Les Champignons sauvages comestibles du Parc National Fazao-Malfakassa (PNFM) au Togo (Afrique de l’Ouest) : Diversité et connaissances ethnomycologiques

Les champignons sauvages comestibles jouent un rôle important pour les populations d’Afrique tropicale. Ils servent de nourriture, de médicaments et de source de revenus. Pour évaluer leur pertinence socioéconomique au Togo et promouvoir leur exploitation durable, un inventaire a été réalisé à travers un échantillonnage aléatoire suivant des transects virtuels de 250 x 20 m établis au sein de quatre types de formations végétales, dont les forêts claires, les forêts sèches, des galeries forestières et savanes du Parc National de Fazao-Malfakassa situé dans la partie centre ouest du togo (Afrique de l’Ouest). Les enquêtes ethnomycologiques semi-structurées ont été menées auprès de 676 personnes choisies au hasard dans le village de Fazao, village riverain du Parc, en groupe et parfois des entretiens individuels sur 1 300, l’ensemble des Kotokoli, le groupe ethnique majoritaire. Cent soixante échantillons classés en 14 familles ont été enregistrés. Dix-sept espèces ont été identifiées. Après les enquêtes ethnomycologiques, 23 taxa sont reconnus couramment utilisés par les populations pour des fins alimentaires, deux taxa sont utilisés pour des fins médicinales et alimentaires tandis que un taxon est utilisé exclusivement à des fins médicinales. Les champignons comestibles sont dominés par les familles des Lyophilaceae et des Amanitaceae représentant respectivement 33 et 29 %. Les populations locales reconnaissent parfaitement les champignons comestibles. Les femmes âgées sont plus familières.Mots-clés : Parc National de Fazao - Malfakassa, champignons, gestion durable, connaissances ethnomycologiques, importance socio- économique.English AbstractWild edible fungi of the Fazao-malfakassa national park (FMNP) in Togo (West Africa): diversity and ethnomycological knowledgeWild edible fungi play an important role for tropical African people as food, source of drugs and source of cash income. To assess the socio-economic relevance of these mushrooms in central Togo and promote their sustainable and durable exploitation, a mycological survey was undertaken in the Fazao Malfakassa National Park located in central western part of Togo (West Africa). Mushrooms were inventoried using random sampling method along virtual transects of 250 x 20 m within 4 vegetation types including woodlands, dry forests, galleries forests and savannas. Ethnomycological surveys were conducted using semi-structural sampling on 676 persons via focus group and/or individual interviews from 1 300 peoples sampled from the kotokolis, the autochthon majority ethnic group surrounding the National Park. One hundred and sixty specimens sorted into 14 families have been recorded. On the whole, 17 species were fully identified. Twenty tree taxa are used as edible mushrooms, two taxa are used as medicinal and edible mushrooms; and only one species explicitly exploited for therapeutic purpose. The families as Lyophylaceae and Amanitaceae are the mostly dominant edible taxa accounting for about 33 and 29 % respectively. Local people recognize perfectly edible mushrooms. Elderly women are more familiar with edible mushrooms than young and children.Keywords : National Park of Fazao - Malfakassa, Wild edible Mushrooms, sustainable uses, know-how, socio-economic role

Phylogenetic and microscopic studies in the genus Lactifluus (Basidiomycota, Russulales) in West Africa, including the description of four new species

Despite the crucial ecological role of lactarioid taxa (Lactifluus, Lactarius) as common ectomycorrhiza formers in tropical African seasonal forests, their current diversity is not yet adequately assessed. During the last few years, numerous lactarioid specimens have been sampled in various ecosystems from Togo (West Africa). We generated 48 ITS sequences and aligned them against lactarioid taxa from other tropical African ecozones (Guineo-Congolean evergreen forests, Zambezian miombo). A Maximum Likelihood phylogenetic tree was inferred from a dataset of 109 sequences. The phylogenetic placement of the specimens, combined with morpho-anatomical data, supported the description of four new species from Togo within the monophyletic genus Lactifluus: within subgen. Lactifluus (L. flavellus), subgen. Russulopsis (L. longibasidius and L. pectinatus), and subgen. Edules (L. melleus). This demonstrates that the current species richness of the genus is considerably higher than hitherto estimated for African species and, in addition, a need to redefine the subgenera and sections within it

POVERTY AND SUSTAINABLE SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA: THE NIGERIA EXPERIENCE

The paper argues that poverty has remained a major obstacle to sustainable development and democracy in the global South. With the return to civil rule in 1999 in Nigeria, hopes were high that the return to democracy will stem the decline of the economy and provide the citizenry with the social dividends of democracy. More than a decade after the economy is still on it’s kneels with more than half of the population living on less than one dollar per day. With the use of dependency theory the paper posited that unless the people are empowered to make choices and participate in making decisions that affects their lives sustainable socio-economic development will remain elusive in Africa in general and Nigeria in particular

