The oil palm Shell gene controls oil yield and encodes a homologue of SEEDSTICK

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Rajinder; Leslie Low, Eng-Ti; Ooi, Leslie Cheng-Li; Ong-Abdullah, Meilina; Chin, Ting Ngoot; Nagappan, Jayanthi; Nookiah, Rajanaidu; Amiruddin, Mohd Din; Rosli, Rozana; Abdul Manaf, Mohamad Arif; Chan, Kuang-Lim; Halim, Mohd Amin; Azizi, Norazah; Lakey, Nathan; Smith, Steven W; Budiman, Muhammad A; Hogan, Michael; Bacher, Blaire; Van Brunt, Andrew; Wang, Chunyan; Ordway, Jared M; Sambanthamurthi, Ravigadevi; Martienssen, Robert A

2014-01-01

A key event in the domestication and breeding of the oil palm, Elaeis guineensis, was loss of the thick coconut-like shell surrounding the kernel. Modern E. guineensis has three fruit forms, dura (thick-shelled), pisifera (shell-less) and tenera (thin-shelled), a hybrid between dura and pisifera1–4. The pisifera palm is usually female-sterile but the tenera yields far more oil than dura, and is the basis for commercial palm oil production in all of Southeast Asia5. Here, we describe the mapping and identification of the Shell gene responsible for the different fruit forms. Using homozygosity mapping by sequencing we found two independent mutations in the DNA binding domain of a homologue of the MADS-box gene SEEDSTICK (STK) which controls ovule identity and seed development in Arabidopsis. The Shell gene is responsible for the tenera phenotype in both cultivated and wild palms from sub-Saharan Africa, and our findings provide a genetic explanation for the single gene heterosis attributed to Shell, via heterodimerization. This gene mutation explains the single most important economic trait in oil palm, and has implications for the competing interests of global edible oil production, biofuels and rainforest conservation6. PMID:23883930

Yield risks in global maize markets: Historical evidence and projections in key regions of the world

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nelson B. Villoria

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Simultaneous worldwide crop failures stemming from a more unstable climate may reduce the scope for international trade to compensate food shortages and stabilize food prices across the various regions of the world. Understanding the effects of changes in crop productivity on global markets requires knowledge about the extent to which crop yields may be systematically related across producing and consuming centers. This short communication contributes to this knowledge by investigating the potential changes in the strength of two key sources of supply risks in global maize markets: yield variance and cross-country yield correlation. We focus on the largest producing and consuming countries of the world. We capitalize on yield projections from the Global Gridded Crop Model Intercomparison project. Exploratory analysis of the skill of the underlying GGCMI models in reproducing key moments of the distribution of observed yields reveals that they overstate observed variances but faithfully reproduce observed patterns of cross-country correlations. We find no evidence of an increase in the degree of cross-country dependency of maize yields. We also find a higher incidence of what would be considered extremely low maize yields by present-time standards stemming from the projected downward trend in yields levels toward mid-century. The weak dependency of maize yields across countries, an the possibility of reducing the higher incidence of extremes through policies aimed to reverse the climate-induced downward trends in yields, suggest that international trade can become a valuable tool to ameliorate the effects of more unstable crop yields. Keywords: Extremely low yields, Maize markets, Food prices, Agricultural yields, Systemic risk in agriculture, Global agriculture, AgMIP, Global gridded crop model intercomparison

Gene actions for yield and its attributes and their implications in the inheritance pattern over three generations in opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L.).

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Mishra, Brij K; Mishra, R; Jena, S N; Shukla, Sudhir

2016-09-01

The gene actions for yield and its attributes and their inheritance pattern based on five parameter model have been explored in four single crosses (NBIHT-5 × NBIHT-6, NBIHT-5 × NBMHT-1, NBMHT-1 × NBIHT-6 and NBMHT-2 × NBMHT-1) obtained using thebaine rich pure lines of opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L.) for three consecutive generations. All the traits showed nonallelic mode of interaction, however, dominance effect (h) was more pronounced for all the traits except thebaine and papaverine. The dominance × dominance (l) effects were predominant over additive × additive (i) for all traits in all the four crosses except for papaverine. The seed and opium yield, and its contributing traits inherited quantitatively. The fixable gene effects (d) and (i) were lower in magnitude than nonfixable (h) and (l) gene effects. The estimates of heterosis were also higher in comparison to the respective parents which suggested preponderance of dominance gene action for controlling most of the traits. The phenotypic coefficient of variation was marginally higher than those of genotypic coefficient of variation for all the traits. The traits thebaine, narcotine, morphine and opium yield had high heritability coupled with high genetic advance. The leaf number, branches per plant and stem diameter showed positive correlation with opium and seed yields. The selection of plants having large number of leaves, branches and capsules with bigger size would be advantageous to enhance the yield potential.

Are algal genes in nonphotosynthetic protists evidence of historical plastid endosymbioses?

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Tian Jing

2009-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background How photosynthetic organelles, or plastids, were acquired by diverse eukaryotes is among the most hotly debated topics in broad scale eukaryotic evolution. The history of plastid endosymbioses commonly is interpreted under the "chromalveolate" hypothesis, which requires numerous plastid losses from certain heterotrophic groups that now are entirely aplastidic. In this context, discoveries of putatively algal genes in plastid-lacking protists have been cited as evidence of gene transfer from a photosynthetic endosymbiont that subsequently was lost completely. Here we examine this evidence, as it pertains to the chromalveolate hypothesis, through genome-level statistical analyses of similarity scores from queries with two diatoms, Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Thalassiosira pseudonana, and two aplastidic sister taxa, Phytophthora ramorum and P. sojae. Results Contingency tests of specific predictions of the chromalveolate model find no evidence for an unusual red algal contribution to Phytophthora genomes, nor that putative cyanobacterial sequences that are present entered these genomes through a red algal endosymbiosis. Examination of genes unrelated to plastid function provide extraordinarily significant support for both of these predictions in diatoms, the control group where a red endosymbiosis is known to have occurred, but none of that support is present in genes specifically conserved between diatoms and oomycetes. In addition, we uncovered a strong association between overall sequence similarities among taxa and relative sizes of genomic data sets in numbers of genes. Conclusion Signal from "algal" genes in oomycete genomes is inconsistent with the chromalveolate hypothesis, and better explained by alternative models of sequence and genome evolution. Combined with the numerous sources of intragenomic phylogenetic conflict characterized previously, our results underscore the potential to be mislead by a posteriori

Variability of the caprine whey protein genes and their association with milk yield, composition and renneting properties in the Sarda breed. 1. The LALBA gene.

Science.gov (United States)

Dettori, Maria Luisa; Pazzola, Michele; Paschino, Pietro; Pira, Maria Giovanna; Vacca, Giuseppe Massimo

2015-11-01

The 5' flanking region and 3' UTR of the caprine LALBA gene were analysed by SSCP and sequencing. A total of nine SNPs were detected: three in the promoter region, two were synonymous coding SNPs at exon-1, and four SNPs were in exon-4, within the 3'UTR. The nucleotide changes located in the promoter region (c.-358T>C, c.-163G>A, c.-121T>G) were genotyped by SSCP in 263 Sarda goats to evaluate their possible effect on milk yield, composition and renneting properties. We observed an effect of the three SNPs on milk yield and lactose content. Genotypes TT and CT at c.-358T>C (P A (P C and c.-121T>G were part of transcription factors binding sites, potentially involved in modulating the LALBA gene expression. The LALBA genotype affected renneting properties (P < 0.001), as heterozygotes c.-358CT and c.-163GA were characterised by delayed rennet coagulation time and curd firming time and the lowest value of curd firmness. The present investigation increases the panel of SNPs and adds new information about the effects of the caprine LALBA gene polymorphism.

Impact of variation at the FTO locus on milk fat yield in Holstein dairy cattle.

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Zielke, Lea G; Bortfeldt, Ralf H; Reissmann, Monika; Tetens, Jens; Thaller, Georg; Brockmann, Gudrun A

2013-01-01

This study explores the biological role of the Fat Mass and Obesity associated (FTO) gene locus on milk composition in German Holstein cattle. Since FTO controls energy homeostasis and expenditure and the FTO locus has repeatedly shown association with obesity in human studies, we tested FTO as a candidate gene in particular for milk fat yield, which represents a high amount of energy secreted during lactation. The study was performed on 2,402 bulls and 860 cows where dense milk composition data were available. Genetic information was taken from a 2 Mb region around FTO. Five SNPs and two haplotype blocks in a 725 kb region covering FTO and the neighboring genes RPGRIP1L, U6ATAC, and 5 S rRNA were associated with milk fat yield and also affected protein yield in the same direction. Interestingly, higher frequency SNP alleles and haplotypes within the FTO gene increased milk fat and protein yields by up to 2.8 and 2.2 kg per lactation, respectively, while the most frequent haplotype in the upstream block covering exon 1 of FTO to exon 15 of RPGRIP1L had opposite effects with lower fat and milk yield. Both haplotype blocks were also significant in cows. The loci accounted for about 1% of the corresponding trait variance in the population. The association signals not only provided evidence for at least two causative mutations in the FTO locus with a functional effect on milk but also milk protein yield. The pleiotropic effects suggest a biological function on the usage of energy resources and the control of energy balance rather than directly affecting fat and protein synthesis. The identified effect of the obesity gene locus on milk energy content suggests an impact on infant nutrition by breast feeding in humans.

