A critical analysis of plant science literature reveals ongoing inequities.

The field of plant science has grown dramatically in the past two decades, but global disparities and systemic inequalities persist. Here, we analyzed ~300,000 papers published over the past two decades to quantify disparities across nations, genders, and taxonomy in the plant science literature. Our analyses reveal striking geographical biases-affluent nations dominate the publishing landscape and vast areas of the globe have virtually no footprint in the literature. Authors in Northern America are cited nearly twice as many times as authors based in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, despite publishing in journals with similar impact factors. Gender imbalances are similarly stark and show remarkably little improvement over time. Some of the most affluent nations have extremely male biased publication records, despite supposed improvements in gender equality. In addition, we find that most studies focus on economically important crop and model species, and a wealth of biodiversity is underrepresented in the literature. Taken together, our analyses reveal a problematic system of publication, with persistent imbalances that poorly capture the global wealth of scientific knowledge and biological diversity. We conclude by highlighting disparities that can be addressed immediately and offer suggestions for long-term solutions to improve equity in the plant sciences.

Two Decades of Desiccation Biology: A Systematic Review of the Best Studied Angiosperm Resurrection Plants.

Resurrection plants have an extraordinary ability to survive extreme water loss but still revive full metabolic activity when rehydrated. These plants are useful models to understand the complex biology of vegetative desiccation tolerance. Despite extensive studies of resurrection plants, many details underlying the mechanisms of desiccation tolerance remain unexplored. To summarize the progress in resurrection plant research and identify unexplored questions, we conducted a systematic review of 15 model angiosperm resurrection plants. This systematic review provides an overview of publication trends on resurrection plants, the geographical distribution of species and studies, and the methodology used. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol we surveyed all publications on resurrection plants from 2000 and 2020. This yielded 185 empirical articles that matched our selection criteria. The most investigated plants were Craterostigma plantagineum (17.5%), Haberlea rhodopensis (13.7%), Xerophyta viscosa (reclassified as X. schlechteri) (11.9%), Myrothamnus flabellifolia (8.5%), and Boea hygrometrica (8.1%), with all other species accounting for less than 8% of publications. The majority of studies have been conducted in South Africa, Bulgaria, Germany, and China, but there are contributions from across the globe. Most studies were led by researchers working within the native range of the focal species, but some international and collaborative studies were also identified. The number of annual publications fluctuated, with a large but temporary increase in 2008. Many studies have employed physiological and transcriptomic methodologies to investigate the leaves of resurrection plants, but there was a paucity of studies on roots and only one metagenomic study was recovered. Based on these findings we suggest that future research focuses on resurrection plant roots and microbiome interactions to explore microbial communities associated with these plants, and their role in vegetative desiccation tolerance.

Food safety, food security and genetically modified organisms in Africa: a current perspective.

Moving forward from 2020, Africa faces an eminent challenge of food safety and security in the coming years. The World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations (UN) estimates that 20% of Africa's population of 1.2 billion people face the highest level of undernourishment in the world, likely to worsen due to COVID-19 pandemic that has brought the entire world to its knees. Factors such as insecurity and conflict, poverty, climate change and population growth have been identified as critical contributors to the food security challenges on the continent. Biotechnological research on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) provides a range of opportunities (such as increased crop yields, resistance to pests and diseases, enhanced nutrient composition and food quality) in addressing the hunger, malnutrition and food security issues on the continent. However, the acceptance and adoption of GMOs on the continent has been remarkably slow, perhaps due to contrasting views about the benefits and safety concerns associated with them. With the reality of food insecurity and the booming population in Africa, there is an eminent need for a more pragmatic position to this debate. The present review presents an overview of the current situation of food safety and security and attempts to reconcile major viewpoints on GMOs research considering the current food safety and security crisis in the African continent.

Quantification of multi-mycotoxin in cereals (maize, maize porridge, sorghum and wheat) from Limpopo province of South Africa.

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites that are produced by filamentous mycotoxigenic fungi belonging to the Alternaria, Aspergillus, Fusarium and Penicillium genera amongst others. Multi-class mycotoxins were extracted from 55 cereal samples and analysed using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The adopted extraction method for maize, maize porridge, sorghum and wheat was comprehensively validated. This method was further tested to determine the natural occurrence of mycotoxins in foodstuffs. Twelve (12) out of 22 mycotoxins were detected in maize, maize porridge, sorghum and wheat, including α-zearalenol (α-ZEL) (89%), fumonisin B3 (FB3) (84%), fumonisin B1 (FB1) (80%), tenuazonic acid (TeA) (78%), ochratoxin B (42%), deoxynivalenol (DON) (12%), ochratoxin A (11%), 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol (7%), sterigmatocystin (STG) (6%), 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol (2%), cyclopiazonic acid (CPA) (2%) and aflatoxin B2 (2%). The data revealed high incidence rate of α-ZEL (range: 6.5-70.5 µg kg-1) in all matrices. Maize samples had high mycotoxin co-occurrence compared to other matrices. All recovered mycotoxins in food commodities were within the maximum regulatory limits, with the exception of fumonisins (FB1 and FB3) exceeded the South African and European Commission regulation, and the highest concentration was 2153 µg kg-1 in maize. It is essential to monitor the level of emerging mycotoxins in food commodities from rural areas as trace amount of CPA (< limit of quantification), STG (range: 0.30-0.74 µg kg-1) were detected and high concentration of TeA (292.7 µg kg-1) was detected in sorghum. The occurrence of these mycotoxins further encourages frequent analyses, their co-occurrence in the samples poses a significant threat to public health and more emphasis should thus be placed on reducing the contamination levels of these toxins in staples.