Major mutation-assisted plant breeding programs supported by FAO/IAEA

Under the Joint FAO/IAEA programme, radiation-induced mutations are used for genetic improvement of both seed and vegetatively propagated plants. The FAO/IAEA programme maintains a database of officially released mutant varieties worldwide (http:www-mvd.iaea.org/). Currently, over 2300 mutant varieties are registered in our database. Coordinated Research Projects (CRPs) and Technical Co-operation Projects (TCP) are two major activities at IAEA that serve Member States at the national, regional and interregional levels. This article highlights CRPs on banana, underutilized and neglected crops, and tropical and subtropical fruits. CRPs on banana and underutilized and neglected crops have already been concluded. TCPs in South East Asia (Thailand, and Malaysia), Africa (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana), and the Middle East (Yemen) are discussed. The main projects in South East Asia are on genetic improvement of ornamental plants, fruits and cereals. In Africa, projects are on cassava, date palm, salinity and drought. In the Middle East, funded projects are related to salinity, and drought. In this article, major achievements are highlighted through CRPs and TCPs on low cost tissue culture, banana, underutilised and neglected crops, tropical and subtropical fruits.     

The Social Aspects of Fishing Effort

While economic literature inspired by the “tragedy of the commons” has emphasised people’s tendency to increase fishing effort beyond desirable levels, sociologists and anthropologists who have studied the social aspects of fishing have often emphasised the capacity of these factors to restrict fishing effort. The article addresses the influence of social norms and communication on fishing effort in an empirical study of the Atlantic blue whiting fishery. The data were generated at a time when this fishery had yet to see efficient quota regulations, and had been subject to a rapid growth in fishing effort, making it the largest fishery in the Atlantic. The article argues that social norms and communication patterns in the fishing fleet create a synergic effect of co-operation and competition on fishing effort. The article questions the view that social norms and communication necessarily represent a solution to the tragedy of the commons.

Introducing an international dimension to the science curriculum

Between 1986 and 1990 there was a staff and curriculum development initiative between schools in Sweden and the UK based upon the consideration of environmental issues within the 16–19 science curriculum. This cooperation involved teachers and their students from the two countries working together on the planning, implementation and evaluation of joint activities. This paper begins by tracing the origins of this Sweden—UK initiative; it then outlines its purposes and the criteria for the cooperation; describes the activities which occurred and then, through reflections by the participants, explores the outcomes and the lessons learnt. It concludes by setting out a series of tentative guide-lines for teachers involved in such cooperative ventures.     

The expanding HIV-1 epidemic aggravates therapeutics and vaccine development programs in India

Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1) displays extensive genetic diversity globally that poses a serious challenge in designing suitable therapeutic measures for protective immune responses in the host. After the first detection of AIDS cases in 1986, India now has the third largest HIV epidemic in world. The HIV-1 epidemic in India is still growing with introduction of new strains/subtypes and this creates a serious problem for the clinician and basic science researchers to find the effective measures. Neighboring countries in the North and North-eastern regions play an important role in the HIV-1 pandemic. An extensive multinational collaborative research effort is needed in order to identify the risk groups and geographic locales is required to monitor HIV-1 spread in Asia and to produce a successful preventive program.     

Benefits of communal breeding in burying beetles: a field experiment

1. The ultimate causes of communal breeding and joint parental care in various species of Nicrophorus burying beetles have not been resolved satisfactorily. One hypothesis suggests that females remain on the carcass for extended periods of time because joint defence affords them improved probabilities of retaining the carcass successfully in the face of intense competition from intra‐generic competitors. 2. In a field experiment designed to test this hypothesis in N. defodiens (Mannerheim), breeding associations of two females and a male were no more successful at retaining their carcass than were monogamous pairs, lending no support to the hypothesis. 3. Intra‐generic intruders that usurped already‐buried carcasses were typically much larger than the original residents. 4. The body size of original residents affected both the burial depth and the probability of a takeover. Larger beetles buried the carcass deeper and were more likely to retain possession of the carcass. Group composition also did not affect the depth at which carcasses were buried. 5. Severe and even fatal injuries incurred by some residents indicated the occurrence of violent and damaging fights between competitors over carcasses in the field.     

Calcium ions as a factor of cell-cell cooperation in hepatocyte cultures

Ultradian protein synthesis rhythm was used as a marker of cell cooperation in synchronous dense and non-synchronous sparse hepatocyte cultures. Phenylephrine (2 microM, 2 min), an alpha (1)-adrenoreceptor agonist, which exerts [Ca(2+)](cyt)elevation from intracellular stores, affected protein synthesis rhythm in sparse cultures, i.e. initiated cooperative activity of the cells. The same effect was produced by 2,5-di(tertiary-butyl)-1,4-benzohydroquinone (10 microM, 2 min), which increases [Ca(2+)](cyt)by a non-receptor pathway. Pretreatment of dense cultures with the intracellular calcium chelator, 1,2-bis (2-aminophenoxy) ethane-N,N,N',N'- tetraacetic acid (acetoxymethyl) ester (BAPTA-AM) at 10-20 microM for, 30-60 min resulted in loss of the rhythm of protein synthesis, i.e. loss of cooperative activity between the cells. The medium conditioned by control dense cultures initiated rhythm in sparse cultures, whereas the conditioned medium of cultures pretreated with BAPTA-AM did not. [Ca(2+)](cyt)increase is known to occur with monosialoganglioside GM1 treatment. By ELISA estimation, the GM1 content in 3 h conditioned medium was similar in control dense cultures to that in cultures pretreated with BAPTA-AM. Bearing in mind data on the Ca(2+)-dependence of vesicle formation and shedding, the conditioned medium was separated by 150000 g centrifugation to supernatant containing monomers and micelles, and a pellet containing vesicular form of gangliosides. Only the latter initiated cooperative activity of the cells of sparse cultures. These cultures were also synchronized by GM1-containing liposomes at lower concentrations than added free GM1, 0.0003 and 0.06 microM respectively. Thus, GM1 and calcium are both involved in cell-cell synchronization. Activation of gangliosides, including GM1 and elevation of [Ca(2+)](cyt,)is known to lead to changes of protein kinase activity and protein phosphorylation resulting in modulation of oscillations in protein metabolism.     

新时代背景下创新型专业人才培养模式的探索及实践

创新是推动经济发展和社会进步的重要途径。近年来,生物科学发展迅速,在国家政策支持和人才市场需求下,培育创新型生物类人才是回应社会需求及创新型国家建设的重要举措。本文以浙江师范大学针对生物科学专业实施的创新型生物科学专业人才培养模式为例,从几个方面系统地进行介绍,即以专业导师制的实施为基础,依托项目竞赛和实践平台开展课程教学改革,推进产学研的协同育人。此培养模式在实践中取得了积极的成效,促进了生物科学专业创新型拔尖人才的培养,同时对同类专业的人才培养改革发挥了示范引领作用。