Scientists peel back ancient layers of banana DNA to reveal ‘mystery ancestors’

JERUSALEM POST STAFF

The study identified a history of genetic engineering, specifically hybridization and a selection for heterozygotes, as mechanisms for the transition from wild to cultivated bananas.

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Bananas, illustrative image. / (photo credit: CREATIVE COMMONS)

Bananas, thought to have been domesticated 7,000 years ago in New Guinea, may have a more complicated history than initially assumed, according a new study from the peer-reviewed Frontiers in Plant Science.

“Identifying the ancestors of cultivated bananas is important, as it will help us understand the processes and the paths that shaped the banana diversity observed today, a crucial step to breed bananas of the future.”

Author Dr. Mathieu Rouard, Bioversity International

Cultivated bananas are sterile and produce seedless fruits. They are descended from wild ancestors which produced seeds, but the connection between the original seed-filled fruits and today’s bananas found in grocery stores is not well understood. 

“Here we show that most of today’s diploid cultivated bananas that descend from the wild banana M. acuminata are hybrids between different subspecies. At least three extra wild ‘mystery ancestors’ must have contributed to this mixed genome thousands of years ago, but haven’t been identified yet,” explained Dr. Julie Sardos, a scientist at The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT in Montpellier, France, and the study’s first author. 

he study identified a history of genetic engineering, specifically hybridization and a selection for heterozygotes, as mechanisms for the transition from wild to cultivated bananas.  

Second corresponding author Dr. Mathieu Rouard, likewise at Bioversity International, said: “Identifying the ancestors of cultivated bananas is important, as it will help us understand the processes and the paths that shaped the banana diversity observed today, a crucial step to breed bananas of the future.”

The results of the study bring new light to the geographic spread of wild bananas and its impact on bananas today. 

“Breeders need to understand the genetic make-up of today’s domesticated diploid bananas for their crosses between cultivars, and this study is a major first step toward the characterization in great detail of many of these cultivars.”

The future of bananas

The study authors concluded by explaining that their work has direct implications on the evolution of banana crops going forward, as well as conservation, collection and breeding of this modern staple food. 

Sardos said: “Based on these results, we will work with partners to explore and genotype wild banana diversity in the three geographic regions that our study pinpointed, with the hope to identify these unidentified contributors to cultivated bananas. It will also be important to investigate the different advantages and traits that each of these contributors provided to cultivated bananas.”

US uses helicopter raid to kill ISIS operative in Syria -analysis

SETH J. FRANTZMAN

The target of the US helicopter raid was Rakkan Wahid al-Shammri, an ISIS official involved in smuggling weapons to other ISIS units.

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A CH-53K helicopter / (photo credit: LOCKHEED MARTIN)

A rare US raid in the afternoon of October 6 killed an ISIS member in Syria, a day prior US Central Command sent forces via helicopter to raid a village near Qamishli.

The target of the US helicopter raid was Rakkan Wahid al-Shammri, an ISIS official involved in smuggling weapons to other ISIS units, according to the US. ISIS was mostly defeated in Syria in 2017, but elements held out until 2019 when it was vanquished near the Euphrates river.

The raid killed one and wounded another ISIS member, and two others were detained. The next day US Central Command put out a statement saying that US forces conducted a successful airstrike in northern Syria, killing both Abu Hashum al-Umawi, an ISIS member, and another senior ISIS official.  

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Thursday told Kurdish media Rudaw that the “person killed had been a resident of the village, and according to their local sources, was likely to be affiliated to the Islamic State (ISIS)….US forces carried out an airdrop operation after midnight on Wednesday-Thursday, within the areas of influence of the Syrian regime for the first time.”  

Qamishli, a town on the Turkish border in northeast Syria, whose residents are Kurds, Christians and others and has been an important center of resistance against ISIS.

However, the complex overlapping ruling groups in the area, including the Syrian regime and Syrian Democratic Forces mean that ISIS can still operate in the area of the town.

Other ISIS cells popped up in Turkish-controlled areas in northwest Syria, where ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and other ISIS officials have been found over the years, several of which were killed by US forces.

The Syrian regime has controlled an area of Qamishli throughout the war in Syria, however, it expanded its role in 2019 when Turkey conducted an invasion of part of northern Syria. Turkish-backed Syrian rebels and extremist groups attacked Kurdish forces and Christians in Tel Tamr.

Al-Hol camp

In recent months the spotlight in eastern Syria has moved to concentrate on the Al-Hol camp, a large camp for displaced people where some ISIS families ended up in 2019. The camp is so large that the SDF has had trouble dealing with the continuing ISIS problem inside the camp.

That means that ISIS members, primarily women who were wives of ISIS fighters, can run parts of the camp and continue to abuse other women and children.

This includes some Yazidis, members of a minority group ISIS committed genocide against in 2014. Some Yazidi women and children, kidnapped by ISIS, were found in the camp. Pro-ISIS supporters abroad also continue to try to send money to ISIS members in the camp and there are attempts at breakouts.

