杜鹃花属植物种间杂交向性研究

为探讨杜鹃花属植物种间杂交的向性特征,依据该属5亚属、3组、12亚组、32种、33对正反交组合与自交性质清楚的186个杂交组合,对有关向性问题进行了初步研究。结果表明:(1)杜鹃花属植物种间杂交由双向可育→单向不育→双向不育的比率变化与其亲本的系统位置由原始→进化以及双亲间的亲缘关系由密切→疏远同向;原始的常绿杜鹃亚属(Subgen. Hymenanthes)内种间比较进化的杜鹃亚属(Subgen. Rhododendron)内易于杂交,而该两亚属之间却存在密切的亲缘关系,因此其亚属间杂交的可育比率也高于其他亚属间杂交。(2)在进化维度上,该属植物的种间杂交单向不育通常无固定的亲本搭配方向,但常绿杜鹃亚属内(Intra-Subgen. Hymenanthes,Intra-HY)、杜鹃亚属内(Intra-Subgen. Rhododendron,IntraRH)和映山红亚属×羊踯躅亚属(Subgen. Tsutsus×Subgen. Pentanthera)间的杂交搭配,有一定的倾向性。(3)种间杂交可育性与自交特性不同的亲本搭配方式相关,可育性大小的总倾向是SC×SCSI×SC≥SC×SISI×SI,其生殖进化方向是从自交亲和(SC)到自交不亲和(SI),并伴随异交生殖隔离的加强。(4)细胞不育和多倍体是引起单向不育的两个重要原因,SI亲本的介入会大幅度地增加种间杂交的不育比率。     

几种同域分布姜花属植物的种间杂交亲和性及杂交后代种子活力

种间配子不亲和以及种间杂交种子活力低是众多的物种间杂交隔离机制中的两个方面。通过对云南澜沧地区分布的4种（型）姜花属植物——圆瓣姜花（Hedychium forrestii）、草果药（H.spicatum）、两类型滇姜花（H.yunnanense）间进行野外杂交试验,比较杂交结实率、每果种子数以及杂交种子的萌发参数等指标来分析4种（型）姜花之间的杂交亲和性和杂交后代表现,发现4种（型）姜花属植物配子间都具有不同程度的亲和性,但种间杂交种子的萌发适合度比同种授粉获得的种子低。结果表明,这4种（型）姜花属植物间配子亲和性不是有效的种间隔离机制,种间杂交种子活力低是一种不完全的隔离机制,它们在同域分布的地区,仍然有形成杂交后代的可能性。     

几种同域分布姜花属植物的种间杂交亲和性

种间配子不亲和以及种间杂交种子活力低是众多的物种间杂交隔离机制中的两个方面。通过对云南澜沧地区分布的4种（型）姜花属植物——圆瓣姜花（Hedychium forrestii）、草果药(Hspicatum)、两类型滇姜花（Hyunnanense）间进行野外杂交试验,比较杂交结实率、每果种子数以及杂交种子的萌发参数等指标来分析4种（型）姜花之间的杂交亲和性和杂交后代表现,发现4种（型）姜花属植物配子间都具有不同程度的亲和性,但种间杂交种子的萌发适合度比同种授粉获得的种子低。结果表明,这4种（型）姜花属植物间配子亲和性不是有效的种间隔离机制,种间杂交种子活力低是一种不完全的隔离机制,它们在同域分布的地区,仍然有形成杂交后代的可能性。     

桉树及其杂交种叶片形态的遗传变异特征

为了解桉树重要性状在杂交种亲本、子代间的遗传变异规律,以尾叶桉(Eucalyptus urophylla)为母本、粗皮桉(E. pellita)和细叶桉(E. tereticornis)为父本、8个全同胞杂交子代为材料,对亲本和子代的叶片形态性状进行了分析。结果表明,亲缘关系近的尾叶桉和粗皮桉的叶片性状大多无显著差异;但他们与亲缘关系远的细叶桉间的差异显著;尾粗桉与父母本间的性状无显著差异或仅与母本差异显著,属偏父本型;尾细桉与双亲间的多数性状都差异显著,且多偏向于母本。在树种内的家系间或个体间,叶片数量性状差异显著,而质量性状仅叶面革质厚度、叶面朝向差异显著;杂交种家系部分性状有超亲现象,且尾细桉家系超亲频率显著高于尾粗桉。叶长、叶长宽比、形状因子、叶色、叶面革质是区别叶片形态特征的决定性状。     

