Steele‐ND/ND 735 (Reg. No. MP‐1, NSL 462030), a hard red spring wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) (HRSW) recombinant inbred lines (RILs) population, was developed and released by the North Dakota State University (NDSU), Fargo, ND, in 2008. This mapping population is composed of 129 F 2:9 RILs. The Steele‐ND/ND 735 RILs population has been used extensively to study the genetics of resistance to tan spot [caused by Pyrenophora tritici‐repentis (Died.) Drechs.], Stagonospora nodorum blotch [caused by Phaeosphaeria nodorum (E. Müller) Hedjarroud], Septoria tritici blotch [caused by Mycosphaerella graminicola (Fückl) J. Schröt. in Cohn], and Fusarium head blight (caused by Fusarium graminearum Schwabe) and to map the resistance genes and quantitative trait loci underlying the above traits. The genetic marker data encompass hundreds of polymorphic Diversity Array Technology (DArT) and simple sequence repeats markers that were collected at Diversity Arrays Technology, Yarralumla, Australia, and NDSU, respectively.
Sweetpotato [lpomoea batatas (L.) Lam. cv. Beniazuma] plantlets were cultured in vitro photoautotrophically (sugar-free medium) at two CO2 concentrations [(1500-1600 and 350-400 ?mol mol-1 (hereafter referred to as high and low CO2 concentration, respectively)] and two levels of photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) (150 and 75 ?mol m-2 s-1 hereafter referred to as high and low PPF, respectively) with the goal of determining suitable CO2 concentration and PPF as well as to identify a suitable low-cost root-supporting material. Three types of root-supporting materials, viz., Florialite (a mixture of vermiculite and cellulose fibre), perlite, and agar were tested. Enhanced growth of sweetpotato plantlets with a high photosynthetic rate in vitro was achieved with high CO2 concentration and high PPF regardless of root-supporting material. Whole-plantlet fresh mass was greater when the plantlets were grown with high CO2 and high PPF in Florialite followed by perlite and agar. Although the whole-plantlet fresh mass was lower in perlite than that in Florialite, it was similar to agar at similarly high CO2 and high PPF conditions. Use of high CO2 concentration and high PPF in the culture room will be beneficial for the uniformly better growth of the plantlets in large-scale micropropagation of sweetpotato. Substitution of perlite for agar as a supporting material will result in decreased production cost due to the low price of perlite, without losing the growth and vigour of the plantlets.
Abstract The objectives of this study were to develop a high-density chromosome bin map of homoeologous group 7 in hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), to identify gene distribution in these chromosomes, and to perform comparative studies of wheat with rice and barley. We mapped 2148 loci from 919 EST clones onto group 7 chromosomes of wheat. In the majority of cases the numbers of loci were significantly lower in the centromeric regions and tended to increase in the distal regions. The level of duplicated loci in this group was 24% with most of these loci being localized toward the distal regions. One hundred nineteen EST probes that hybridized to three fragments and mapped to the three group 7 chromosomes were designated landmark probes and were used to construct a consensus homoeologous group 7 map. An additional 49 probes that mapped to 7AS, 7DS, and the ancestral translocated segment involving 7BS also were designated landmarks. Landmark probe orders and comparative maps of wheat, rice, and barley were produced on the basis of corresponding rice BAC/PAC and genetic markers that mapped on chromosomes 6 and 8 of rice. Identification of landmark ESTs and development of consensus maps may provide a framework of conserved coding regions predating the evolution of wheat genomes.
Multiple chronic conditions (MCCs) such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, arthritis, asthma, and common respiratory problems are prevalent in over one-fourth of Americans, and separate drugs are prescribed to manage each of the diseases. The nutritive crop seeds loaded with multiple drugs could be a cheap and sustainable alternative to drugs produced by pharmaceutical companies. Our long-term goal is to produce chickpea seeds containing comparable dosages of multiple drugs regularly prescribed for managing MCC. In this work, we conducted experiments to understand the uptake and translocation of metformin into the tissues of chickpea to demonstrate the applicability of LC–HR-ToF-MS in determining metformin concentration, and to investigate responses of increased dosage of metformin and it's accumulation into the chickpea seed. We treated the chickpea plants with 100 and 500 mg/L metformin chloride and analyzed its concentration in the leaf, stem, and seeds. We observed that metformin was successfully uptaken by chickpeas plant and translocated to stem, leaf, and seeds in both treatments. We also observed that the metformin concentration is responsive and as high as 349 times increase in seed when the dosage was increased from 100 to 500 mg/L.
