Genetic Improvement of Oilseed Crops Using Modern Biotechnology

In 2009, big challenges facing the agricultural sector in the twenty-first century were presented to the world. Human population growth, increased life expectancy, loss of biodiversity, climate change and accelerated land degradation are the main factors contributing to rethink agriculture system production. In that scenery, modern biotechnology has set a stage for the advancement of agricultural practices and it is clearly an important ally to apply a broad array of technologies and innovative systems where they are most needed, such as enhancing crop productivity, increasing yields, and ultimately ensuring food security. One of the biggest challenges is related to technify production systems, but with no doubt, developing genetic improvement toward getting an efficient and sustainable agriculture, generating new seed qualities (new traits), such as, among others, to upset fatty acids content in oilseed crops have been growing up significantly due to industry interest. In this study, a review about the main advances in genetic improvement of some oilseed crops, starting with omics to understand metabolic routes and to find out key genes in seed oil production, and also, getting in use of modern biotechnology to alter the production of fatty acids, and to face biotic challenges in oilseed crops is presented

Mitochondrial Genomes of Lepidopteran Insects Considered Crop Pests

In this chapter, the complete mitochondrial genome of Guatemalan potato moth, Tecia solanivora (Povolny, 1973) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) is presented as a model to understand how to characterize and study a mitogenome in insects. It was sequenced, analyzed, and compared with other lepidopteran insects. T. solanivora mitogenome is a circular double-stranded molecule, typically found in insects and containing 37 genes, all them well described over the other lepidopteran mitogenomes sequenced. Interestingly, in this mitogenome was found a gene arrangement in the tRNA-Met gene different from the ancestral arrangement, but commonly present in insect mitogenomes. Other important characteristics are the high A + T-biased and negative AT- and GC-skews contents, but also unusual canonical start codons in 12 protein-coding genes and an incomplete stop codon in the cytochrome oxidase subunit II gene consisting of just a Thymine. Another common feature shared with lepidopteran mitogenomes is the A + T-rich region. It is characterized by having 325 bb, the ‘ATAGA’ motif, a 17 bp poly (T) stretch and a (AT)8 element preceded by the ‘ATTTA’ motif. Likewise, this mitogenome has 21 intergenic spacer regions. In addition, an update about other recent mitogenomes research done mainly over lepidopteran insects considered crop pests is presented. On the other hand, a novel development based on induced mutations by CRISPR-Cas9 in the mitogenomes seeking applicable capability for pest control is shown. The utility of this study is to improve scientific databases and support future studies of population genetic in lepidopteran

Confirmación del método de ayuda diagnóstica de la dinámica cardiaca de aplicación clínica desarrollado con base en la teoría de la probabilidad

A partir de la teoría de probabilidad y los sistemas dinámicos se desarrolló previamente una nueva metodología de ayuda diagnóstica para el Holter con base en la teoría de la probabilidad. El propósito de este trabajo es evaluar su concordancia diagnóstica en casos normales y con enfermedad aguda. Se tomaron 15 Holters normales y 100 con diferentes patologías cardiacas de pacientes mayores a 20 años. Se establecieron rangos de frecuencias cardiacas y de número de latidos por hora y se calculó la probabilidad de estos rangos. Los valores obtenidos se analizaron de acuerdo con los parámetros diagnósticos establecidos en la metodología previamente desarrollada para diferenciar normalidad de enfermedad. Finalmente se evaluó sensibilidad, especificidad y coeficiente Kappa de la evaluación física matemática respecto al diagnóstico convencional para los casos normales y con enfermedad aguda.Los Holter con enfermedad aguda presentaron entre 6 y 13 rangos de frecuencias y los normales entre 13 y 21 rangos. La probabilidad máxima de latidos por hora en normalidad presentó cuatro casos con probabilidad menor o igual a 0,217 o mayor o igual a 0,304, mientras que para enfermedad aguda todos tuvieron valores mayores o iguales a 0,304. De los Holter, 5 con enfermedad aguda, y 2 normales presentaron un número de latidos menor a 3.000. La suma de las probabilidades de las dos frecuencias más probables se encontró entre 0,203 y 0,379 para los normales y entre 0,333 y 0,652 para los Holters con patologías agudas. Los valores de sensibilidad y especificidad fueron de 100% Y 73,3% y el coeficiente Kappa de 0,86. Se confirmó que la metodología desarrollada con base en la teoría de la probabilidad revela una autoorganización del sistema cardiaco que permite diferenciar normalidad de enfermedad aguda y evidenciar la evolución entre ambos a nivel clínico

