Toyama Kametaro and Vernon Kellogg: Silkworm Inheritance Experiments in Japan,Siam, and the United States, 1900–1912

Japanese agricultural scientist Toyama Kametaro’s report about the Mendelian inheritance of silkworm cocoon color in Studies on the Hybridology of Insects (1906) spurred changes in Japanese silk production and thrust Toyama and his work into a scholarly exchange with American entomologist Vernon Kellogg. Toyama’s work, based on research conducted in Japan and Siam, came under international scrutiny at a time when analyses of inheritance flourished after the “rediscovery” of Mendel’s laws of heredity in 1900. The hybrid silkworm studies in Asia attracted the attention of Kellogg, who was concerned with how experimental biology would be used to study the causes of natural selection. He challenged Toyama’s conclusions that Mendelism alone could explain the inheritance patterns of silkworm characters such as cocoon color because they had been subject to hundreds of years of artificial selection, or breeding. This examination of the intersection of Japanese sericulture and American entomology probes how practical differences in scientific interests, societal responsibilities, and silkworm materiality were negotiated throughout the processes of legitimating Mendelian genetics on opposite sides of the Pacific. The ways in which Toyama and Kellogg assigned importance to certain silkworm properties show how conflicting intellectual orientations arose in studies of the same organism. Contestation about Mendelism took place not just on a theoretical level, but the debate was fashioned through each scientist’s rationale about the categorization of silkworm breeds and races and what counted as “natural.” This further mediated the acceptability of the silkworm not as an experimental organism, but as an appropriately “natural” insect with which to demonstrate laws of inheritance. All these shed light on the challenges that came along with the use of agricultural animals to convincingly articulate new biological principles.     

Marvelling at the Marvel: The Supposed Conversion of A.D. Darbishire to Mendelism

The so-called “biometric-Mendelian controversy” has received much attention from science studies scholars. This paper focuses on one scientist involved in this debate, Arthur Dukinfield Darbishire, who performed a series of hybridization experiments with mice beginning in 1901. Previous historical work on Darbishire’s experiments and his later attempt to reconcile Mendelian and biometric views describe Darbishire as eventually being “converted”' to Mendelism. I provide a new analysis of this episode in the context of Darbishire’s experimental results, his underlying epistemology, and his influence on the broader debate surrounding the rediscovery and acceptance of Mendelism. Iinvestigate various historiographical issues raised by this episode in order to reflect on the idea of “conversion” to a scientific theory. Darbishire was an influential figure who resisted strong forces compelling him to convert prematurely due to his requirements that the new theory account for particularly important anomalous facts and answer the most pressing questions in the field. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Darwin and His Pigeons. The Analogy Between Artificial and Natural Selection Revisited

The analogy between artificial selection of domestic varieties and natural selection in nature was a vital element of Darwin’s argument in his Origin of Species. Ever since, the image of breeders creating new varieties by artificial selection has served as a convincing illustration of how the theory works. In this paper I argue that we need to reconsider our understanding of Darwin’s analogy. Contrary to what is often assumed, nineteenth-century animal breeding practices constituted a highly controversial field that was fraught with difficulties. It was only with considerable effort that Darwin forged his analogy, and he only succeeded by downplaying the importance of two other breeding techniques – crossing of varieties and inbreeding – that many breeders deemed essential to obtain new varieties. Part of the explanation for Darwin’s gloss on breeding practices, I shall argue, was that the methods of his main informants, the breeders of fancy pigeons, were not representative of what went on in the breeding world at large. Darwin seems to have been eager to take the pigeon fanciers at their word, however, as it was only their methods that provided him with the perfect analogy with natural selection. Thus while his studies of domestic varieties were important for the development of the concept of natural selection, the reverse was also true: Darwin’s comprehension of breeding practices was moulded by his understanding of the working of natural selection in nature. Historical studies of domestic breeding practices in the eighteenth and nineteenth century confirm that, besides selection, the techniques of inbreeding and crossing were much more important than Darwin’s interpretation allowed for. And they still are today. This calls for a reconsideration of the pedagogic use of Darwin’s analogy too.     

