapped as a quantitative trait locus onto linkage group G. Our objective was to determine whether the SCN resistance sources PI 437654 and PI 88788 have different functional alleles at rhg1 based on resistance phenotypes. Populations segregating for resistance alleles at rhg1 from both PI 88788 and PI 437654 and at Rhg4, a second SCN resistance gene from PI 437654, were developed. These populations were screened for resistance to the H. glycines inbred isolates PA3 (HG type 7) and TN14 (HG type 1.2.5.7) in the greenhouse and evaluated with molecular markers linked to both rhg1 and Rhg4. Each isolate test was repeated, and the evaluations were done on a single-plant and a line-mean basis in Test 1, and solely on a single-plant basis in Test 2. Across two tests with the TN14 isolate, plants with the PI 437654 allele for a marker linked to rhg1 had significantly (P<0.0001) less SCN reproduction than plants carrying the PI 88788 allele. A marker linked to Rhg4, however, was not significantly associated with resistance to TN14. Across two tests with the PA3 isolate, alleles of rhg1 from both sources gave a resistant reaction, although plants homozygous for the PI 88788 allele had significantly (P<0.05) greater resistance than plants with the PI 437654 allele. The marker allele from PI 437654 linked to Rhg4 was significantly (P<0.0005) associated with greater resistance than the PI 88788 allele in both PA3 tests, and resistance was dominant. There was a significant interaction between alleles at rhg1 and Rhg4 in both PA3 tests. These results suggest that PI 437654 and PI 88788 each have a different functional SCN resistance allele at or close to rhg1. These allelic differences have implications that breeders should consider before incorporation into cultivars.     

Huntington’s disease—the sting in the tail

Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive neurodegenerative condition caused by the abnormal expansion of a polyglutamine tract in the N‐terminus of the huntingtin protein. Over the last 20 years, HD pathogenesis has been explained by the generation of N‐terminal fragments containing the polyglutamine stretch. A new study from Frederic Saudou's group now investigates the function of the C‐terminal fragments generated upon cleavage and shows that these products may also contribute to cellular toxicity in HD (El‐Daher et al, 2015 ).     

Going with the flow: a brief history of the study of the honeybee’s navigational ‘odometer’

Honeybees navigate to a food source using a sky-based compass to determine their travel direction, and an odometer to register how far they have travelled. The past 20 years have seen a renewed interest in understanding the nature of the odometer. Early work, pioneered by von Frisch and colleagues, hypothesized that travel distance is measured in terms of the energy that is consumed during the journey. More recent studies suggest that visual cues play a role as well. Specifically, bees appear to gauge travel distance by sensing the extent to which the image of the environment moves in the eye during the journey from the hive to the food source. Most of the evidence indicates that travel distance is measured during the outbound journey. Accumulation of odometric errors is restricted by resetting the odometer every time a prominent landmark is passed. When making detours around large obstacles, the odometer registers the total distance of the path that is flown to the destination, and not the “bee-line” distance. Finally, recent studies are revealing that bees can perform odometry in three dimensions.     

Meal sharing among the Ye’kwana

In this study meal sharing is used as a way of quantifying food transfers between households. Traditional food-sharing studies measure the flow of resources between households. Meal sharing, in contrast, measures food consumption acts according to whether one is a host or a guest in the household as well as the movement of people between households in the context of food consumption. Our goal is to test a number of evolutionary models of food transfers, but first we argue that before one tests models of who should receive food one must understand the adaptiveness of food transfers. For the Ye’kwana, economies of scale in food processing and preparation appear to set the stage for the utility of meal sharing. Evolutionary models of meal sharing, such as kin selection and reciprocal altruism, are evaluated along with non-evolutionary models, such as egalitarian exchange and residential propinquity. In addition, a modified measure of exchange balance—proportional balance—is developed. Reciprocal altruism is shown to be the strongest predictor of exchange intensity and balance.     

Protein quality control: the who’s who, the where’s and therapeutic escapes

In cells the quality of newly synthesized proteins is monitored in regard to proper folding and correct assembly in the early secretory pathway, the cytosol and the nucleoplasm. Proteins recognized as non-native in the ER will be removed and degraded by a process termed ERAD. ERAD of aberrant proteins is accompanied by various changes of cellular organelles and results in protein folding diseases. This review focuses on how the immunocytochemical labeling and electron microscopic analyses have helped to disclose the in situ subcellular distribution pattern of some of the key machinery proteins of the cellular protein quality control, the organelle changes due to the presence of misfolded proteins, and the efficiency of synthetic chaperones to rescue disease-causing trafficking defects of aberrant proteins.     

