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Fusarium wilt Tropical Race 4 (TR4) poses one of the greatest threats to global banana production, with major implications for food security and sustainable agriculture. Harnessing natural genetic diversity offers a primary line of defense, but progress is hindered by limited access to resistant or tolerant cultivars and the lack of harmonized resources. In this study, we identified and curated a priority subset of 37 TR4-resistant banana accessions from the International Musa Germplasm Transit Centre (ITC). These accessions were enriched with agronomic and genetic information and prioritized through a conservation and distribution framework at ITC to ensure their availability. This resource provides certified, diverse and well-documented planting material and ensures availability for breeders, researchers, and farmers. By strengthening global seed systems and linking to community-level multiplication, it can enable the distribution of TR4-resilient bananas in diverse agroecological contexts. This curated collection represents a critical step toward sustainable solutions for managing TR4 worldwide.

Crop landraces have unique local agroecological and societal functions and offer important genetic resources for plant breeding. Recognition of the value of landrace diversity and concern about its erosion on farms have led to sustained efforts to establish ex situ collections worldwide. The degree to which these efforts have succeeded in conserving landraces has not been comprehensively assessed. Here we modelled the potential distributions of eco-geographically distinguishable groups of landraces of 25 cereal, pulse and starchy root/tuber/fruit crops within their geographic regions of diversity. We then analysed the extent to which these landrace groups are represented in genebank collections, using geographic and ecological coverage metrics as a proxy for genetic diversity. We find that ex situ conservation of landrace groups is currently moderately comprehensive on average, with substantial variation among crops; a mean of 63% ± 12.6% of distributions is currently represented in genebanks. Breadfruit, bananas and plantains, lentils, common beans, chickpeas, barley and bread wheat landrace groups are among the most fully represented, whereas the largest conservation gaps persist for pearl millet, yams, finger millet, groundnut, potatoes and peas. Geographic regions prioritized for further collection of landrace groups for ex situ conservation include South Asia, the Mediterranean and West Asia, Mesoamerica, sub-Saharan Africa, the Andean mountains of South America and Central to East Asia. With further progress to fill these gaps, a high degree of representation of landrace group diversity in genebanks is feasible globally, thus fulfilling international targets for their ex situ conservation.By analysing the state of representation of traditional varieties of 25 major crops in ex situ repositories, this study demonstrates conservation progress made over more than a half-century and identifies the gaps remaining to be filled.

The CGIAR genebank International Musa Germplasm Transit Centre (ITC) currently holds 1617 banana accessions from 38 countries as an in vitro collection, backed-up by a cryopreserved collection to safeguard global Musa diversity in perpetuity. The ITC also serves as a vital safety backup and transit centre for national banana genebanks and ensures that germplasm is clean of pests and diseases and freely available under the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. In more than 35 years of activity, the ITC has distributed over 18,000 banana accession samples to researchers and farmers in 113 countries. Ex situ conservation of vegetatively-propagated crops such as banana poses very particular challenges. Maintaining the ITC genebank is labor intense and costly. Efficiencies are sought through research and development of techniques on detecting viruses, the genetic integrity of accessions, and on innovative means of safeguarding banana diversity, such as conserving populations of wild species by seed banking. Although the conservation of global banana diversity is the main objective of the ITC, significant value comes from its holistic approach to better understand and promote its germplasm through numerous research activities and resources. Techniques for morphological and molecular characterization serve to identify and describe the collection, while also determining what gaps should be filled by collecting missions with national partners. The evaluation of desirable agronomic traits inherent in Musa spp. are investigated by a high-throughput phenotyping platform, which helps breeding programs to select cultivars resistant or tolerant to biotic and abiotic stresses. Genomic and bioinformatic studies of several banana wild relatives greatly enhance our understanding of Musa genetic diversity, links to important phenotypic traits and bring new methods for management of the collection. Collectively, these research activities produce enormous amounts of data that require curation and dissemination to the public. The two information systems at the ITC, Musa Genebank Management System and the Musa Germplasm Information System, serve to manage the genebank activities and to make public germplasm-related data for over 30 banana collections worldwide, respectively. By implementing the 10-year workplan set out in the Global Strategy for the Conservation and Use of Musa Genetic Resources, the network MusaNet supports Musa researchers and stakeholders, including the ITC, and most importantly, links to the world’s banana-producing countries via three regional banana networks.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Societal Impact Statement Bananas are nutritious fruits of major importance worldwide. Characterizing their diversity is essential to ensure their conservation and use. A catalog showcasing cultivated bananas genomic diversity was compiled and is to be used as a tool to support the classification of banana cultivars. This research revealed that cultivated banana groups are not all made of identical clones. Materials from recent collecting missions indicated that more banana diversity is expected to be found as the exploration of the banana gene pool continues. These discoveries will drive dynamic conservation strategies for banana genetic resources and should increase their use. Summary Banana is an important food crop cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions around the world. Because banana cultivars often have low fertility, they are typically propagated clonally, which maintains desirable traits across generations. However, different factors, such as synonymy, incomplete passport data, and environmental effects, complicate the morphological‐based assignment of banana cultivars to specific clones or cultivar groups. In this study, we applied a previously developed genomic‐based tool for fine‐scale characterization of banana ancestry, known as in silico chromosome painting, to high‐throughput genotyping data from 317 banana accessions. This dataset covers most of the globally conserved, studied, and cultivated cultivar groups and includes both genebanks and new, uncharacterized materials. By comparing curated morphological assignation to the genomic patterns resulting from in silico chromosome painting, we compiled a diversity catalog referencing curated passport data, pictures, and chromosome painting patterns of the cultivar groups. Examining the genomic patterns obtained, intra‐cultivar group variability was discovered. In some cultivar groups, mitotic recombination or deletions accumulated clonally. In addition, at least four cultivar groups encompassed cultivars from distinct sexual events co‐existing, notably Pisang Awak with five distinct patterns across two ploidy levels. Finally, additional patterns were discovered in the newest materials of the set, showing that a wider diversity of clones still exists on farm. Bananas are nutritious fruits of major importance worldwide. Characterizing their diversity is essential to ensure their conservation and use. A catalog showcasing cultivated bananas genomic diversity was compiled and is to be used as a tool to support the classification of banana cultivars. This research revealed that cultivated banana groups are not all made of identical clones. Materials from recent collecting missions indicated that more banana diversity is expected to be found as the exploration of the banana gene pool continues. These discoveries will drive dynamic conservation strategies for banana genetic resources and should increase their use.

