Re: Cause of Potato Famine & Why Its Coming Back

More | Report Post

Which FEMA trailer suit are you referring to?

On 12/28/09, Deborah wrote:
> sorry, I realize that might be over your head, I just thought
> you'd realize it and have enough sense to let someone else
respond...
>
> Oh, maybe you were responding to Sharon's post rather than mine?
>
> Hey, how did that FEMA trailer suit work out?
>
> On 12/28/09, Mike B. wrote:
>> So......how do you make the leap to the conclusion that the
>> potato famine is coming back?
>>
>> On 12/27/09, Deborah wrote:
>>>
>>> Malaria, potato famine pathogen share surprising trait
>>>
>>> http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/297/malaria-potato-famine-
>> pathogen-share-surprising-trait
>>>
>>> On 12/27/09, Sharon wrote:
>>>> http://www.naturalnews.com/027801_potato_famine_crop_failure
>>>> .html
>>>>
>>>> (NaturalNews) Researchers have sequenced the genome of the
>>>> fungus responsible for the Great Irish Potato Famine in the
>>>> 1800s, uncovering the reason that the organism continues to
>>>> plague potato farmers to this day.
>>>>
>>>> "This pathogen has an exquisite ability to adapt and
>>>> change, and that's what makes it so dangerous," said lead
>>>> researcher Chad Nusbaum of the Broad Institute in
>>>> Cambridge, Mass.
>>>>
>>>> The organism, known as Phytophthora infestans, is a type of
>>>> water mold that continues to cost potato farmers billions
>>>> of dollars every year. It prefers cool, wet climates and is
>>>> capable of destroying entire fields of potatoes and
>>>> tomatoes within only a few days. In 2003, P. infestans
>>>> destroyed Papua New Guinea's entire potato crop.
>>>>
>>>> The mold evolves resistance to antifungal sprays with
>>>> astonishing speed. In just the last few years, potato
>>>> farmers in the United Kingdom have increased chemical
>>>> spraying by 30 percent in an attempt to hold the organism
>>>> at bay, and the ongoing blight in Ireland has been
>>>> called "the worst in living memory," according to the BBC.
>>>>
>>>> According to information published in the journal Nature,
>>>> P. infestans' genome is especially large, at least twice as
>>>> long as the genetic code of its closest relatives. Some
>>>> regions of the genome are particularly dense, containing
>>>> many genes in a small area, while others are much less
>>>> dense. It is these gene-light areas that may hold the key
>>>> to the organism's adaptability: more than 700 key genes
>>>> were mapped in these regions, some of them coding for
>>>> attacks on potatoes' immune systems.
>>>>
>>>> "The regions change rapidly over time, acting as a kind of
>>>> incubator to enable the rapid birth and death of genes that
>>>> are key to plant infection," said co-lead author Brian
>>>> Haas. "As a result, these critical genes may be gained and
>>>> lost so rapidly that the hosts simply can't keep up."
>>>>
>>>> Modern agriculture has exacerbated the problem, said Paul
>>>> Birch of the Scottish Crop Research Institute. Widespread
>>>> application of chemicals encourages pest evolution, while
>>>> genetic standardization of food crops makes them more
>>>> vulnerable to infestation.
>>>>