Field testing and exploitation of genetically modified cassava with low-amylose or amylose-free starch in Indonesia

The development and testing in the field of genetically modified -so called- orphan crops like cassava in tropical countries is still in its infancy, despite the fact that cassava is not only used for food and feed but is also an important industrial crop. As traditional breeding of cassava is difficult (allodiploid, vegetatively propagated, outbreeding species) it is an ideal crop for improvement through genetic modification. We here report on the results of production and field testing of genetically modified low-amylose transformants of commercial cassava variety Adira4 in Indonesia. Twenty four transformants were produced and selected in the Netherlands based on phenotypic and molecular analyses. Nodal cuttings of these plants were sent to Indonesia where they were grown under biosafety conditions. After two screenhouse tests 15 transformants remained for a field trial. The tuberous root yield of 10 transformants was not significantly different from the control. Starch from transformants in which amylose was very low or absent showed all physical and rheological properties as expected from amylose-free cassava starch. The improved functionality of the starch was shown for an adipate acetate starch which was made into a tomato sauce. This is the first account of a field trial with transgenic cassava which shows that by using genetic modification it is possible to obtain low-amylose cassava plants with commercial potential with good root yield and starch quality

De staafmier Ponera coarctata in Nederland (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

De staafmier staat bekend als zeldzaam, maar dat hangt samen met haar verborgen levenswijze. In deze bijdrage word eerst enkele opmerkelijke vindplaatsen van de staafmier uit het stedelijk gebied beschreven. De beschreven vondsten duiden erop dat de staafmier goed kan voorkomen in niet-natuurlijke situaties en mogelijk algemener is in het zuiden van Nederland dan nu wordt aangenomen. Daarnaast wordt informatie gegeven over haar voorkomen en ecologie op basis van collectiemateriaal en de literatuur. Ook wordt beschikbare informatie over de bruidsvluchten van deze soort mier gebundeld. Het uitvliegen van het nest blijkt plaats te vinden in de namiddag in de periode juli tot eind septembe

The Emergence and Early Evolution of Biological Carbon-Fixation

The fixation of into living matter sustains all life on Earth, and embeds the biosphere within geochemistry. The six known chemical pathways used by extant organisms for this function are recognized to have overlaps, but their evolution is incompletely understood. Here we reconstruct the complete early evolutionary history of biological carbon-fixation, relating all modern pathways to a single ancestral form. We find that innovations in carbon-fixation were the foundation for most major early divergences in the tree of life. These findings are based on a novel method that fully integrates metabolic and phylogenetic constraints. Comparing gene-profiles across the metabolic cores of deep-branching organisms and requiring that they are capable of synthesizing all their biomass components leads to the surprising conclusion that the most common form for deep-branching autotrophic carbon-fixation combines two disconnected sub-networks, each supplying carbon to distinct biomass components. One of these is a linear folate-based pathway of reduction previously only recognized as a fixation route in the complete Wood-Ljungdahl pathway, but which more generally may exclude the final step of synthesizing acetyl-CoA. Using metabolic constraints we then reconstruct a “phylometabolic” tree with a high degree of parsimony that traces the evolution of complete carbon-fixation pathways, and has a clear structure down to the root. This tree requires few instances of lateral gene transfer or convergence, and instead suggests a simple evolutionary dynamic in which all divergences have primary environmental causes. Energy optimization and oxygen toxicity are the two strongest forces of selection. The root of this tree combines the reductive citric acid cycle and the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway into a single connected network. This linked network lacks the selective optimization of modern fixation pathways but its redundancy leads to a more robust topology, making it more plausible than any modern pathway as a primitive universal ancestral form

De vuurspindoder Eoferreola rhombica, een voor Nederland nieuwe spinnendoder, en haar bijzondere waard : de lentevuurspin Eresus sandaliatus (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae; Araneae: Eresidae)

In 1998 a female specimen of Eoferreola rhombica (Christ, 1791) was collected in a road-verge on the Veluwe. The nearest populations of this species are found in northern France and eastern Germany. It is possible that this insect was transported by traffic from one of these populations. However at the collection site a large population of the rare host spider Eresus sandaliatus (Martini & Goeze, 1778) is known to be present for many years. Therefore the presence of a population of E. rhombica cannot be excluded. Future observations have to reveal the status of this spider wasp in the Netherlands

Development and application of transgenic technologies in cassava

The capacity to integrate transgenes into the tropical root crop cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is now established and being utilized to generate plants expressing traits of agronomic interest. The tissue culture and gene transfer systems currently employed to produce these transgenic cassava have improved signficantly over the past 5 years and are assessed and compared in this review. Programs are underway to develop cassava with enhanced resistance to viral diseases and insects pests, improved nutritional content. modified and increased starch metabolism and reduced cyanogenic content of processed roots. Each of these is described individually for the underlying biology the molecular strategies being employed and progress achieved towards the desired product. Important advances have occurred, with transgenic plants from several laboratories being prepared for field trails