In the original publication (Houwe et al. 2020) affiliations 1 and 2 were accidentally swapped, the error affected the affiliations of Van den Houwe, Chase, Sardos, Ruas, Guignon, Carpentier, Panis, Rouard and Roux. This correction article shows the correct and incorrect information. Incorrect: 1Bioversity International, Parc Scientifique Agropolis II, 34397 Montpellier, France. 2Bioversity International, Willem De Croylaan 42, 3001 Leuven, Belgium. 1Bioversity International, Parc Scientifique Agropolis II, 34397 Montpellier, France. 2Bioversity International, Willem De Croylaan 42, 3001 Leuven, Belgium. Correct: 1Bioversity International, Willem De Croylaan 42, 3001 Leuven, Belgium. 2Bioversity International, Parc Scientifique Agropolis II, 34397 Montpellier, France. 1Bioversity International, Willem De Croylaan 42, 3001 Leuven, Belgium. 2Bioversity International, Parc Scientifique Agropolis II, 34397 Montpellier, France. The original publication has been updated to reflect the correct affiliations.

Bananas are nutritious fruits of major importance in the tropics and subtropics. Characterizing their diversity is essential to ensure their conservation and use. A catalogue showcasing cultivated bananas genomic diversity was compiled and is to be used as a tool to support the classification of banana cultivars. This research revealed that cultivated banana groups are not all made of identical clones. Materials from recent collecting missions indicated that more banana diversity is expected to be found as the exploration of the banana gene pool continues. These discoveries will drive dynamic conservation strategies for banana genetic resources and will increase their use. Banana is an important food crop cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions around the world. Due to their low fertility, banana landraces are clonally propagated. However, different factors, such as synonymy and the effects of environment, make their assignment to described sets of clones, or cultivar groups, difficult. Consequently, passport data of accessions in genebanks is often uncomplete and sometimes inaccurate. With the recent advances in genomics, a new powerful tool was developed enabling the fine-scale characterization of banana’s ancestry along chromosomes, i.e. in silico chromosome painting. We applied this method to a high-throughput genotyping data set obtained from 317 banana accessions spanning most of the known cultivar groups. This set included both genebank and new uncharacterized materials. By comparing curated morphological assignation to the genomic patterns resulting from in silico chromosome painting, we were able to compile a catalogue referencing the chromosome painting patterns of most of the described cultivar groups. Examining the genomic patterns obtained, we discovered intra-cultivar group variability. In some cultivar groups, mitotic recombination or deletions were clonally accumulated in cultivars. In addition, we identified at least 4 cultivar groups in which cultivars likely resulting from distinct sexual events co-existed, notably Pisang Awak in which 5 distinct genomic patterns of two ploidy levels were identified. New patterns were also discovered in the newest materials of the set, showing that a wider diversity of clones still exist on farm.

