Plant transformation has enabled fundamental insights into plant biology and revolutionized commercial agriculture. Unfortunately, for most crops, tra

Increasing CO₂ levels in the atmosphere and the resulting negative impacts of climate change have compelled global efforts to achieve carbon neutrality or negativity. Most such efforts focus on carbon sequestration through chemical or physical approaches. Harnessing the power of synthetic biology to enhance the natural ability of carbon sequestration in plants, especially non-annuals, provides a biological approach to further reduce CO₂ levels in the air. Here, we selected a photorespiration bypass pathway and tested its effectiveness on photosynthetic enhancement in a hybrid poplar, INRA717-IB4. The design includes an RNAi strategy to reduce the transportation of the photorespiration byproduct, glycolate, out of chloroplast and a shunt pathway to metabolize the retained glycolate back to CO₂ for fixation through the Calvin-Benson cycle. Molecular and physiological data collected from two separate growth experiments indicate that transgenic plants expressing genes in the photorespiration bypass pathway have increased photosynthetic efficiency, leading to faster plant growth and elevated biomass production. One lead transgenic event accumulated 35%–53% more above-ground dry biomass over four months of growth in a controlled environment. Our results provide a proof of concept for engineering trees to help combat climate change.

Much of the diversity of tomato is found in wild forms, the most important being the Solanum lycopersicum L. var. cerasiforme and S. pimpinellifolium. The objective of this research was to assess the genetic diversity of 30 introductions of cherry tomato with 36 microsatellite molecular markers. The study was conducted at the Plant Transformation Research Center (PTRC) of the University of California. A dendrogram was built using the Dice-Nei and Li similarity index and the UPGMA clustering method, where introductions were differentiated without preserving a distribution pattern obeying the geographical area of origin. A coefficient of genetic differentiation was found (Fst = 0.3474), showing a high genetic differentiation of the introductions; those from Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru were the most genetically diverse, presenting 100% of polymorphic loci. The molecular variance analysis indicated a variation of 11% between the groups and 89% within the same. The broad genotypic variability of the evaluated introductions favors the possibility of selecting those for genetic improvement and sustainable use of the species.

El cuidado está presente en todas las culturas y tiene características diferentes. Una etapa del curso de vida donde se evidencia con más claridad el cuidado cultural en las comunidades indígenas es en la etapa reproductiva. Este trabajo se trata acerca de una investigación cualitativa de tipo etnográfico interpretativo, que busca describir, explicar e interpretar las prácticas de cuidado cultural en el continuo reproductivo de la mujer Embera Katio. Emergieron cuatro categorías de análisis: preparación de la mujer Embera para albergar la semilla que brotará de sus entrañas; resguardando la semilla del pueblo Embera en el vientre materno; cuando brota la semilla: surge una nueva vida y, la armonía y restablecimiento de la salud en la diada madre–hijo. Se concluye que el continuo reproductivo de la mujer Embera Katio está representado por un conjunto de prácticas de cuidado de orden intergeneracional, que se encuentran soportadas en un conocimiento y comportamiento cultural específico, que garantiza la protección de la mujer y su descendencia. Se destacan en esta síntesis interpretativa las siguientes prácticas de cuidado cultural: el Jemené: rito que marca el inicio de la mujer Embera Katio a la vida fértil; la alimentación: una manera de preservar el bienestar de la madre y su hijo por nacer; la verticalización del parto y el uso de plantas medicinales durante el trabajo de parto; los consejos y el acompañamiento de la partera tradicional durante el embarazo, parto y posparto y por último, el reposo y la armonía de la madre y el recién nacido en el posparto.