Impact of variation at the FTO locus on milk fat yield in Holstein dairy cattle.

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Lea G Zielke

Full Text Available This study explores the biological role of the Fat Mass and Obesity associated (FTO gene locus on milk composition in German Holstein cattle. Since FTO controls energy homeostasis and expenditure and the FTO locus has repeatedly shown association with obesity in human studies, we tested FTO as a candidate gene in particular for milk fat yield, which represents a high amount of energy secreted during lactation. The study was performed on 2,402 bulls and 860 cows where dense milk composition data were available. Genetic information was taken from a 2 Mb region around FTO. Five SNPs and two haplotype blocks in a 725 kb region covering FTO and the neighboring genes RPGRIP1L, U6ATAC, and 5 S rRNA were associated with milk fat yield and also affected protein yield in the same direction. Interestingly, higher frequency SNP alleles and haplotypes within the FTO gene increased milk fat and protein yields by up to 2.8 and 2.2 kg per lactation, respectively, while the most frequent haplotype in the upstream block covering exon 1 of FTO to exon 15 of RPGRIP1L had opposite effects with lower fat and milk yield. Both haplotype blocks were also significant in cows. The loci accounted for about 1% of the corresponding trait variance in the population. The association signals not only provided evidence for at least two causative mutations in the FTO locus with a functional effect on milk but also milk protein yield. The pleiotropic effects suggest a biological function on the usage of energy resources and the control of energy balance rather than directly affecting fat and protein synthesis. The identified effect of the obesity gene locus on milk energy content suggests an impact on infant nutrition by breast feeding in humans.

Genetic analysis of yield in peanut ( Arachis hypogaea L.) using ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The yield had significant major gene effect and the results implied that not only should the two major genes' effects be considered but also the polygene's effect should be considered in breeding to increase peanut yield. Key words: Peanut, yield, major gene plus polygene inheritance model, genetic analysis.

Pleiotropic effects of herbicide-resistance genes on crop yield: a review.

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Darmency, Henri

2013-08-01

The rapid adoption of genetically engineered herbicide-resistant crop varieties (HRCVs)-encompassing 83% of all GM crops and nearly 8% of the worldwide arable area-is due to technical efficiency and higher returns. Other herbicide-resistant varieties obtained from genetic resources and mutagenesis have also been successfully released. Although the benefit for weed control is the main criteria for choosing HRCVs, the pleiotropic costs of genes endowing resistance have rarely been investigated in crops. Here the available data of comparisons between isogenic resistant and susceptible varieties are reviewed. Pleiotropic harmful effects on yield are reported in half of the cases, mostly with resistance mechanisms that originate from genetic resources and mutagenesis (atrazine in oilseed rape and millet, trifluralin in millet, imazamox in cotton) rather than genetic engineering (chlorsulfuron and glufosinate in some oilseed rape varieties, glyphosate in soybean). No effect was found for sethoxydim and bromoxynil resistance. Variable minor effects were found for imazamox, chlorsulfuron, glufosinate and glyphosate resistance. The importance of the breeding plan and the genetic background on the emergence of these effects is pointed out. Breeders' efforts to produce better varieties could compensate for the yield loss, which eliminates any possibility of formulating generic conclusions on pleiotropic effects that can be applied to all resistant crops. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry.

Candidate genes for COPD: current evidence and research

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Kim WJ

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Woo Jin Kim,1 Sang Do Lee2 1Department of Internal Medicine and Environmental Health Center, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, 2Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Clinical Research Center for Chronic Obstructive Airway Diseases, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea Abstract: COPD is a common complex disease characterized by progressive airflow limitation. Several genome-wide association studies (GWASs have discovered genes that are associated with COPD. Recently, candidate genes for COPD identified by GWASs include CHRNA3/5 (cholinergic nicotine receptor alpha 3/5, IREB2 (iron regulatory binding protein 2, HHIP (hedgehog-interacting protein, FAM13A (family with sequence similarity 13, member A, and AGER (advanced glycosylation end product–specific receptor. Their association with COPD susceptibility has been replicated in multiple populations. Since these candidate genes have not been considered in COPD, their pathological roles are still largely unknown. Herein, we review some evidences that they can be effective drug targets or serve as biomarkers for diagnosis or subtyping. However, more study is required to understand the functional roles of these candidate genes. Future research is needed to characterize the effect of genetic variants, validate gene function in humans and model systems, and elucidate the genes’ transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulatory mechanisms. Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, genetics, genome-wide association study

Climate change impacts on crop yield: evidence from China.

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Wei, Taoyuan; Cherry, Todd L; Glomrød, Solveig; Zhang, Tianyi

2014-11-15

When estimating climate change impact on crop yield, a typical assumption is constant elasticity of yield with respect to a climate variable even though the elasticity may be inconstant. After estimating both constant and inconstant elasticities with respect to temperature and precipitation based on provincial panel data in China 1980-2008, our results show that during that period, the temperature change contributes positively to total yield growth by 1.3% and 0.4% for wheat and rice, respectively, but negatively by 12% for maize. The impacts of precipitation change are marginal. We also compare our estimates with other studies and highlight the implications of the inconstant elasticities for crop yield, harvest and food security. We conclude that climate change impact on crop yield would not be an issue in China if positive impacts of other socio-economic factors continue in the future. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Simulating the yield impacts of organ-level quantitative trait loci associated with drought response in maize: a "gene-to-phenotype" modeling approach.

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Chenu, Karine; Chapman, Scott C; Tardieu, François; McLean, Greg; Welcker, Claude; Hammer, Graeme L

2009-12-01

Under drought, substantial genotype-environment (G x E) interactions impede breeding progress for yield. Identifying genetic controls associated with yield response is confounded by poor genetic correlations across testing environments. Part of this problem is related to our inability to account for the interplay of genetic controls, physiological traits, and environmental conditions throughout the crop cycle. We propose a modeling approach to bridge this "gene-to-phenotype" gap. For maize under drought, we simulated the impact of quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling two key processes (leaf and silk elongation) that influence crop growth, water use, and grain yield. Substantial G x E interaction for yield was simulated for hypothetical recombinant inbred lines (RILs) across different seasonal patterns of drought. QTL that accelerated leaf elongation caused an increase in crop leaf area and yield in well-watered or preflowering water deficit conditions, but a reduction in yield under terminal stresses (as such "leafy" genotypes prematurely exhausted the water supply). The QTL impact on yield was substantially enhanced by including pleiotropic effects of these QTL on silk elongation and on consequent grain set. The simulations obtained illustrated the difficulty of interpreting the genetic control of yield for genotypes influenced only by the additive effects of QTL associated with leaf and silk growth. The results highlight the potential of integrative simulation modeling for gene-to-phenotype prediction and for exploiting G x E interactions for complex traits such as drought tolerance.

Polymorphisms in monolignol biosynthetic genes are associated with biomass yield and agronomic traits in European maize (Zea mays L.)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chen, Yongsheng; Zein, Imad; Brenner, Everton A

2010-01-01

Background Reduced lignin content leads to higher cell wall digestibility and, therefore, better forage quality and increased conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into ethanol. However, reduced lignin content might lead to weaker stalks, lodging, and reduced biomass yield. Genes encoding enzymes...

Association of candidate gene polymorphisms with milk technological traits, yield, composition, and somatic cell score in Italian Holstein-Friesian sires.

Science.gov (United States)

Viale, E; Tiezzi, F; Maretto, F; De Marchi, M; Penasa, M; Cassandro, M

2017-09-01

Advances in DNA-based marker technology have enabled the identification of genomic regions underlying complex phenotypic traits in livestock species. The incorporation of detected quantitative trait loci into genetic evaluation provides great potential to enhance selection accuracies, hence expediting the genetic improvement of economically important traits. The objective of the present study was to investigate 96 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) located in 53 candidate genes previously reported to have effects on milk production and quality traits in a population of highly selected Holstein-Friesian bulls. A total of 423 semen samples were used to genotype the bulls through a custom oligo pool assay. Forty-five SNP in 32 genes were found to be associated with at least 1 of the tested traits. Most significant and favorable SNP trait associations were observed for polymorphisms located in CCL3 and AGPAT6 genes for fat yield (0.037 and 0.033 kg/d, respectively), DGKG gene for milk yield (0.698 kg/d), PPARGC1A, CSN1S1, and AGPAT6 genes for fat percentage (0.127, 0.113, and 0.093%, respectively), GHR gene for protein (0.064%) and casein percentage (0.053%), and TLR4 gene for fat (0.090%), protein (0.066%), and casein percentage (0.050%). Somatic cell score was favorably affected by GHR (-0.095) and POU1F1 (-0.137), and interesting SNP-trait associations were observed for polymorphisms located in CSN2, POU1F1, and AGPAT6 genes for rennet coagulation time (-0.592, -0.558, and -0.462 min, respectively), and GHR and CSN2 genes for curd firmness 30 min after rennet addition (1.264 and 1.183 mm, respectively). In addition to the influence of individual SNP, the effects of composite genotypes constructed by grouping SNP according to their individual effects on traits considered in the analysis were also examined. Favorable and significant effects on milk traits were observed for 2 composite genotypes, one including 10 SNP and the other 4 SNP. The former was associated

Deleting multiple lytic genes enhances biomass yield and production of recombinant proteins by Bacillus subtilis.

