Evaluating plant breeding strategies by simulating gene action and dryland environment effects

Functional genomics is the systematic study of genome-wide effects of gene expression on organism growth and development with the ultimate aim of understanding how networks of genes influence traits. Here, we use a dynamic biophysical cropping systems model (APSIM-Sorg) to generate a state space of genotype performance based on 15 genes controlling four adaptive traits and then search this spice using a quantitative genetics model of a plant breeding program (QU-GENE) to simulate recurrent selection. Complex epistatic and gene X environment effects were generated for yield even though gene action at the trait level had been defined as simple additive effects. Given alternative breeding strategies that restricted either the cultivar maturity type or the drought environment type, the positive (+) alleles for 15 genes associated with the four adaptive traits were accumulated at different rates over cycles of selection. While early maturing genotypes were favored in the Severe-Terminal drought environment type, late genotypes were favored in the Mild-Terminal and Midseason drought environment types. In the Severe-Terminal environment, there was an interaction of the stay-green (SG) trait with other traits: Selection for + alleles of the SG genes was delayed until + alleles for genes associated with the transpiration efficiency and osmotic adjustment traits had been fixed. Given limitations in our current understanding of trait interaction and genetic control, the results are not conclusive. However, they demonstrate how the per se complexity of gene X gene X environment interactions will challenge the application of genomics and marker-assisted selection in crop improvement for dryland adaptation.

Genetic diversity in sugar apple (Annona squamosa L.) by using RAPD markers

Genetic diversity in a collection of 64 sugar apple accessions collected from different municipalities in northern Minas Gerais was assessed by RAPD analysis. Using 20 selected RAPD primers 167 fragments were generated, of which 48 were polymorphic (28.7%) producing an average of 2.4 polymorphic fragments per primer. Low percentage of polymorphism (< 29%) was observed by using the set of primers indicating low level of genetic variation among the 64 accessions evaluated. Genetic relationships were estimated using Jaccard's coefficient of similarity. Accessions from different municipalities clustered together indicating no correlation between molecular grouping and geographical origin. The dendrogram revealed five clusters. The first cluster grouped C19 and G29 accessions collected from the municipalities of Verdelândia and Monte Azul, respectively. The second cluster grouped G16 and B11 accessions collected from the municipalities of Monte Azul and Coração de Jesus, respectively. The remaining accessions were grouped in three clusters, with 8, 15 and 37 accessions, respectively. In summary, RAPD showed a low percentage of polymorphism in the germplasm collection.

Studies on mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) and anthropicenvironment: 5- Breeding of Anopheles albitarsis in flooded rice fields in South-Eastern Brazil

Studies on breeding Anopheles albitarsis and association with rice growth in irrigated paddy fields were carried out during the rice cultivation cycle from December 1993 to March 1994. This period corresponded to the length of time of permanent paddy flooding. Breeding occurred in the early stage up until five weeks after transplantation when rice plant height was small. That inverse correlation may give potential direction to control measures.

Studies on mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) and anthropic environment: 6 - Breeding in empty conditions of rice fields in South-Eastern Brazil

Studies on culicid breeding in empty rice fields were carried out during the cultivation cycle from May to November 1993. This period corresponded to stages 1 and 2, when empty conditions prevailed. Breeding occurred in stage 1 and the first part of stage 2, corresponding respectively to fallow uncultivated and ploughing situations. No breeding was found to take place during the second part of stage 2 when transient floods and harrowing occurred. The predominant species were Aedes scapularis, Culex nigripalpus and Cx. mollis. The Pilosus Group of Culex (Melanoconion) was found at lower densities. Some epidemiological considerations are presented.

Accessing Planktothrix species diversity and associated toxins using quantitative real-time PCR in natural waters

Tese de Doutoramento em Biologia apresentada à Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, 2015.

