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

The genotyping platform has the latest advanced tools for high-throughput genotyping/sequencing and robotic devices for the preparation of genomic resource samples and clones Photo: © Cirad, E. Bru

Plant genomics: two advanced technical platforms certified under ISO9001

03/07/2013

The CIRAD bioinformatics and genotyping platforms, hosted in Montpellier by the Genetic Improvement and Adaptation of Mediterranean and Tropical Plants Joint Research Unit (UMR AGAP), now have ISO9001:2008 certification from AFNOR. The certification was awarded on 12 April 2013, and concerns the platforms' activities regarding provision of genotyping and bioinformatics equipment and software for agronomy.

Groupe de travail de la Plateforme d'histocytologie et d'imagerie cellulaire végétale (PHIV)

04/06/2013

Ce groupe de travail « Imagerie Fonctionnelle de la Plante » (GDR 2588), animé par la plateforme PHIV, organise des journées thématiques les lundi 27 mardi 28 mai 2013 à Toulouse.

Plateforme MRI-Histocytologie et d'Imagerie Cellulaire végétale (PHIV)

04/06/2013

Accueil d'élèves du lycée Ferdinand Fabre, sur la plateforme, pour un atelier d'étude anatomique des lichens.

© Somatic metaphases of Centella asiatica after double fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). F.-C. Baurens, Cirad.

Centella asiatica, medicinal plant of Madagascar belongs to a polyploid complex

17/04/2013

Centella asiatica is an important traditional and industrial crop in Madagascar that is collected in the wild for its specific medicinal properties.

Video of presentation of CRB-Tropical of Montpellier

05/03/2013

The Resource center Biological Tropical (CRB T) of Montpellier is the first vegetable CRB certified according to standard NF 96-900 quality. The practices and the tools developed within the laboratory ensure reliability, traceability and conservation of the seeds. It constitutes today a model in the biological stock management.

Sweet potatoes, which originated in tropical America, were already being grown in Polynesia when the first European explorers arrived © CIRAD, V. Lebot.

How the sweet potato genome tells the story of the first journeys to the Americas

20/02/2013

The Europeans may not have been the first foreigners to set foot in the Americas. Several centuries before them, Polynesian ships apparently landed on the coast of Peru, and eventually sailed home with sweet potatoes, which are now found throughout the Pacific. This has been confirmed by a vast study by a team of scientists from the CNRS and CIRAD, published on 23 January in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The PHIV team in its laboratory © CIRAD, M.Adell

An EU grant for the CIRAD plant imaging platform

12/12/2012

The Histocytology and Plant Cell Imaging Platform (PHIV) on the Agropolis-Lavalette campus in Montpellier has just been awarded European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funding for its project to design the plants of tomorrow.

Remise du prix par Philippe Taquet, vice-Président de l'Académie des sciences à Emmanuel Guiderdoni. © Brigitte Eymann, Académie des sciences.

Le prix Dujarric de La Rivière 2012

29/11/2012

Le prix Dujarric de La Rivière 2012 est décerné à Emmanuel Guiderdoni. Attribué par l’Académie des sciences, ce prix récompense ses découvertes sur le riz par des méthodes de culture in vitro. La cérémonie avait lieu le 27 novembre à l’Institut de France.

Organisation du "First International Workshop on Biotechnology Applied to Tropical Woody Plants"

18/09/2012

This Congress will take place from 22th to 25th October 2012 in Brazil, at the Federal University of Lavras (UFLA)-Minas Gerais (MG). This event will make an overview about the state of art of genomics, genetic transformation and micropropagation of important tropical perennial species such as coffee, citrus, cocoa, rubber tree and eucalyptus, for example.

Inflorescence of the banana. © Cirad, A. D'Hont

The banana genome has been sequenced

12/07/2012

Banana has revealed the secrets of its 520 million bases. Two French research organizations, CIRAD and CEA-Genoscope, with funding from the National Research Agency (ANR), have just finished, in two years, sequencing the species Musa acuminata which is a component in every edible variety (dessert and cooking bananas). This work is a huge step towards understanding the genetics of and improving banana varieties, and was done within the framework of the Global Musa Genomics Consortium. The results will be published on line on Wednesday 11 July 2012 in the prestigious scientific journal Nature.