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Wang, Yi; Chen, Zhenmin; Zhao, Ruili; Jin, Tingting; Zhang, Xiaoming; Chen, Xiangdong

2014-08-31

Bacillus subtilis is widely used in agriculture and industrial biotechnology; however, cell autolysis significantly decreases its yield in liquid cultures. Numerous factors mediate the lysis of B. subtilis, such as cannibalism factors, prophages, and peptidoglycan (PG) hydrolases. The aim of this work was to use molecular genetic techniques to develop a new strategy to prevent cell lysis and enhance biomass as well as the production of recombinant proteins. Five genes or genetic elements representing three different functional categories were studied as follows: lytC encoding PG hydrolases, the prophage genes xpf and yqxG-yqxH-cwlA (yGlA), and skfA and sdpC that encode cannibalism factors. Cell lysis was reduced and biomass was enhanced by deleting individually skfA, sdpC, xpf, and lytC. We constructed the multiple deletion mutant LM2531 (skfA sdpC lytC xpf) and found that after 4 h of culture, its biomass yield was significantly increased compared with that of prototypical B. subtilis 168 (wild-type) strain and that 15% and 92% of the cells were lysed in cultures of LM2531 and wild-type, respectively. Moreover, two expression vectors were constructed for producing recombinant proteins (β-galactosidase and nattokinase) under the control of the P43 promoter. Cultures of LM2531 and wild-type transformants produced 13741 U/ml and 7991 U/ml of intracellular β-galactosidase, respectively (1.72-fold increase). Further, the level of secreted nattokinase produced by strain LM2531 increased by 2.6-fold compared with wild-type (5226 IU/ml vs. 2028 IU/ml, respectively). Our novel, systematic multigene deletion approach designed to inhibit cell lysis significantly increased the biomass yield and the production of recombinant proteins by B. subtilis. These findings show promise for guiding efforts to manipulate the genomes of other B. subtilis strains that are used for industrial purposes.

The genetics of music accomplishment: evidence for gene-environment correlation and interaction.

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Hambrick, David Z; Tucker-Drob, Elliot M

2015-02-01

Theories of skilled performance that emphasize training history, such as K. Anders Ericsson and colleagues' deliberate-practice theory, have received a great deal of recent attention in both the scientific literature and the popular press. Twin studies, however, have demonstrated evidence for moderate-to-strong genetic influences on skilled performance. Focusing on musical accomplishment in a sample of over 800 pairs of twins, we found evidence for gene-environment correlation, in the form of a genetic effect on music practice. However, only about one quarter of the genetic effect on music accomplishment was explained by this genetic effect on music practice, suggesting that genetically influenced factors other than practice contribute to individual differences in music accomplishment. We also found evidence for gene-environment interaction, such that genetic effects on music accomplishment were most pronounced among those engaging in music practice, suggesting that genetic potentials for skilled performance are most fully expressed and fostered by practice.

Constitutive overexpression of the TaNF-YB4 gene in transgenic wheat significantly improves grain yield.

Science.gov (United States)

Yadav, Dinesh; Shavrukov, Yuri; Bazanova, Natalia; Chirkova, Larissa; Borisjuk, Nikolai; Kovalchuk, Nataliya; Ismagul, Ainur; Parent, Boris; Langridge, Peter; Hrmova, Maria; Lopato, Sergiy

2015-11-01

Heterotrimeric nuclear factors Y (NF-Ys) are involved in regulation of various vital functions in all eukaryotic organisms. Although a number of NF-Y subunits have been characterized in model plants, only a few have been functionally evaluated in crops. In this work, a number of genes encoding NF-YB and NF-YC subunits were isolated from drought-tolerant wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. RAC875), and the impact of the overexpression of TaNF-YB4 in the Australian wheat cultivar Gladius was investigated. TaNF-YB4 was isolated as a result of two consecutive yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) screens, where ZmNF-YB2a was used as a starting bait. A new NF-YC subunit, designated TaNF-YC15, was isolated in the first Y2H screen and used as bait in a second screen, which identified two wheat NF-YB subunits, TaNF-YB2 and TaNF-YB4. Three-dimensional modelling of a TaNF-YB2/TaNF-YC15 dimer revealed structural determinants that may underlie interaction selectivity. The TaNF-YB4 gene was placed under the control of the strong constitutive polyubiquitin promoter from maize and introduced into wheat by biolistic bombardment. The growth and yield components of several independent transgenic lines with up-regulated levels of TaNF-YB4 were evaluated under well-watered conditions (T1-T3 generations) and under mild drought (T2 generation). Analysis of T2 plants was performed in large deep containers in conditions close to field trials. Under optimal watering conditions, transgenic wheat plants produced significantly more spikes but other yield components did not change. This resulted in a 20-30% increased grain yield compared with untransformed control plants. Under water-limited conditions transgenic lines maintained parity in yield performance. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.

Gene Expression by PBMC in Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis: Evidence for Dysregulation of Immune Mediated Genes

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Christopher A. Aoki

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC is a chronic disease of the bile ducts characterized by an inflammatory infiltrate and obliterative fibrosis. The precise role of the immune system in the pathogenesis of PSC remains unknown. We used RNA microarray analysis to identify immune-related genes and pathways that are differentially expressed in PSC. Messenger RNA (mRNA from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC was isolated from both patients with PSC and age and sex matched healthy controls. Samples from 5 PSC patients and 5 controls were analyzed by microarray and based upon rigorous statistical analysis of the data, relevant genes were chosen for confirmation by RT-PCR in 10 PSC patients and 10 controls. Using unsupervised hierarchical clustering, gene expression in PSC was statistically different from our control population. Interestingly, genes within the IL-2 receptor beta, IL-6 and MAP Kinase pathways were found to be differently expressed in patients with PSC compared to controls. Further, individual genes, TNF-α induced protein 6 (TNFaip6 and membrane-spanning 4-domains, subfamily A (ms4a were found to be upregulated in PSC while similar to Mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 5 (SMAD 5 was downregulated. In conclusion, several immune-related pathways and genes were differentially expressed in PSC compared to control patients, giving further evidence that this disease is systemic and immune-mediated.

Variability of the caprine whey protein genes and their association with milk yield, composition and renneting properties in the Sarda breed: 2. The BLG gene.

Science.gov (United States)

Dettori, Maria Luisa; Pazzola, Michele; Pira, Emanuela; Puggioni, Ornella; Vacca, Giuseppe Massimo

2015-11-01

The variability of the promoter region and the 3'UTR (exon-7) of the BLG gene, encoding the β-lactoglobulin, was investigated by sequencing in 263 lactating Sarda goats in order to assess its association with milk traits. Milk traits included: milk yield, fat, total protein and lactose content, pH, daily fat and protein yield (DFPY), freezing point, milk energy, somatic cell count, total microbial mesophilic count, rennet coagulation time (RCT), curd firming rate (k20) and curd firmness (a30). A total of 7 polymorphic sites were detected and the sequence analysed was given accession number KM817769. Only three SNPs (c.-381C>T, c.-323C>T and c.*420C>A) had minor allele frequency higher than 0.05. The effects of farm, stage of lactation and the interaction farm × stage of lactation significantly influenced all the milk traits (P T and c.*420C>A (P T (P < 0.001). The c.-381TT homozygous goats showed lower pH, RCT and k20 than c.-381CT (P < 0.05). In conclusion the polymorphism of the goat BLG gene did not affect the total protein content of the Sarda goat milk, and only weakly influenced RCT and k20. On the other hand, an interesting effect on milk yields and DFPY emerged in two SNPs. This information might be useful in dairy goat breeding programs.

Tentative of observation of the {rho}{sup +} {yields} {pi}{sup +} + {gamma} decay mode; Tentative de mise en evidence du mode de desintegration {rho}{sup +} {yields} {pi}{sup +} + {gamma}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Daudin, A.; Jabiol, M.A.; Kochowski, C.; Lewin, C.; Rogozinski, A. [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires; Mongelli, S.; Romano, A.; Waloschek, P. [Istituto di Fisica dell' Universita, Bari (Italy)

1964-07-01

One of the purposes of the 1.6 GeV/c {pi}{sup +} p experiment, carried out in the 50 cm Saclay hydrogen bubble chamber, was to observe the {rho}{sup +} {yields} {pi}{sup +} {gamma} radiative decay mode in {pi}{sup +} p {yields} {pi}{sup +} p {gamma} interactions. A 6 mm thick lead plate, set at the outgoing part of the chamber, was used to convert {gamma} into e{sup +} e{sup -}. Among the {gamma} observed arising directly from the investigated interactions, no event originates from a {pi}{sup +} {gamma} compound in the region of {rho}{sup +}. This gives an upper limit of 2 per cent for the branching ratio ({rho}{sup +} {yields} {pi}{sup +} {gamma}) / ({rho}{sup +} {yields} {pi}{sup +} {gamma} + {rho}{sup +} {yields} {pi}{sup +} {pi}{sup 0}). (authors) [French] Une experience, dont l'un des buts etait de mettre en evidence le mode de desintegration radiatif du {rho}{sup +} en {pi}{sup +} {gamma} dans les interactions {pi}{sup +} p {yields} p {pi}{sup +} {gamma} a 1,6 GeV/c, a ete effectuee a l'aide de la chambre a bulles a hydrogene liquide de 50 cm de diametre de Saclay. Une plaque de plomb de 6 mm d'epaisseur, servant de convertisseur {gamma} {yields} e{sup +} e{sup -} a ete placee au sein du liquide a la sortie de la chambre. Parmi les y observes issus directement de l'interaction etudiee, aucun ne provient d'un complexe {pi}{sup +} {gamma} ayant la masse du {rho}{sup +}, ce qui fixe la limite superieure du rapport de branchement ({rho}{sup +} {yields} {pi}{sup +} {gamma}) / ({rho}{sup +} {yields} {pi}{sup +} {gamma} + {rho}{sup +} {yields} {pi}{sup +} {pi}{sup 0}) a 2 pour cent. (auteurs)

[The differences of the effects of Vrd1 and Ppd-D1 gene alleles on winterhardiness, frost resistance, and yield in winter wheat].

