News - AGAP Institute - Genetic Improvement and Adaptation of Mediterranean and Tropical Plants

Congrès ISRFG : Visite du Centre Français du Riz

05/10/2016

Pendant trois jours, 340 chercheurs représentant 40 pays différents participent à un symposium international sur la génomique fonctionnelle du riz. Il s'agit de mieux comprendre la fonction des 38 000 gènes qui composent le génome du riz dont on connaît la séquence des chromosomes depuis 2005.

ISRFG 2016 Symposium: preparing the rice growing of the future

25/09/2016

CIRAD and the IRD are co-organizers of the 14th International Symposium on Rice Functional Genomics, to be held in Montpellier. From 26 to 29 September, more than 330 experts from 38 countries will be presenting their latest discoveries and taking stock of future challenges: with climate change threatening yields, how can we produce more while preserving both resources and the environment?

Left: fruit with seeds from a wild banana plant. Right: seedless fruit from a cultivated hybrid from the Cavendish group. © A. D’Hont, Cirad.

An improved banana reference genome sequence

18/08/2016

After publishing the complete sequence for the banana Musa acuminata four years ago, CIRAD and its partners have now produced an improved reference sequence. Using semi-automatic bioinformatics tools, they conducted high quality assemblies that will serve to study this species, which is the origin of all edible banana varieties, in greater detail.

Le projet GenomeHarvest a démarré !

12/05/2016

Mobiliser les compétences en bioinformatique/biomathématique et en génomique/génétique pour comprendre l’organisation et la dynamique des génomes en vue de l’amélioration des plantes cultivées.

Cassava plant invaded by whitefly (Bemisia sp.), the cassava mosaic virus vector © IRD-CIRAD / Pierre Silvie

Cassava: reconquering diversity

26/04/2016

An international team has compared the cassava genome with that of its closest relatives. This work, which involved CIRAD, has lifted the veil on the history and genetic diversity of a plant that currently feeds 800 million people. It paves the way for work to improve yields via the development of more productive or disease-resistant varieties.

Représentation schématique de différentes caractéristiques de la version2 de l’assemblage du génome du bananier et de la carte génétique. De l’extérieur vers l’intérieur: Densité en marqueurs génétiques, densité en séquences répétées, chromosomes, densité en gènes, proportion de N, taux de recombinaison, et distorsion de ségrégation. © UMR Agap, 2016

Amélioration de la séquence de référence du bananier "Musa acuminata" en combinant des approches semi-automatiques avec des données NGS

06/04/2016

Les avancées des technologies de séquençage ont rendu possible la production de séquences de référence pour un grand nombre d’espèces, permettant ainsi l’étude de l’organisation des génomes ainsi que de leur fonction. Meilleure est la qualité des assemblages meilleures sont les études qui en découlent.

Culture de maïs sur des sols dégradés à cause de la pluie au Cameroun. © Cirad, E. Torquebiau

Tailoring climate forecasts to the range of contexts

16/03/2016

Why do farmers in tropical countries make very little use of the climate forecasts supplied to them, particularly seasonal rainfall forecasts? A research group of which CIRAD is a member decided to tackle this question by means of a survey.

Sampling rubber tree leaves from a collection plot © C.C. Silva, CIRAD

Rubber: a core collection that covers all the genetic diversity of the species

19/02/2016

Researchers from CIRAD and their Brazilian colleagues recently characterized more than 1000 Hevea accessions held in Brazil and French Guiana, using molecular markers. This enabled them to compile a core collection of around a hundred trees, which encompasses the entirety of the genetic diversity described with the markers used and will facilitate the conservation of rubber genetic resources. That conservation is vital at a time when deforestation is resulting in unprecedented impoverishment of those resources in Amazonia.

Assessment of oil palms in the genetic block: weighing FFBs, Aek Loba, North Sumatra, Indonesia © S. Tisné, CIRAD

Oil palm: a step towards marker-assisted breeding

18/02/2016

Marker-assisted breeding has not been extensively studied for oil palm due to the cumbersome nature of the genetic techniques required to implement it.

The social relations between farmers play a major role in sorghum diversity © Vanesse Labeyrie

Cultural diversity among farmers has shaped sorghum biological diversity

10/02/2016

Researchers from CIRAD and their partners from KALRO have discovered that the social relations between farmers play a central role in the dynamics of the diversity of sorghum grown on the slopes of Mount Kenya. By influencing seed exchanges, social structure shapes local agro-biodiversity. This work has major implications in terms of agricultural genetic resource conservation.