“The ‘Domestication’ of Heredity: The Familial Organization of Geneticists at Cambridge University, 1895–1910”

In the early years of Mendelism, 1900–1910, William Bateson established a productive research group consisting of women and men studying biology at Cambridge. The empirical evidence they provided through investigating the patterns of hereditary in many different species helped confirm the validity of the Mendelian laws of heredity. What has not previously been well recognized is that owing to the lack of sufficient institutional support, the group primarily relied on domestic resources to carry out their work. Members of the group formed a kind of extended family unit, centered on the Batesons’ home in Grantchester and the grounds of Newnham College. This case illustrates the continuing role that domestic environments played in supporting scientific research in the early 20th century.     

The “Cycle of Life” in Ecology: Sergei Vinogradskii’s Soil Microbiology, 1885–1940

Historians of science have attributed the emergence of ecology as a discipline in the late nineteenth century to the synthesis of Humboldtian botanical geography and Darwinian evolution. In this essay, I begin to explore another, largely neglected but very important dimension of this history. Using Sergei Vinogradskii’s career and scientific research trajectory as a point of entry, I illustrate the manner in which microbiologists, chemists, botanists, and plant physiologists inscribed the concept of a “cycle of life” into their investigations. Their research transformed a longstanding notion into the fundamental approaches and concepts that underlay the new ecological disciplines that emerged in the 1920s. Pasteur thus joins Humboldt as a foundational figure in ecological thinking, and the broader picture that emerges of the history of ecology explains some otherwise puzzling features of that discipline – such as its fusion of experimental and natural historical methodologies. Vinogradskii’s personal “cycle of life” is also interesting as an example of the interplay between Russian and Western European scientific networks and intellectual traditions. Trained in Russia to investigate nature as a super-organism comprised of circulating energy, matter, and life; over the course of five decades – in contact with scientists and scientific discourses in France, Germany, and Switzerland – he developed a series of research methods that translated the concept of a “cycle of life” into an ecologically conceived soil science and microbiology in the 1920s and 1930s. These methods, bolstered by his authority as a founding father of microbiology, captured the attention of an international network of scientists. Vinogradskii’s conceptualization of the “cycle of life” as chemosynthesis, autotrophy, and global nutrient cycles attracted the attention of ecosystem ecologists; and his methods appealed to practitioners at agricultural experiment stations and microbiological institutes in the United States, Western Europe, and the Soviet Union.     

Panpsychic Organicism: Sewall Wright’s Philosophy for Understanding Complex Genetic Systems

Sewall Wright first encountered the complex systems characteristic of gene combinations while a graduate student at Harvard’s Bussey Institute from 1912 to 1915. In Mendelian breeding experiments, Wright observed a hierarchical dependence of the organism’s phenotype on dynamic networks of genetic interaction and organization. An animal’s physical traits, and thus its autonomy from surrounding environmental constraints, depended greatly on how genes behaved in certain combinations. Wright recognized that while genes are the material determinants of the animal phenotype, operating with great regularity, the special nature of genetic systems contributes to the animal phenotype a degree of spontaneity and novelty, creating unpredictable trait variations by virtue of gene interactions. As a result of his experimentation, as well as his keen interest in the philosophical literature of his day, Wright was inspired to see genetic systems as conscious, living organisms in their own right. Moreover, he decided that since genetic systems maintain ordered stability and cause unpredictable novelty in their organic wholes (the animal phenotype), it would be necessary for biologists to integrate techniques for studying causally ordered phenomena (experimental method) and chance phenomena (correlation method). From 1914 to 1921 Wright developed his “method of path coefficient” (or “path analysis”), a new procedure drawing from both laboratory experimentation and statistical correlation in order to analyze the relative influence of specific genetic interactions on phenotype variation. In this paper I aim to show how Wright’s philosophy for understanding complex genetic systems (panpsychic organicism) logically motivated his 1914–1921 design of path analysis.     

