5. Is the Transgene a Grave? On the Place of Transgenic Papaya in Food Democracy in Hawai’i

Transgenic papaya cultivars SunUp and Rainbow express the coat protein (CP) gene of the mild mutant of papaya ringspot virus (PRSV) HA. Both cultivars are resistant to PRSV HA and other Hawaii isolates through homology-dependent resistance via post-transcriptional gene silencing. However, Rainbow, which is hemizygous for the CP gene, is susceptible to PRSV isolates from outside Hawaii, while the CP-homozygous SunUp is resistant to most isolates but susceptible to the YK isolate from Taiwan. To investigate the role of CP sequence similarity in overcoming the resistance of Rainbow, PRSV HA recombinants with various CP segments of the YK isolate were constructed and evaluated on Rainbow, SunUp and non-transgenic papaya. Non-transgenic papaya were severely infected by all recombinants, but Rainbow plants developed a variety of symptoms. On Rainbow, a recombinant with the entire CP gene of YK caused severe symptoms, while recombinants with only partial YK CP sequences produced a range of milder symptoms. Interestingly, a recombinant with a YK segment from the 5′ region of the CP gene caused very mild, transient symptoms, whereas recombinants with YK segments from the middle and 3′ parts of the CP gene caused prominent and lasting symptoms. SunUp was resistant to all but two recombinants, which contained the entire CP gene or the central and 3′-end regions of the CP gene and the 3′ non-coding region of YK, and the resulting symptoms were mild. It is concluded that the position of the heterologous sequences in the recombinants influences their pathogenicity on Rainbow.

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Genomic Variation between PRSV Resistant Transgenic SunUp and Its Progenitor Cultivar Sunset

10.21203/rs.2.17159/v2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Jingping Fang ◽

Andrew Wood ◽

Youqiang Chen ◽

Jingjing Yue ◽

Ray Ming

Keyword(s):

Spontaneous Mutation ◽

Nuclear Genome ◽

Plastid Dna ◽

High Impact ◽

Genomic Variation ◽

Reliable Estimate ◽

Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽

Structural Variations ◽

Transgenic Papaya ◽

Organelle Genomes

Abstract Background: The safety of genetically transformed plants remains a subject of scrutiny. Genomic variants in PRSV resistant transgenic papaya will provide evidence to rationally address such concerns. Results: In this study, a total of more than 74 million Illumina reads for progenitor ‘Sunset’ were mapped onto transgenic papaya ‘SunUp’ reference genome. 310,364 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), 34,071 small Inserts/deletions (InDels) and 1,200 large structural variations (SVs) were detected between ‘Sunset’ and ‘SunUp’. Those variations have an uneven distribution across nine chromosomes in papaya. Only 0.27% of mutations were predicted to be high-impact mutations. ATP-related categories were highly enriched among these high-impact genes. The SNP mutation rate was about 8.4×10-4 per site, comparable with the rate induced by spontaneous mutation over numerous generations. The transition-to-transversion ratio was 1.439 and the predominant mutations were C/G to T/A transitions. Spontaneous mutations were the leading cause of SNPs in transgenic papaya ‘SunUp’. A total of 3,430 nuclear plastid DNA (NUPT) and 2,764 nuclear mitochondrial DNA (NUMT) junction sites have been found in ‘SunUp’, which is proportionally higher than the predicted total NUPT and NUMT junction sites in ‘Sunset’ (3,346 and 2,745, respectively). Among all nuclear organelle DNA (norgDNA) junction sites, 96% of junction sites were shared by ‘SunUp’ and ‘Sunset’. The average identity between ‘SunUp’ specific norgDNA and corresponding organelle genomes was higher than that of norgDNA shared by ‘SunUp’ and ‘Sunset’. Six ‘SunUp’ organelle-like borders of transgenic insertions were nearly identical to corresponding sequences in organelle genomes (98.18~100%). None of the paired-end spans of mapped ‘Sunset’ reads were elongated by any ‘SunUp’ transformation plasmid derived inserts. Significant amounts of DNA were transferred from organelles to the nuclear genome during bombardment, including the six flanking sequences of the three transgenic insertions.Conclusions: Comparative whole-genome analyses between ‘SunUp’ and ‘Sunset’ provide a reliable estimate of genome-wide variations and evidence of organelle-to-nucleus transfer of DNA associated with biolistic transformation.

