ICARDA_2012_Annual Report ICARDA – the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas http://www.icarda.org – is an international organization targeting crops for these critical regions. It’s annual report for 2012 has just been published and highlights their genetic, breeding and agronomy research. Their headquarters in Aleppo, Syria, was taken over – there are shocking YouTube…
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.
Water stress and spring wheat – genetics and Pakistan
TS. Noorka IR, Schwarzacher T. 2013. Water a response factor to screen suitable genotypes to fight and traverse periodic onslaughts of water scarcity in spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). International Journal of Water Resources and Arid Environments 3(1): 37-44. ISSN 2079-7079 Pakistan lies in a semi arid to arid region with neither sufficient nor reliable rainfall….
Haploid callus from a diploid Musa accession for genome analysis
303. Nair AS, Heslop-Harrison P, Schwarzacher T. 2013. Production of haploid tissues and SNP analysis of the genome in Musa acuminata cv.‘Matti’ (AA). Plant Mutation Reports 3(1): 18-24. Haploid and doubled haploid plants are of considerable value in genetic studies, genomics and plant breeding, allowing characterization and exploitation of genes where only one allele is present. Inbred banana…
Faisal Nouroz : Collaborator from Hazara University, Pakistan on genome organization
Dr Faisal Nouroz completed his PhD at the University of Leicester in 2012, working on mobile element evolution in two contrasting crop groups, Musa and Brassica. Dr. Faisal Nouroz held a Ph.D scholarship from the Higher Education Commission and Hazara University Mansehra, Pakistan and joined the Molecular Cytogenetics Lab, Department of Biology, University of Leicester…
Discussing diversity, genes and the future of bananas on the BBC Food Programme
Pat Heslop-Harrison was interviewed for BBC Radio 4 “The Food Programme”. I have posted some of the points I wanted to make on AoBBlog.com, and a link to the whole interesting programme including my interview is here after broadcast of the longer version of the programme. http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/foodprog
100 years after Sturtevant and the linear order of genes on chromosomes: an ECA cytogenetics session
Among the exciting Plenary Sessions at the European Cytogeneticists Association conference in Dublin – #ECA2013 – one marked 100 years since publication of Alfred H Sturtevant’s landmark research paper presenting the first genetic map of a chromosome (1913: J. Exp. Zool., 14 (1), 43-9. URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jez.1400140104 but see http://www.esp.org/foundations/genetics/classical/holdings/s/ahs-13.pdf for the original paper and a commentary by Robert J. Robbins). In his…
Wheat-Thinopyrum introgression work wins prize for Niaz Ali, Hazara, Pakistan
Dr Niaz Ali, Hazara University, Mansehra, Pakistan works on the introgression of characters from alien species into wheat, having completed his PhD in Leicester in 2012 with Dr Trude Schwarzacher. He presented his PhD work at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Experimental Biology (SEB http://www.sebiology.org/meetings /Valencia/Programmes.html) in the session on Exploiting genetic diversity for…
9th European Cytogenetics Conference to discuss chromosomes, polyploidy and nuclear architecture
I was at ECA2013 in Dublin to discuss chromosomes. Workshops on molecular cytogenetics, array CGH, and “Plant, animal and comparative cytogenetics” were included (as well as many parallel ones on prenatal diagnostics, cancers, mutagenesis and ethics, which I could not attend), and started writing this after the opening talk by Orsetta Zaffardi from Pavia on…
Repetitive DNA in tetraploid peanut and its evolution from diploid Arachis
302. Bertioli DJ, Vidigal B, Nielen S, Ratnaparkhe MB, Lee T-JH, Leal-Bertioli SCM, Kim C, Guimaraes PM, Seijo G, Schwarzacher T, Paterson AH, Heslop-Harrison P, Araujo ACG. 2013. The repetitive component of the A genome of peanut (Arachis hypogaea) and its role in remodelling intergenic sequence space since its evolutionary divergence from the B genome. Annals…
Preserving genetic resources in agriculture: saffron and other EU projects
Maintaining and developing sustainable uses for agricultural genetic resources is essential for ensuring food security in a sustainable manner. In this report, the outcomes of 17 EU projects on genetic resources in animals, arable crops, forest trees and “fruits, vegetables and spices” is discussed. We were involved with the project on the Saffron Crocus, reported on pages…
New lecturer (assistant professor) post in plant sciences at Leicester UK
Lecturer (Assistant Professor) Post in Plant Sciences, University of Leicester, UK We are seeking to appoint a permanent molecular/cellular biologist to undertake basic research relevant to plant sciences which also integrates closely with our cross-cutting College research themes in Molecular and Cellular Bioscience and/or Genome Science. The post-holder will be expected to develop their own independent…
Polyploidy and molecular cytogenetics at #ECA2013
My talk for the European Cytogeneticists Association meeting in Dublin is on Molecular Cytogenetics and polyploidy. The slides are posted on Slideshare and embedded below. The direct link is here: http://www.slideshare.net/PatHeslopHarrison Here are the slides: Polyploidy and molecular cytogenetics in crops: ECA conference Dublin July 2013 from Pat Heslop-Harrison I will also have a report…
Repetitive DNA in the edible button mushroom
I have a mental picture of the structure of a typical plant genome and typical animal genome, with their transposons (DNA and RNA), tandemly-repeated satellite sequences, minisatellites, microsatellites and other repeats. From this paper, I have a view of repeats in the second most important edible fungus (after yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae), the button mushroom Agaricus bisporus. Its genome, with n=13 chromosomes,…
Chromosome Bridge, Polyploidy and CD Darlington in Brenner’s Encyclopedia of Genetics
297. Heslop-Harrison JS. 2013. Three articles: Cyril D Darlington; Polyploidy; and (with JP Bailey) Chromosome bridge. From Brenner’s Encyclopedia of Genetics. 2nd edition. Elsevier. Brenner’s Encyclopedia of Genetics is now edited by Kelly Hughes and Stanley Maloy http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleListURL&_method=list&_ArticleListID=-275021066&_sort=r&_st=13&view=c&_acct=C000010181&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=123215&md5=a09d86d742e45c2221195d2412799848&searchtype=a With 1600 articles, it’s not too bad a price on Amazon at GBP£1,115 in hardcover (at least for a library,…
Worku Mhiret: Biodiversity and its exploitation in Ethiopian Linseed
Worku Mhiret from the University of Gondar, Ethiopia and Pat Heslop-Harrison (University of Leicester, UK) are working on linseed or flax: measuring the diversity of accessions from Ethiopia and comparing this with varieties from Ireland, Canada and elsewhere. We are also making crosses between lines and between cultivars and wild species of Linum; these are…
Molecular cytogenetics, genome evolution and agricultural genomics 