Extending Darwin’s analogy: Bridging differences in concepts of selection between farmers, biologists, and plant breeders

Darwin developed his theory of evolution based on an analogy between artificial selection by breeders of his day and “natural selection.” For Darwin, selection included what biologists came to see as being composed of (1) phenotypic selection of individuals based on phenotypic differences, and, when these are based on heritable genotypic differences, (2) genetic response between generations, which can result in (3) evolution (cumulative directional genetic response over generations). The use of the term “selection” in biology and plant breeding today reflects Darwin’s assumption—phenotypic selection is only biologically significant when it results in evolution. In contrast, research shows that small-scale, traditionally-based farmers select seed as part of an integrated production and consumption system in which selection is often not part of an evolutionary process, but is still useful to farmers. Extending Darwin’s analogy to farmers can facilitate communication between farmers, biologists, and plant breeders to improve selection and crop genetic resource conservation.     

Plant transpiration and net entropy exchange on the Earth’s surface in a Czech watershed

The influence of plant transpiration on the entropy exchange was quantified as associated with the degradation of solar energy on the Earth’s surface covered by plants. Two surfaces were studied: (1) productive surface — plant transpiration taken as equal to the potential one, (2) non-productive surface — plant transpiration taken as equal to zero. The entropy exchanges associated with the absorption of solar radiation and with the conversion of absorbed solar radiation into the sensible heat and latent heat were taken into account. These processes were examined in the experimental watershed Liz (828–1074 m a.s.l.) located in the Bohemian Forest (Czech Republic). We found that in the growing season 1992 the net entropy exchange in humid hydrologic period (the Earth’s surface is productive) was considerably higher than in the arid one (the Earth’s surface was productive in 39% of days, and non-productive in 61% of days). Considering that the biotic effect on the Earth’s functioning can be measured with the help of the net entropy exchange, we can assume that the theory that biotic activities — represented by plant transpiration here — are the cause of the self-organizing processes in Earth’s environment is proved in the watershed scale. Presented at the International Conference on Bioclimatology and Natural Hazards, Poľana nad Detvou, Slovakia, 17–20 September 2007.     

Moult strategies of Cory’s Shearwaters Calonectris diomedea borealis: the influence of colony location, sex and individual breeding status

The replacement of old feathers is essential for birds, but it is also an energy-demanding task. As moult usually does not coincide with other stressful events in its annual cycle, such as reproduction and migration, the bird can optimise its use of time and energy allocated to different activities. There are very few studies comparing the moult strategies of populations with similar breeding calendars but occurring in areas of different habitat quality. Cory’s Shearwaters Calonectris diomedea have a partial moult–breeding overlap, an unusual phenomenon among pelagic seabirds. We have compared the moult schedules in Cory’s Shearwater colonies located in distinct environments (pelagic vs. coastal) and show that moult–breeding overlap is less extensive on Selvagem Grande, situated in deep oceanic waters, than on Berlenga, situated on the continental shelf. Colony attendance of failed breeders, most of which were moulting, was lower at Selvagem Grande than at Berlenga, which suggests that the feeding areas of birds from the former site are more distant from the colony. Failed breeders started to moult earlier than individuals still raising a chick, and breeding status had a stronger influence on determining the onset of wing-feather moult than colony location. Despite published evidence that internal circannual rhythms and external cues, such as variation in daylength, are important factors regulating moult schedules, it is clear that birds retain a considerable flexibility that allows them to respond to external factors in order to strategically manage time and energy in a way that is thought to maximise their fitness.     

