The Panama grant on cycads is taking shape with most collections being done by our great team. Lilisbeth has organized all the field trips and collected leaves and roots of many Zamia species. Lilisbeth is also doing molecular lab work.

Gustavo Salado has done most of the metagenomic and population genetic work on two Zamia species.

Omayra Meléndez has done all the culture work and we have a nice collection of endophytes from Zamia nana and Zamia pseudoparasitica. In the summer, Sandrine Toupin (from Laval University) spent two weeks in Panama working on RNA extractions from coralloid roots.

All the molecular work in Panama is coordinated by Kristin Saltonstall. The culture part of the project is led by the professors Rita Bethancourt and Adriana Bethancourt. The chemical section of the study is spearheaded by Armando Durant and Brian Sedio. This work is sponsored by SENACYT 12-2018-FID16-237.