Genetic Markers and Horticultural Germplasm Management

This paper is adapted from the text of a seminar of the same title presented as part of the Workshop on Sustainability of Vegetable Breeders’ Genetic Resources, 26 July 1993, at the 90th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Horticultural Science. It represents the distillation of a more extensive treatment of genetic markers and germplasm management (Bretting and Widrlechner, 1995)

Gegenwartsbezüge in der Gedenkstättenpädagogik. Die ambivalente Institutionalisierung von NS-Gedenkstätten und die Gegenwart rechter Gewalt

Der Beitrag geht anhand von organisationsethnographischem Material aus einem laufenden Forschungsprojekt zur einrichtungsspezifischen Praxis von NS-Gedenkstätten der Frage nach, wie dort Gegenwartsbezüge organisiert werden. Die unerledigte Aufgabe einer Erziehung nach Auschwitz wird so entlang des Verhältnisses von Institutionalisierung und Organisation um eine organisationspädagogische Perspektive erweitert. Die empirische Grundlage ist eine Gedenkwand in der Gedenkstätte, die auf die Spannung zwischen den Gewissheiten einer deutschen Erinnerungskultur an den Nationalsozialismus und der Kontinuität rechter Gewalt seit 1945 verweist. Anders als in einem Lernen aus der Geschichte wird damit einerseits die Idee der Abgeschlossenheit von Geschichte in Frage gestellt, andererseits Erinnerung als aktiver Prozess in der Gegenwart begriffen, der dem Beschweigen und Ignorieren der Kontinuität rechter Gewalt entgegensteht und dies zum Gegenstand pädagogischer Arbeit in NS-Gedenkstätten gemacht. (DIPF/Orig.)Using organizational ethnographic material from an ongoing research project on the organization-specific practice of NS-memorial sites, this article examines the question of how contemporary relevance is organized there. The unfinished task of education after Auschwitz is expanded by an organizational pedagogical perspective along the relationship between institutionalization and organization. The empirical inducement is a memorial wall in the memorial site, which points to the tension between the certainties of a German culture of remembrance of National Socialism and the continuity of right-wing violence since 1945. In contrast to the idea of learning from history, this work questions the idea of a concluded history on the one hand, and on the other hand it understands remembrance as an active process in the present that counters the de-thematization and ignoring of the continuity of right-wing violence and makes this the subject of pedagogical work in NS-memorial sites. (DIPF/Orig.

Genetic Markers and Plant Genetic Resource Management

Plant genetic resource (or simply germplasm) management comprises two phases. The first, germplasm conservation, includes acquisition, or securing germplasm in situ (by establishing reserves) or ex situ (by assembling collections through exchange or exploration). It also comprises maintenance: monitoring and protecting germplasm in reserves or storing it ex situ under controlled conditions, propagating it while preserving its original genetic profile with maximum fidelity, monitoring its viability and health in storage, and maintaining associated passport and other data. Germplasm conservation also involves characterization, assaying highly heritable morphological and molecular traits of germplasm, for taxonomic, genetic, quality assurance, and other management purposes

Phylogenetic Relationships among North American Popcorns and Their Evolutionary Links to Mexican and South American Popcorns

To determine genetic relationships among representative popcorns (Zea mays L.) of the New World, 56 maize populations from the USA and nine Latin American countries were characterized for 29 morphological traits, 18 isozyme loci, and 31 SSR loci. Cluster and principal component analyses were performed upon standardized morphological data and allelic frequencies from isozyme and SSR loci to elucidate relationships among populations within a geographical and historical context. Three groups of popcorn, with distinctive morphological characteristics and genetic profiles, were identified in the North American populations. The first group includes the North American Yellow Pearl Popcorns, which are currently the most important for U.S. commercial production. This group could be derived from introductions of the race Curagua from Chile into New England in the 19th Century. The second group includes the North American Pointed Rice Popcorns, which probably originated from the complex of traditional races of pointed popcorns from Latin America, such as Palomero Toluqueño, Confite Puntiagudo, Canguil, and Pisankalla, which diffused from the highlands of central Mexico into northern Mexico and then into southwestern USA. The third group includes the North American Early Popcorns, which show a marked influence of Northern Flint maize, from which they probably acquired the trait of early maturity. This third group also shows genetic influences of maize from northwestern Mexico and even from early European varieties of popcorn introduced late in the 19th Century. We propose that the three groups of North American popcorn identified in this study be recognized taxonomically as distinct races, and we provide characteristic traits as well as isozyme and SSR alleles to define the new races

