Extinction risk of Mesoamerican crop wild relatives

Ensuring food security is one of the world's most critical issues as agricultural systems are already being impacted by global change. Crop wild relatives (CWR)—wild plants related to crops—possess genetic variability that can help adapt agriculture to a changing environment and sustainably increase crop yields to meet the food security challenge. Here we report the results of an extinction risk assessment of 224 wild relatives of some of the world's most important crops (i.e. chilli pepper, maize, common bean, avocado, cotton, potato, squash, vanilla and husk tomato) in Mesoamerica—an area of global significance as a centre of crop origin, domestication and of high CWR diversity. We show that 35% of the selected CWR taxa are threatened with extinction according to The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List demonstrates that these valuable genetic resources are under high anthropogenic threat. The dominant threat processes are land use change for agriculture and farming, invasive and other problematic species (e.g. pests, genetically modified organisms) and use of biological resources, including overcollection and logging. The most significant drivers of extinction relate to smallholder agriculture—given its high incidence and ongoing shifts from traditional agriculture to modern practices (e.g. use of herbicides)—smallholder ranching and housing and urban development and introduced genetic material. There is an urgent need to increase knowledge and research around different aspects of CWR. Policies that support in situ and ex situ conservation of CWR and promote sustainable agriculture are pivotal to secure these resources for the benefit of current and future generations

Análisis de promotores de los genes HvSs1 y HvSs2 que codifican sacarosa sintasa en cebada

La sacarosa es la forma más común de transporte de carbohidratos en plantas superiores desde los "órganos fuente", donde las células del mesófilo de hojas maduras fijan CO2 hasta los tejidos dependientes de éste aporte para su nutrición, "órganos sumidero". En la semilla de cereales el endospermo es el principal órgano de almacenamiento, ya que en sus células se van a acumular una gran cantidad de sustancias de reserva, almidón y proteínas, que proporcionarán nutrientes al embrión durante la germinación. El almidón es el principal carbohidrato que se acumula en el grano de cebada, en unas estructuras denominadas amiloplastos. Una enzima clave en la biosíntesis de almidón es la sacarosa sintasa (SUSy) encargada de la degradación de la sacarosa procedente el floema dando lugar a UDP-GLUCOSA + FRUCTOSA

Análisis de promotores de los genes HvSs1 y HvSs2 que codifican sacarosa sintasa en cebada

La sacarosa es la forma más común de transporte de carbohidratos en plantas superiores desde los "órganos fuente", donde las células del mesófilo de hojas maduras fijan CO2 hasta los tejidos dependientes de éste aporte para su nutrición, "órganos sumidero". En la semilla de cereales el endospermo es el principal órgano de almacenamiento, ya que en sus células se van a acumular una gran cantidad de sustancias de reserva, almidón y proteínas, que proporcionarán nutrientes al embrión durante la germinación. El almidón es el principal carbohidrato que se acumula en el grano de cebada, en unas estructuras denominadas amiloplastos. Una enzima clave en la biosíntesis de almidón es la sacarosa sintasa (SUSy) encargada de la degradación de la sacarosa procedente el floema dando lugar a UDP-GLUCOSA + FRUCTOSA

An Initiative for the Study and Use of Genetic Diversity of Domesticated Plants and Their Wild Relatives

Domestication has been influenced by formal plant breeding since the onset of intensive agriculture and the Green Revolution. Despite providing food security for some regions, intensive agriculture has had substantial detrimental consequences for the environment and does not fulfill smallholder’s needs under most developing countries conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to look for alternative plant production techniques, effective for each environmental, socio-cultural, and economic conditions. This is particularly relevant for countries that are megadiverse and major centers of plant domestication and diversification. In this white paper, a Mexico-centered initiative is proposed, with two main objectives: (1) to study, understand, conserve, and sustainably use the genetic diversity of domesticated plants and their wild relatives, as well as the ongoing evolutionary processes that generate and maintain it; and (2) to strengthen food and forestry production in a socially fair and environmentally friendly way. To fulfill these objectives, the initiative focuses on the source of variability available for domestication (genetic diversity and functional genomics), the context in which domestication acts (breeding and production) and one of its main challenges (environmental change). Research on these components can be framed to target and connect both the theoretical understanding of the evolutionary processes, the practical aspects of conservation, and food and forestry production. The target, main challenges, problems to be faced and key research questions are presented for each component, followed by a roadmap for the consolidation of this proposal as a national initiative