Comparing interfertility data with random amplified microsatellites DNA (RAMS) studies in Ganoderma Karst. Taxonomy
The taxonomy of the causal pathogen of basal stem rot of oil palms, Ganoderma is somewhat problematic at present. In order to determine the genetic distance relationship between G. boninense isolates and non-boninense isolates, a random amplified microsatellites DNA (RAMS) technique was carried out. The result was then compared with interfertility data of G. boninense that had been determined in previous mating studies to confirm the species of G. boninense. Dendrogram from cluster analysis based on UPGMA of RAMS data showed that two major clusters, I and II which separated at a genetic distance of 0.7935 were generated. Cluster I consisted of all the biological species G. boninense isolates namely CNLB, GSDK 3, PER 71, WD 814, GBL 3, GBL 6, OC, GH 02, 170 SL and 348781 while all non-boninense isolates namely G. ASAM, WRR, TFRI 129, G. RES, GJ, and CNLM were grouped together in cluster II. Although the RAMS markers showed polymorphisms in all the isolates tested, the results obtained were in agreement with the interfertility data. Therefore, the RAMS data could support the interfertility data for the identification of Ganoderma isolates.
Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and Random Amplified Microsatellite (RAMS) of Ganoderma from Infected Oil Palm and Coconut Stumps in Malaysia
Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and random amplified microsatellite (RAMS) analyses were used to determine the genetic relatedness within and between Ganoderma boninense isolates from infected oil palm and Ganoderma sp. from coconut stumps from different locations in Malaysia. RAPD analysis using four random primers (5'ACCTGGACAC3', 5'CAGCGACAAG3', 5'AGAGGGCACA3' and 5'TGACGGCGGT3') showed variations of banding patterns within and between the isolates from oil palm and coconut stumps, indicating that they were genetically heterogeneous. There was no specific banding pattern that could differentiate between G. boninense isolates from infected oil palm and Ganoderma sp. from coconut stumps. RAMS analysis using four microsatellite primers, 5'BDB(ACA) 5 , 5'DD(CCA) 5, 5'DHB(CGA) 5 and 5'YHY(GT) 5 G, also showed variable banding patterns among the isolates from infected oil palm and coconut stumps. However, five common bands i.e. two bands (900 bp and 1200 bp) produced by primer (CGA) 5 , one band (1400 bp) by primer (ACA) 5 and two bands (350 bp and 380 bp) by primer (CCA) 5 were shown by all the G. boninense isolates from infected oil palm and Ganoderma sp. from coconut stumps. Dendrograms from cluster analysis based on UPGMA of RAPD and RAMS data showed that G. boninense isolates from infected oil palm and Ganoderma sp. from coconut stumps did not cluster separately into two distinct clusters, but were clustered together, which indicated that both groups of Ganoderma are closely related. The finding that the Ganoderma isolates from coconut stumps are closely related to G. boninense isolates from infected oil palm would have an important bearing in the formulation of disease control measures and replanting procedures, especially in areas where the previous crop was coconut.
Early Missionaries and the Ethnolinguistic Factor During the ‘Invention of Tribalism’ in Zimbabwe
There is evidence from across the disciplines that at least some of the contemporary regional names of African tribes, dialects and languages are fairly recent inventions in historical terms. This article offers some evidence from Zimbabwe to show that missionary linguistic politics were an important factor in this process. The South African linguist Clement Doke was brought in to resolve conflicts about the orthography of Shona. His Report on the Unification of the Shona Dialects (1931) shows how the language politics of the Christian denominations, which were also the factions within the umbrella organization the Southern Rhodesia Missionary Conference, contributed quite significantly to the creation and promotion of Zezuru, Karanga and Manyika as the main groupings of dialects in the central area which Doke later accommodated in a unified orthography of a unified language that was given the name Shona. While vocabulary from Ndau was to be incorporated, words from the Korekore group in the north were to be discouraged, and Kalanga in the West was allowed to be subsumed under Ndebele. Writing about sixty years later, Ranger focusses more closely on the Manyika and takes his discussion to the 1940s, but he also mentions that the Rhodesian Front government of the 1960s and 1970s deliberately incited tribalism between the Shona and the Ndebele, while at the same time magnifying the differences between the regional divisions of the Shona, which were, in turn, played against one another as constituent clans. It would appear then that, for the indigenous Africans, the price of Christianity, Western education and a new perception of language unity was the creation of regional ethnic identities that were at least potentially antagonistic and open to political manipulation. Through many decades of rather unnecessary intellectual justification, and as a result of the collective colonial experience through the churches, the schools and the workplaces, these imposed identities, and the myths and sentiments that are associated with them, have become fixed in the collective mind of Africa, and the modern nation states of the continent now seem to be stuck with them. Missionaries played a very significant role in creating this scenario because they were mainly responsible for fixing the ethnolinguistic maps of the African colonies during the early phase of European occupation. To a significant degree, these maps have remained intact and have continued to influence African research scholarship.