Dinámica de la epidemia del dengue en Colombia: predicciones de la trayectoria de la epidemia

Las ecuaciones diferenciales se clasifican de acuerdo con el tipo, el orden y si son o no lineales; pueden expresar leyes de los fenómenos naturales como las leyes del movimiento de Newton, enunciadas en el contexto de la cinemática para el sistema dinámico planetario. La teoría de los sistemas dinámicos ha sido base, junto con otras teorías físicas y matemáticas, para el desarrollo de metodologías predictivas en medicina. En un trabajo previo se hizo una predicción para la dinámica de la epidemia de la malaria en Colombia, a partir de una analogía en el contexto de las ecuaciones diferenciales de segundo orden, encontrando una predicción correcta para los rangos de casos de infectados en los años 2005 a 2007, cuyas trayectorias representadas corresponden a atractores circulares concéntricos.En el presente trabajo se desarrolló esta misma metodología para la predicción de la dinámica de la epidemia del dengue, tomando los datos de casos desde 1990 hasta 2007. Se calculó la velocidad inicial y la aceleración inicial para rangos de tres años, haciendo predicciones de la trayectoria a partir de la ecuación diferencial de segundo orden para la aceleración. Se predijeron correctamente los rangos de valores de las trayectorias de la epidemia de dengue para el 2005, 2006 y 2007 a través de atractores circulares concéntricos, concluyendo que dentro del contexto de la ley diferencial acausal se pueden predecir los rangos de la trayectoria de la dinámica, de forma útil para las decisiones de salud pública

Proceso de planificación territorial inter-institucional y participativo del Bajo Delta del Río Paraná = Inter-institutional and Participatory Territorial Planning Process of the Lower Delta of the Paraná River

Trabajo presentado al IV Simposio Humedales, Crisis Climática y Conservación 15-16 de febrero de 2022 - Caracas, Venezuela.En un sector de la Ecorregión Delta del Río Paraná (1.78 Millón de hectáreas, Argentina), un Proceso de Planificación Territorial inter-institucional y participativo se implementa como proyecto de intervención en un área piloto. Este proceso se ejecuta en un Área Piloto (159.000 hectáreas) incluida en la Sub-Región Bajo Delta del Río Paraná. El Proceso, en su diseño y desarrollo, considera tanto aportes científicos como conocimientos tradicionales de los productores de la Región. Y, procura encontrar respuestas consistentes para el manejo socio-productivo del territorio en un mundo cambiante. El esfuerzo institucional y comunitario de planificación transcurre en uno de los principales Humedales sudamericanos que, simultáneamente, funciona como el sector terminal de una red crucial de transporte fluvial para tres Países (Argentina, Bolivia y Paraguay). Además, este Humedal es la principal fuente de agua dulce para una Región costera con varias ciudades y 24 millones de habitantes. Para asegurar la continuidad de procesos clave de producción de bienes y servicios ecosistémicos (incluyendo: mitigación de inundaciones, conservación de biodiversidad, producción de agua potable, sistemas silvopastoriles isleños, polinización, pesca artesanal, entre otros), están desarrollándose programas de investigación y de fortalecimiento de redes de actores (procurando consolidar el capital social regional) articulados en este Proceso. Estos programas buscan, en su accionar y como experiencia piloto, generar herramientas de ordenamiento territorial y gestión para mitigar efectos negativos que surgen de procesos de cambio de uso y cobertura de la tierra operando en toda la Ecorregión del Delta del Río Paraná.EEA Delta del ParanáFil: Somma, Daniel Jorge. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Delta del Paraná; ArgentinaFil: Fracassi, Natalia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Delta del Paraná; ArgentinaFil: Álvarez, Javier Alejandro. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Delta del Paraná; ArgentinaFil: Ceballos, Darío Sebastián. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Delta del Paraná; ArgentinaFil: Gonzalez, Adrian Claudio. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Delta del Paraná; ArgentinaFil: Dieta, Victorio. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Delta del Paraná. Agencia De Extensión Rural Delta Frontal; ArgentinaFil: Fernandez, Ariel Mauro. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Delta del Paraná. Agencia De Extensión Rural Delta Frontal; ArgentinaFil: Diano, Martín Omar. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Delta del Paraná. Agencia De Extensión Rural Delta Frontal; ArgentinaFil: Correa, Juan Ricardo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Delta del Paraná; Argentin

