Origin of acrocentric trisomies in spontaneous abortuses

Summary A total of 33 spontaneous abortuses with various acrocentric trisomies were studied for the origin of the extra chromosomes using Q- and R-band polymorphisms as markers. Eleven trisomic abortuses were informative: nine trisomic abortuses (one with trisomy 13, three with trisomy 21, and five with trisomy 22 including one with a 46,XX/47,XX,+22 mosaicism) originated at maternal first meiosis; a 21-trisomic abortus resulted from an error at maternal second meiosis (or first mitosis); and a 13-trisomic abortus was of maternal first or second meiotic origin. The abortus with mosaic trisomy 22 started as a 22-trisomic zygote resulting from an error at maternal first meiosis, followed by a mitotic (in vivo or in vitro) loss of the paternally derived chromosome 22.     

Gene expression related to seed shattering and the cell wall in cultivated and weedy rice

Seed shattering is an evolutionary trait that is essential to the survival of wild and weedy rice. Discovery of the qSH1 gene in rice subspecies Japonica and Sh4 in the rice subspecies Indica indicated the possibility that seed shattering is governed by major genes in a qualitative manner. However, observation of the large variability of seed shattering in weedy rice has led us to hypothesise that other genes related to abscission layer integrity could also be important in the regulation of seed shattering in rice. Gene expression 10 days after pollination and nucleotide composition revealed that qSH1 and Sh4 that are described as major players in seed shattering were not important in weedy rice. High expression of the gene OsCPL1 was positively associated with the occurrence of high seed shattering in weedy rice, which did not concur in previous studies of cultivated rice. This result is related to the absence of four SNPs and an indel in the OsCPL1 gene in weedy rice that are related to seed shattering in previous studies. Analysis of the expression of six genes related to cell wall synthesis/degradation revealed the importance of the genes OsXTH8 and OsCel9D in seed shattering in weedy rice. Therefore, in addition to qSH1 and Sh4, the genes OsCPL1, OsXTH8 and OsCel9D should be considered in studies of rice evolution and in the development of mitigation approaches of gene flow in transgenic rice.     

Nucleotide variability and gene expression reveal new putative genes related to seed shattering in weedy rice

Seed shattering is one of the main traits related with the domestication of cultivated rice and with the invasiveness and persistence of weedy rice. Two independent studies in 2006 have indicated that qSH1 in Japonica and Sh4 in Indica rice are major genes governing this trait. However, a wide variation of seed shattering occurs in weedy rice ecotypes from the same geographic region and even within the same ecotype. The aim of this study was to evaluate the nucleotide variability of known and putative genes related to seed shattering in cultivated rice and to identify and validate new genes related to this trait in weedy rice. The qSH1 gene was not associated with seed shattering in the evaluated genotypes. The nucleotide variability of the genes Os01g0849100 and Os08g0512400, previously identified based on a genome‐wide resequencing study, was related to seed shattering in rice. The nucleotide variability of three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the OsXTH8 gene, which is related to cell wall biosynthesis, was not associated with seed shattering. However, the high expression of this gene was related to the occurrence of this trait. This study evaluated jointly a series of genes involved in rice seed shattering and indicated that the genes OsXTH8, Os08g0512400 and Os01g0849100 are important for the regulation of this trait in weedy rice in addition to previously described genes. Seed shattering in weedy rice has a more complex regulation than in cultivated rice where few major genes were identified.