A new aspect of genetic diversity of Indonesian oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) revealed by isoenzyme and AFLP markers and its consequences for breeding

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) plays an important economic role in some countries of Southeast Asia like Indonesia, which is the world’s second producer of palm and palm kernel oil. The quality improvement of planting material needs a better understanding of the genetic relationships between genotypes from different populations used in the breeding programmes. In this study, 48 parents, representative of four populations used in Indonesian Oil Palm Research Institute (IOPRI) breeding programmes, were analysed with five selected AFLP primer pairs and four isoenzymatic systems. One hundred and fifty eight scorable band levels were generated of which 96 (61%) were polymorphic. AFLP allowed us to identify off–type descendants which were excluded from analysis. The use of unbiased Rogers distance clearly separated the four studied populations. The Neighbor-Joining method re-groups two African populations which are known as originating from different regions. Nevertheless, the variability revealed is in accordance with oil palm breeders’ knowledge. The results obtained with AFLP showed that the crosses among the African sub-population, which is excluded in oil palm reciprocal recurrent selection (RRS) breeding programmes, may be more interesting than the crosses between the African and the Deli populations. Received: 9 August 1999 / Accepted: 28 February 2000     

Gametic embryogenesis and haploid technology as valuable support to plant breeding

Plant breeding is focused on continuously increasing crop production to meet the needs of an ever-growing world population, improving food quality to ensure a long and healthy life and address the problems of global warming and environment pollution, together with the challenges of developing novel sources of biofuels. The breeders’ search for novel genetic combinations, with which to select plants with improved traits to satisfy both farmers and consumers, is endless. About half of the dramatic increase in crop yield obtained in the second half of the last century has been achieved thanks to the results of genetic improvement, while the residual advance has been due to the enhanced management techniques (pest and disease control, fertilization, and irrigation). Biotechnologies provide powerful tools for plant breeding, and among these ones, tissue culture, particularly haploid and doubled haploid technology, can effectively help to select superior plants. In fact, haploids (Hs), which are plants with gametophytic chromosome number, and doubled haploids (DHs), which are haploids that have undergone chromosome duplication, represent a particularly attractive biotechnological method to accelerate plant breeding. Currently, haploid technology, making possible through gametic embryogenesis the single-step development of complete homozygous lines from heterozygous parents, has already had a huge impact on agricultural systems of many agronomically important crops, representing an integral part in their improvement programmes. The aim of this review was to provide some background, recent advances, and future prospective on the employment of haploid technology through gametic embryogenesis as a powerful tool to support plant breeding.     

Cold-hardening of winter triticale (<Emphasis Type="Italic">x Triticosecale</Emphasis> Wittm.) results in increased resistance to pink snow mould <Emphasis Type="Italic">Microdochium nivale</Emphasis> (Fr., Samuels &; Hallett) and genotype-dependent chlorophyll fluorescence modulations

The resistance of triticale (x Triticosecale Wittm.) to infection of snow mould Microdochium nivale (Fr., Samuels & Hallett) was examined under different temperature pre-treatment regimes. The results of laboratory “cold chamber” resistance tests correlated with the breeders’ report from field experiments. Studied genotypes differed substantially in their resistance to infection. Two cultivars: ‘Magnat’ (susceptible) and ‘Hewo’ (relatively resistant) were further studied as a plant model to test the role of pre-hardening and cold-hardening induction of resistance expression. Both model cultivars were susceptible to M. nivale infection without cold pre-treatment and gained genotype-depended level of resistance after 4 weeks treatment at 4°C, moreover the resistance grew gradually. Simultaneously to the resistance tests, the measurements of chlorophyll fluorescence parameters were taken. The results showed that higher vitality index Rfd of cold-hardened triticale seedlings correlated with increased pink snow mould resistance while differences in other parameters of fluorescence were not distinctly significant. Establishment of Rfd in 4 weeks hardened triticale seedlings could be used for a large scale screening of breeding material in order to select potentially resistant genotypes. Such analyses have not been reported for triticale before.     

Foucault’s ‘Metabody’

The paper treats several ontological questions about certain nineteenth-century and contemporary medical and scientific conceptualizations of hereditary relation. In particular, it considers the account of mid-nineteenth century psychiatric thought given by Foucault in Psychiatric Power: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1973–1974 and Abnormal: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1974–1975. There, Foucault argues that a fantastical conceptual prop, the ‘metabody,’ as he terms it, was implicitly supposed by that period’s psychiatric medicine as a putative ground for psychiatric pathology. After presenting the heart of Foucault’s thought on the ‘metabody,’ the paper investigates the possibility that a contemporary version of a ‘metabody’ may operate today as a conceptual analog of the nineteenth-century psychiatric theory and practice that Foucault began to expose in the texts examined here. It speculates that we might identify a contemporary genetic version of a ‘metabody’ in a particular current conception of the gene as replicator, an item marked by an ambiguous temporal ontology.     