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Food Democracy for All? Developing a Food Hub in the Context of Socio-Economic Deprivation

Politics and Governance ◽

10.17645/pag.v7i4.2057 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. 142-153 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Sebastian Prost

Keyword(s):

Environmental Sustainability ◽

Food System ◽

System Transformation ◽

Economic Deprivation ◽

Participatory Action ◽

Community Needs ◽

Local Responses ◽

Food Hub ◽

The Uk ◽

Food Democracy

This article proposes a localised and differentiated understanding of food democracy, or rather a plurality of localised food democracies. Based on the experiences of developing a local food hub in an area of socio-economic deprivation in the UK using a participatory action research (PAR) approach, it presents local responses to three key challenges derived from the literature. It argues that for civic food networks (CFNs) to contribute to a transition towards a food democracy, they need to address challenges of: 1) balancing ethical aspirations for environmental sustainability, social justice, as well as community and individual health; 2) developing the skills required for participation in CFNs; and 3) achieving wider impact on food system transformation beyond niche solutions. The responses, or tactics, presented in this article include flexible ethical standards responding to community needs, accessible participation focusing on relationships rather than skills, and a focus on local impact while striving to collaborate and network with other organisations. It thus frames food democracy as a plurality of approaches to build and replicate CFNs. The article positions PAR with its democratic and localised approach to address real-world problems as uniquely suited to navigate the challenges of CFNs. It also discusses the role of researchers in initiating, facilitating, and shaping such processes of food system democratisation as engaged actors.

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Food Democracy in the Making

Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI '18 ◽

10.1145/3173574.3173907 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Sebastian Prost ◽

Clara Crivellaro ◽

Andy Haddon ◽

Rob Comber

Keyword(s):

Food Democracy

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Food Activism and Language in a Slow Food Italy Restaurant Menu

Gastronomica The Journal of Food and Culture ◽

10.1525/gfc.2021.21.4.76 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (4) ◽

pp. 76-87

Author(s):

Carole Counihan

Keyword(s):

Poetic Language ◽

Slow Food ◽

Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽

Food Activism ◽

Food And Culture ◽

Culinary Traditions ◽

Food Movement ◽

Construct Meaning ◽

Food Democracy

This essay explores how food activists in Italy purposely shape food and language to construct meaning and value. It is grounded in years of ethnographic fieldwork on food and culture in Italy and looks specifically at the Slow Food Movement. The essay explores language and food activism through a detailed unpacking of the text of a menu prepared for a restaurant dinner for delegates to the Slow Food National Chapter Assembly in 2009. The menu uses descriptive poetic language to construct an idealized folk cuisine steeped in local products, poverty, history, and peasant culinary traditions. As I explore the language of the menu and the messages communicated by the food, I ask if they intensify people’s activism, advance Slow Food’s goals of “good, clean and fair food,” and promote food democracy.

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Introduction

Food and Power in Hawai'i ◽

10.21313/hawaii/9780824858537.003.0001 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Aya Hirata Kimura ◽

Krisnawati Suryanata

Keyword(s):

Food Systems ◽

Economic Policies ◽

Market Place ◽

Short History ◽

History Of ◽

Food Democracy

This chapter introduces the concept of food democracy through which we can analyze a few initiatives that emerge from discussions on food systems in Hawaii. It also presents a short history of Hawaii’s agro-food systems to contextualize the diverse initiatives discussed in the book. We then provide short synopsis of the subsequent chapters and highlight how they open a space for discussion in multiple venues, such as in the legislative arena and in the market place, while being attentive to the broader challenge posed by neoliberal economic policies.

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