Science.gov (United States)

Mokanu, N V; Faĭt, V I

2008-01-01

The influence of allelic differences of Vrd1 and Ppd-D1 genes on winterhardiness, frost resistance, yield and its components was studied in recombinant-inbred F5 lines of Odesskaya 16/Bezostaya 1. From 9 to 15% differences in the resistance of recombinant-inbred lines were determined by alternative alleles of Vrd1 gene and 10-16% of Ppd-D1 gene. Interaction of vrd1 and Ppd-D1a alleles led to the higher winterhardiness and frost resistance of tillered plants during the winter. At the same time the significant increase of the period to heading, plant height and the tendency of yield reduction were revealed for vrd1 vrd1 Ppd-D1a Ppd-D1a lines when compared to the lines of Vrd1 Vrd1 Ppd-D1a Ppd-D1a genotype.

Large-scale Assessment Yields Evidence of Minimal Use of Reasoning Skills in Traditionally Taught Classes

Science.gov (United States)

Thacker, Beth

2017-01-01

Large-scale assessment data from Texas Tech University yielded evidence that most students taught traditionally in large lecture classes with online homework and predominantly multiple choice question exams, when asked to answer free-response (FR) questions, did not support their answers with logical arguments grounded in physics concepts. In addition to a lack of conceptual understanding, incorrect and partially correct answers lacked evidence of the ability to apply even lower level reasoning skills in order to solve a problem. Correct answers, however, did show evidence of at least lower level thinking skills as coded using a rubric based on Bloom's taxonomy. With the introduction of evidence-based instruction into the labs and recitations of the large courses and in a small, completely laboratory-based, hands-on course, the percentage of correct answers with correct explanations increased. The FR format, unlike other assessment formats, allowed assessment of both conceptual understanding and the application of thinking skills, clearly pointing out weaknesses not revealed by other assessment instruments, and providing data on skills beyond conceptual understanding for course and program assessment. Supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) Challenge grant #1RC1GM090897-01.

Evidence for positive selection on the leptin gene in Cetacea and Pinnipedia.

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Li Yu

Full Text Available The leptin gene has received intensive attention and scientific investigation for its importance in energy homeostasis and reproductive regulation in mammals. Furthermore, study of the leptin gene is of crucial importance for public health, particularly for its role in obesity, as well as for other numerous physiological roles that it plays in mammals. In the present work, we report the identification of novel leptin genes in 4 species of Cetacea, and a comparison with 55 publicly available leptin sequences from mammalian genome assemblies and previous studies. Our study provides evidence for positive selection in the suborder Odontoceti (toothed whales of the Cetacea and the family Phocidae (earless seals of the Pinnipedia. We also detected positive selection in several leptin gene residues in these two lineages. To test whether leptin and its receptor evolved in a coordinated manner, we analyzed 24 leptin receptor gene (LPR sequences from available mammalian genome assemblies and other published data. Unlike the case of leptin, our analyses did not find evidence of positive selection for LPR across the Cetacea and Pinnipedia lineages. In line with this, positively selected sites identified in the leptin genes of these two lineages were located outside of leptin receptor binding sites, which at least partially explains why co-evolution of leptin and its receptor was not observed in the present study. Our study provides interesting insights into current understanding of the evolution of mammalian leptin genes in response to selective pressures from life in an aquatic environment, and leads to a hypothesis that new tissue specificity or novel physiologic functions of leptin genes may have arisen in both odontocetes and phocids. Additional data from other species encompassing varying life histories and functional tests of the adaptive role of the amino acid changes identified in this study will help determine the factors that promote the adaptive

The rates of G:C[yields]T:A and G:C[yields]C:G transversions at CpG dinucleotides in the human factor IX gene

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ketterling, R.P.; Vielhaber, E.; Sommer, S.S. (Mayo Clinic/Foundation, Rochester, MN (United States))

1994-05-01

The authors have identified eight independent transversions at CpG in 290 consecutive families with hemophilia B. These eight transversions account for 16.3% of all independent transversions in the sample, yet the expected frequency of CpG transversions at random in the factor IX gene is only 2.6% (P<0.1). The aggregate data suggest that the two types of CpG transversions (G:C[yields]T:A and G:C[yields]C:G) possess similar mutation rates (24.8 [times] 10[sup [minus]10] and 20.6 [times] 10[sup [minus]10], respectively), which are about fivefold greater than the comparable rates for transversions at non-CpG dinucleotides. The enhancement of transversions at CpG suggest that the model by which mutations occur at CpG may need to be reevaluated. The relationship, if any, between deamination of 5-methyl cytosine and enhancement of transversions at CpG remains to be defined. 28 refs., 2 tabs.

Gene × Environment Interactions in Schizophrenia: Evidence from Genetic Mouse Models.

Science.gov (United States)

Moran, Paula; Stokes, Jennifer; Marr, Julia; Bock, Gavin; Desbonnet, Lieve; Waddington, John; O'Tuathaigh, Colm

2016-01-01

The study of gene × environment, as well as epistatic interactions in schizophrenia, has provided important insight into the complex etiopathologic basis of schizophrenia. It has also increased our understanding of the role of susceptibility genes in the disorder and is an important consideration as we seek to translate genetic advances into novel antipsychotic treatment targets. This review summarises data arising from research involving the modelling of gene × environment interactions in schizophrenia using preclinical genetic models. Evidence for synergistic effects on the expression of schizophrenia-relevant endophenotypes will be discussed. It is proposed that valid and multifactorial preclinical models are important tools for identifying critical areas, as well as underlying mechanisms, of convergence of genetic and environmental risk factors, and their interaction in schizophrenia.

Gene × Environment Interactions in Schizophrenia: Evidence from Genetic Mouse Models

Science.gov (United States)

Marr, Julia; Bock, Gavin; Desbonnet, Lieve; Waddington, John

2016-01-01

The study of gene × environment, as well as epistatic interactions in schizophrenia, has provided important insight into the complex etiopathologic basis of schizophrenia. It has also increased our understanding of the role of susceptibility genes in the disorder and is an important consideration as we seek to translate genetic advances into novel antipsychotic treatment targets. This review summarises data arising from research involving the modelling of gene × environment interactions in schizophrenia using preclinical genetic models. Evidence for synergistic effects on the expression of schizophrenia-relevant endophenotypes will be discussed. It is proposed that valid and multifactorial preclinical models are important tools for identifying critical areas, as well as underlying mechanisms, of convergence of genetic and environmental risk factors, and their interaction in schizophrenia. PMID:27725886

Integrated Enrichment Analysis of Variants and Pathways in Genome-Wide Association Studies Indicates Central Role for IL-2 Signaling Genes in Type 1 Diabetes, and Cytokine Signaling Genes in Crohn's Disease

Science.gov (United States)

Carbonetto, Peter; Stephens, Matthew

2013-01-01

Pathway analyses of genome-wide association studies aggregate information over sets of related genes, such as genes in common pathways, to identify gene sets that are enriched for variants associated with disease. We develop a model-based approach to pathway analysis, and apply this approach to data from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) studies. Our method offers several benefits over existing approaches. First, our method not only interrogates pathways for enrichment of disease associations, but also estimates the level of enrichment, which yields a coherent way to promote variants in enriched pathways, enhancing discovery of genes underlying disease. Second, our approach allows for multiple enriched pathways, a feature that leads to novel findings in two diseases where the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a major determinant of disease susceptibility. Third, by modeling disease as the combined effect of multiple markers, our method automatically accounts for linkage disequilibrium among variants. Interrogation of pathways from eight pathway databases yields strong support for enriched pathways, indicating links between Crohn's disease (CD) and cytokine-driven networks that modulate immune responses; between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and “Measles” pathway genes involved in immune responses triggered by measles infection; and between type 1 diabetes (T1D) and IL2-mediated signaling genes. Prioritizing variants in these enriched pathways yields many additional putative disease associations compared to analyses without enrichment. For CD and RA, 7 of 8 additional non-MHC associations are corroborated by other studies, providing validation for our approach. For T1D, prioritization of IL-2 signaling genes yields strong evidence for 7 additional non-MHC candidate disease loci, as well as suggestive evidence for several more. Of the 7 strongest associations, 4 are validated by other studies, and 3 (near IL-2 signaling genes RAF1, MAPK14

Outreach Science Education: Evidence-Based Studies in a Gene Technology Lab

Science.gov (United States)

Scharfenberg, Franz-Josef; Bogner, Franz X.