The contributions of mycorrhizal fungi to the determination of plant community structure

While it is now widely accepted, even by ecologists, that most plants in the majority of ecosystems are infected by mycorrhizal fungi, few experiments have been designed to investigate the function of the mutualism at the community level. Those involved with mycorrhizal research have been largely preoccupied with questions of the mineral, particularly phosphorus, nutrition of individual plants, while plant community ecologists have too often found it convenient, even when acknowledging the presence of infection, to ignore its possible function in the ecosystem. This presentation examines a selected number of seminal papers written by plant community ecologists and highlights some of ‘the most striking mysteries’ which they reveal. It describes experiments designed to determine whether knowledge of the presence and activity of the mycorrhizal mycelium can help us to unravel the ‘mysteries’ which they define. It is revealed that by having direct adverse effects upon seedlings of many ‘r’ selected species, while at the same time being beneficial, if not essential, to those that are ‘K’ selected, the activities of the mycelium of VA fungi have a direct bearing upon community composition. The extent to which ‘turf compatibility’ is actually a reflection of the compatibility of plant species with the VA mycorrhizal mycelium is discussed and the possible role of the mycelium in consigning some species to the ruderal habit is considered. It is concluded that those attempting scientifically to understand, or managerially to manipulate, plant communities, without recognizing the role of the mycorrhizal mycelium, do so at their peril, and it is recommended that scientists involved in research on mycorrhiza extend their vision beyond the limited horizons which are currently so often defined by considerations of the phosphorus nutrition of individual host plants.     

Varietal identification and assessment of genetic relationships in Hippeastrum using RAPD markers

The National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) in Lucknow, India, maintains germplasm of Hippeastrum, a beautiful summer blooming ornamental. Germplasm collections comprise NBRI hybrids developed through selective breeding, hybrids with unknown parentage, local species, and Dutch hybrids for research purposes. Considering the importance of protecting plant breeders’ rights for commercial exploitation of hybrids, a PCR-based technique (random amplified polymorphic DNA—RAPD) was used to correctly identify known and unknown hybrids and to determine cultivar relatedness. RAPD profiles were used very successfully to trace and confirm the parentage of all the hybrids tested and to determine clear molecular relationships among varieties.     

Postmetamorphic dispersal and recruitment of first breeders in a Bufo calamita metapopulation

The migratory capacity of metamorphs and their later integration into local breeding populations was studied in a Bufo calamita metapopulation inhabiting the northern Rhineland, Germany (1991–1994). A new tagging method allowed unequivocal distinction among metamorphs (n = 1,709), which originated either from the spring-breeding cohort in 1991 and 1992 or from the summer-breeding cohort in 1991. The life history of batch-marked individuals was followed until adulthood, focusing on postmetamorphic dispersal, choice of breeding locality and timing of adult reproduction. Almost all metamorphs left the patches used for breeding within a few weeks after emergence. They were found at about the same density in all favourable microhabitats in a radius of up to 2 km around their native patch. This demonstrates that even small toadlets (6–11 mm snout-to-vent length) migrate distances of several hundred metres within a short time and that they significantly help prevent local extinction in sink populations (rescue effect). Recaptures of reproductive adults originating from tagged metamorphs were limited to males belonging to the 1997 spring and summer cohorts. The absence of recaptured females was probably due to their greater vagility and later sexual maturation. First-breeding males (2 years old) without exception joined the breeding cohort from which they originated: early breeders originated from spawn of the spring cohort, mid-summer breeders from spawn of the summer cohort. This result is in accordance with the hypothesis that the integration of first breeders to a specific breeding cohort is genetically controlled in central European natterjacks. The exchange of individuals between different cohorts in the same patch is considerably less than the migratory exchange between the same breeding cohorts among local populations, as predicted from the allozyme data. Received: 28 October1996 / Accepted: 4 June 1997     

