Mapping of QTLs for lateral root branching and length in maize (Zea mays L.) under differential phosphorus supply

Barley straw is commonly used as animal feed in many developing countries. Even a small increase in its nutritive value can have a large impact on animal production, and hence, on rural livelihood and human nutrition. Straw quality is strongly affected by environmental factors and is, therefore, difficult to improve with empirical breeding. The objective of this study was to identify molecular markers to facilitate the improvement of straw quality in barley. For this purpose, we have used the genetic linkage map that was already developed for recombinant inbred lines (RILs) of the cross between a Hordeum vulgare cultivar (Arta) and a H. spontaneum line (H. spontaneum 41-1), covering a total of 890 cM. Straw parameters from RILs grown at Tel Hadya and Breda (ICARDAs research stations) in 2 years (1996/1997 and 1997/1998) were analyzed by NIRS for predicted nutritional characteristics including neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, lignin, digestible organic matter in dry matter, voluntary intake, crude protein, and straw morphology (the percentage of blades, sheaths, and stems). Localization of QTLs was performed using Windows QTL Cartographer, version 2.0. Seventy-three QTLs were identified, the majority of which (17) in the driest of the four environments. Only six QTLs were identified in two environments; in five cases, one of the two was the wettest environment. This is discussed in relation to the possibility of improving straw quality in favorable environments where yields are higher, rather than in dry environments where straw quality is already relatively good.     

Differentiation along a gradient of environmental productivity and predictability in populations of Hordeum spontaneum Koch: multilevel selection analysis

A contextual analysis combined with path analysis was applied to detect ecotype-specific past selection in hierarchically structured populations of wild barley, Hordeum spontaneum . In our analysis a multiple regression model incorporated several individual and ecotype-level unmeasured (derived) traits obtained by factor analysis from 20 measured morphological and phenological traits. Under favourable conditions (high water and nutrients) both individual and ecotype plant size (RF1) were significant predictors of individual plant fitness, estimated by either reproductive biomass or yield. Both individual and ecotype size of reproductive structures (RF2) were significantly related to individual reproductive biomass. Individual yield, however, significantly correlated with ecotype RF2 only. Transition to reproduction (RF3) correlated with neither reproductive biomass nor yield at individual level, but correlated with two estimates of fitness at ecotype level. In all cases, selection at the individual and ecotype levels was in opposition. We interpret the observed effect of ecotype identity on individual fitness not as a current group selection, but as a constraining effect of ecotype-specific past selection. The four ecotypes went through an environmentally specific selection process in their own environments with the optimal strategy evolved. Consequently, this strategy may have a constraining effect on plant performance in other environments. Under conditions of either low water or low nutrients the ecotype level did not contribute to individual fitness. The latter may suggest that a mechanism for plant responses to stress is largely independent of plant origin, with a difference between ecotypes under stressful conditions due entirely to the difference in amount, not architecture, of plasticity. © 2002 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2002, 75 , 313–318.     

Detection and analysis of genetic variation in Hordeum spontaneum populations from Israel using RAPD markers

Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used to analyse genetic diversity within and between Hordeum spontaneum populations sampled from Israel. Nei's index of genetic differentiation was used to partition diversity into within and between population components. Fifty-seven per cent of the variation detected was partitioned within 10 H. spontaneum populations. Using principal component and multiple regression analysis, part of the variation detected between populations was seen to be associated with certain ecogeographical factors. Fifty-eight per cent of the distribution of the phenotypic frequencies of three RAPD phenotypes detected using a single primer in 20 H. spontaneum populations could be accounted for by four ecogeographical variables, suggesting adaptive variation at certain RAPD loci.     

Evolutionary expansion and functional divergence of sugar transporters in Saccharum (S. spontaneum and S. officinarum)

The sugar transporter (ST) family is considered to be the most important gene family for sugar accumulation, but limited information about the ST family in the important sugar-yielding crop Saccharum is available due to its complex genetic background. Here, 105 ST genes were identified and clustered into eight subfamilies in Saccharum spontaneum. Comparative genomics revealed that tandem duplication events contributed to ST gene expansions of two subfamilies, PLT and STP, in S. spontaneum, indicating an early evolutionary step towards high sugar content in Saccharum. The analyses of expression patterns were based on four large datasets with a total of 226 RNA sequencing samples from S. spontaneum and Saccharum officinarum. The results clearly demonstrated 50 ST genes had different spatiotemporal expression patterns in leaf tissues, 10 STs were specifically expressed in the stem, and 10 STs responded to the diurnal rhythm. Heterologous expression experiments in the defective yeast strain EBY.VW4000 indicated STP13, pGlcT2, VGT3, and TMT4 are the STs with most affinity for glucose/fructose and SUT1_T1 has the highest affinity to sucrose. Furthermore, metabolomics analysis suggested STP7 is a sugar starvation-induced gene and STP13 has a function in retrieving sugar in senescent tissues. PLT11, PLT11_T1, TMT3, and TMT4 contributed to breaking the limitations of the storage sink. SUT1, SUT1_T1, PLT11, TMT4, pGlcT2, and VGT3 responded for different functions in these two Saccharum species. This study demonstrated the evolutionary expansion and functional divergence of the ST gene family and will enable the further investigation of the molecular mechanism of sugar metabolism in Saccharum.     

