Increased copy number of gibberellin 2-oxidase 8 genes reduced trailing growth and shoot length during soybean domestication

Copy number variations (CNVs) play important roles in crop domestication. However, there is only very limited information on the involvement of CNVs in soybean domestication. Trailing growth and long shoots are soybean adaptations for natural habitats but cause lodging that hampers yield in cultivation. Previous studies have focused on Dt1/2 affecting the indeterminate/determinate growth habit, whereas the possible role of the gibberellin pathway remained unclear. In the present study, quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping of a recombinant inbred population of 460 lines revealed a trailing-growth-and-shoot-length QTL. A CNV region within this QTL was identified, featuring the apical bud-expressed gibberellin 2-oxidase 8A/B, the copy numbers of which were positively correlated with expression levels and negatively with trailing growth and shoot length, and their effects were demonstrated by transgenic soybean and Arabidopsis thaliana. Based on the fixation index, this CNV region underwent intense selection during the initial domestication process.     

Evidence for the Existence of a Soybean Resistant Protein That Captures Bile Acid and Stimulates Its Fecal Excretion

Feeding HMF, an insoluble “high-molecular-weight fraction” from an industrial enzymatic digest of a soy protein isolate, increased the fecal excretion of bile acid concomitant with increased fecal nitrogen. An amino acid analysis revealed that this increased fecal nitrogen could be explained by an increase in the insoluble protein fraction. This suggests the existence of an indigestable protein or peptide that can be called a “resistant protein” in the feces. The presumed resistant protein was rich in hydrophobic amino acids and bound bile acid by hydrophobic interaction. The residual fraction of HMF obtained after in vitro pepsin and pancreatin digestion, showed higher in vitro bile acid-binding capacity and excreted more bile acid in vivo than HMF. Its amino acid composition was similar to that of the feces of rat fed with HMF. These results suggest that the fecal resistant protein with bile acid-binding ability could be derived from the indigestable fraction of HMF.     

Differences in the fatty acid composition of soybean seed produced in northern and southern areas of the U.S.A.

The fatty acid composition of soybean (Glycine max) seeds was sensitive to the influence of both genotype and environment. To quantify their relative environmental sensitivities, four soybean cultivars, Wells, Wayne, Cutler and Union, plus two experimental lines, 9656 and 9686, developed for lower concentrations of linolenate, were grown in Indiana (northern area) and Mississippi (southern area) in 1981. Seeds produced in the two environments were analysed for total oil content and for fatty acid composition. Seeds produced in the southern area were slightly higher (20% vs 16%) in oil content, but weighed significantly less than those produced in the north. The oil content per seed of seeds produced in the south was only 51% of the oil content of seeds produced in the north. Seeds produced in the south were significantly lower in both myristate and linolenate, but significantly higher in oleate than seeds produced in the north. Genotype by environment interactions for many oil quality measurements were largely attributable to the responses of the lines 9656 and 9686. These results indicate that higher environmental temperature reduced the linolenate concentration of soybean oil.     

Effect of explant orientation, pH, solidifying agent and wounding on initiation of soybean somatic embryos

Summary Several methods have been developed to obtain somatic embryos of soybean. We report here a new procedure that results in high frequency somatic embryo initiation in a short period of time. Somatic embryos were induced from immature cotyledons of the cultivars “Jack,” “Thorne,” “Resnik,” and “Chapman.” Immature cotyledons were cultured on a medium containing MS salts, B₅ vitamins, 6% sucrose, and 40 mg/l 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). Culture modifications included: orientation of the explants (adaxial or abaxial side of the cotyledon in contact with the medium), adjustment of medium pH (5.7 or 7.0), wounding of cotyledons with scalpel blades, inclusion of ethylene modulators, and use of Noble agar or Gelrite™ as the solidifying agent. The treatment that resulted in the highest embryo induction across the cultivars consisted of abaxial side of the explant facing the medium, pH 7.0 and 0.2% Gelrite™. “Jack” was the most responsive cultivar showing the first embryos as early as 14 d after culture. After 21 d, an average of 44 embryos per cotyledon was obtained with this cultivar. The inclusion of silver nitrate (AgNO₃) in the culture medium did not enhance the number of primary somatic embryos induced per cotyledon, but the addition of 15 μM AgNO₃ did result in a faster production of secondary embryos using the cultivar “Jack.” Wounding of the explants with a scalpel resulted in an earlier induction of somatic embryos. Embryo initials were first observed after only 7 d. Histological examination of cultured cotyledons indicated that the somatic embryos originated from the subepidermal tissues and were of multicellular origin. This somatic embryo induction procedure could be useful for direct transformation work and permits the production of embryogenic tissue within 2 wk.     

Changes in Heterodera glycines Egg Population Density in Continuous Glycine max over Four Years

Soybean cyst nematode, Heterodera glycines, is found throughout soybean production areas of the United States, but the nematode''s distribution is not uniform within states, counties, and individual fields. The goal of this research was to determine the spatial pattern of H. glycines population density in a field in southeastern Missouri and whether it changed over time in the absence of management practices. Geostatistical methods were used to describe and map the distribution of H. glycines over 4 years in a soybean (Glycine max) field in southeastern Missouri. Semivariograms and kriging, an interpolation method, were used to prepare isoarithmic contour maps and associated error maps. In the field studied, fall H. glycines population density (Pf) was poorly related to density the following spring (Pi). The distribution of peak H. glycines population density within the field changed from year to year, although high densities were often detected in the same general region of the field. The patchiness of H. glycines distribution within a field was verified. Yield was not related to H. glycines egg population density at planting, indicating that unmeasured variables were also reducing yield.     