According to NBC “the Biden administration has enacted a new plan to reduce the population of a sprawling refugee camp near the Iraq-Syria border that has become a haven for the Islamic State terrorist group to recruit members, plot a comeback and carry out some of its most brutal tactics — including the torture and sexual abuse of women and girls — according to five senior administration officials.”

“the Biden administration has enacted a new plan to reduce the population of a sprawling refugee camp near the Iraq-Syria border that has become a haven for the Islamic State terrorist group to recruit members, plot a comeback and carry out some of its most brutal tactics — including the torture and sexual abuse of women and girls — according to five senior administration officials.”

NBC

The tens of thousands of people in the camp generally can’t be processed to go anywhere else because no country wants to claim responsibility for them.

The NBC report says “six European countries and Australia have so far agreed to transport dozens of their citizens being held at the camp back to their homelands in the coming weeks, those officials said.”

The problem is that countries that support the US-led Coalition to fight ISIS tend to not want their citizens back, even stripping them of citizenship in some cases, leaving the people in legal limbo.

These countries also won’t allow the SDF to put the ISIS members on trial, arguing that the SDF is not the governing force in Syria.

The western governments also don’t want the SDF turning the ISIS members over to the Syrian regime, because it abuses human rights. And they don’t want the SDF to let the people go or send them to Iraq.

This means the SDF must continue to secure the camp, but the international community won’t help the SDF do more than that; such as de-radicalize the people in the camp or sending in child protective services to help the kids. 

The continuing presence of ISIS in Syria is clear. It is also clear that ISIS members often operate from areas close to the Turkish border, either in Idlib or in Afrin, an area Turkey invaded in 2018 and ethnically cleansed of Kurds. Turkey has threatened to attack on the SDF over the years, meaning eastern Syria continues to face the prospect of instability.  

Journey Through Israel – Travel Documentary

Stef Hoffer

Israeli Forces Hunt East Jerusalem Checkpoint Attacker

i24 News

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid attends a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem June 26, 2022 REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool

Israeli forces were hunting the assailant behind an attack that killed a soldier at an east Jerusalem checkpoint, authorities said Sunday.

The Israeli army said a soldier was “killed as a result of being critically injured by a shooting attack” that police said had taken place at a checkpoint in east Jerusalem near the Shuafat refugee camp.

The female soldier who died was 18. She was named as Sergeant Noa Lazar from Bat Hefer, according to an Israel Defense Forces statement. She served in the Erez Battalion of the military police at the Shuafat crossing.

Lazar was promoted from the rank of corporal to the rank of sergeant after her death.

Another Israeli was “severely injured,” police said, and a third person, whose identity was not specified, was hit by “shrapnel” in the incident, according to emergency services group Magen David Adom.

The victims were transported to Hadassah Medical Center for treatment. On Sunday morning, the hospital said that the condition of the 30-year-old man seriously wounded in the attack “continues to be difficult” following overnight surgery by a neurosurgical team at Hadassah Ein Kerem.

The male victim was initially described in reports as a security guard.

Police cordoned off the area near the checkpoint and dozens of officers were deployed at the entrance and exit of east Jerusalem, while the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its medics were being prevented from entering the refugee camp.

Three suspects were captured during the manhunt, with a fourth terrorist suspect still on the loose.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid described the shooting as a “severe” attack.

“My heart is with the wounded and their families this evening. Terror will not defeat us, we are strong even on this difficult evening,” he said in a statement.

Israeli Forces Kill Two Palestinians in West Bank Clash

Reuters and Algemeiner Staff

Mourners attend the funeral of Palestinian Mahdi Ladado, 17, who was killed by Israeli forces during clashes, near Ramallah in the West Bank, October 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

Israeli forces killed two Palestinians on Saturday in clashes that erupted during an arrest raid in the West Bank, Palestinian health officials said, the latest incident in recent months around the flashpoint city of Jenin.

The Israeli military said that security forces on an operation to arrest a wanted gunman from of the Islamic Jihad militant group, came under Palestinian fire. 

“Dozens of Palestinians threw explosives and Molotov cocktails at the forces and fired at them. The forces fired at armed suspects. Hits were identified,” the military said on Twitter.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said two Palestinians were killed and 11 were wounded. There was no immediate comment from the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The latest in a near-daily series of incidents around Jenin, a militant stronghold, underlined once more the volatile security climate in the West Bank as Israel heads towards elections on Nov. 1.

“The more the occupation perpetrates its crimes, the tougher the resistance will be,” Islamic Jihad said in a statement.

More than 70 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since Israel launched its Operation Breakwater against militants on March 31 in response to a string of fatal Palestinian street attacks in Israel. The toll includes militants and civilians.

The surge in violence in the West Bank, where Palestinians have limited self-rule, has been one of the worst such waves there in years.

US-brokered peace talks aimed at establishing a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and Eastern Jerusalem, collapsed in 2014 and show no sign of revival.

Israeli security officials have called on the PA to do more to rein in violence by gunmen.

However the PA, increasingly unpopular among many in the West Bank, says its ability to exert its rule has been systematically undermined by Israel‘s incursions.