Publications by authors named "Diego Sotomayor"

Crop wild relatives (CWRs) are important sources of novel genes, due to their high variability of response to biotic and abiotic stresses, which can be invaluable for crop genetic improvement programs. Recent studies have shown that CWRs are threatened by several factors, including changes in land-use and climate change. A large proportion of CWRs are underrepresented in genebanks, making it necessary to take action to ensure their long-term conservation.

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Spotted-wing drosophila, (Matsumura), is a major economic pest of several fruit crops in Europe, North and South America, and other parts of the world because it oviposits in ripening thin-skinned fruits. This vinegar fly exhibits two distinct morphotypes: a summer and a winter morph. Although adaptations associated with the winter morph enhance this invasive pest's capacity to survive in cold climates, winter is still a natural population bottleneck.

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The Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change Project set out to improve the diversity, quantity, and accessibility of germplasm collections of crop wild relatives (CWR). Between 2013 and 2018, partners in 25 countries, heirs to the globetrotting legacy of Nikolai Vavilov, undertook seed collecting expeditions targeting CWR of 28 crops of global significance for agriculture. Here, we describe the implementation of the 25 national collecting programs and present the key results.

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