Midgut pseudotumors and the maintenance of tissue homeostasis: Studies on aging and manipulated stick insects

Stick insects (Carausius morosus) develop pseudotumors in aging adults. Pseudotumor formation starts at the M2 midgut region where an accumulation of stomatogastric nerve terminals is observed. Pseudotumors arise from dying columnar cells whose basal parts form an “amorphous substance” at the basement membrane whereas the apical parts, including the nucleus, are expelled into the gut lumen. The “amorphous substance” is ensheathed by hemocytes. These nodules, which do not melanize, characterize the phenotype of the pseudotumors. With age, cell death and pseudotumor infestation increases. It is shown that the maintenance of midgut tissue homoeostasis is disturbed and becomes more serious with growing pseudotumor incidence. The increased death rate of differentiated columnar cells is no longer compensated by the proliferation of regenerative cells, i.e., intestinal stem cells, in the midgut nidi. The appearance of “holes” in the intestinal wall is evidently a causative factor of premature death. Extirpation of the hypocerebral ganglion in young adults of the stick insect (before the onset of spontaneous pseudotumor formation) provokes the apoptosis of a large number of columnar cells within 24 h and the formation of pseudotumors that are histologically identical with spontaneous ones. We conclude that the stomatogastric nervous system plays a decisive role in the regulatory mechanism maintaining midgut tissue homeostasis. The possibility of experimentally manipulating the regulatory system provides a valuable tool for the exploration of extrinsic factors involved into the feedback circuitry of tissue homeostasis. The fact that comparable pseudotumors were observed in a number of orthopteromorphan species, where they could also be induced by the interruption of the stomatogastric nervous system, indicates that its role in tissue homoeostasis may be widespread in insects and possibly represent a general principle. J. Morphol., 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

科尔沁沙地紫花苜蓿的光合日动态

利用Li-6400光合测定系统,田间实地测定了紫花苜蓿3个品种（敖汉苜蓿、Rangelander和 阿尔冈金）的光合作用日变化特征.结果表明:不同生长年限紫花苜蓿3个品种的净光合速率(P_n)、蒸腾速率(T_r)和水分利用效率(WUE)日变化并不完全呈双峰曲线.其中,敖汉苜蓿和阿尔冈金叶片的P_n和T_r峰值均出现在9:00—11:00,Rangelander在11:00,最低值均出现在7:00和19:00;Rangelander和阿尔冈金叶片的WUE最高值出现在7:00,敖汉苜蓿在9:00,最低值均出现在15:00—17:00.综合分析P_n、T_r和WUE 3项指标,2 年生苜蓿各项指标最佳,1年生次之,而4年生最差;对P_n和T_r影响最大的环境因子是气温,其次是水分亏缺和空气相对湿度.     

大豆基因型对根癌农杆菌菌株敏感性的研究

以栽培大豆［Glycine max (L.) Mer］吉林30、吉林43、绥农8、黑农35和东农42等的下胚轴为外植体,用EHA105和LBA4404 2个根癌农杆菌菌株（分别含有pGBI121S4ABC和pGBI4A2B质粒）研究大豆基因型对根癌农杆菌的敏感性,以及根癌农杆菌对大豆的侵染能力。结果表明,大豆基因型对根癌农杆菌的敏感性存在显著差异,以吉林43最敏感。根癌农杆菌菌株对大豆下胚轴侵染能力不同,含有pGBI121S4ABC质粒的LBA4404侵染能力较强,但差异未达显著水平。 Abstract:The sensitivity of genotypes in soybean to lines of Agrobacterium tumefaciens and the ability of A.tumefaciens infecting to soybean were investigated with hypocotyls of soybean (Jilin30,Jilin43,Suinong8,Heinong35 and Dongnong42) and lines of A.tumefaciens LBA4404 and EHA105 which including plasmid pGBI121S4ABC and pGBI4A2B respectively.The results showed that the sensitivity of genotypes in soybean to A.tumefaciens was significantly different.Jilin43 was the most sensitive materials to A.tumefaciens.The ability of A.tumefaciens infecting hypocotyls in soybean was different.LBA4404 including plasmid pGBI121S4ABC was easier to infect hypocotyls of soybean.     

大豆生理生态特性与产量的关系

比较研究了1970s、1980s和1990s期间不同大豆 ( Glycine max (L.) Merr.)品种的生理生态特性:光合作用、蒸腾作用、气孔导度、水分利用效率、胞间CO2浓度和叶片水势,分析了各生理生态特性之间以及与产量在不同生育期的关系.研究表明光合速率和产量之间存在显著的相关关系,高产大豆同时具有高的气孔导度和水势,胞间CO2浓度则很低,特别是在鼓粒期关系更为显著.高产大豆的光合作用在鼓粒期达到最高值,光合作用日变化呈双峰曲线.在鼓粒期高产大豆的光合产物大量运往籽粒中,对于高产品种和高光效-"源"固然重要,而"流"-光合产物的合理运转和分配对产量则更为重要.