Three small insert (300 to approximately 600 bp) sheared genomic libraries were constructed by pipetting and DNase I treatment of soybean DNA. About 15,000 clones from each library were screened for CT- simple sequence repeats (CT-SSRs). The CT-SSRs were abundant in the soybean genome at an estimated frequency of approximately one SSR per 110 kb of genomic DNA. Following the sequencing of 129 positive clones, the repeat types and frequency of CT repeats among the positive clones were characterized. Forty-nine primer pairs were designed and preliminarily evaluated for their ability to amplify genomic DNA from a set of six varieties, including parents of a mapping family. Amplified products were analyzed by 10% PAGE. Eighty-eight percent of the designed primers were able to amplify all these genomic DNAs using a single PCR profile of 53 degrees C annealing temperature, of which 22 (45%) were polymorphic in the six varieties, and 14 of them were polymorphic in the parents of the mapping family. The polymorphic primer sets were further assessed for allelic information using DNA from 16 soybean cultivars. The average number of alleles was 4, ranging from 2 to 7 with the highest polymorphism information content value 0.84. Fourteen of these SSRs were mapped, using an existing soybean RFLP map. The findings presented here will advance our understanding of the soybean genome, and assist in the mapping genome and discrimination of closely related varieties of this species.
Abstract The complex hexaploid wheat genome offers many challenges for genomics research. Expressed sequence tags facilitate the analysis of gene-coding regions and provide a rich source of molecular markers for mapping and comparison with model organisms. The objectives of this study were to construct a high-density EST chromosome bin map of wheat homoeologous group 2 chromosomes to determine the distribution of ESTs, construct a consensus map of group 2 ESTs, investigate synteny, examine patterns of duplication, and assess the colinearity with rice of ESTs assigned to the group 2 consensus bin map. A total of 2600 loci generated from 1110 ESTs were mapped to group 2 chromosomes by Southern hybridization onto wheat aneuploid chromosome and deletion stocks. A consensus map was constructed of 552 ESTs mapping to more than one group 2 chromosome. Regions of high gene density in distal bins and low gene density in proximal bins were found. Two interstitial gene-rich islands flanked by relatively gene-poor regions on both the short and long arms and having good synteny with rice were discovered. The map locations of two ESTs indicated the possible presence of a small pericentric inversion on chromosome 2B. Wheat chromosome group 2 was shown to share syntenous blocks with rice chromosomes 4 and 7.
The use of DNA sequence-based comparative genomics for evolutionary studies and for transferring information from model species to crop species has revolutionized molecular genetics and crop improvement strategies. This study compared 4485 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) that were physically mapped in wheat chromosome bins, to the public rice genome sequence data from 2251 ordered BAC/PAC clones using BLAST. A rice genome view of homologous wheat genome locations based on comparative sequence analysis revealed numerous chromosomal rearrangements that will significantly complicate the use of rice as a model for cross-species transfer of information in nonconserved regions.
In this study, the variation of zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) and the interference of phytic acid (PA) on their availability was investigated in 29 US grown and CIAT breeding genotypes of common bean. Fe levels showed the highest variation (8.9-112.9 mg kg-1) followed by Ca (58.67-122.98 mg kg-1) and Zn (30.90-64.60 mg kg-1) while variability of Mg concentration (6.47-11.05 mg kg-1) is the least among the mineral components. PA showed a wide range of variability (12.52-316.42 m kg-1) and inversely correlated with Fe, Ca and Mg concentrations. The results of the minerals and PA concentration can be interpreted in terms of expected bio-availability of minerals and the correlation study indicated that the presence of high concentration of PA inhibit the availability of most minerals under study in common beans. We suggest that the genotypes, MIB466, MIB465, MIB152 and JaloEEP 558 could be considered as sources of high Zn and Vista and NUA56-1770 for high seed Fe. We also identified G122 for high Ca and JaloEEP558 genotype for high Mg. We conclude that there is scope for the enhancement of mineral contents of common bean by selecting suitable genotype and bean products require processing for dephytinization for the improvement of mineral availability.
Polymer composites reinforced with natural fibers have received widespread attention due to the harmful effects of the petroleum derived synthetic polymer waste. In this study, wheat bran (WB), as a new source of natural fiber, has been investigated in manufacturing bio-based composites. Wheat bran was pretreated with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and the compositions were analyzed. Pretreatment removed fat, starch, and crude protein significantly and resulted in an increase of cellulose content from 10.9% to 29.6%. Polypropylene (PP) was melt-blended with bran in a screw-extruder with and without using a chemical compatibilizer, and test specimens were produced by an injection molder. Composite specimens tested for characterization of different thermophysical properties. A 16.3 % increase in flexural strength was obtained at fiber loading of 20 % or more, while tensile strength was comparable to neat PP using compatibilizer. Moduli increased and impact strength decreased with fiber addition. The highest tensile and flexural moduli were 2838 and 1702 MPa, respectively for WB/PP composite. The highest impact strength reduction was 66 % with WB/PP composite at 30 % loading rate. Thermal expansion coefficient of the WB/PP biocomposites decreased with a highest reduction of 64 %; meaning that WB, a grain by-product, is very promising as functional fibers for polymer materials. The interactions of WB fiber in bio-based polymer matrix for failure mechanism and composite strength were also studied by manufacturing WB/polylactic acid (PLA) composites using fiber loading optimized for WB/PP composite. Inferior mechanical performance of WB/PLA composites was observed compared to neat PLA. Poor adhesion, debonding, and fiber fracture were the dominating micromechanical deformation processes in WB/PP composites, whereas debonding, cavity, and crack formation due to fiber orientation resulted in poor performance of WB/PLA composites. Prospects of WB-based composites present opportunities for growers having beneficial uses of bran and compensating reduced profit margins.