野生二棱大麦种子休眠型态与农艺性状及生态地理因素相关性研究

对来自以色列不同地区16个生态型野生二棱大麦种子的休眠型态与其农艺性状及起源地生态地里因素的相关性进行了研究。结果表明：高温（40℃）储藏可以打破种子的休眠;16个生态型种子在高温处理下的萌发率表现出显著差异,其休眠打破过程显示出不同型态的对数生长曲线：8个旱生生态型为S型,而8个湿生生态型为倒L型。休眠深度用实际达到最大萌发率的时间度量,最低休眠深度（15·6d）是来自湿润地区＂进化峡谷＂的生态型37-N,而最深休眠深度（103·1d）是来自干旱地区Ein-Zukim（死海附近）的生态型32-6。此外,对11个物候及农艺性状指标与休眠深度做斯皮尔曼秩相关分析,结果有9个显示出显著相关,尤其是粒重与休眠深度有极显著相关性。同时,休眠深度与起源地15个生态地理因素中的9个有显著相关,种子休眠主要受其起源地的地理位置、温度和水分条件等影响。可见,野生二棱大麦自然选择进化了休眠特性去应对干热环境而繁衍生息。本研究结果可用于进一步遗传研究和现代栽培大麦品种的改良。     

Genetic diversity among wild and cultivated barley as revealed by RFLP

Genetic variability of cultivated and wild barley, Hordeum vulgare ssp. vulgare and spontaneum, respectively, was assessed by RFLP analysis. The material consisted of 13 European varietes, single-plant offspring lines of eight land races from Ethiopia and Nepal, and five accessions of ssp. spontaneum from Israel, Iran and Turkey. Seventeen out of twenty-one studied cDNA and gDNA probes distributed across all seven barley chromosomes revealed polymorphism when DNA was digested with one of four restriction enzymes. A tree based on genetic distances using frequencies of RFLP banding patterns was estimated and the barley lines clustered into five groups reflecting geographical origin. The geographical groups of land-race lines showed less intragroup variation than the geographical groups of spontaneum lines. The group of European varieties, representing large variation in agronomic traits, showed an intermediate level. The proportion of gene diversity residing among geographical groups (F_ST) varied from 0.19 to 0.94 (average 0.54) per RFLP pattern, indicating large diversification between geographical groups.     

Genetic resources of wild barley in the Near East: structure, evolution and application in breeding

Genetic diversity and structure of populations of the wild progenitor of barley, Hordeum spontaneum, from three countries, Israel, Turkey and Iran, in the Near East Fertile Crescent, are compared and contrasted. The analysis is based on electrophoretically discernible allozymic variation in proteins encoded by 27 shared loci in 2125 individuals representing 52 populations of wild barley. The results indicate that: (a) H. spontaneum in the Near East Fertile Crescent is very variable genetically; (b) genetic differentiation of populations includes some clinal but primarily regional and local patterns often displaying sharp geographic differentiation over short distances; (c) the average relative genetic differentiation (G_st) was 54% within populations, 39% among populations, and 8% between the three countries; (d) allele distribution is characterized by a high proportion of unique alleles (51%), and a high proportion of common alleles that are distributed either locally or sporadically; (e) discriminant analysis by allele frequencies successfully clustered wild barley of each of the three countries (96% correct classification); (f) a substantial portion of the patterns of allozyme variation in the wild gene pool is significantly correlated with the environment and is predictable ecologically, chiefly by a combination of humidity and temperature variables; (g) natural populations of wild barley are, on the average, more variable than two composite crosses and land races of cultivated barley. The spatial patterns and environmental correlates and predictors of genetic variation of H, spontaneum in the Fertile Crescent indicate that genetic variation in wild barley populations is not only rich but at least partly adaptive and predictable by ecology and allozyme markers. Consequently, conservation and utilization programmes should optimize sampling strategies by following the ecological-genetic factors and allozyme markers as effectively predictive guidelines.     

云南割手密血缘F1代创新种质的因子和聚类分析

本试验对70份云南割手密血缘F1代创新种质材料8个工农艺性状进行了因子和聚类分析。因子分析中8个公因子保留前3个公因子,其累计贡献率达79.35%。第1公因子中载荷值较大的是单产、含糖量、公顷有效茎数、出苗率和分蘖率等性状;第2公因子中起主导作用的性状是茎径和株高两个产量因子;第3公因子只有11月理论蔗糖分起主导作用。以70份创新材料3个公因子的因子得分为指标,采用系统聚类中的最长距离法进行系统聚类分析。在遗传距离2.4处,参试材料被聚为十类,其中占参试材料总数的38.6%的第Ⅰ、Ⅳ、Ⅶ、Ⅷ、Ⅹ五类材料,表现高产;占参试材料82.8%的第Ⅰ、Ⅱ、Ⅳ、Ⅴ、Ⅵ、Ⅶ、Ⅸ七类材料,表现高糖,特别是其中占参试材料52.8%的Ⅰ、Ⅳ、Ⅴ、Ⅵ四类材料,11月理论蔗糖分均高于12%;占参试材料总数30%的第I、Ⅳ、Ⅶ三类材料,表现高产、高糖。这个分类结果为有针对性的利用这些创新种质材料培育高产、高糖创新亲本提供了科学依据。     

连续两年UV-B辐射增强对割手密叶绿素含量的影响

研究了大田栽培和自然光条件下,连续两年模拟紫外辐射(UV-B,280~315 nm)增加对92-11和93-25两个割手密无性系叶绿素含量的影响。结果表明,割手密92-11在UV-B辐射的影响下,叶绿素含量降低,而割手密93-25抗性很强,在增加了5 kJ/m2UV-B辐射下,其叶绿素含量增加。割手密叶绿素含量对UV-B辐射的响应具有种内差异。割手密92-11对紫外辐射的抗性在2004年比2003年强,而割手密93-25则相反。生育期中开花期受UV-B辐射影响最大,然后是分蘖期,伸长期抗性较强。