Genetic control of rice blast resistance in the durably resistant cultivar Gumei 2 against multiple isolates

To further our understanding of the genetic control of blast resistance in rice cultivar Gumei 2 and, consequently, to facilitate the utilization of this durably blast-resistant cultivar, we studied 304 recombinant inbred lines of indica rice cross Zhong 156/Gumei 2 and a linkage map comprising 181 markers. An analysis of segregation for resistance against five isolates of rice blast suggested that one gene cluster and three additional major genes that are independently inherited are responsible for the complete resistance of Gumei 2. The gene cluster was located to chromosome 6 and includes two genes mapped previously, Pi25(t), against Chinese rice blast isolate 92-183 (race ZC15) and Pi26(t) against Philippine rice blast isolate Ca89 (lineage 4), and a gene for resistance against Philippine rice blast isolate 92330-5 (lineage 17). Of the two genes conferring resistance against the Philippine isolates V86013 (lineage 15) and C923-39 (lineage 46), we identified one as Pi26(t) and mapped the other onto the distal end of chromosome 2 where Pib is located. We used three components of partial blast resistance, percentage diseased leaf area (DLA), lesion number and lesion size, all measured in the greenhouse, to measure the degree of susceptibility to isolates Ca89 and C923-39 and subsequently identified nine and eight quantitative trait loci (QTLs), respectively. Epistasis was determined to play an important role in partial resistance against Ca89. Using DLA measured on lines susceptible in a blast nursery, we detected six QTLs. While different QTLs were detected for partial resistance to Ca89 and C923-39, respectively, most were involved in the partial resistance in the field. Our results suggest that the blast resistance in Gumei 2 is controlled by multiple major genes and minor genes with epistatic effects.     

Judging romantic interest of others from thin slices is a cross-cultural ability

The ability to judge the romantic interest between others is an important aspect of mate choice for species living in social groups. Research has previously shown that humans can do this quickly—observers watching short clips of speed-dating videos can accurately predict the outcomes. Here we extend this work to show that observers from widely varying cultures can judge these same videos with roughly equal accuracy. Participants in the USA, China, and Germany perform similarly not only overall but also at the level of judging individual speed-daters: Some daters are easy to read by observers from all cultures, while others are consistently difficult. These cross-cultural performance similarities provide evidence for an adaptive mechanism useful for mate choice that could be resilient to cultural differences.     

Detecting Identity by Descent and Homozygosity Mapping in Whole-Exome Sequencing Data

The detection of genetic segments of Identical by Descent (IBD) in Genome-Wide Association Studies has proven successful in pinpointing genetic relatedness between reportedly unrelated individuals and leveraging such regions to shortlist candidate genes. These techniques depend on high-density genotyping arrays and their effectiveness in diverse sequence data is largely unknown. Due to decreasing costs and increasing effectiveness of high throughput techniques for whole-exome sequencing, an influx of exome sequencing data has become available. Studies using exomes and IBD-detection methods within known pedigrees have shown that IBD can be useful in finding hidden genetic candidates where known relatives are available. We set out to examine the viability of using IBD-detection in whole exome sequencing data in population-wide studies. In doing so, we extend GERMLINE, a method to detect IBD from exome sequencing data by finding small slices of matching alleles between pairs of individuals and extending them into full IBD segments. This algorithm allows for efficient population-wide detection in dense data. We apply this algorithm to a cohort of Crohn''s Disease cases where whole-exome and GWAS array data is available. We confirm that GWAS-based detected segments are highly accurate and predictive of underlying shared variation. Where segments inferred from GWAS are expected to be of high accuracy, we compare exome-based detection accuracy of multiple detection strategies. We find detection accuracy to be prohibitively low in all assessments, both in terms of segment sensitivity and specificity. Even after isolating relatively long segments beyond 10cM, exome-based detection continued to offer poor specificity/sensitivity tradeoffs. We hypothesize that the variable coverage and platform biases of exome capture account for this decreased accuracy and look toward whole genome sequencing data as a higher quality source for detecting population-wide IBD.     

基于电容测定的罗汉果细胞超低温保藏快速方法

建立了一种基于活细胞电容值定量测定的植物细胞超低温保藏的快速评价方法,优化了罗汉果细胞超低温保藏方法。通过采用活细胞传感仪测定冻存后细胞的存活率并结合细胞生活力(细胞线粒体活性/TTC)对罗汉果细胞的低温保藏过程进行优化,确定了罗汉果细胞较为适宜的冷冻保护剂组分为基本培养基中添加10%的蔗糖和10%的DMSO。预处理剂的考察实验表明,采用0.2 mol/L蔗糖的预处理剂处理细胞时冻存后细胞存活率和细胞活力较高;采用0.2 mol/L蔗糖预处理剂处理细胞时,随着预处理时间的增加,细胞存活率先增加后降低,预处理时间为9 h时,细胞存活率和细胞活力最高。保藏后的细胞复苏实验结果表明:细胞存活率与采用活细胞电容值得到的细胞存活率具有很好的一致性,同时经过冻存的细胞复苏培养后,仍保留了原始细胞的形态和合成甜苷V的特性,说明该冻存方法适用于罗汉果细胞的超低温保藏。因此基于活细胞传感仪测得的电容值进行细胞冻存过程细胞活性的快速评价方法具有较好的可行性和可靠性。     

A physical map of the highly heterozygous Populus genome: integration with the genome sequence and genetic map and analysis of haplotype variation