Effects of Added CeCl<Subscript>3</Subscript> on Resistance of Fifth-Instar Larvae of Silkworm to <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bombyx mori</Emphasis> Nucleopolyhedrovirus Infection

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of mineral sources on broiler breeders and their offsprings. Broiler breeding hens were fed with diets containing either organic or inorganic trace minerals at equal levels, i.e., (1) control group was fed with basal diet supplemented with inorganic trace minerals; (2) OZ group was fed with organic Zn instead of sulfate; and (3) OTM group was fed with organic Cu, Mn, Zn, and Se instead of inorganic sources. Results indicated that OTM supplementation decreased plasma cholesterol and triglyceride and increased yolk triglyceride via increasing high-density lipid protein cholesterol and decreasing low-density lipid protein cholesterol and very low-density lipid protein (VLDL) in plasma. OZ diets decreased plasma cholesterol and triglyceride mainly by reducing VLDL concentration. For control group, increased lipid concentrations resulted in increased lipid peroxidation in serum and malondialdehyde retention in yolk. Zn retention was not affected. Otherwise, OZ diet was observed to decrease Cu in yolk and albumen. While for OTM group, albumen Cu, albumen Se, and hepatic Se of hatched chicks were increased, but yolk Cu was decreased. Moreover, organic mineral supplementations improved broilers’ growth performance. In conclusion, organic mineral supplementation in breeders’ diets protected breeders from lipid peroxidation, increased egg nutrition retention, and benefit for growth of broilers.     

Screening of a broad range of rice (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Oryza sativa</Emphasis> L.) germplasm for <Emphasis Type="Italic">in vitro</Emphasis> rapid plant regeneration and development of an early prediction system

Rice has emerged as a model monocot for studies in agriculture and biotechnology due to its relatively small genome and a ready accessibility to plant material. Tissue culture is one of the tools required for genetic transformation and some breeding programs, and the selection of high-frequency regenerator types is essential for success in these technologies. Thirty-three rice entries with agricultural and biotechnological characteristics of interest were screened with the aim to identify the best regenerators. Entries that exhibited between 50% and 90% regeneration frequencies include ‘Taipei-309,’ ‘Super Dwarf,’ ‘Norin’ (japonica types), PI 312777, ‘Ali Combo’ (indica types), ‘STG-S,’ and ‘LA3’ (red rice types). One third of the entries tested were at least two times better at regeneration than the often-cited regenerator ‘Nipponbare.’ Those entries showing at least 85% frequency of greening or somatic embryo formation at 15 or 30 d on regeneration medium ultimately produced whole plants after 45 d on regeneration medium at high frequency (at least 40%); those entries not reaching the 85% threshold of greening by Days 15 or 30 exhibited moderate (15–40%) to low (less than 10%) frequency of whole plant regeneration. This greening response suggests the means for an early prediction system for identification of useful rice regenerator lines, which would be beneficial for high-throughput screening of germplasm as well as for decreasing the time and cost of in vitro culture.     

Cooperative Breeding and Long-Distance Dispersal: A Test Using Vagrant Records

Cooperative breeding is generally associated with increased philopatry and sedentariness, presumably because short-distance dispersal facilitates the maintenance of kin groups. There are, however, few data on long-distance dispersal in cooperative breeders—the variable likely to be important for genetic diversification and speciation. We tested the hypothesis that cooperative breeders are less likely to engage in long-distance dispersal events by comparing records of vagrants outside their normal geographic range for matched pairs (cooperatively vs. non-cooperatively breeding) of North American species of birds. Results failed to support the hypothesis of reduced long-distance dispersal among cooperative breeders. Thus, our results counter the conclusion that the lower rate of speciation among cooperative breeding taxa found in recent analyses is a consequence of reduced vagility.