2014-01-01

Nowadays, outreach labs are important informal learning environments in science education. After summarizing research to goals outreach labs focus on, we describe our evidence-based gene technology lab as a model of a research-driven outreach program. Evaluation-based optimizations of hands-on teaching based on cognitive load theory (additional…

Gene × Environment Interactions in Schizophrenia: Evidence from Genetic Mouse Models

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Paula Moran

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The study of gene × environment, as well as epistatic interactions in schizophrenia, has provided important insight into the complex etiopathologic basis of schizophrenia. It has also increased our understanding of the role of susceptibility genes in the disorder and is an important consideration as we seek to translate genetic advances into novel antipsychotic treatment targets. This review summarises data arising from research involving the modelling of gene × environment interactions in schizophrenia using preclinical genetic models. Evidence for synergistic effects on the expression of schizophrenia-relevant endophenotypes will be discussed. It is proposed that valid and multifactorial preclinical models are important tools for identifying critical areas, as well as underlying mechanisms, of convergence of genetic and environmental risk factors, and their interaction in schizophrenia.

Materials and methods to increase plant growth and yield

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Kirst, Matias

2017-05-16

The present invention relates to materials and methods for modulating growth rates, yield, and/or resistance to drought conditions in plants. In one embodiment, a method of the invention comprises increasing expression of an hc1 gene (or a homolog thereof that provides for substantially the same activity), or increasing expression or activity of the protein encoded by an hc1 gene thereof, in a plant, wherein expression of the hc1 gene or expression or activity of the protein encoded by an hc1 gene results in increased growth rate, yield, and/or drought resistance in the plant.

Genetic analysis of yield in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) using ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Jane

2011-07-20

Jul 20, 2011 ... only should the two major genes' effects be considered but also the polygene's effect should be considered in breeding to increase peanut yield. Key words: Peanut, yield, major gene plus polygene inheritance model, genetic analysis. INTRODUCTION. Peanut consists of diploid (2n = 2x = 20), tetraploid ...

Increased yield of PCR products by addition of T4 gene 32 protein to the SMART PCR cDNA synthesis system.

Science.gov (United States)

Villalva, C; Touriol, C; Seurat, P; Trempat, P; Delsol, G; Brousset, P

2001-07-01

Under certain conditions, T4 gene 32 protein is known to increase the efficiency of different enzymes, such as Taq DNA polymerase, reverse transcriptase, and telomerase. In this study, we compared the efficiency of the SMART PCR cDNA synthesis kit with and without the T4 gene 32 protein. The use of this cDNA synthesis procedure, in combination with T4 gene 32 protein, increases the yield of RT-PCR products from approximately 90% to 150%. This effect is even observed for long mRNA templates and low concentrations of total RNA (25 ng). Therefore, we suggest the addition of T4 gene 32 protein in the RT-PCR mixture to increase the efficiency of cDNA synthesis, particularly in cases when low amounts of tissue are used.

Negative impacts of climate change on cereal yields: statistical evidence from France

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Gammans, Matthew; Mérel, Pierre; Ortiz-Bobea, Ariel

2017-05-01

In several world regions, climate change is predicted to negatively affect crop productivity. The recent statistical yield literature emphasizes the importance of flexibly accounting for the distribution of growing-season temperature to better represent the effects of warming on crop yields. We estimate a flexible statistical yield model using a long panel from France to investigate the impacts of temperature and precipitation changes on wheat and barley yields. Winter varieties appear sensitive to extreme cold after planting. All yields respond negatively to an increase in spring-summer temperatures and are a decreasing function of precipitation about historical precipitation levels. Crop yields are predicted to be negatively affected by climate change under a wide range of climate models and emissions scenarios. Under warming scenario RCP8.5 and holding growing areas and technology constant, our model ensemble predicts a 21.0% decline in winter wheat yield, a 17.3% decline in winter barley yield, and a 33.6% decline in spring barley yield by the end of the century. Uncertainty from climate projections dominates uncertainty from the statistical model. Finally, our model predicts that continuing technology trends would counterbalance most of the effects of climate change.

Evidence for natural selection at the melanocortin-3 receptor gene in European and African populations.

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Yoshiuchi, Issei

2016-08-01

Obesity is increasing steadily in worldwide prevalence and is known to cause serious health problems in association with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), including hypertension, stroke, and cardiovascular diseases. According to the thrifty gene hypothesis, the natural selection of obesity-related genes is important during feast and famine because they control body weight and fat levels. Past human adaptations to environmental changes in food supply, lifestyle, and geography may have influenced the selection of genes associated with the metabolism of glucose, lipids, and energy. The melanocortin-3 receptor gene (MC3R) is associated with obesity, with MC3R-deficient mice showing increased fat mass. MC3R variations are also linked with childhood obesity and insulin resistance. Here, we aimed to uncover evidence of selection at MC3R. We performed a three-step method to detect selection at MC3R using HapMap population data. We used Wright's F statistics as a measure of population differentiation, the long-range haplotype test to identify extended haplotypes, and the integrated haplotype score (iHS) to detect selection at MC3R. We observed high population differentiation between European and African populations at two MC3R childhood obesity- and insulin resistance-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (rs3746619 and rs3827103) using Wright's F statistics. The iHS revealed evidence of natural selection at MC3R. These findings provide evidence for natural selection at MC3R. Further investigation is warranted into adaptive evolution at T2DM- and obesity-associated genes.

Phylogenetic Evidence for Lateral Gene Transfer in the Intestine of Marine Iguanas

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, David M.; Cann, Isaac K. O.; Altermann, Eric; Mackie, Roderick I.

2010-01-01

Background Lateral gene transfer (LGT) appears to promote genotypic and phenotypic variation in microbial communities in a range of environments, including the mammalian intestine. However, the extent and mechanisms of LGT in intestinal microbial communities of non-mammalian hosts remains poorly understood. Methodology/Principal Findings We sequenced two fosmid inserts obtained from a genomic DNA library derived from an agar-degrading enrichment culture of marine iguana fecal material. The inserts harbored 16S rRNA genes that place the organism from which they originated within Clostridium cluster IV, a well documented group that habitats the mammalian intestinal tract. However, sequence analysis indicates that 52% of the protein-coding genes on the fosmids have top BLASTX hits to bacterial species that are not members of Clostridium cluster IV, and phylogenetic analysis suggests that at least 10 of 44 coding genes on the fosmids may have been transferred from Clostridium cluster XIVa to cluster IV. The fosmids encoded four transposase-encoding genes and an integrase-encoding gene, suggesting their involvement in LGT. In addition, several coding genes likely involved in sugar transport were probably acquired through LGT. Conclusion Our phylogenetic evidence suggests that LGT may be common among phylogenetically distinct members of the phylum Firmicutes inhabiting the intestinal tract of marine iguanas. PMID:20520734

Phylogenetic evidence for lateral gene transfer in the intestine of marine iguanas.

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David M Nelson

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Lateral gene transfer (LGT appears to promote genotypic and phenotypic variation in microbial communities in a range of environments, including the mammalian intestine. However, the extent and mechanisms of LGT in intestinal microbial communities of non-mammalian hosts remains poorly understood. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We sequenced two fosmid inserts obtained from a genomic DNA library derived from an agar-degrading enrichment culture of marine iguana fecal material. The inserts harbored 16S rRNA genes that place the organism from which they originated within Clostridium cluster IV, a well documented group that habitats the mammalian intestinal tract. However, sequence analysis indicates that 52% of the protein-coding genes on the fosmids have top BLASTX hits to bacterial species that are not members of Clostridium cluster IV, and phylogenetic analysis suggests that at least 10 of 44 coding genes on the fosmids may have been transferred from Clostridium cluster XIVa to cluster IV. The fosmids encoded four transposase-encoding genes and an integrase-encoding gene, suggesting their involvement in LGT. In addition, several coding genes likely involved in sugar transport were probably acquired through LGT. CONCLUSION: Our phylogenetic evidence suggests that LGT may be common among phylogenetically distinct members of the phylum Firmicutes inhabiting the intestinal tract of marine iguanas.

Phylogenetic evidence for lateral gene transfer in the intestine of marine iguanas.

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, David M; Cann, Isaac K O; Altermann, Eric; Mackie, Roderick I

2010-05-24

Lateral gene transfer (LGT) appears to promote genotypic and phenotypic variation in microbial communities in a range of environments, including the mammalian intestine. However, the extent and mechanisms of LGT in intestinal microbial communities of non-mammalian hosts remains poorly understood. We sequenced two fosmid inserts obtained from a genomic DNA library derived from an agar-degrading enrichment culture of marine iguana fecal material. The inserts harbored 16S rRNA genes that place the organism from which they originated within Clostridium cluster IV, a well documented group that habitats the mammalian intestinal tract. However, sequence analysis indicates that 52% of the protein-coding genes on the fosmids have top BLASTX hits to bacterial species that are not members of Clostridium cluster IV, and phylogenetic analysis suggests that at least 10 of 44 coding genes on the fosmids may have been transferred from Clostridium cluster XIVa to cluster IV. The fosmids encoded four transposase-encoding genes and an integrase-encoding gene, suggesting their involvement in LGT. In addition, several coding genes likely involved in sugar transport were probably acquired through LGT. Our phylogenetic evidence suggests that LGT may be common among phylogenetically distinct members of the phylum Firmicutes inhabiting the intestinal tract of marine iguanas.

