An article entitled, “Effect of Habitat Fragmentation on the Genetic Diversity and Structure of Peripheral Populations of Beech in Central Italy by Paolo Menozzi and associates was published online in April 11 in J. Hered. (2012) 103(3): 408-417. The authors assayed 11 isozyme loci in 856 individuals in 27 marginal populations of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) in Central Italy. They divided their experimental populations into 3 groups showing an increasing level of frag

An article entitled, “Androgenesis: a review through the study of the selfish shellfish Corbicula spp. has been published in the June issue of Heredity108, 581-591. K Van Doninck and associates have shown that there is duplication of chromosome number of the male clam species. This mode of aggressive asexual reproduction accounts for the widespread occurrence of clam speciesthroughout the world. Giant Clam While it is a rare phenomenon in animals, in plan

In the 2012 April issue (vol.11:238-240) of the Indian Journal of Biotechnology, the authors, Rajib Bandopadhyay, Purnima Sinha & Bratati Chaudhary in a review article entitled, “Is Bt-brinjal ready for future food?—A critical study” advocate a waiting period for the release of Bt brinjal in order to ensure that it would not prove health hazardous to consumers. It may be mentioned that the trial started in selected places throughout India in 20

In an article entitled, “Detection of Genetically Modified Cotton Seeds Using PCR and Real-Time PCR.” published in the April issue of Indian J. Biotech. (11: 176-181, 2012), the authors Vidhya et al. have advocated the use of the above mentioned technique in cotton as this has proved to be a powerful tool to detect contamination of GM material as low as 0.1%. The authors are of the opinion that the same technique can as well be used to detect the presence of GMOs/LMOs in ot

In the current issue (June 6) of Nature, the Editor brings to the attention of the readers that 20 years ago, the world’s leaders at the first Rio Summit on biodiversity (CBD), climate (UNFCCC) and desertification (UNCCD) took a solemn resolution to protect Earth’s climate and biodiversity from further deterioration. Far from improvement there has been worsening of the situation since the last Summit; the concentration of CO2 has shot up to almost 400 mg

In an article entitled, “Climate change (elevated CO2, elevated temperature and moderate drought) triggers the response of antioxidant enzymes of grapevine cv. Tempranillo, avoiding oxidative damage,” published in the current issue of Physiologia Plantarum vol. 144(2):99-110, Salazar-Parra and associates have presented the results of their study on the effect of moderate drought on the performance of a cultivar of grapevine . Their study shows that moderate drough

Dhaka the 10th June, 2012. GNOBB members will be pleased to know that GNOBB member Professor Dr. Maqsudul Alam has contributed Professor Maqsudul Alam a sum of $200. I have not approached him personally except through an appeal meant for all GNOBB members. Obviously this donation has improved the financial condition of this web-based organization and now it’s in a position to pay the web-designer his fees. Dr. Abidur Rahman, Co-founder of GNOBB has paid an amount of $ 100 being

In an article entitled, “Mitochondrial Gene Diversity Associated with the atp9 Stop Codon in Natural Populations of Wild Carrot (Daucus carota ssp. carota) published in the current issue of J. Heredity, Jennifer R. Mandel et al. at the Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia studied the mitochondrial gene atp9 in mitochondrial genome of wild carrot. The material consisted of 24 populations of D. carota collected from 24 populations in the eastern United States. In

In an article entitled, “Efficient H2 production via Chlamydomonas reinhardtii,” published in 2011 in Trends in Biotechnology [vol.29(12):595-600], Maria G. Esquível et al. working in four different research institutes in Portugal advocate the use of molecular hydrogen (H2) derived from biological sources. According to them the production of H2 provides a dependable and alternative process to bulk chemical processes currently used for large-scale, economic gener

GNOBB members feel very happy to offer their heartiest felicitations to Dr. Aparna Islam, Ph.D. at the Department of Mathematics & Natural Sciences, BRAC University for her promotion to the rank of Associate Professor. She teaches biotechnology at the undergraduate level under Biotechnology Program. She is also a member of the Editorial Board of the J. PTC & Biotech. We wish her further rise in her career as a successful teacher and a brilliant researcher.