Pre-breeding for genetic enhancement of grain legumes

Grain legumes such as chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) and pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.) millsp) play an important role in ensuring food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture. Due to narrow genetic base, genetic enhancement in grain legumes is not adequate and the crops are prone to biotic (pests and diseases) adn abiotic (drought, water-logging, salinity, heat and cold) stresses

Strangeness nuclear physics: a critical review on selected topics

Selected topics in strangeness nuclear physics are critically reviewed. This includes production, structure and weak decay of $\Lambda$--Hypernuclei, the $\bar K$ nuclear interaction and the possible existence of $\bar K$ bound states in nuclei. Perspectives for future studies on these issues are also outlined.Comment: 63 pages, 51 figures, accepted for publication on European Physical Journal

The emergence and diversification of a zoonotic pathogen from within the microbiota of intensively farmed pigs

The expansion and intensification of livestock production is predicted to promote the emergence of pathogens. As pathogens sometimes jump between species, this can affect the health of humans as well as livestock. Here, we investigate how livestock microbiota can act as a source of these emerging pathogens through analysis of Streptococcus suis, a ubiquitous component of the respiratory microbiota of pigs that is also a major cause of disease on pig farms and an important zoonotic pathogen. Combining molecular dating, phylogeography, and comparative genomic analyses of a large collection of isolates, we find that several pathogenic lineages of S. suis emerged in the 19th and 20th centuries, during an early period of growth in pig farming. These lineages have since spread between countries and continents, mirroring trade in live pigs. They are distinguished by the presence of three genomic islands with putative roles in metabolism and cell adhesion, and an ongoing reduction in genome size, which may reflect their recent shift to a more pathogenic ecology. Reconstructions of the evolutionary histories of these islands reveal constraints on pathogen emergence that could inform control strategies, with pathogenic lineages consistently emerging from one subpopulation of S. suis and acquiring genes through horizontal transfer from other pathogenic lineages. These results shed light on the capacity of the microbiota to rapidly evolve to exploit changes in their host population and suggest that the impact of changes in farming on the pathogenicity and zoonotic potential of S. suis is yet to be fully realized

Burma Terrane Collision and Northward Indentation in the Eastern Himalayas Recorded in the Eocene‐Miocene Chindwin Basin (Myanmar)

International audienceThe Burma Terrane (Myanmar) played an important role in the India-Asia collision and moved over 2000 km northward on the Indian Plate during the Cenozoic, before colliding with the Asian margin. However, the timing of this collision and its correlation to regional uplift phases, sedimentary provenance and basin development, remain poorly constrained. We report sedimentological, paleomagnetic and geochronological data from the late Eocene to early Miocene strata of the Chindwin Basin in the Burmese forearc, constraining the paleogeographic evolution of the Burma Terrane and the Eastern Himalayan orogen. Our results highlight two unconformities of late Eocene-middle Oligocene and latest Oligocene-early Miocene age, revealing a two stage interaction of the Burma Terrane with the Asian margin during its northward translation. The first unconformity follows rapid ~0.6 m/k.y. subsidence in the Burmese forearc, as shown by magnetostratigraphy. The transition to a fluvial depositional environment and the occurrence of reworked sediments at this first unconformity likely records the commencing collision of India and the northern extent of the Burma Terrane with the Asian margin. The second unconformity shows drastic changes in magnetic properties, mineralogy and provenance, with high-grade metamorphic grains and early Miocene apatite U-Pb and fission track ages indicating that it is coeval to a major deformation phase in Myanmar and the Eastern Himalayan orogen. It likely records the indentation of the Burma Terrane into the Eastern Himalayan collision zone, forming the modern Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis

Map of the survey areas in Myanmar.

<p>Prevalences (in parentheses) of <i>Opisthorchis</i>-like eggs in Bago, Mon and Yangon Regions in the years 2015–2016. M = Male; F = Female. The Myanmar map was modified from a map in The World Factbook, published by the Central Intelligence Agency [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0177130#pone.0177130.ref022" target="_blank">22</a>].</p

Showing <i>O</i>. <i>viverrini</i> egg, fish dish and cyprinoid fish.

<p>A) <i>Opisthorchis viverrini</i> egg from stool microscopy. B) The undercooked or fermented fish dish (small raw fish fermented with cooked rice and salt) named “Ngar Lay Chin”. C) Cyprinoid fish (<i>Henicorhynchus</i> sp.) “Nga Khone Ma” (intermediate host of <i>O</i>. <i>viverrini</i>).</p