Hodgkin’s disease in the spleen

Spleens with proven though small Hodgkin lesions were examined expecially in relation to the lymphoid tissue normally engaged in the immune response. These Hodgkin foci were always very close to small arteries and surrounded by a lymphocyte corona. Most of the red and white pulp seemed normal, but in some instances abnormal looking large and also multinucleated cells were found scattered through the p.a.l.s. and especially through some follicles. It is considered possible that these isolated cellular abnormalities in the white pulp, when associated with pre-existent Hodgkin foci, represent early Hodgkin lesions. The implications for the dissemination of the disease are discussed. Spread of malignant cells to the spleen is only acceptable within the concept of a homing principle. It is also possible that the lesions arise "de novo". The nature of the observed abnormal cells is not clear. An explanation for the origin of these Sternberg-Reed-like cells from B-lymphocytes would be in accordance with recent data, but another possibility still is that they originate from antigen trapping cells.     

Entangled Matters—Alzheimer’s,Interiority, and the ‘Unflattening’ of the World

When, in the 1980s, Alzheimer's disease became a disease of major public concern, 'personhood' also became an important, related topic of discussion. Those in caring professions (psychology, social work, etc.) and caregiver groups advocated for the 'person within' who was getting lost in a forgetful body and in a reductionist biomedical system. This essay aims to critically approach the dualism of this kind of argument by focusing on the moral positioning of claims such as personhood or biomedical reductionism.     

How subtidal were the ’subtidal beds’ ofZostera marina L. before the occurrence of the wasting disease in the early 1930's?

In the available literature about eelgrass beds in the former Zuiderzee, now western Dutch Wadden Sea, it is suggested that these stands mainly occurred in the subtidal zone. There is, however, no evidence that this suggestion is right because the relative distribution of eelgrass beds over the intertidal zone and the subtidal zone in the former Zuiderzee was never studied. A detailed mapping of eelgrass beds was carried out in 1869 and another one in 1930. The 1869 map is combined with available nautical charts by application of GIS packages and the distribution of eelgrass beds calculated. It was necessary to carry out corrections because of inaccuracies both in the eelgrass mapping and in the old nautical charts. It is concluded that in 1869 45%±4 of the eelgrass beds were present in the intertidal zone and that 55%±4 of the beds were present in the subtidal zone. In 1930 the distribution amounted to 56% in the intertidal zone versus 44% in the subtidal zone. These values illustrate that in the period prior to the wasting disease and the closure of the former Zuiderzee, eelgrass occurred in both the intertidal zone as well as in the subtidal zone.     

‘Racism: From the Labour Movement to the Far-Right’

This report is a reflection on a recent conference, ‘Racism: From the Labour Movement to the Far-Right’, which was held at the University of Glasgow from Friday 5th to Saturday 6th September 2014. The authors discuss the main themes that the conference sought to address, consider the key highlights of the event including a summary of the opening address by Floya Anthias, and offer some suggestions as to how the initiative may be taken forward.     

Rethinking the ‘everyday’ in ‘ethnicity and everyday life’

While ‘ethnicity and everyday life’ is a familiar collocation, sociologists concerned with racism and ethnicity have not engaged very much with the extensive body of social theory that takes the ‘everyday’ as its central problematic. In this essay, I consider some of the ways in which the sociology of the everyday might be of use to those concerned with investigating ethnicity and racism. For its part, however, the sociology of the everyday has tended to be remarkably blind to the role played by racism and racialization in the modern world. It is thus no less crucial to consider how the experiences of racialized groups might help us rethink influential accounts of the everyday. To this end, I provide a discussion of pioneering texts by C. L. R. James and W. E. B. du Bois, both of whom were driven by their reflections on racism and resistance to recognize the everyday not as an unremarked context, but as, precisely, a problematic one.     

SH3 domain ligand binding: What’s the consensus and where’s the specificity?

An increasing number of SH3 domain-ligand interactions continue to be described that involve the conserved peptide-binding surface of SH3, but structurally deviate substantially from canonical docking of consensus motif-containing SH3 ligands. Indeed, it appears that that the relative frequency and importance of these types of interactions may have been underestimated. Instead of atypical, we propose referring to such peptides as type I or II (depending on the binding orientation) non-consensus ligands. Here we discuss the structural basis of non-consensus SH3 ligand binding and the dominant role of the SH3 domain specificity zone in selective target recognition, and review some of the best-characterized examples of such interactions.     

pms3 is the locus causing the original photoperiod-sensitive male sterility mutation of ’Nongken 58S’

Photoperiod-sensitive genic male sterile (PSGMS) rice is a very useful germplasm for hybrid rice development. It was first found as a spontaneous mutant in a japonica cultivar ’Nongken 58.pms3 on chromosome 12 was determined to be the locus where the original PSGMS mutation occurred, changing the normal cultivar Nongken 58 to PS-GMS Nongken 58S. Large amounts of RAPD and AFLP analyses were also conducted for the fine mapping of the pms3 genomic region, which resulted in 4 molecular markers linked to pms3. Although these markers somewhat increased the marker density of this region, the pms3 locus is still located in a marker-sparse region.     

Agrobiodiversity and agroecological practices in ‘jhumscape’ of the Eastern Himalayas: don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater

Biodiversity and Conservation - The values and roles of biodiversity at the grassroots level get little attention and are usually ignored, despite mounting evidence that effective relationships...