Howdy folks,
In response to Rolands post, I would be interested in hearing your
view. I think this is a good community where we are more interested in
hearing interesting ideas than the futile sort of slamming debates I
see in a lot of locations.
The notion of "What is an Heirloom?" reminds me of something I've
puzzled over when dealing with the Hinkley Columbine. Folks always
want the Native Columbine, but my first thought was, it may be Native
to the Big Bend region but that is quite a drive and a different bio
niche from Austin, Texas so shouldn't we call it "an introduced
species" once it leaves the area?
The other thing I've wondered about is that since plants have such
short reproductive cycles, and adapt as a species to new
environments, how long before the "Hinkley Columbine" that was
collected in the Big Bend area morphs, from generations of breedings
in greenhouses etc to a newly coded beast?
Is it possible that the Heirloom Brandywine tomato is the same
genetic code as the one eaten way back when?
Just curious.
Steve Coyle
www.austingardencenter.com


(Joe Doe) wrote in message ...
In article , "N. Woolley"
wrote:

Ok, so I spoke (or wrote) like this was a casual conversation instead of
a classroom. I have learned a lesson - I had better be precise.

I have also read a good book on the subject. 'Lords of the Harvest:
Biotech, Money, and the Future of Food' by Daniel Charles. It came out
in 2001 and covers the origins of the industry. The author is not biased
for or against.

-Nancy

As a molecular biologist I was tempted to respond to your first post. I
chose not to because I would have to invest a lot of time to make a
reasoned argument refuting several of your points. I was not sure the
effort would be worth my time - the issues are too complex and audience
too mixed to be able to cover the ground we need to cover - for example
conventional breeding uses heavy mutagenesis frequently to generate the
heterogeneity needed for breeding stocks. Conventional mutagensis also
mainly yields loss of function mutations vs gain of function. Many genes
are mutated and nobody knows what was hit. So these lines are far from
pristine. There is a huge gulf between the tomato we eat and primitive
forms in Peru. (Incidentally, I intend to try at least a hundred heirloom
Tomato varieties over the next ten years - so I appreciate our rapidly
dwindling genetic heritage).

There are several issues about disease resistant cultivars not being
released to poor countries because of peoples phobias of GM food and not
Monsantos greed as you suggested. In the ultimate analysis, I decided I
simply did not have the time to articulate all the complexities that go
into the GM debate and then defend my position so will stay on the
sidelines.

Roland

I know that before reintroducing Streptanthus bracteatus (Bracted
Twist-flower), DNA studies are being done to see if there are any
genetic differences in populations at different central Texas sites.

My brother planted a Desert Willow in Dallas. In Sally Wasowsky's books
and other references, it's listed as a 'native plant'. It may be native
to Texas, but Dallas is a long way from west Texas. (Just one example of
many.)

-Nancy

Struck me as supremely ironic that as we discuss engineering new
organisms in the lab, the tropical rain forests of southern Mexico are
passing overhead.

Thanks for a lot of very interesting information and sources -- think I will
see if I can find a copy of the book you are recommending.

--
Marta
(if you email me directly you need to remove the X )