Plant Genetic Resources: Selected Issues from Genetic Erosion to Genetic Engineering

Plant Genetic Resources (PGR) continue to play an important role in the development of agriculture. The following aspects receive a special consideration: 1. Definition. The term was coined in 1970. The genepool concept served as an important tool in the further development. Different approaches are discussed. 2. Values of Genetic Resources. A short introduction is highlighting this problem and stressing the economic usfulness of PGR. 3. Genetic Erosion. Already observed by E. Baur in 1914, this is now a key issue within PGR. The case studies cited include Ethiopia, Italy, China, S Korea, Greece and S. Africa. Modern approaches concentrate on allelic changes in varieties over time but neglect the landraces. The causes and consequences of genetic erosion are discussed. 4. Genetic Resources Conservation. Because of genetic erosion there is a need for conservation. PGR should be consigned to the appropriate method of conservation (ex situ, in situ, on-farm) according to the scientific basis of biodiversity (genetic diversity, species diversity, ecosystem diversity) and the evolutionary status of plants (cultivated plants, weeds, related wild plants (crop wild relatives)). 5. GMO. The impact of genetically engineered plants on genetic diversity is discussed. 6. The Conclusions and Recommendations stress the importance of PGR. Their conservation and use are urgent necessities for the present development and future survival of mankind

Species Richness in Relation to the Presence of Crop Plants in Families of Higher Plants

Crop species richness and percentages of cultivated plants in 75 families comprisingmore than 220000 species were analyzed. Three major groups have been made. The first group is including the “big five” families with 10000 and more species in each. The second group comprises 50 families with more than thousand and up to 10000 species and finally the third group contains families with relatively high numbers of crop species. The percentage of cultivated species is various, from 0.16 to 7.25 in group 1, 0 to 7.24 in group 2 and 2.30 to 32.5 in group 3. The results show that there is a positive correlation (r = + 0.56) between number of crop plants and species diversity of the families

Threatened and Rare Ornamental Plants

The application of IUCN criteria and Red List Categories was done for ornamental plants. Main sources of the study were Glen’s book, Cultivated Plants of Southern Africa (Glen, 2002) and the Red List of Threatened Plants, IUCN (2001). About 500 threatened ornamental plants could be found and presented in respective lists. Rare ornamental plants with 209 species is the largest group followed by Vulnerable (147), Endangered (92), Indeterminate (37), Extinct (6) and finally Extinct/Endangered groups with 2 species. A weak positive correlation (r = +0.36 ) was found between the number of threatened species and the number of threatened ornamental species within the families

Clima organizacional en los colaboradores de una empresa de transporte de pasajeros - Chiclayo 2017

El presente trabajo de investigación fue realizada en la empresa de transporte Turismo Ilucan S.A.C teniendo como unidad de análisis a los colaboradores, que manifestaban sentirse indiferentes con el clima organizacional de la empresa porque sus opiniones no eran tomadas en cuenta en la empresa, poca presencia de capacitaciones, el sueldo no tenía relación con las actividades que realizaban, la comunicación era factible por días y que la empresa no toma importancia por su desarrollo de habilidades. Como objetivo general se tuvo Elaborar una Propuesta de Mejora del Clima Organizacional de los Colaboradores de una Empresa de Transportes de pasajeros – Chiclayo 2017, para lo cual se utilizó como técnica de recolección de datos el instrumento de la encuesta “SPC – CL”, de la Ps. Sonia Palma que consta de 50 ítems agrupados en 5 dimensiones siendo estos: autorrealización, involucramiento laboral, supervisión, comunicación y condiciones laborales. El análisis de los resultados se realizó en base a 3 categorías de Nivel (bajo, medio y alto) que sirvieron para ubicar y analizar el nivel de cada dimensión y así poder tener referencia del clima organizacional de los colaboradores de la empresa de Transporte Turismo Ilucan S.A.C. De esta investigación se concluyó que las dimensiones se encuentran en nivel medio por ende el clima organizacional se ubica en la misma. Al encontrarse el nivel del clima organizacional en el nivel medio se optó por elaborar una propuesta de mejora

Qualitative and Quantitative Comparison of Liquid–Liquid Phase Extraction Using Ethyl Acetate and Liquid–Solid Phase Extraction Using Poly-Benzyl-Resin for Natural Products

A key step in the process of isolating microbial natural products is the preparation of an extract from a culture. This step determines which molecules will be available for detection in the subsequent chemical and biological analysis of a biodiscovery pipeline. In the present study we wanted to document potential differences in performance between liquid–liquid extraction using ethyl acetate and liquid–solid extraction using a poly‐benzyl‐resin. For the comparison of the two extraction protocols, we spiked a culture of Flavobacterium sp. with a diverse selection of natural products of microbial and plant origin to investigate whether the methods were comparable with respect to selectivity. We also investigated the efficiency of the two extraction methods quantita‐ tively, using water spiked with a selection of natural products, and studied the quantitative effect of different pH levels of the aqueous solutions on the extraction yields of the two methods. The same compounds were extracted by the two methods, but the solid‐phase extract contained more media components compared with the liquid‐phase extract. Quantitatively, the two extraction methods varied in their recovery rates. We conclude that practical aspects could be more important when selecting one of the extraction protocols, as their efficiencies in extracting specific compounds were quite similar

Selective isolation of Arctic marine actinobacteria and a down-scaled fermentation and extraction strategy for identifying bioactive compounds

Actinobacteria are among the most prolific producers of bioactive secondary metabolites. In order to collect Arctic marine bacteria for the discovery of new bioactive metabolites, actinobacteria were selectively isolated during a research cruise in the Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. In the frame of the isolation campaign, it was investigated how different sample treatments, isolation media and sample-sources, such as animals and sediments, affected the yield of actinobacterial isolates to aid further isolation campaigns. Special attention was given to sediments, where we expected spores of spore forming bacteria to enrich. Beside actinobacteria a high share of bacilli was obtained which was not desired. An experimental protocol for down-scaled cultivation and extraction was tested and compared with an established low-throughput cultivation and extraction protocol. The heat-shock method proved suitable to enrich spore-, or endospore forming bacteria such as bacilli. Finally, a group bioactive compounds could be tentatively identified using UHPLC–MS/MS analysis of the active fractions.publishedVersio

Micro-Meta App: an interactive tool for collecting microscopy metadata based on community specifications

For quality, interpretation, reproducibility and sharing value, microscopy images should be accompanied by detailed descriptions of the conditions that were used to produce them. Micro-Meta App is an intuitive, highly interoperable, open-source software tool that was developed in the context of the 4D Nucleome (4DN) consortium and is designed to facilitate the extraction and collection of relevant microscopy metadata as specified by the recent 4DN-BINA-OME tiered-system of Microscopy Metadata specifications. In addition to substantially lowering the burden of quality assurance, the visual nature of Micro-Meta App makes it particularly suited for training purposes