Colombia's cyberinfrastructure for biodiversity: Building data infrastructure in emerging countries to foster socioeconomic growth

Science and innovation are not a luxury but a prerequisite for social and economic development (Annan, 2003)

Evenness mediates the global relationship between forest productivity and richness

1. Biodiversity is an important component of natural ecosystems, with higher species richness often correlating with an increase in ecosystem productivity. Yet, this relationship varies substantially across environments, typically becoming less pronounced at high levels of species richness. However, species richness alone cannot reflect all important properties of a community, including community evenness, which may mediate the relationship between biodiversity and productivity. If the evenness of a community correlates negatively with richness across forests globally, then a greater number of species may not always increase overall diversity and productivity of the system. Theoretical work and local empirical studies have shown that the effect of evenness on ecosystem functioning may be especially strong at high richness levels, yet the consistency of this remains untested at a global scale. 2. Here, we used a dataset of forests from across the globe, which includes composition, biomass accumulation and net primary productivity, to explore whether productivity correlates with community evenness and richness in a way that evenness appears to buffer the effect of richness. Specifically, we evaluated whether low levels of evenness in speciose communities correlate with the attenuation of the richness–productivity relationship. 3. We found that tree species richness and evenness are negatively correlated across forests globally, with highly speciose forests typically comprising a few dominant and many rare species. Furthermore, we found that the correlation between diversity and productivity changes with evenness: at low richness, uneven communities are more productive, while at high richness, even communities are more productive. 4. Synthesis. Collectively, these results demonstrate that evenness is an integral component of the relationship between biodiversity and productivity, and that the attenuating effect of richness on forest productivity might be partly explained by low evenness in speciose communities. Productivity generally increases with species richness, until reduced evenness limits the overall increases in community diversity. Our research suggests that evenness is a fundamental component of biodiversity–ecosystem function relationships, and is of critical importance for guiding conservation and sustainable ecosystem management decisions

Native diversity buffers against severity of non-native tree invasions

Determining the drivers of non-native plant invasions is critical for managing native ecosystems and limiting the spread of invasive species$^{1,2}$. Tree invasions in particular have been relatively overlooked, even though they have the potential to transform ecosystems and economies$^{3,4}$. Here, leveraging global tree databases$^{5,6,7}$, we explore how the phylogenetic and functional diversity of native tree communities, human pressure and the environment influence the establishment of non-native tree species and the subsequent invasion severity. We find that anthropogenic factors are key to predicting whether a location is invaded, but that invasion severity is underpinned by native diversity, with higher diversity predicting lower invasion severity. Temperature and precipitation emerge as strong predictors of invasion strategy, with non-native species invading successfully when they are similar to the native community in cold or dry extremes. Yet, despite the influence of these ecological forces in determining invasion strategy, we find evidence that these patterns can be obscured by human activity, with lower ecological signal in areas with higher proximity to shipping ports. Our global perspective of non-native tree invasion highlights that human drivers influence non-native tree presence, and that native phylogenetic and functional diversity have a critical role in the establishment and spread of subsequent invasions

The global biogeography of tree leaf form and habit

Understanding what controls global leaf type variation in trees is crucial for comprehending their role in terrestrial ecosystems, including carbon, water and nutrient dynamics. Yet our understanding of the factors influencing forest leaf types remains incomplete, leaving us uncertain about the global proportions of needle-leaved, broadleaved, evergreen and deciduous trees. To address these gaps, we conducted a global, ground-sourced assessment of forest leaf-type variation by integrating forest inventory data with comprehensive leaf form (broadleaf vs needle-leaf) and habit (evergreen vs deciduous) records. We found that global variation in leaf habit is primarily driven by isothermality and soil characteristics, while leaf form is predominantly driven by temperature. Given these relationships, we estimate that 38% of global tree individuals are needle-leaved evergreen, 29% are broadleaved evergreen, 27% are broadleaved deciduous and 5% are needle-leaved deciduous. The aboveground biomass distribution among these tree types is approximately 21% (126.4 Gt), 54% (335.7 Gt), 22% (136.2 Gt) and 3% (18.7 Gt), respectively. We further project that, depending on future emissions pathways, 17-34% of forested areas will experience climate conditions by the end of the century that currently support a different forest type, highlighting the intensification of climatic stress on existing forests. By quantifying the distribution of tree leaf types and their corresponding biomass, and identifying regions where climate change will exert greatest pressure on current leaf types, our results can help improve predictions of future terrestrial ecosystem functioning and carbon cycling