橡胶草及其同域近缘种表型多样性研究

对蒲公英属橡胶草及其同域10个近缘种共13份材料的59个表型性状(数量性状24个,质量性状35个)进行了观测,通过方差分析、因子分析和聚类分析对其形态性状多样性和种间亲缘关系进行研究,以明确各表型性状对种质分类的重要性及其贡献,为橡胶草品种选育及蒲公英属植物的分类和种质资源保存利用提供依据。结果显示:(1)13份蒲公英属种质资源在数量性状上变异系数在7.50%~55.00%之间,平均为28.25%,多样性指数在1.157~2.032之间,平均为1.663,具有丰富的表型多样性。(2)质量性状方面,变异系数的变化范围在20.40%~67.44%之间,多样性指数变化范围在0.271~1.672之间,平均为1.136,总体上是数量性状形态多样性指数大于质量性状。(3)59个性状的主成分分析中前7个主成分的累计贡献率为84.767%,花部形态变异是蒲公英属植物表型分化的主要因素。(4)利用欧氏距离进行的Ward’s聚类分析结果表明,13份材料可分为4大类群,同一地区的大部分种聚在一起,呈现出一定的地域性,亲缘关系较近;但来源于3个居群的橡胶草却被划分在2个类群中,表现出较远的亲缘关系。研究表明,蒲公英属植物种质材料具有丰富的质量和数量性状变异,表型多样性丰富。     

基于形态性状的菊属与亚菊属植物亲缘关系研究

依据菊花DUS测试指南中性状观测和分级的方法,记录了菊属、亚菊属共31个物种叶片和花序的共计8个定性多态性状,并测量了各物种叶片的14个形态指标,将其转换为7个数量多态性状,分别基于定性多态性状代码和叶片数量多态性状数值利用聚类分析研究其亲缘关系,将两次聚类结果进行比较。结果发现,基于定性多态性状和叶片数量多态性状的聚类结果均可以对菊花近缘属植物进行亲缘关系分析,并与前人利用分子标记的亲缘关系研究及植物学传统分类的研究结果一致,能够较准确地反映种间亲缘关系。而利用菊花DUS测试相关定性多态性状的信息进行亲缘关系研究,具有准确度高、采样简便、工作量小的优点。     

槭树种质资源的翅果数量性状研究

为了探讨槭属树种的亲缘关系及演化趋势,对采集的68份槭树种质材料（包括27个槭属树种以及7个变种）的7个翅果性状用SAS8.0统计分析软件进行主成分分析,结果表明：前3个主成分的累计贡献率达83.9%,可分别代表翅果大小、翅果角度和产量的综合因子。另外,根据翅果的7个性状进行聚类分析,进一步明确槭属树种的亲缘关系,为槭树种质资源的研究提供了重要依据。     

自然越冬期姜花属植物生理指标变化及抗寒性评价

为了解姜花属(Hedychium)植物的抗寒性并筛选抗寒种质,测定了3种姜花属植物和11个品种在自然越冬过程中的相对电导率、可溶性蛋白质和MDA含量及SOD、POD活性的变化,采用主成分分析结合隶属函数法对姜花属植物抗寒性进行综合评价及聚类分析.结果表明,姜花属植物的5个生理指标随越冬时间的延长均呈先上升后下降的变化趋...     

福建省野牡丹属种质资源的ISSR分析

为探讨福建省野牡丹属(Melastoma L.)植物的亲缘关系,运用ISSR分子标记技术对源自福建省的野牡丹属野生种质及部分实生后代共34份材料进行分析。结果表明,11条多态性引物对34份种质DNA进行扩增,共获得112条完整、清晰的谱带,其中多态性条带104条,多态性比率为92.9%,表明野牡丹属种质资源具有较高的遗传多样性。34份种质材料的相似系数为0.55~0.93,平均相似系数为0.71,表明这些材料间的亲缘关系较近。聚类分析表明34份材料可划分为3个类群5个亚类,主坐标散点分析可分为4个类群,这与亲缘关系分析的结果基本一致。这从分子水平上揭示了福建省野牡丹属野生种质及部分具备优良园艺性状实生后代的亲缘关系,为该属植物的良种选育工作提供了理论依据。     

