Genes: Out of
the laboratory,
into the news.
Sharon Schmickle
Media Fellowship Program
Biosciences for Farming in Africa
March-April 2013
Opening by connecting
“Shopping for food: we all do it, whether at
the supermarket, or from traditional
neighborhood shops, or in a market. It’s the
modern equivalent of what our ancestors
would have done in long-gone hunter-
gatherer days.”
--Noel Kingsbury, opening lines in the
introduction of Hybrid: The History and
Science of Plant Breeding
Please come with me
Open a door
Extend a hand
Lead the way
Speak to your audience
A story about crops might speak to:
Farmers
Policy makers
Business leaders
Consumers
All of the above
Typical journal article Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is a major crop plant and a model system for fruit development. Solanum is one of the largest angiosperm genera1 and includes annual and perennial plants from diverse habitats. Here we present a high-quality genome sequence of domesticated tomato, a draft sequence of its closest wild relative, Solanumpimpinellifolium2, and compare them to each other and to the potato genome (Solanumtuberosum). The two tomato genomes show only 0.6% nucleotide divergence and signs of recent admixture, but show more than 8% divergence from potato, with nine large and several smaller inversions. --Nature, 31 May 2012
Translation What is your idea of a dream tomato? Women selling the juicy globes in the markets, no doubt, would wish for a slow-spoiling variety so that today’s leftovers would sell tomorrow. Buyers, of course, would want luscious flavor. Growers would hope for fortification against yield-stealing pests.
The day when all of those wishes could come true has been advanced by news published online in the journal Nature: tomato’s genome has been decoded. Now that scientists have the full genetic code of a common tomato, they have an unprecedented view of some 35,000 genes that make the tomato what it is.
-- Sharon Schmickle, B4FA web site
From technical jargon to
common touch Paul Karaimu covered a technical presentation at an
“AgKnowledge Africa” fair in Ethiopia. Here is how he started his
story:
Imagine using your mobile phone to connect to a voice site on
the internet, to listen to your favourite blog or to search for
information. According to IBM, this might be one of the ways we
use the internet in the near future.
No, it will not replace the current technology that involves using
a browser on your computer to search for what you need online,
but the company is banking on a new voice-enabled internet
platform that can provide information and services to millions over
the phone, especially in the developing world’s rural areas, where
many people do not read and write and have no access to the
internet.
-- From Science in Africa
Another approach: tell a story RUSSIA'S greatest plant scientists died of starvation rather than eat their collection. . . . By 1941, the Soviet Union had established an enormous gene bank of plants containing 187,000 varieties at the Institute of Plant Industry in Leningrad (now St Petersburg). When the city was blockaded by the Germans, so important was the collection some of the scientists gave their lives to save it. By January and February of 1942, temperatures had fallen to record lows of minus 36-40 degrees. Workers, numb with cold and emaciated from hunger, struggled to save the collection while bombs pounded nearby. And as the citizens of Leningrad began to starve, so did the plant scientists. . . . Around them were collections of peas, rice, corn and wheat. --The Economist, 6 August 2010
Try extending your own hand
Identify the audience for your article
Craft beginning paragraphs that speak to
the audience
Share your creation
Now what?
Your invitation was accepted.
Now you must deliver the full story with
Accuracy
Clarity
Fairness
Thank
You