Optimizing purebred selection for crossbred performance using QTL with different degrees of dominance

A method was developed to optimize simultaneous selection for a quantitative trait with a known QTL within a male and a female line to maximize crossbred performance from a two-way cross. Strategies to maximize cumulative discounted response in crossbred performance over ten generations were derived by optimizing weights in an index of a QTL and phenotype. Strategies were compared to selection on purebred phenotype. Extra responses were limited for QTL with additive and partial dominance effects, but substantial for QTL with over-dominance, for which optimal QTL selection resulted in differential selection in male and female lines to increase the frequency of heterozygotes and polygenic responses. For over-dominant QTL, maximization of crossbred performance one generation at a time resulted in similar responses as optimization across all generations and simultaneous optimal selection in a male and female line resulted in greater response than optimal selection within a single line without crossbreeding. Results show that strategic use of information on over-dominant QTL can enhance crossbred performance without crossbred testing.     

Physical properties of myosin from aortic smooth muscle.

Porcine aortic myosin is a smooth muscle contractile protein similar to its striated muscle counterpart. Electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate indicates that the molecule consists of three classes of subunits with polypeptide chain molecular weights of 192,000, 19,000, and 15,000. At 277 nm the absorption spectrum gives an extinction coefficient for aortic myosin of 0.558 cm2/mg; the circular dichroism spectrum of the protein indicates that aortic myosin contains about 70% of its residues in the alpha-helical configuration. Amino acid analysis shows that the smooth muscle myosin has significantly more arginine and leucine and significantly less valine and isoleucine than rabbit skeletal muscle myosin. Other studies yielded these data: Vapp = 0.716 mL/g [eta] = 0.213 mL/mg, S20, w = 5.84 x 10(-13)S. Similar studies with rabbit skeletal muscle myosin indicate that Vapp = 0.711 mL/g and S20, w = 6.36 x 10(-13)S. These properties suggest that aortic myosin, like skeletal muscle myosin, behaves hydrodynamically like a rigid rod.     

Effect of postnatal development on calcium currents and slow charge movement in mammalian skeletal muscle

Single- (whole-cell patch) and two-electrode voltage-clamp techniques were used to measure transient (Ifast) and sustained (Islow) calcium currents, linear capacitance, and slow, voltage-dependent charge movements in freshly dissociated fibers of the flexor digitorum brevis (FDB) muscle of rats of various postnatal ages. Peak Ifast was largest in FDB fibers of neonatal (1-5 d) rats, having a magnitude in 10 mM external Ca of 1.4 +/- 0.9 pA/pF (mean +/- SD; current normalized by linear fiber capacitance). Peak Ifast was smaller in FDB fibers of older animals, and by approximately 3 wk postnatal, it was so small as to be unmeasurable. By contrast, the magnitudes of Islow and charge movement increased substantially during postnatal development. Peak Islow was 3.6 +/- 2.5 pA/pF in FDB fibers of 1-5-d rats and increased to 16.4 +/- 6.5 pA/pF in 45-50-d-old rats; for these same two age groups, Qmax, the total mobile charge measurable as charge movement, was 6.0 +/- 1.7 and 23.8 +/- 4.0 nC/microF, respectively. As both Islow and charge movement are thought to arise in the transverse-tubular system, linear capacitance normalized by the area of fiber surface was determined as an indirect measure of the membrane area of the t-system relative to that of the fiber surface. This parameter increased from 1.5 +/- 0.2 microF/cm2 in 2-d fibers to 2.9 +/- 0.4 microF/cm2 in 44-d fibers. The increases in peak Islow, Qmax, and normalized linear capacitance all had similar time courses. Although the function of Islow is unknown, the substantial postnatal increase in its magnitude suggests that it plays an important role in the physiology of skeletal muscle.     

Hybridization between Taeniatherum caput-medusae and Triticum aestívum (Poaceae)

Hybrid plants were obtained in an intergeneric cross between Taenìatherum caputmedusae (2n = 2x = 14) and Triticum aestívum (2n = 6x = 42). The chromosome number was as expected 2n = 28. Morphologically the offspring looked like Triticum aestívum . Analysis of meiotic metaphase I showed an unexpected high number of bi- and trivalents which is ascribed to homoeologous pairing of chromosomes from T. aestivum . It is concluded that the genome of Taeniatherum has effects on the pairing regulation system present in T. aestívum .     

DNA markers for downy mildew resistance genes in sorghum.

The random amplified polymorphic DNA technique was used to find markers for a downy mildew resistance gene in sorghum. Of the 674 random primers screened for polymorphism, 2 amplified fragments were linked to a downy mildew resistance gene in sorghum line SC414. Utilization of an existing restriction fragment length polymorphism mapping population (IS3620C x BTx623) also revealed two markers that are linked to a different resistance gene in another sorghum line, BTx623.     

Conversion of cephalosporin-c into 7-phenoxy-acetamido-cephalosporanic acid by acyltransferase of mutants of Penicillium chrysogenum

Summary We have tested the acyl-transferase of penicillin producing strains and penicillin-less mutants of Penicillium chrysogenum for their ability to exchange the d--aminoadipic acid side chain of cephalosporin-C with phenoxyacetic acid. We found the reaction in both types of strains.     

Vegetation types and patterns in Senegal based on multivariate analysis of field and NOAA-AVHRR satellite data

Abstract. Woody vegetation was studied in 44 sites in Senegal. Species composition and density were analysed with TWINSPAN and Canonical Correspondence Analysis; 16 vegetation types were defined. A supervised, multispectral and multitemporal classification of day and night, dry season NOAA-AVHRR imagery was used to identify their distribution with a classification accuracy ranging from 60–100%.     

Synthesis of low molecular weight RNA components A, C and D by polymerase II in alpha-amanitin-resistant hamster cells.

In an attempt to establish which RNA polymerase catalyzes the synthesis of the low molecular weight RNA components A, C and D, Ama 1 cells (mutant Chinese hamster cells) were used in experiments with addition of alpha-amanitin. Ama 1 cells contain an altered RNA polymerase II which is 800 times more resistant towards inhibition by alpha-amanitin than the wild type enzyme. Alpha-amanitin (up to 200 microgram/ml) added to these cells does not affect the synthesis of the low molecular weight RNAs A, C and D. These data together with our previous data showing that alpha-amanitin (0.5 - 5.0 microgram/ml) preferentially inhibits the synthesis of A, C and D in normal cells indicate that RNA polymerase II catalyzes the synthesis of the low molecular weight RNA components A, C and D.