根据叶解剖特征试论赖草属及其相关类群间的亲缘关系

通过叶片的解剖观察,以表型系统学的原理和方法,对赖草属及其相关类群的亲缘关系进行了分析。在横切面上,赖草属及其相关6个属的结构虽然均属于狐茅型,但在各类群之间存在差异。其中,披碱草属与赖草属含有最大数量的相同性状,与赖草属的亲缘关系最近;新麦草属和偃麦草属均与赖草属的相同性状较少,该2属仅稍接近于赖草属;而大麦属、芒麦草属和鹅观草属与赖草属的相同性状更少,则此3属与赖草属的亲缘关系也相对疏远。同时,本文还对其它6属间的亲缘关系作了进一步探讨,绘制了整个7属的亲缘关系示意图,并与其外部形态特征作了对应比较,从而弥补了过去研究的不足。     

The Use of Combining Ability Analysis to Identify Elite Parents for Artemisia annua F1 Hybrid Production

Artemisia annua is an important medicinal crop used for the production of the anti-malarial compound artemisinin. In order to assist in the production of affordable high quality artemisinin we have carried out an A. annua breeding programme aimed at improving artemisinin concentration and biomass. Here we report on a combining ability analysis of a diallel cross to identify robust parental lines for hybrid breeding. The parental lines were selected based on a range of phenotypic traits to encourage heterosis. The general combining ability (GCA) values for the diallel parental lines correlated to the positive alleles of quantitative trait loci (QTL) in the same parents indicating the presence of beneficial alleles that contribute to parental performance. Hybrids generated from crossing specific parental lines with good GCA were identified as having an increase in both artemisinin concentration and biomass when grown either in glasshouse or experimental field trials and compared to controls. This study demonstrates that combining ability as determined by a diallel cross can be used to identify elite parents for the production of improved A. annua hybrids. Furthermore, the selection of material for breeding using this approach was found to be consistent with our QTL-based molecular breeding approach.     

Parental selection,number of breeding populations,and size of each population in inbred development

Some breeders select inbreds from many F₂ or backcross breeding populations, each with relatively few progenies. Other breeders select inbreds from only a few breeding populations, each with many progenies. My objectives were to: (1) determine the relative importance of parental selection, number of breeding populations, and size of each population, and (2) find optimum combinations between number and size of breeding populations. I assumed that a breeder has resources to test a total of 2,000 recombinant inbreds for a quantitative trait that was controlled by 100 additive loci and had a heritability of 0.20, 0.60, or 1.0. The parental inbreds had an inherent pedigree structure due to advanced cycle breeding. The parental inbreds were ranked according to their mean performance, and breeding populations were made among all parents, the top 25% of parents, and the top 10% of parents. I found that the issue of number versus size of breeding populations was only secondary compared with the ability to identify, prior to making the crosses, the breeding populations with the highest mean performance. For a given level of effectiveness of parental selection, the selection response was largest when the maximum number of breeding populations was used. The effect of the number of breeding populations was minor, however, when selection was practiced among the parents or when heritability was less than 1.0. The results suggested that, in practice, large selection responses could be obtained with a wide range of combinations between number and size of breeding populations.Communicated by H.C. Becker     

Impact of depth of pedigree and inclusion of historical data on the estimation of additive variance and breeding values in a sugarcane breeding program

Sugarcane breeders in Australia combine data across four selection programs to obtain estimates of breeding value for parents. When these data are combined with full pedigree information back to founding parents, computing limitations mean it is not possible to obtain information on all parents. Family data from one sugarcane selection program were analysed using two different genetic models to investigate how different depths of pedigree and amount of data affect the reliability of estimating breeding value of sugarcane parents. These were the parental and animal models. Additive variance components and breeding values estimated from different amounts of information were compared for both models. The accuracy of estimating additive variance components and breeding values improved as more pedigree information and historical data were included in analyses. However, adding years of data had a much larger effect on the estimation of variance components of the population, and breeding values of the parents. To accurately estimate breeding values of all sugarcane parents, a minimum of three generations of pedigree and 5 years of historical data were required, while more information (four generations of pedigree and 7 years of historical data) was required when identifying top parents to be selected for future cross pollination.     

