May GPC E-Bulletin

If you have news you would like us to share on our website, please contact lisa@globalplantcouncil.org 

From Journal of Experimental Botany: Marvellous Little Pulses
The latest special issue from Journal of Experimental Botany focuses scientific attention on pulse crops. A key part of many food cultures, pulses really are ‘little marvels’.

Open-source mungbean genetic database
Scientists and mungbean growers around the world now have access to an open-source website containing the latest genetic information on the qualities of 560 accessions of mungbean.

The evolutionary story of the Birch tree told through 80 genomes
A new study illuminates the evolutionary history of birch, a tree that has not been studied much by scientists despite its commercial value.

More genes turned on when plants compete
The lessons of plant diversity and competition learned from a clover patch can potentially unlock secrets on plant interactions around the globe.

Study finds large chromosomal swaps key to banana domestication
Using a variety of sequencing and bioinformatics tools, chromosomal imaging and PCR technology, scientists have, for the first time, identified a large chromosomal swap in the genome of the Cavendish banana, which prevents the proper reshuffling of its DNA in its progeny.

If you have a conference, meeting, workshop, training course or other event coming up, we can include it in our Events calendar! Please email lisa@globalplantcouncil.org

Plant Biology Scandinavia 2017
16–18 August 2017. Naantali, Finland. 

4th International Symposium on Genomics of Plant Genetic Resources
03–07 September 2017. Giessen, Germany. 

CSIRO workshop: Gene Editing of Crops
28–30 November 2017. Kiama, NSW, Australia

Don’t forget: if you are a member of one of our Member Organizations (see below) you can use the discount code GC237648 to get 20% off anyTransmitting Science training course!

Lots of new reports, and an archive of useful documents from the last few years, are available on our website. Head to the Resources page and click ‘Reports’.

Myanmar’s extensive forests are declining rapidly due to political and environmental change
The loss of intact forest cover in Myanmar has accelerated over the last decade, according to new a study.

Antarctic has seen widespread change in last 50 years, moss study reveals
Researchers confirm that the unprecedented ecological change found in mosses and microbes at the southern end of the Antarctic Peninsula in 2013 are widespread.

Spotted a funding opportunity we’ve missed? Please tell us about it by emailing lisa@globalplantcouncil.org

• Newton Fund Institutional Link grants
• Royal Society International Exchanges scheme
• US–Ireland Research and Development Partnership Call in Agriculture 2017
• VILLUM Young Investigators Programme
• Travel scholarships to attend 4th International Symposium on Genomics of Plant Genetic Resources

Would you like to contribute an article to the GPC’s blog? Please get in touch! Email lisa@globalplantcouncil.org

Student-driven plant breeding symposium addresses global challenges in the 21st century
Francisco Gomez and Ammani Kyanam, graduate students in the Soil and Crop Science Department at Texas A&M University, USA, tells us about the recent Plant Breeding Symposium, a successful meeting run entirely by students at the University.

Water is key to ending Africa’s chronic hunger cycle
In this SciDev.net repost, Esther Ngumbi discusses how governments must invest in sustainable water supplies for Africa to end chronic hunger.

Striga hermonthica – a beautiful but devastating plant
University of Sheffield (UK) student Caroline Wood tells us all about Striga, and her PhD quest to to identify the key defense pathways that determine host resistance to this pretty, but parasitic plant.

The Global Plant Council visits the Australian Plant Phenomics Facility
This month, the GPC’s Executive Director Ruth Bastow visited the Australian Plant Phenomics Facility (APPF) in Adelaide. This blog post was reproduced with the kind permission of the APPF. 

Click here for details of the GPC Member Societies and Affiliates and their representatives. 

Please contact us (info@globalplantcouncil.org) to find out how your organization can join the Global Plant Council.