Fabiola Santos from University of Londrina, Brazil, is working on the Chromosomal evolution and the organization of repetitive DNA sequences in diploid and polyploid Brachiaria forage grasses in the molecular cytogenetics group in Leicester. Brachiaria is most important cultivated forage grass genus in Brazil (with billion-dollar production), and the genus includes diploid and polyploid species with similar…
Author: Pat Heslop-Harrison
Professor of Molecular Cytogenetics and Cell Biology, University of Leicester. Group Leader, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Programme, grant and journal reviewer and editor.
Research: genome evolution, breeding and biodiversity in agricultural species; the impact of agriculture; evaluation of research and advanced training.
George Fraser (1955-2014) Professor of Detector Physics and his biology
My colleagues and I were devastated by the news of the untimely death of our collaborator and friend George Fraser (22 July 1955 — 18 March 2014). George had a unique combination of vision of the applications of detector physics, knowledge from space research, optics, and electronics which is a huge loss to the whole…
An Overview of Peanut Genome Structure
308. DJ Bertioli, ACG Araujo, S Nielen, P Heslop-Harrison, PM Guimarães, T Schwarzacher, S Isobe, K Shirasawa, Leal-Bertioli SCM. 2014. An overview of peanut genome structure. Chapter 6 in Genetics, Genomics and Breeding of Peanuts. Eds Nalini Mallikarjuna, Rajeev K. Varshney. Peanut genome structure manuscript Author Version pp. 114-138. CRC Press, Florida. http://www.crcnetbase.com/doi/abs/10.1201/b16872-7 ABSTRACT Cultivated peanut (Arachis hypogaea…
Animal Cytogenetics, Gene Mapping and Chromosome Research – The 21st Colloquium Ischia, Naples, Italy
Cytogenetics of animals is moving forward rapidly with the integration of sequencing and robust phylogenies with methods of chromosome analysis. The 21st International Colloquium on Animal Cytogenetics and Gene Mapping held June 2014 covered a range of topics in comparative, molecular, veterinary and environmental cytogenetics, as well as a session on cytogenetics of non-mammalian vertebrates and…
Sugar cane and characterization of Saccharum hybrids by molecular cytogenetics with Natalia Melloni
Natália Melloni from UNESP and IAC, Brazil, has been characterizing Saccharum sugar cane hybrids in a collaboration with the molecular cytogenetics group. The title of the project is “Characterization of interspecific hybrids (Saccharum spp x Saccharum spontaneum) by molecular cytogenetics” or “Caracterização de híbridos interespecíficos (Saccharum spp x Saccharum spontaneum ) por citogenética molecular”, and…
The origin of an old, resource-efficient crop, Broomcorn millet or Panicum miliaceum
307. Hunt HV, Badakshi F, Romanova O, Howe CJ, Jones M, Heslop-Harrison JS. 2014. Reticulate evolution in Panicum (Poaceae): the origin of tetraploid broomcorn millet, P. miliaceum. Journal of Experimental Botany 65 (12), 3165-3175. DOI:10.1093/jxb/eru161 . (Link to local copy J. Exp. Bot.-2014-Hunt-3165-75) Panicum miliaceum (broomcorn millet) is a tetraploid cereal which was among the first domesticated crops, but is now a minor…
We need to have more scientific mavericks @guardianletters
306. Braben DW, Allen JF, Amos W, Ball R, Birkhead T, Cameron P, Cogdell R, Colquhoun D, Dowler R, Engle I, Fernández-Armesto F, Fitzgerald D, Heslop-Harrison P, Herschbach D, Kimble HJ, Kroto H, Ladyman J, Lane N, Lawrence P, MacIntyre A, Mattick J, Pelloni B, Poliakoff M, Randall D, Ray D, Roberts RJ, Seddon K,…
Crocus and the origin of Saffron
305. Alsayied N, Schwarzacher T, Heslop-Harrison P. 2014. Crocus: research into the origin of saffron. Botanic Garden Newsletter 5: 3. Link to scan of Crocus and the origin of saffron article. The genus Crocus has nearly 100 species, each with unique characters of colour, flowering time or geographical distribution. We are aiming to understand the relationships of the different species, the diversity within species,…
In situ hybridization: a course on FISH and ChIp
In situ hybridization – a course on FISH and ChIp In situ hybridization, now largely with fluorescent detection so ‘fluorescent in situ hybridization’ or FISH, is a key method for localizing DNA sequences along chromosomes and occassionally within interphase nuclei. RNA in situ hybridization (not discussed here) is used for locating gene transcripts within nuclei….
Spectroscopy and DNA concentration measurement
DNA concentration measurement is fundamental to most molecular biology methods. What is the basis of DNA concentration measurement? I’m always happy to find an article which has detail at the level you need to know! In a free magazine, VWR BioMarkers, there is a very useful article from GE Life Sciences. http://media.vwr.com/interactive/publications/VWR_bioMarke_2013/Magazine/files/assets/basic-html/index.html#7 A local copy…
From vegan to meat: human diet and trophic levels
Where are humans in the food chain? Bonhommeau et al. address this question in PNAS, apparently for the first time, in detail across all countries and over the period from 1961 that FAO statistics on food consumption and production are available (FAOstat.FAO.org). If we ate only the primary producers – plants – we would have a…
Aquaculture, farming and development: an FAO consultation
Aquaculture has major prospects for providing high quality, palatable protein for people. Compared to other animals, the conversion of plants into animal protein in fish, shellfish and crustaceans is very efficient: the ratio of input food to output is less than 2:1 (typically 1.6 to 1.8:1), compared to 2.5 to 3:1 for pigs and poultry,…
Nucleosomes and centromeric DNA packaging
304. Heslop-Harrison JS, Schwarzacher T. 2013. Nucleosomes and centromeric DNA packaging. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 110 (50): 19974–19975. http://www.pnas.org/content/110/50/19974.full.pdf+html http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1319945110 – Author manuscript: Author Version 2013 – Powerpoint figure: Nucleosome Figure PNAS Schwarzacher HeslopHarrison The eukaryotic chromosome is a conserved structure, with the DNA double-helix wrapping around octamers of histone proteins to form the chromatin which is further packaged…
Fertilizer statistics: changes and usage
Fertilizer has been critical to crop yields from the start of agriculture, and the application of artificially fixed nitrogen has been fundamental to crop yield increases since the 1970s. However, finding definitive data about absolute amounts, costs, effects on yields and changes in application is tricky – with dispersed literature, many units, confusion with sales…
Wild banana species: their classification and the sequencing of Musa balbisiana
Crop relatives are important – we learn about the relationships of wild germplasm in comparison to the domesticated forms, and about the genetics and genes in the wild species. Two papers in the last month advance our understanding of wild banana (Musa) from different perspectives. The first presents “A draft Musa balbisiana genome sequence for…
Molecular cytogenetics, genome evolution and agricultural genomics 