SSR heterogenic patterns of parents for marking and predicting heterosis in rice breeding

The most important concerns of hybrid rice breeders are selection of donors to improve parental lines and prediction of hybrid performance. In this study, SSR molecular marker technology and a half-diallel method were used to address these related hybrid production issues. The results show that genetic diversity among the parental lines is certainly related to heterosis. The heterozygosity of each parental pair is significantly associated with the general combining ability, not with the specific combining ability. However, neither genetic diversity nor heterozygosity is a good indicator for predicting heterosis. From these results, it is suggested that donors for improving parents of hybrids be selected from the improved inbred lines by conventional breeding programs. In this investigation, we also discovered that four favorable alleles and six favorable heterogenic patterns on the parental lines significantly contribute to the heterosis of their hybrids in grain yield, whereas six unfavorable alleles and six unfavorable heterogenic patterns significantly reduce heterosis. These noticeable findings could be, in practice, useful for hybrid rice breeding programs with SSR marker-assisted selection. It is suggested that the optimal combinations with the superior grain yield could be bred out by assembling those favorable alleles into their parental lines and by removing the unfavorable alleles from the parental lines. This study also indicates that there is still a great heterosis potential to be exploited in indica/indica hybrids by the same strategy. In indica/japonica hybrid breeding programs, it may also be important to remove unfavorable alleles rather than broaden genetic diversity or heterozygosity of the parents.     

Parental Selection of Hybrid Breeding Based On Maternal and Paternal Inheritance of Traits in Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.)

Parental selection is crucial for hybrid breeding, but the methods available for such a selection are not very effective. In this study, a 6×6 incomplete diallel cross was designed using 12 rapeseed germplasms, and a total of 36 hybrids together with their parental lines were planted in 4 environments. Four yield-related traits and seed oil content (OC) were evaluated. Genetic distance (GD) was estimated with 359 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) markers. Heterosis levels, general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) were evaluated. GD was found to have a significant correlation with better-parent heterosis (BPH) of thousand seed weight (TSW), SCA of seeds per silique (SS), TSW, and seed yield per plant (SY), while SCA showed a statistically significant correlation with heterosis levels of all traits at 1% significance level. Statistically significant correlations were also observed between GCA of maternal or paternal parents and heterosis levels of different traits except for SS. Interestingly, maternal (TSW, SS, and OC) and paternal (siliques per plant (SP) and SY) inheritance of traits was detected using contribution ratio of maternal and paternal GCA variance as well as correlations between GCA and heterosis levels. Phenotype and heterosis levels of all the traits except TSW of hybrids were significantly correlated with the average performance of parents. The correlations between SS and SP, SP and OC, and SY and OC were statistically significant in hybrids but not in parents. Potential applications of parental selection in hybrid breeding were discussed.     

Preliminary research of the RAPD molecular marker-assisted breeding of the edible basidiomycete Stropharia rugoso-annulata

Summary The average RAPD molecular genetic distance was proposed as a criterion in selecting monokaryotic parents for cross breeding and predicting the performance of hybrids of the mushroom Stropharia rugoso-annulata. Three groups of cross pairs or hybrids were recognized based on the average RAPD genetic distance of the monokaryotic parental population. The RAPD-based molecular genetic distance significantly correlated with hybrid mycelial growth rate and mycelial growth heterosis, and their determination coefficients were 0.9237 and 0.8464 respectively. One of the hybrids in group I showed more vigorous mycelial growth in different pH conditions, incubation temperatures, carbon and nitrogen sources, and higher mushroom yield compared with its dikaryotic parent. These results suggested that RAPD-based molecular genetic distance of the monokaryotic parents might be a suitable criterion for selecting monokaryotic parents and predicting the performance of hybrids in mushroom cross breeding.     