Linkages among U.S. Treasury Bond Yields, Commodity Futures and Stock Market Implied Volatility: New Nonparametric Evidence

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Vychytilova Jana

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to explore specific cross-asset market correlations over the past fifteen- yearperiod-from January 04, 1999 till April 01, 2015, and within four sub-phases covering both the crisis and the non-crisis periods. On the basis of multivariate statistical methods, we focus on investigating relations between selected well-known market indices- U.S. treasury bond yields- the 30-year treasury yield index (TYX and the 10-year treasury yield (TNX; commodity futures the TR/J CRB; and implied volatility of S&P 500 index- the VIX. We estimate relative logarithmic returns by using monthly close prices adjusted for dividends and splits and run normality and correlation analyses. This paper indicates that the TR/J CRB can be adequately modeled by a normal distribution, whereas the rest of benchmarks do not come from a normal distribution. This paper, inter alia, points out some evidence of a statistically significant negative relationship between bond yields and the VIX in the past fifteen years and a statistically significant negative linkage between the TR/J CRB and the VIX since 2009. In rather general terms, this paper thereafter supports the a priori idea- financial markets are interconnected. Such knowledge can be beneficial for building and testing accurate financial market models, and particularly for the understanding and recognizing market cycles.

Reduction of oxidative cellular damage by overexpression of the thioredoxin TRX2 gene improves yield and quality of wine yeast dry active biomass

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Ros Joaquim

2010-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Wine Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains, adapted to anaerobic must fermentations, suffer oxidative stress when they are grown under aerobic conditions for biomass propagation in the industrial process of active dry yeast production. Oxidative metabolism of sugars favors high biomass yields but also causes increased oxidation damage of cell components. The overexpression of the TRX2 gene, coding for a thioredoxin, enhances oxidative stress resistance in a wine yeast strain model. The thioredoxin and also the glutathione/glutaredoxin system constitute the most important defense against oxidation. Trx2p is also involved in the regulation of Yap1p-driven transcriptional response against some reactive oxygen species. Results Laboratory scale simulations of the industrial active dry biomass production process demonstrate that TRX2 overexpression increases the wine yeast final biomass yield and also its fermentative capacity both after the batch and fed-batch phases. Microvinifications carried out with the modified strain show a fast start phenotype derived from its enhanced fermentative capacity and also increased content of beneficial aroma compounds. The modified strain displays an increased transcriptional response of Yap1p regulated genes and other oxidative stress related genes. Activities of antioxidant enzymes like Sod1p, Sod2p and catalase are also enhanced. Consequently, diminished oxidation of lipids and proteins is observed in the modified strain, which can explain the improved performance of the thioredoxin overexpressing strain. Conclusions We report several beneficial effects of overexpressing the thioredoxin gene TRX2 in a wine yeast strain. We show that this strain presents an enhanced redox defense. Increased yield of biomass production process in TRX2 overexpressing strain can be of special interest for several industrial applications.

Gene cluster statistics with gene families.

Science.gov (United States)

Raghupathy, Narayanan; Durand, Dannie

2009-05-01

Identifying genomic regions that descended from a common ancestor is important for understanding the function and evolution of genomes. In distantly related genomes, clusters of homologous gene pairs are evidence of candidate homologous regions. Demonstrating the statistical significance of such "gene clusters" is an essential component of comparative genomic analyses. However, currently there are no practical statistical tests for gene clusters that model the influence of the number of homologs in each gene family on cluster significance. In this work, we demonstrate empirically that failure to incorporate gene family size in gene cluster statistics results in overestimation of significance, leading to incorrect conclusions. We further present novel analytical methods for estimating gene cluster significance that take gene family size into account. Our methods do not require complete genome data and are suitable for testing individual clusters found in local regions, such as contigs in an unfinished assembly. We consider pairs of regions drawn from the same genome (paralogous clusters), as well as regions drawn from two different genomes (orthologous clusters). Determining cluster significance under general models of gene family size is computationally intractable. By assuming that all gene families are of equal size, we obtain analytical expressions that allow fast approximation of cluster probabilities. We evaluate the accuracy of this approximation by comparing the resulting gene cluster probabilities with cluster probabilities obtained by simulating a realistic, power-law distributed model of gene family size, with parameters inferred from genomic data. Surprisingly, despite the simplicity of the underlying assumption, our method accurately approximates the true cluster probabilities. It slightly overestimates these probabilities, yielding a conservative test. We present additional simulation results indicating the best choice of parameter values for data

An exceptional horizontal gene transfer in plastids: gene replacement by a distant bacterial paralog and evidence that haptophyte and cryptophyte plastids are sisters

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Palmer Jeffrey D

2006-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Horizontal gene transfer (HGT to the plant mitochondrial genome has recently been shown to occur at a surprisingly high rate; however, little evidence has been found for HGT to the plastid genome, despite extensive sequencing. In this study, we analyzed all genes from sequenced plastid genomes to unearth any neglected cases of HGT and to obtain a measure of the overall extent of HGT to the plastid. Results Although several genes gave strongly supported conflicting trees under certain conditions, we are confident of HGT in only a single case beyond the rubisco HGT already reported. Most of the conflicts involved near neighbors connected by long branches (e.g. red algae and their secondary hosts, where phylogenetic methods are prone to mislead. However, three genes – clpP, ycf2, and rpl36 – provided strong support for taxa moving far from their organismal position. Further taxon sampling of clpP and ycf2 resulted in rejection of HGT due to long-branch attraction and a serious error in the published plastid genome sequence of Oenothera elata, respectively. A single new case, a bacterial rpl36 gene transferred into the ancestor of the cryptophyte and haptophyte plastids, appears to be a true HGT event. Interestingly, this rpl36 gene is a distantly related paralog of the rpl36 type found in other plastids and most eubacteria. Moreover, the transferred gene has physically replaced the native rpl36 gene, yet flanking genes and intergenic regions show no sign of HGT. This suggests that gene replacement somehow occurred by recombination at the very ends of rpl36, without the level and length of similarity normally expected to support recombination. Conclusion The rpl36 HGT discovered in this study is of considerable interest in terms of both molecular mechanism and phylogeny. The plastid acquisition of a bacterial rpl36 gene via HGT provides the first strong evidence for a sister-group relationship between haptophyte and

An exceptional horizontal gene transfer in plastids: gene replacement by a distant bacterial paralog and evidence that haptophyte and cryptophyte plastids are sisters

Science.gov (United States)

Rice, Danny W; Palmer, Jeffrey D

2006-01-01

Background Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) to the plant mitochondrial genome has recently been shown to occur at a surprisingly high rate; however, little evidence has been found for HGT to the plastid genome, despite extensive sequencing. In this study, we analyzed all genes from sequenced plastid genomes to unearth any neglected cases of HGT and to obtain a measure of the overall extent of HGT to the plastid. Results Although several genes gave strongly supported conflicting trees under certain conditions, we are confident of HGT in only a single case beyond the rubisco HGT already reported. Most of the conflicts involved near neighbors connected by long branches (e.g. red algae and their secondary hosts), where phylogenetic methods are prone to mislead. However, three genes – clpP, ycf2, and rpl36 – provided strong support for taxa moving far from their organismal position. Further taxon sampling of clpP and ycf2 resulted in rejection of HGT due to long-branch attraction and a serious error in the published plastid genome sequence of Oenothera elata, respectively. A single new case, a bacterial rpl36 gene transferred into the ancestor of the cryptophyte and haptophyte plastids, appears to be a true HGT event. Interestingly, this rpl36 gene is a distantly related paralog of the rpl36 type found in other plastids and most eubacteria. Moreover, the transferred gene has physically replaced the native rpl36 gene, yet flanking genes and intergenic regions show no sign of HGT. This suggests that gene replacement somehow occurred by recombination at the very ends of rpl36, without the level and length of similarity normally expected to support recombination. Conclusion The rpl36 HGT discovered in this study is of considerable interest in terms of both molecular mechanism and phylogeny. The plastid acquisition of a bacterial rpl36 gene via HGT provides the first strong evidence for a sister-group relationship between haptophyte and cryptophyte plastids to the

ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase gene plays a key role in the quality of corm and yield of cormels in gladiolus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seng, Shanshan; Wu, Jian; Sui, Juanjuan; Wu, Chenyu; Zhong, Xionghui; Liu, Chen; Liu, Chao; Gong, Benhe; Zhang, Fengqin; He, Junna; Yi, Mingfang

2016-01-01

Starch is the main storage compound in underground organs like corms. ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase) plays a key role in regulating starch biosynthesis in storage organs and is likely one of the most important determinant of sink strength. Here, we identify an AGPase gene (GhAGPS1) from gladiolus. The highest transcriptional levels of GhAGPS1 were observed in cormels and corms. Transformation of GhAGPS1 into Arabidopsis rescued the phenotype of aps1 mutant. Silencing GhAGPS1 in gladiolus corms by virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) decreased the transcriptional levels of two genes and starch content. Transmission electron microscopy analyses of leaf and corm sections confirmed that starch biosynthesis was inhibited. Corm weight and cormel number reduced significantly in the silenced plants. Taken together, these results indicate that inhibiting the expression of AGPase gene could impair starch synthesis, which results in the lowered corm quality and cormel yield in gladiolus. -- Highlights: •Cormel quantity was reduced significantly in silenced Gladiolus plants. •Corm quality was declined significantly in silenced Gladiolus plants. •Starch synthesis was inhibited in silenced Gladiolus plants.

ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase gene plays a key role in the quality of corm and yield of cormels in gladiolus

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Seng, Shanshan, E-mail: seshsh108@126.com [Beijing Key Laboratory of Development and Quality Control of Ornamental Crops, Department of Ornamental Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, China Agricultural University, Yuan Mingyuan Western Road 2#, Beijing 100193 (China); Wu, Jian [Beijing Key Laboratory of Development and Quality Control of Ornamental Crops, Department of Ornamental Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, China Agricultural University, Yuan Mingyuan Western Road 2#, Beijing 100193 (China); Sui, Juanjuan [Beijing Key Laboratory of Development and Quality Control of Ornamental Crops, Department of Ornamental Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, China Agricultural University, Yuan Mingyuan Western Road 2#, Beijing 100193 (China); College of Biology, Fuyang Normal College, Qinghe Western Road 100#, Fuyang 236037, Anhui (China); Wu, Chenyu; Zhong, Xionghui; Liu, Chen; Liu, Chao; Gong, Benhe; Zhang, Fengqin; He, Junna [Beijing Key Laboratory of Development and Quality Control of Ornamental Crops, Department of Ornamental Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, China Agricultural University, Yuan Mingyuan Western Road 2#, Beijing 100193 (China); Yi, Mingfang, E-mail: ymfang@cau.edu.cn [Beijing Key Laboratory of Development and Quality Control of Ornamental Crops, Department of Ornamental Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, China Agricultural University, Yuan Mingyuan Western Road 2#, Beijing 100193 (China)

2016-05-20

Starch is the main storage compound in underground organs like corms. ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase) plays a key role in regulating starch biosynthesis in storage organs and is likely one of the most important determinant of sink strength. Here, we identify an AGPase gene (GhAGPS1) from gladiolus. The highest transcriptional levels of GhAGPS1 were observed in cormels and corms. Transformation of GhAGPS1 into Arabidopsis rescued the phenotype of aps1 mutant. Silencing GhAGPS1 in gladiolus corms by virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) decreased the transcriptional levels of two genes and starch content. Transmission electron microscopy analyses of leaf and corm sections confirmed that starch biosynthesis was inhibited. Corm weight and cormel number reduced significantly in the silenced plants. Taken together, these results indicate that inhibiting the expression of AGPase gene could impair starch synthesis, which results in the lowered corm quality and cormel yield in gladiolus. -- Highlights: •Cormel quantity was reduced significantly in silenced Gladiolus plants. •Corm quality was declined significantly in silenced Gladiolus plants. •Starch synthesis was inhibited in silenced Gladiolus plants.

Overexpression of the WOX gene STENOFOLIA improves biomass yield and sugar release in transgenic grasses and display altered cytokinin homeostasis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hui Wang

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Lignocellulosic biomass can be a significant source of renewable clean energy with continued improvement in biomass yield and bioconversion strategies. In higher plants, the leaf blade is the central energy convertor where solar energy and CO2 are assimilated to make the building blocks for biomass production. Here we report that introducing the leaf blade development regulator STENOFOLIA (STF, a WOX family transcription factor, into the biofuel crop switchgrass, significantly improves both biomass yield and sugar release. We found that STF overexpressing switchgrass plants produced approximately 2-fold more dry biomass and release approximately 1.8-fold more solubilized sugars without pretreatment compared to controls. The biomass increase was attributed mainly to increased leaf width and stem thickness, which was also consistent in STF transgenic rice and Brachypodium, and appeared to be caused by enhanced cell proliferation. STF directly binds to multiple regions in the promoters of some cytokinin oxidase/dehydrogenase (CKX genes and represses their expression in all three transgenic grasses. This repression was accompanied by a significant increase in active cytokinin content in transgenic rice leaves, suggesting that the increase in biomass productivity and sugar release could at least in part be associated with improved cytokinin levels caused by repression of cytokinin degrading enzymes. Our study provides a new tool for improving biomass feedstock yield in bioenergy crops, and uncovers a novel mechanistic insight in the function of STF, which may also apply to other repressive WOX genes that are master regulators of several key plant developmental programs.

Evidence for widespread degradation of gene control regions in hominid genomes.

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Peter D Keightley

2005-02-01

Full Text Available Although sequences containing regulatory elements located close to protein-coding genes are often only weakly conserved during evolution, comparisons of rodent genomes have implied that these sequences are subject to some selective constraints. Evolutionary conservation is particularly apparent upstream of coding sequences and in first introns, regions that are enriched for regulatory elements. By comparing the human and chimpanzee genomes, we show here that there is almost no evidence for conservation in these regions in hominids. Furthermore, we show that gene expression is diverging more rapidly in hominids than in murids per unit of neutral sequence divergence. By combining data on polymorphism levels in human noncoding DNA and the corresponding human-chimpanzee divergence, we show that the proportion of adaptive substitutions in these regions in hominids is very low. It therefore seems likely that the lack of conservation and increased rate of gene expression divergence are caused by a reduction in the effectiveness of natural selection against deleterious mutations because of the low effective population sizes of hominids. This has resulted in the accumulation of a large number of deleterious mutations in sequences containing gene control elements and hence a widespread degradation of the genome during the evolution of humans and chimpanzees.

Evidence for gene flow between two sympatric mealybug species (Insecta; Coccoidea; Pseudococcidae.

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Hofit Kol-Maimon

Full Text Available Occurrence of inter-species hybrids in natural populations might be evidence of gene flow between species. In the present study we found evidence of gene flow between two sympatric, genetically related scale insect species--the citrus mealybug Planococcus citri (Risso and the vine mealybug Planococcus ficus (Signoret. These species can be distinguished by morphological, behavioral, and molecular traits. We employed the sex pheromones of the two respective species to study their different patterns of male attraction. We also used nuclear ITS2 (internal transcribed spacer 2 and mitochondrial COI (Cytochrome c oxidase sub unit 1 DNA sequences to characterize populations of the two species, in order to demonstrate the outcome of a possible gene flow between feral populations of the two species. Our results showed attraction to P. ficus pheromones of all tested populations of P. citri males but not vice versa. Furthermore, ITS2 sequences revealed the presence of 'hybrid females' among P. citri populations but not among those of P. ficus. 'hybrid females' from P. citri populations identified as P. citri females according to COI sequences. We offer two hypotheses for these results. 1 The occurrence of phenotypic and genotypic traits of P. ficus in P. citri populations may be attributed to both ancient and contemporary gene flow between their populations; and 2 we cannot rule out that an ancient sympatric speciation by which P. ficus emerged from P. citri might have led to the present situation of shared traits between these species. In light of these findings we also discuss the origin of the studied species and the importance of the pherotype phenomenon as a tool with which to study genetic relationships between congener scale insects.

Rice Research to Break Yield Barriers

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Verma, Vivek; Ramamoorthy, Rengasamy; Kohli, Ajay; Kumar, Prakash P.

2015-10-01

The world’s population continues to expand and it is expected to cross 9 billion by 2050. This would significantly amplify the demand for food, which will pose serious threats to global food security. Additional challenges are being imposed due to a gradual decrease in the total arable land and global environmental changes. Hence, it is of utmost importance to review and revise the existing food production strategies by incorporating novel biotechnological approaches that can help to break the crop yield barriers in the near future. In this review, we highlight some of the concerns hampering crop yield enhancements. The review also focuses on modern breeding techniques based on genomics as well as proven biotechnological approaches that enable identification and utilization of candidate genes. Another aspect of discussion is the important area of research, namely hormonal regulation of plant development, which is likely to yield valuable regulatory genes for such crop improvement efforts in the future. These strategies can serve as potential tools for developing elite crop varieties for feeding the growing billions.

Improvement of daptomycin yield by overexpression of the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The effects of the accessory genes flanking the non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) genes on daptomycin production were investigated by overexpression under the control of ermE* promoter via the integrative Escherichia coli–Streptomyces vector pIB139. The yield of daptomycin was promoted significantly when ...

Comparative Transcriptome Analysis Reveals Different Silk Yields of Two Silkworm Strains.

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Juan Li

Full Text Available Cocoon and silk yields are the most important characteristics of sericulture. However, few studies have examined the genes that modulate these features. Further studies of these genes will be useful for improving the products of sericulture. JingSong (JS and Lan10 (L10 are two strains having significantly different cocoon and silk yields. In the current study, RNA-Seq and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR were performed on both strains in order to determine divergence of the silk gland, which controls silk biosynthesis in silkworms. Compared with L10, JS had 1375 differentially expressed genes (DEGs; 738 up-regulated genes and 673 down-regulated genes. Nine enriched gene ontology (GO terms were identified by GO enrichment analysis based on these DEGs. KEGG enrichment analysis results showed that the DEGs were enriched in three pathways, which were mainly associated with the processing and biosynthesis of proteins. The representative genes in the enrichment pathways and ten significant DEGs were further verified by qPCR, the results of which were consistent with the RNA-Seq data. Our study has revealed differences in silk glands between the two silkworm strains and provides a perspective for understanding the molecular mechanisms determining silk yield.

Evidence for the intense exchange of MazG in marine cyanophages by horizontal gene transfer.

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Michael J Bryan

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: S-PM2 is a phage capable of infecting strains of unicellular cyanobacteria belonging to the genus Synechococcus. S-PM2, like other myoviruses infecting marine cyanobacteria, encodes a number of bacterial-like genes. Amongst these genes is one encoding a MazG homologue that is hypothesized to be involved in the adaption of the infected host for production of progeny phage. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: This study focuses on establishing the occurrence of mazG homologues in other cyanophages isolated from different oceanic locations. Degenerate PCR primers were designed using the mazG gene of S-PM2. The mazG gene was found to be widely distributed and highly conserved among Synechococcus myoviruses and podoviruses from diverse oceanic provinces. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This study provides evidence of a globally connected cyanophage gene pool, the cyanophage mazG gene having a small effective population size indicative of rapid lateral gene transfer despite being present in a substantial fraction of cyanophage. The Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus phage mazG genes do not cluster with the host mazG gene, suggesting that their primary hosts are not the source of the mazG gene.

