Isolation and characterization of a sterile-dwarf mutant in Asian cotton （Gossypium arboreum L.）

Plant height is an important trait in cotton. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms of the dwarf phenotype, a sterile-dwarf mutant derived from Gossypium arboreum L. cv. Jinhuazhongmian was developed by ^60Co y-ray irradiation. The results demonstrated that the steriledwarf mutant phenotype was controlled by a pair of recessive gene, which was designated sd^a. Plants carrying the sd^a gene contained lower levels of indole-3-acetic acid （IAA） and abscisic acid （ABA） compared with wild-type （WT） plants. The chlorophyll content and net photosynthetic rate in mutant leaves were markedly decreased. However, it was possible that ABA biosynthesis or signaling was involved in governing the sd^a phenotype. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis detected 13 differentially expressed ESTs, and the steriledwarf mutant exhibited decreased expression levels relative to the WT. The role of nine potential hormone biosynthetic genes in the synthesis of IAA, ABA, polyamines （PAs） and jasmonic acid （JA） were discussed.     

Type I microsatellite markers from Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) expressed sequence tags

The detection of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) within expressed sequence tags (ESTs) connects potential microsatellite markers with specific genes, generating Type I markers. Using an in silico approach, we identified 1975 SSRs from the Genome Research on Atlantic Salmon Project EST database. We designed primers to amplify 158 SSRs, of which 65 amplified 76 loci (including 11 duplicated loci). Sixty‐one of the 76 loci were variable in 24 Atlantic salmon from seven populations, and 96% of these markers also amplify DNA from other salmonids. Functions for 16 of the SSR associated ESTs have been determined, confirming them as Type I markers.     

一种种系发生分析的新方法

利用所测定的猪脂肪组织表达序列标签以及来源于GenBank中非冗余核酸数据库和表达序列标签数据库中的人、牛及小鼠cDNA序列 ,在随机抽样方法建立的基础上 ,分别采集 70个已知功能基因的cDNA序列 ,分析了 4个物种 70× 15 0bp序列连接体的突变规律 ,建立了不同物种之间的综合种系发生分析方法。结果表明 ,在 4个物种 70个已知功能基因所构成的cDNA序列连接体同源性分析中 ,共发现 391个单碱基突变 ,不同物种之间的突变数量大大超过了同一物种基因组水平预测的 1/ 10 0 0。其中以C/T(T/C)转换和A/G(G/A)转换为主要的单碱基突变类型。种系发生分析结果表明 ,作为偶蹄目的猪和牛的遗传关系最近 ,其次是人类 ,小鼠与家猪和牛的遗传关系最远。 4种动物从共同祖先分化的顺序分别为小鼠最早 ,人类次之 ,然后为猪和牛     

Development of twenty sequence-tagged microsatellites for the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.)

Fifty-four primer pairs were designed for expressed sequence tag (EST) sequences containing perfect di- and tri-nucleotide motifs and characterised in 96 unrelated fish. Twenty markers were successfully amplified with number of alleles from 2 to 10 per locus and observed and expected heterozygosity ranging from 0.01 to 0.56 and 0.03 to 0.70, respectively. Loci Gmo-C213, Gmo-C246 and Gmo-C247 deviated from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. Genetic linkage disequilibrium analysis between all pairs of the loci showed significant departure from the null hypothesis between loci Gmo-C213 and Gmo-C222, Gmo-C233 and Gmo-C229, C223 and Gmo-C236 and C229 and Gmo-C236. The gene identity was determined at 10 of the loci, confirming the associated microsatellites as Type I markers. These microsatellite markers provide useful tools for studies of population genetics, reproductive ecology and constructing linkage maps of Atlantic cod.     

Expressed sequence tag analysis and development of gene associated markers in a near-isogenic plant system of Eragrostis curvula

Eragrostis curvula (Schrad.) Nees is a forage grass native to the semiarid regions of Southern Africa, which reproduces mainly by pseudogamous diplosporous apomixis. A collection of ESTs was generated from four cDNA libraries, three of them obtained from panicles of near-isogenic lines with different ploidy levels and reproductive modes, and one obtained from 12 days-old plant leaves. A total of 12,295 high-quality ESTs were clustered and assembled, rendering 8,864 unigenes, including 1,490 contigs and 7,394 singletons, with a genome coverage of 22%. A total of 7,029 (79.11%) unigenes were functionally categorized by BLASTX analysis against sequences deposited in public databases, but only 37.80% could be classified according to Gene Ontology. Sequence comparison against the cereals genes indexes (GI) revealed 50% significant hits. A total of 254 EST-SSRs were detected from 219 singletons and 35 from contigs. Di- and tri- motifs were similarly represented with percentages of 38.95 and 40.16%, respectively. In addition, 190 SNPs and Indels were detected in 18 contigs generated from 3 to 4 libraries. The ESTs and the molecular markers obtained in this study will provide valuable resources for a wide range of applications including gene identification, genetic mapping, cultivar identification, analysis of genetic diversity, phenotype mapping and marker assisted selection.     

水稻抗稻瘟病近等基因系的cDNA微阵列分析

应用cDNA微阵列对来源于中156／谷梅2号重组自交系的水稻抗稻瘟病近等基因系G205和G71的稻瘟病菌胁迫基因表达谱进行了分析,发现有3个cDNA克隆的表达仅在抗病基因系G205接种病原菌12h后受到诱导,其中两个为功能已知基因,另一个为功能未知的新基因。另有35个差异表达克隆在两个近等基因系中均检测到,其中17个克隆的表达在G205和G71均受到病原菌的诱导,另外18个克隆的表达则在G205和G71均受到病原菌原抑制。序列分析表明,这些稻瘟病菌应答基因分别与防卫反应,信号传递,逆境胁迫和光合作用及糖代谢等功能相关,为植物抗病机制提供了相关信息。另外,Northern还证实了编码富含甘氨酸蛋白基因（Glycinerich protein Grp)的表达受稻瘟病病原菌的诱导,是一个稻瘟病诱导相关基因。     

The gibberellic-acid insensitive dwarfing gene<Emphasis Type="Italic"> sdw3</Emphasis> of barley is located on chromosome 2HS in a region that shows high colinearity with rice chromosome 7L

In this study, comparative high resolution genetic mapping of the GA-insensitive dwarfing gene sdw3 of barley revealed highly conserved macrosynteny of the target region on barley chromosome 2HS with rice chromosome 7L. A rice contig covering the sdw3-orthologous region was identified and subsequently exploited for marker saturation of the target interval in barley. This was achieved by (1) mapping of rice markers from the orthologous region of the rice genetic map, (2) mapping of rice ESTs that had been physically localized on the rice contig, or (3) mapping of barley ESTs that show strong sequence similarity to coding sequences present in the rice contig. Finally, the sdw3 gene was mapped to an interval of 0.55 cM in barley, corresponding to a physical distance of about 252 kb in rice, after employing orthologous EST-derived rice markers. Three putative ORFs were identified in this interval in rice, which exhibited significant sequence similarity to known signal regulator genes from different species. These ORFs can serve as starting points for the map-based isolation of the sdw3 gene from barley.Communicated by R. Hagemann