From here to diversity: globalization and intercultural dialogues

From Here to Diversity: Globalization and Intercultural Dialogues sees interculturalism as movement, transit, travel, the dynamics between cultures. Contemporary intercultural travel is a global journey, a circumnavigation at the speed of light that underwrites all the comings and goings, the departures and arrivals, the transmissions and receptions that are implicit in this title. Hence, From Here to Diversity examines the motivations, characteristics and implications of cultural interactions in their perpetual movement, devoid of spatial or temporal borders, in a dangerous but stimulating indefinition of limits. In the contemporary intercultural dialogue, new voices are making themselves heard, as valuable sources of study: the voices of women; non-occidentals; the non-powerful; forgotten narratives of a past that was as intercultural as the present (after all, what is colonialism other than a perverse form of interculturality?); global entertainment; tourism; oral literature; diaries; mythical narratives; the cinema; ethnography; new teachings, among so many others. Because this project is also intercultural at its source and subject, From Here to Diversity: Globalization and Intercultural Dialogues adds to the coherence of the project by including contributions from the most wide-ranging backgrounds and nationalities, without fear of the alterity that, after all, we propose to study.

Evaluation of intermolecular interactions in thioxanthone derivatives: substituent effect on crystal diversity

A family of 9H-thioxanthen-9-one derivatives and two precursors, 2-[(4-bromophenyl) sulfanyl]-5-nitrobenzoic acid and 2-[(4-aminophenyl) sulfanyl]-5-nitrobenzoic acid, were synthesized and studied in order to assess the role of the different substituent groups in determining the supramolecular motifs. From our results we can conclude that Etter's rules are obeyed: whenever present the -COOH head to head strong hydrogen bonding dimer, R-2(2)(8) synthon, prevails as the dominant interaction. As for -NH2, the best donor when present also follows the expected hierarchy, an NH center dot center dot center dot O(COOH) was formed in the acid precursor (2) and an NH center dot center dot center dot O(C=O) in the thioxanthone (4). The main role played by weaker hydrogen bonds such as CH center dot center dot center dot O, and other intermolecular interactions, pi-pi and Br center dot center dot center dot O, as well as the geometric restraints of packing patterns shows the energetic interplay governing crystal packing. A common feature is the relation between the p-p stacking and the unit cell dimensions. A new synthon notation, R`, introduced in this paper, refers to the possibility of accounting for intra- and intermolecular interactions into recognizable and recurring aggregate patterns.

Diversity and equity: dealing with biological and social differences

In the context of the design of working hours inequities in health associated with biological, psychological, social, and socioeconomic diversities can be observed. The paper first tries to set up a frame of reference for a discussion of this topic, relating to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and some recent discussions on equity in health and then goes into some factors that produce inequities in health in the context of the design of working hours, dealing with sex or gender, age and job age, personality traits, marital status, social support, diversities in values, and socio-economic differences; the discussion deals with approaches on how to deal with these differences and inequities.

Partitioning taxon, phylogenetic and functional beta diversity into replacement and richness difference components

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Diversity of the Laurencia complex (Ceramiales, Rhodophyta) in Lusitanian Macronesia

10th International Phycological Congress, Orlando, Florida, USA, 4-10 de agosto 2013.

A new frontier in biodiversity inventory: a proposal for estimators of phylogenetic and functional diversity

Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Methods in Ecology and Evolution © 2014 British Ecological Society.

A comparison of bryophyte diversity in the Macaronesian Islands: island versus habitat approach

In this paper, we present a comparison of richness patterns and floristic similarity for bryophytes in the five most important altitudinal habitat types in the Macaronesian islands. We evaluate the importance of different factors discussed in the literature in predicting species diversity applying the traditional island approach and within the framework of the new habitat approach, including area, isolation, climatic factors, geological age and human influence. From the analysis of patterns of bryophyte species distribution for selected habitats across islands and archipelagos, we specifically test the hypothesis that (i) floristic similarity is primarily determined by climatic factors, but not by geographical distance due to high dispersal ability in this species group and (ii) bryophyte richness is best predicted by area, but not by geological age of the habitat due to very low endemicity or speciation rate and high colonization rate.