We created waxy corn hybrids by CRISPR-Cas9 editing of a waxy allele in 12 elite inbred maize lines, a process that was more than a year faster than conventional trait introgression using ...backcrossing and marker-assisted selection. Field trials at 25 locations showed that CRISPR-waxy hybrids were agronomically superior to introgressed hybrids, producing on average 5.5 bushels per acre higher yield.
Modern maize hybrids often contain biotech and native traits. To-date all biotech traits have been randomly inserted in the genome. Consequently, developing hybrids with multiple traits is expensive, ...time-consuming, and complex. Here we report using CRISPR-Cas9 to generate a complex trait locus (CTL) to facilitate trait stacking. A CTL consists of multiple preselected sites positioned within a small well-characterized chromosomal region where trait genes are inserted. We generated individual lines, each carrying a site-specific insertion landing pad (SSILP) that was targeted to a preselected site and capable of efficiently receiving a transgene via recombinase-mediated cassette exchange. The selected sites supported consistent transgene expression and the SSILP insertion had no effect on grain yield. We demonstrated that two traits residing at different sites within a CTL can be combined via genetic recombination. CTL technology is a major step forward in the development of multi-trait maize hybrids.
Development of transgenic cell lines or organisms for industrial, agricultural, or medicinal applications involves inserting DNA into the target genome in a way that achieves efficacious transgene ...expression without a deleterious impact on fitness. The genomic insertion site is widely recognized as an important determinant of success. However, the effect of chromosomal location on transgene expression and fitness has not been systematically investigated in plants. Here we evaluate the importance of transgene insertion site in maize and soybean using both random and site-specific transgene integration. We have compared the relative contribution of genomic location on transgene expression levels with other factors, including cis-regulatory elements, neighboring transgenes, genetic background, and zygosity. As expected, cis-regulatory elements and the presence/absence of nearby transgene neighbors can impact transgene expression. Surprisingly, we determined not only that genomic location had the least impact on transgene expression compared to the other factors that were investigated but that the majority of insertion sites recovered supported transgene expression levels that were statistically not distinguishable. All 68 genomic sites evaluated were capable of supporting high-level transgene expression, which was also consistent across generations. Furthermore, multilocation field evaluation detected no to little decrease in agronomic performance as a result of transgene insertion at the vast majority of sites we evaluated with a single construct in five maize hybrid backgrounds.
Lorraine Hansberry's work is often noted for the seriousness of its purpose, while many have passingly noted the comedic elements of her output. This article examines Hansberry's use of two distinct ...comedic registers, one in Raisin in the Sun, and another in the unpublished short play, 'The Arrival of Mr. Todog'. Drawing on Glenda R. Carpio's linking of African American modes of comedy to existing formulations of Western comedic practice allows a close reading of both plays, showcasing the variety of Hansberry's comedic modes. In Raisin, Hansberry uses Janus-faced relief comedy for character development and to couch strident political critiques in a more palatable form. To this end, some of Hansberry's more radical messages were missed by certain audiences. In 'Mr. Todog', Hansberry instead uses incongruous comedy to directly critique the work of Samuel Beckett and her understanding of his philosophy as nihilistic. She uses both of these forms of comedy to ward off despair or resignation. The paper showcases not only the functions and variety of Hansberry's comedy but also how this comedy served as a vital tool serving the larger social goals of her work.
While this theme can be seen in many of his works, it is perhaps clearest in his early clown show The Regard of Flight, which self-consciously mocks the aspirations of the avantgardes theatrical ...innovations, primarily through Irwins uses of the body to showcase the physical and mental work essential to create something new.3 In thus making intellectual work simultaneously physical, funny, and exhaustingly laborious, Irwin exemplifies Sianne Ngai's contention that "the zany" has become a key category of American aesthetic experience, wrestling, as the aesthetic does, with the cultural imperative to constantly work and create, and with the effects of this imperative on a stable sense of identity. The framing of innovation as actual labor further allows Irwin to playfully invert the ways theatre itself often engages in concealing the very bodily labor that makes the art form possible. Ngai's account of the zany aesthetic helps position Irwin's expose as a response, not just to the labor of theatre specifically, but also to larger social concerns regarding the relationship between art and labor. Broadly, Irwin cites popular entertainers, such as television clowns Phil Silvers and Art Carney as well as classic cinema clowns Chaplin and Keaton as key influences.5 In terms of direct training, he took a winding path through a variety of programs that intersected with major trends in the avant-garde.6 Irwin attended several theatre programs on the West Coast, studying mime with Mamako Yoneyama and performance at CalArt, which, starting in the 1960s, was attracting faculty from innovative performance traditions.7 Irwin eventually traveled to Oberlin College as part of Herbert Blau's KRAKEN experimental group (other alumni include Julie Taymor).
Much attention has been given to the comedy of Mark Rylance's Shakespeare performances and his interaction with the audience. Comedy and audience interaction informed the initial creation of many of ...Shakespeare's roles, particularly Richard III, a figure indebted to the medieval Vice character. Rylance and his collaborators often attribute the playing to the audience as part of Original Practices, however, Rylance's performances also demonstrate many of the attributes of contemporary theatrical clowning. Contemporary clowning, as expounded by Jacques Lecoq and his aesthetic descendants, places particular emphasis on the relationship of failure and the audience. The power of Rylance's performance as Richard III comes from this synthesis of past and present to create a contemporary hybrid style. This essay will showcase the importance of failure and the audience to contemporary clown, before comparing it to the use of audience and comedy in Shakespeare's Richard. After examining the two historical moments, the paper turns to the ways Rylance embodies different aspects of past and present theatrical forms, using a hybrid practice to create a Richard of his own theatrical moment, thus reflecting but not replicating tensions tensions between past and present theatrical practices of the initial creation of the role.
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