Mouse models of Streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetes represent the most widely used preclinical diabetes research systems. We applied state of the art optical imaging schemes, spanning from single islet resolution to the whole organ, providing a first longitudinal, 3D-spatial and quantitative account of β-cell mass (BCM) dynamics and islet longevity in STZ-treated mice. We demonstrate that STZ-induced β-cell destruction predominantly affects large islets in the pancreatic core. Further, we show that hyperglycemic STZ-treated mice still harbor a large pool of remaining β-cells but display pancreas-wide downregulation of glucose transporter type 2 (GLUT2). Islet gene expression studies confirmed this downregulation and revealed impaired β-cell maturity. Reversing hyperglycemia by islet transplantation partially restored the expression of markers for islet function, but not BCM. Jointly our results indicate that STZ-induced hyperglycemia results from β-cell dysfunction rather than β-cell ablation and that hyperglycemia in itself sustains a negative feedback loop restraining islet function recovery. Hahn, van Krieken et al. provide a quantitative account of β-cell mass dynamics and islet longevity in mice treated with Streptozotocin (STZ). They find that STZ-induced hyperglycemia primarily results from β-cell dysfunction rather than its ablation. This study provides insights into how the most widely used preclinical diabetes model works.

A survey of Babesia, Theileria and Hepatozoon was conducted in wild mammals, including the capybara ( Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris ; n = 14) from Brazil, the jaguar ( Panthera onca ; n = 2) and crab-eating raccoon ( Procyon cancrivorus ; n = 4) from Venezuela, and the red deer ( Cervus elaphus ; n = 70), red squirrel ( Sciurus vulgaris ; n = 5) and Eurasian pine marten ( Martes martes ; n = 3) from Spain. Diagnostic procedures included both microscopy and molecular methods (PCR and sequencing of the 18S rRNA gene). Microscopic examination of blood smears revealed no hematozoan infections — unlike the molecular analyses. Nine Brazilian capybaras were found to be infected with Hepatozoon canis (prevalence 64%), two of which were coinfected with a previously unknown babesid (prevalence 14%) loosely related to Theileria equi (90% 18S rRNA gene similarity according to BLAS® analysis). One jaguar and one crab-eating raccoon from Venezuela were infected by H. canis . Four of the red deer were infected with theilerids (5.7% prevalence), two with Theileria sp. and two with T. annulata . One red squirrel and three pine martens were infected with Hepatozoon sp. The isolate form the red squirrel was phylogenetically related to Hepatozoon sp. reported in Spanish bank voles, whereas those infecting the pine martens were related to Hepatozoon felis reported in Spanish cats. In conclusion, the molecular findings show that some non-canid mammals are carriers of H. canis in South America, while red deer may carry T. annulata in Europe. Small mammals in Europe appear to be unlikely hosts of H. canis and H. felis .

Over the past four decades, artificial intelligence (AI) research has flourished at the nexus of academia and industry. However, Big Tech companies have increasingly acquired the edge in computational resources, big data, and talent. So far, it has been largely unclear how many papers the industry funds, how their citation impact compares to non-funded papers, and what drives industry interest. This study fills that gap by quantifying the number of industry-funded papers at 10 top AI conferences (e.g., ICLR, CVPR, AAAI, ACL) and their citation influence. We analyze about 49.8K papers, about 1.8M citations from AI papers to other papers, and about 2.3M citations from other papers to AI papers from 1998-2022 in Scopus. Through seven research questions, we examine the volume and evolution of industry funding in AI research, the citation impact of funded papers, the diversity and temporal range of their citations, and the subfields in which industry predominantly acts. Our findings reveal that industry presence has grown markedly since 2015, from less than 2 percent to more than 11 percent in 2020. Between 2018 and 2022, 12 percent of industry-funded papers achieved high citation rates as measured by the h5-index, compared to 4 percent of non-industry-funded papers and 2 percent of non-funded papers. Top AI conferences engage more with industry-funded research than non-funded research, as measured by our newly proposed metric, the Citation Preference Ratio (CPR). We show that industry-funded research is increasingly insular, citing predominantly other industry-funded papers while referencing fewer non-funded papers. These findings reveal new trends in AI research funding, including a shift towards more industry-funded papers and their growing citation impact, greater insularity of industry-funded work than non-funded work, and a preference of industry-funded research to cite recent work.