Allozyme Variation in Domesticated Annual Sunflower and Its Wild Relatives

The annual sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is a morphologically and genetically variable species composed of wild, weedy, and domesticated forms that are used for ornament, oilseed, and edible seeds. In this study, we evaluated genetic variation in 146 germplasm accessions of wild and domesticated sunflowers using allozyme analysis. Results from this survey showed that wild sunflower exhibits geographically structured genetic variation, as samples from the Great Plains region of the central United States were genetically divergent from accessions from California and the southwestern United States. Sunflower populations from the Great Plains harbored greater allelic diversity than did wild sunflower from the western United States. Comparison of genetic variability in wild and domesticated sunflower by principal coordinate analysis showed these groups to be genetically divergent, in large part due to differences in the frequency of common alleles. Neighbor-Joining analyses of domesticated H. annuus, wild H. annuus and two closely related wild species (H. argophyllus T. & G. and H. petiolaris Nutt.) showed that domesticated sunflowers form a genetically coherent group and that wild sunflowers from the Great Plains may include the most likely progenitor of domesticated sunflowers

Engagiertes Denken. Zum gesellschaftspolitischen Engagement der Erwachsenenbildungswissenschaft

Der Beitrag schlägt eine Qualifizierung des Politischen erwachsenenbildungswissenschaftlicher Erkenntnisarbeit als gesellschaftspolitisches Engagement vor. Hierfür werden ausgewählte Einsätze des Politischen in der Erwachsenenbildungswissenschaft mit kulturwissenschaftlichen Überlegungen zu Erkenntnispolitik in eine Linie gebracht und mittels der Figur des engagierten Denkens die theoretische Praxis erwachsenenbildungswissenschaftlicher Wissensproduktion als ein Geltungskampf um Wissen konkretisiert. Diese Perspektive wird schließlich für eine erwachsenenbildungswissenschaftliche (Organisations-)Forschung unter Bedingungen postnazistischer Übersetzungskonflikte geltend gemacht. (DIPF/Orig.

Utility of Tpi3 and Tpi4 Variants in Quality Control of Hybrid Popcorn Seed Production

Popcorn grown commercially in the U. S. is relatively depauperate in isozymatic variation as compared to dent com, and is also isozymatically somewhat distinct from the latter (Stuber and Goodman, USDA/ARS Agric. Res. Results ARR-S-16, 19S3). Isozymatic monitoring of quality in hybrid popcorn seed production therefore might require slight modifications of the methodology (Smith and Weissinger, MNL 5S:l03-105, 1984; Stuber et al., NCARS Techn. Bull. 286, 19SS) commonly employed with dent com

Gene banks offer breeders access to germplasm: Germplasm collections help to preserve genetic diversity

Although most of us would agree that access to germplasm is the lifeblood of our nursery industry, how many of us know that behind the scenes there is a coordinated public and private effort to deal with germplasm issues

A Lactose-Binding Lectin from the Marine Sponge Cinachyrella Apion (Cal) Induces Cell Death in Human Cervical Adenocarcinoma Cells

Cancer represents a set of more than 100 diseases, including malignant tumors from different locations. Strategies inducing differentiation have had limited success in the treatment of established cancers. Marine sponges are a biological reservoir of bioactive molecules, especially lectins. Several animal and plant lectins were purified with antitumor activity, mitogenic, anti-inflammatory and antiviral, but there are few reports in the literature describing the mechanism of action of lectins purified from marine sponges to induce apoptosis in human tumor cells. In this work, a lectin purified from the marine sponge Cinachyrella apion (CaL) was evaluated with respect to its hemolytic, cytotoxic and antiproliferative properties, besides the ability to induce cell death in tumor cells. The antiproliferative activity of CaL was tested against HeLa, PC3 and 3T3 cell lines, with highest growth inhibition for HeLa, reducing cell growth at a dose dependent manner (0.5–10 µg/mL). Hemolytic activity and toxicity against peripheral blood cells were tested using the concentration of IC50 (10 µg/mL) for both trials and twice the IC50 for analysis in flow cytometry, indicating that CaL is not toxic to these cells. To assess the mechanism of cell death caused by CaL in HeLa cells, we performed flow cytometry and western blotting. Results showed that lectin probably induces cell death by apoptosis activation by pro-apoptotic protein Bax, promoting mitochondrial membrane permeabilization, cell cycle arrest in S phase and acting as both dependent and/or independent of caspases pathway. These results indicate the potential of CaL in studies of medicine for treating cancer