Inheritance of self-compatibility in almond: breeding strategies to assure self-compatibility in the progeny

To assure self-compatibility in the progenies, three different crosses were conducted for the first time in an almond breeding programme: self-pollination (266 descendants from 30 families), crosses between parents sharing an S-allele (108 descendants from five families) and crosses with homozygous self-compatible parents (62 descendants from five families). Depending on the cross, self-compatibility in the progenies was determined by observing pollen tube growth (by means of fluorescence microscopy), stylar S-RNases analysis or allele-specific PCR. The results obtained fit with the accepted hypothesis of inheritance of self-compatibility and the three crossing strategies used ensured 100% of self-compatible descendants. These strategies increase the efficiency of the breeding programme and avoid the laborious task of evaluating this characteristic. From the breeding point of view, self-fertilisation and crosses between relatives tend to produce inbreeding. Furthermore, these methods reduce the possibilities of choosing the parental combination. The use of homozygous self-compatible parents does not have any of these disadvantages. As far as we know, this is the first time that allele-specific PCR has been used for early selection of self-compatible seedlings. The advantages and disadvantages of the three methodologies used to determine self-compatibility are discussed.     

Testing for linkage disequilibrium in the New Zealand radiata pine breeding population

Linkage analysis is commonly used to find marker-trait associations within the full-sib families of forest tree and other species. Study of marker-trait associations at the population level is termed linkage-disequilibrium (LD) mapping. A female-tester design comprising 200 full-sib families generated by crossing 40 pollen parents with five female parents was used to assess the relationship between the marker-allele frequency classes obtained from parental genotypes at SSR marker loci and the full-sib family performance (average predicted breeding value of two parents) in radiata pine (Pinus radiata D. Don). For alleles (at a marker locus) that showed significant association, the copy number of that allele in the parents was significantly correlated, either positively or negatively, with the full-sib family performance for various economic traits. Regression of parental breeding value on its genotype at marker loci revealed that most of the markers that showed significant association with full-sib family performance were not significantly associated with the parental breeding values. This suggests that over-representation of the female parents in our sample of 200 full-sib families could have biased the process of detecting marker-trait associations. The evidence for the existence of marker-trait LD in the population studied is rather weak and would require further testing. The exact test for genotypic disequilibrium between pairs of linked or unlinked marker loci revealed non-significant LD. Observed genotypic frequencies at several marker loci were significantly different from the expected Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The possibilities of utilising marker-trait associations for early selection, among-family selection and selecting parents for the next generation of breeding are also discussed.     

Application of a new IBD-based QTL mapping method to common wheat breeding population: analysis of kernel hardness and dough strength

Mapping quantitative trait loci (QTL) in plants is usually conducted using a population derived from a cross between two inbred lines. The power of such QTL detection and the estimation of the effects highly depend on the choice of the two parental lines. Thus, the QTL found represent only a small part of the genetic architecture and can be of limited economical interest in marker-assisted selection. On the other hand, applied breeding programmes evaluate large numbers of progeny derived from multiple-related crosses for a wide range of agronomic traits. It is assumed that the development of statistical techniques to deal with pedigrees in existing plant populations would increase the relevance and cost effectiveness of QTL mapping in a breeding context. In this study, we applied a two-step IBD-based-variance component method to a real wheat breeding population, composed of 374 F₆ lines derived from 80 different parents. Two bread wheat quality related traits were analysed by the method. Results obtained show very close agreement with major genes and QTL already known for those two traits. With this new QTL mapping strategy, inferences about QTL can be drawn across the breeding programme rather than being limited to the sample of progeny from a single cross and thus the use of the detected QTL in assisting breeding would be facilitated.     

The effect of parental age,experience and historical reproductive success on wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) chick growth and survival

Growth and survival of altricial young are influenced by their parents’ abilities to invest in a breeding attempt. As a result, chick growth and survival in one breeding season may be indicative of their parents’ long-term reproductive potential. To determine whether variation in long-term reproductive success is driven by differential breeding investment, parental care and chick growth in wandering albatrosses (Diomedea exulans) were correlated with parental historical reproductive success. Effects of age and breeding experience (determined from past breeding attempts) and pre-laying body condition (mass–size indices) on chick growth and survival also were tested. Longer brooding of chicks increased their survival, but length of chick brooding did not differ between historically unproductive and successful breeders. Past reproductive success also was not correlated with chick growth rates or fledging mass or size. Chick brooding period, chick growth rates, final mass and size were independent of parental body condition. Older and more experienced parents brooded chicks for longer and their chicks grew faster, supporting previous findings that breeding competence is a learnt skill. Chick care and growth characteristics differed more between than within pairs, suggesting that differences in these characteristics are driven by variation among pairs.