Collecting wild Miscanthus germplasm in Asia for crop improvement and conservation in Europe whilst adhering to the guidelines of the United Nations' Convention on Biological Diversity.

Background And Aims: Germplasm with diverse, agronomically relevant traits forms the foundation of a successful plant breeding programme. Since 1993, the United Nations has been advocating the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the subsequent 2002 Bonn Guidelines as international best practice on germplasm collection and use. In 2006, a European team made an expedition to Asia to collect wild germplasm of Miscanthus, a C4 perennial rhizomatous grass, for breeding an environmentally adaptable, resilient and high-yielding bioenergy crop.

The anti-fecundity effect of 5-azacytidine (5-AzaC) on Schistosoma mansoni is linked to dis-regulated transcription, translation and stem cell activities.

Uncontrolled host immunological reactions directed against tissue-trapped eggs precipitate a potentially lethal, pathological cascade responsible for schistosomiasis. Blocking schistosome egg production, therefore, presents a strategy for simultaneously reducing immunopathology as well as limiting disease transmission in endemic or emerging areas. We recently demonstrated that the ribonucleoside analogue 5-azacytidine (5-AzaC) inhibited Schistosoma mansoni oviposition, egg maturation and ovarian development.

Radiation capture and conversion efficiencies of , and their naturally occurring hybrid . × .

is a rhizomatous C4 grass of great interest as a biofuel crop because it has the potential to produce high yields over a wide geographical area with low agricultural inputs on marginal land less suitable for food production. At the moment, a clonal interspecific hybrid  ×  is the most widely cultivated and studied in Europe and the United States, but breeding programmes are developing newer more productive varieties. Here, we quantified the physiological processes relating to whole season yield in a replicated plot trial in Wales, UK.