The genus Lactarius s. str. (Basidiomycota, Russulales) in Togo (West Africa) : phylogeny and a new species described

Lactarius s. str. represents a monophyletic group of about 40 species in tropical Africa, although the delimitation of the genus from Lactifluus is still in progress. Recent molecular phylogenetic and taxonomic revisions have led to numerous changes in names of tropical species formerly referred to Lactarius. To better circumscribe the genus Lactarius in Togo, we combined morphological data with sequence analyses and phylogeny inference of rDNA ITS sequences. Morphological and molecular data were generated from specimens sampled in various native woodlands and riverside forests; Lactarioid- and Russula sequences from public GenBank NCBI, and UNITE are included for phylogenetic analysis. The Maximum likelihood phylogeny tree inferred from aligned sequences supports the phylogenetic position of the studied samples from Togo within the subgenera Piperites, and Plinthogali. Lactarius s. str. includes about 13 species described from West Africa, of which eight were not previously known from Togo, including one new species: Lactarius subbaliophaeus identifiable by the presence of winged basidiospores, a pallisadic pileipellis with a uprapellis composed of cylindrical cells, inconspicuous pleurocystidia, and fusiform or tortuous, often tapering apex marginal cells. It can also be recognised by a transparent white latex that turns pinkish and then blackish, and a bluish reaction of the flesh context with FeSO4. These features mentioned do not match any of the morpho-anatomically most similar species, notably L. baliophaeus and L. griseogalus

La diversité génétique des bananiers plantains cultivés dans la zone Ouest de la Région des Plateaux au Togo

Le bananier représente l’une des cultures les plus importantes dans le monde. Au Togo, la culture de bananiers plantains se fait surtout dans la Région des Plateaux à l’Ouest dans de petites exploitations agricoles ; ce qui a entrainé une faible productivité. Cependant, les variétés de bananiers plantains cultivées ne sont pas bien connues. Un inventaire a été entrepris dans le but de dénombrer les variétés de bananiers plantains cultivés grâce à des paramètres agromorphologiques et aussi de montrer l’intérêt que suscite la valorisation de la culture de cette plante. Au terme de cette étude, cinq (5) variétés de bananiers plantains ont été recensées. La variété ‘Apim’ est la plus productive suivie de la variété ‘Abladzo’. Contrairement aux autres, la variété ‘Taévé’ produit 2 régimes par pied au lieu d’un régime. Le cycle végétatif des bananiers plantains varie de 11 à 15 mois sauf pour la variété ‘Apim’ qui est de 18 mois. Des études de propagation rapide doivent être envisagées pour la sélection des variétés hautement performantes et la production massive du plantain pour les populations locales.© 2013 International Formulae Group. All rights reserved.Mots clés : Togo, bananier plantain, diversité génétique

Hypoxia increases membrane metallo-endopeptidase expression in a novel lung cancer ex vivo model - role of tumor stroma cells

Background: Hypoxia-induced genes are potential targets in cancer therapy. Responses to hypoxia have been extensively studied in vitro, however, they may differ in vivo due to the specific tumor microenvironment. In this study gene expression profiles were obtained from fresh human lung cancer tissue fragments cultured ex vivo under different oxygen concentrations in order to study responses to hypoxia in a model that mimics human lung cancer in vivo.Methods: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) fragments from altogether 70 patients were maintained ex vivo in normoxia or hypoxia in short-term culture. Viability, apoptosis rates and tissue hypoxia were assessed. Gene expression profiles were studied using Affymetrix GeneChip 1.0 ST microarrays.Results: Apoptosis rates were comparable in normoxia and hypoxia despite different oxygenation levels, suggesting adaptation of tumor cells to hypoxia. Gene expression profiles in hypoxic compared to normoxic fragments largely overlapped with published hypoxia-signatures. While most of these genes were up-regulated by hypoxia also in NSCLC cell lines, membrane metallo-endopeptidase (MME, neprilysin, CD10) expression was not increased in hypoxia in NSCLC cell lines, but in carcinoma-associated fibroblasts isolated from non-small cell lung cancers. High MME expression was significantly associated with poor overall survival in 342 NSCLC patients in a meta-analysis of published microarray datasets.Conclusions: The novel ex vivo model allowed for the first time to analyze hypoxia-regulated gene expression in preserved human lung cancer tissue. Gene expression profiles in human hypoxic lung cancer tissue overlapped with hypoxia-signatures from cancer cell lines, however, the elastase MME was identified as a novel hypoxia-induced gene in lung cancer. Due to the lack of hypoxia effects on MME expression in NSCLC cell lines in contrast to carcinoma-associated fibroblasts, a direct up-regulation of stroma fibroblast MME expression under hypoxia might contribute to enhanced aggressiveness of hypoxic cancers