As part of a larger project to sequence the Populus genome and generate genomic resources for this emerging model tree, we constructed a physical map of the Populus genome, representing one of the few such maps of an undomesticated, highly heterozygous plant species. The physical map, consisting of 2802 contigs, was constructed from fingerprinted bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clones. The map represents approximately 9.4-fold coverage of the Populus genome, which has been estimated from the genome sequence assembly to be 485 ± 10 Mb in size. BAC ends were sequenced to assist long-range assembly of whole-genome shotgun sequence scaffolds and to anchor the physical map to the genome sequence. Simple sequence repeat-based markers were derived from the end sequences and used to initiate integration of the BAC and genetic maps. A total of 2411 physical map contigs, representing 97% of all clones assigned to contigs, were aligned to the sequence assembly (JGI Populus trichocarpa , version 1.0). These alignments represent a total coverage of 384 Mb (79%) of the entire poplar sequence assembly and 295 Mb (96%) of linkage group sequence assemblies. A striking result of the physical map contig alignments to the sequence assembly was the co-localization of multiple contigs across numerous regions of the 19 linkage groups. Targeted sequencing of BAC clones and genetic analysis in a small number of representative regions showed that these co-aligning contigs represent distinct haplotypes in the heterozygous individual sequenced, and revealed the nature of these haplotype sequence differences.     

甜橙叶片营养元素适宜含量的研究

本研究探讨闽南甜橙主栽品种(印子柑、改良橙、伏令夏橙)叶片营养元素含量的适宜范围。结果表明,各品种不同地点、年份的叶片元素含量存在明显差异,而三个甜橙品种间叶片元素含量未见稳定的差异,因此,作者认为,可建立三个甜橙品种通用的叶片营养元素含量适宜标准。统计分析表明:其叶片毛素含量的变异系数,大量元素以氮、磷较小,镁、钾、钙较大;微量元素多高于大量元素。本文初步提出甜橙于片元素的适宜含量:氮2.50％～3.30％,磷0.12％～0.18％,钾1.00％～2.00％,钙2.00％～3.50％,镁0.22％～0.40％,铜4.0～18.0ppm,锌25.0～70.0ppm,锰20.0～100.0ppm,铁90.0～160.0ppm,硼25.0～100.0ppm。大量元素含量的适宜比值为氮:磷:钾:钙:镁=1:0.05:0.5:2:0.95:0.11。上列指标可供甜橙营养诊断指导合理施肥之参考。     

Visualizing astrocytes in the deep mouse brain in vivo

Astrocytes play a key role in the central nervous system. However, methods of visualizing astrocytes in the deep brain in vivo have been lacking. 3‐photon fluorescence imaging of astrocytes labeled by sulforhodamine 101 (SR101) is demonstrated in deep mouse brain in vivo. Excitation wavelength selection was guided by wavelength‐dependent 3‐photon action cross section (ησ ₃) measurement of SR101. 3‐photon fluorescence imaging of the SR101‐labeled vasculature enabled an imaging depth of 1340‐μm into the mouse brain. This justifies the deep imaging capability of the technique and indicates that the imaging depth is not determined by the signal‐to‐background ratio limit encountered in 2‐photon fluorescence imaging. Visualization of astrocytes 910 μm below the surface of the mouse brain in vivo is demonstrated, 30% deeper than that using 2‐photon fluorescence microscopy. Through quantitative comparison of the signal difference between the SR101‐labeled blood vessels and astrocytes, the challenges of visualizing astrocytes below the white matter is further elucidated.      

Characterization of a Gy4 glycinin gene from soybean Glycine max cv. Forrest

The glycinin gene family encoding the glycinin subunits in soybean plants is composed of at least five gene members. A genomic clone S312 containing the Gy4 gene from a genomic library of cv. Forrest was isolated and partially characterized. The organization of this gene was found to be similar to that of a null allele from cv. Raiden, but different from the Gy4 gene from cv. Dare. The complete nucleotide sequence of this gene has been determined. It is 2599 bp long consisting of four exons and three introns. Comparing the DNA sequences between this gene and the gene from Dare and a null allele from Raiden, the difference found in the coding region was 5-GCAGTGCAAG-3 (nt 824 to 833) in the former case versus 5-TGGAGTTGCAATT-3 (nt 1314 to 1326) in the latter case in the exon 2 domain, resulting in three amino acid differences and one amino acid absence. Some other differences were also found in the non-coding region. The coding sequence and 5-flanking region of the Gy4 gene, when compared with that of other legumin genes as well as group 1 glycinin subunit genes, revealed some interesting features: (1) a transposable element-like sequence was found in the hypervariable region (HVR) of the exon 3 domain, which was lacking in the legumin and the glycinin group 1 genes; (2) in the 5-flanking region from nt –145 to –1, two high-homology sequences were found: one from nt –141 to nt –132, the other from nt –118 to nt –92 which includes the legumin box and the RY repeat element.     

Serological and molecular analysis of ABO and Rh blood group chimeras

The serological examination, blood transfusion strategies and the molecular analysis to blood group chimera were conducted to demonstrate existent of chimera in blood group. The blood grouping of ABO or/and RhD, newborn red blood cells separated by capillary centrifugation. Aabsorption tests and DTT treated agglutination erythrocyte tests were implemented in four patients. Further molecular biological research was conducted on one patient''s sample. The results showed that for patient 1: ABO blood group was AB/B chimera, Rh blood cells contained the RhCE chimera gene; Patient 2: Rh blood cells contained the RhD chimera gene; Patient 3: ABO blood group was AB/B chimera, Rh blood cells contained the RhD chimera gene; Patient 4: ABO blood group was O/B chimera, Rh blood cells contained the RhCE chimera gene. The study suggests that the individuals categorized as chimeras are likely to be more common than existing literature reports. According to the serological tests, in the absence of a history of recent blood transfusion or disease to cause reduced antigen, the phenomena of hybrid aggregation of the ABO and Rh blood system were the main feature. In terms of transfusion strategy, the selection of ABO and Rh blood groups should be depended on the group of cells with more antigens.