Positioning the expanded akirin gene family of Atlantic salmon within the transcriptional networks of myogenesis

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Macqueen, Daniel J., E-mail: djm59@st-andrews.ac.uk [Laboratory of Physiological and Evolutionary Genomics, Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 8LB (United Kingdom); Bower, Neil I., E-mail: nib@st-andrews.ac.uk [Laboratory of Physiological and Evolutionary Genomics, Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 8LB (United Kingdom); Johnston, Ian A., E-mail: iaj@st-andrews.ac.uk [Laboratory of Physiological and Evolutionary Genomics, Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 8LB (United Kingdom)

2010-10-01

Research highlights: {yields} The expanded akirin gene family of Atlantic salmon was characterised. {yields} akirin paralogues are regulated between mono- and multi-nucleated muscle cells. {yields} akirin paralogues positioned within known genetic networks controlling myogenesis. {yields} Co-expression of akirin paralogues is evident across cell types/during myogenesis. {yields} Selection has likely maintained common regulatory elements among akirin paralogues. -- Abstract: Vertebrate akirin genes usually form a family with one-to-three members that regulate gene expression during the innate immune response, carcinogenesis and myogenesis. We recently established that an expanded family of eight akirin genes is conserved across salmonid fish. Here, we measured mRNA levels of the akirin family of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) during the differentiation of primary myoblasts cultured from fast-skeletal muscle. Using hierarchical clustering and correlation, the data was positioned into a network of expression profiles including twenty further genes that regulate myogenesis. akirin1(2b) was not significantly regulated during the maturation of the cell culture. akirin2(1a) and 2(1b), along with IGF-II and several igfbps, were most highly expressed in mononuclear cells, then significantly and constitutively downregulated as differentiation proceeded and myotubes formed/matured. Conversely, akirin1(1a), 1(1b), 1(2a), 2(2a) and 2(2b) were expressed at lowest levels when mononuclear cells dominated the culture and highest levels when confluent layers of myotubes were evident. However, akirin1(2a) and 2(2a) were first upregulated earlier than akirin1(1a), 1(1b) and 2(2b), when rates of myoblast proliferation were highest. Interestingly, akirin1(1b), 1(2a), 2(2a) and 2(2b) formed part of a module of co-expressed genes involved in muscle differentiation, including myod1a, myog, mef2a, 14-3-3{beta} and 14-3-3{gamma}. All akirin paralogues were expressed ubiquitously across ten

Genetic control of late blight, yield and some yield related traits in tomato (lycopersicon esculentum mill.)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saleem, M.Y.; Asghar, M.; Khan, A.R.; Iqbal, Q.

2011-01-01

Genetic control of late blight (LB) and some economic traits was assessed to identify genotypes suitable for the hybrids were derived from crossing of 2 male sterile lines viz., development of late blight resistant hybrids in tomato. 10 F/sub 1/ hybrid were derived from crossing of 2 male sterile lines viz., TMS1 and TMS2 with 5 elite lines viz., Nagina, Riogrande, Roma, 88572 and Picdenato according to line x tester technique. Disease resistance was measured using detached leaf and whole plant assay techniques. Data were also recorded for days to maturity, number of fruit per plant, single fruit weight and yield per plant. The analysis of variance showed significant differences among crosses, lines, testers and line x tester interaction for almost all parameters. Estimate of genetic components indicated preponderance of additive type of gene action for detached leaf assay, whole plant assay, number of fruit per plant and yield per plant whereas non-additive type of gene action for days to maturity and single fruit weight. Among parents, TMS2, Nagina, Roma and Picdenato showed significant favorable general combing ability (GCA) effects for disease rating traits while TMS1 and Riogrande indicated desirable GCA effects for yield and some yield related traits. Among hybrids, TMS2 x Roma and TMS1 x Riogrande had significant specific combing ability (SCA) effects for detached and whole plant assays. However, hybrid TMS2 x Roma appeared as good combination of LB resistance as it had both parents with desirable GCA effects. All hybrids showed average type of SCA effects for yield and yield components. Genetic control of LB revealed that a multiple crossing program involving genotypes with high GCA effects would be rewarding to identify LB resistant genotypes in early generations. (author)

Enhancing the gene-environment interaction framework through a quasi-experimental research design: evidence from differential responses to September 11.

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Fletcher, Jason M

2014-01-01

This article uses a gene-environment interaction framework to examine the differential responses to an objective external stressor based on genetic variation in the production of depressive symptoms. This article advances the literature by utilizing a quasi-experimental environmental exposure design, as well as a regression discontinuity design, to control for seasonal trends, which limit the potential for gene-environment correlation and allow stronger causal claims. Replications are attempted for two prominent genes (5-HTT and MAOA), and three additional genes are explored (DRD2, DRD4, and DAT1). This article provides evidence of a main effect of 9/11 on reports of feelings of sadness and fails to replicate a common finding of interaction using 5-HTT but does show support for interaction with MAOA in men. It also provides new evidence that variation in the DRD4 gene modifies an individual's response to the exposure, with individuals with no 7-repeats found to have a muted response.

Cytoplasmic-genetic male sterility gene provides direct evidence for some hybrid rice recently evolving into weedy rice

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Zhang, Jingxu; Lu, Zuomei; Dai, Weimin; Song, Xiaoling; Peng, Yufa; Valverde, Bernal E.; Qiang, Sheng

2015-01-01

Weedy rice infests paddy fields worldwide at an alarmingly increasing rate. There is substantial evidence indicating that many weedy rice forms originated from or are closely related to cultivated rice. There is suspicion that the outbreak of weedy rice in China may be related to widely grown hybrid rice due to its heterosis and the diversity of its progeny, but this notion remains unsupported by direct evidence. We screened weedy rice accessions by both genetic and molecular marker tests for the cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) genes (Wild abortive, WA, and Boro type, BT) most widely used in the production of indica and japonica three-line hybrid rice as a diagnostic trait of direct parenthood. Sixteen weedy rice accessions of the 358 tested (4.5%) contained the CMS-WA gene; none contained the CMS-BT gene. These 16 accessions represent weedy rices recently evolved from maternal hybrid rice derivatives, given the primarily maternal inheritance of this trait. Our results provide key direct evidence that hybrid rice can be involved in the evolution of some weedy rice accessions, but is not a primary factor in the recent outbreak of weedy rice in China. PMID:26012494

Cytoplasmic-genetic male sterility gene provides direct evidence for some hybrid rice recently evolving into weedy rice.

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Zhang, Jingxu; Lu, Zuomei; Dai, Weimin; Song, Xiaoling; Peng, Yufa; Valverde, Bernal E; Qiang, Sheng

2015-05-27

Weedy rice infests paddy fields worldwide at an alarmingly increasing rate. There is substantial evidence indicating that many weedy rice forms originated from or are closely related to cultivated rice. There is suspicion that the outbreak of weedy rice in China may be related to widely grown hybrid rice due to its heterosis and the diversity of its progeny, but this notion remains unsupported by direct evidence. We screened weedy rice accessions by both genetic and molecular marker tests for the cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) genes (Wild abortive, WA, and Boro type, BT) most widely used in the production of indica and japonica three-line hybrid rice as a diagnostic trait of direct parenthood. Sixteen weedy rice accessions of the 358 tested (4.5%) contained the CMS-WA gene; none contained the CMS-BT gene. These 16 accessions represent weedy rices recently evolved from maternal hybrid rice derivatives, given the primarily maternal inheritance of this trait. Our results provide key direct evidence that hybrid rice can be involved in the evolution of some weedy rice accessions, but is not a primary factor in the recent outbreak of weedy rice in China.

Introgression in the Drosophila subobscura--D. Madeirensis sister species: evidence of gene flow in nuclear genes despite mitochondrial differentiation.

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Herrig, Danielle K; Modrick, Alec J; Brud, Evgeny; Llopart, Ana

2014-03-01

Species hybridization, and thus the potential for gene flow, was once viewed as reproductive mistake. However, recent analysis based on large datasets and newly developed models suggest that gene exchange is not as rare as originally suspected. To investigate the history and speciation of the closely related species Drosophila subobscura, D. madeirensis, and D. guanche, we obtained polymorphism and divergence data for 26 regions throughout the genome, including the Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA. We found that the D. subobscura X/autosome ratio of silent nucleotide diversity is significantly smaller than the 0.75 expected under neutrality. This pattern, if held genomewide, may reflect a faster accumulation of beneficial mutations on the X chromosome than on autosomes. We also detected evidence of gene flow in autosomal regions, while sex chromosomes remain distinct. This is consistent with the large X effect on hybrid male sterility seen in this system and the presence of two X chromosome inversions fixed between species. Overall, our data conform to chromosomal speciation models in which rearrangements are proposed to serve as gene flow barriers. Contrary to other observations in Drosophila, the mitochondrial genome appears resilient to gene flow in the presence of nuclear exchange. © 2013 The Authors. Evolution published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Line tester analysis of yield and yield related attributed in different sunflower genotypes

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Din, S.U.; Khan, M.A.; Usman, K.; Sayal, O.U.

2014-01-01

This paper encompasses the study of line * tester analysis to chalk out genetic implications regarding yield and yield relating components in different genotypes of sunflower. Eight parents (four CMS lines and four restorers) along with their sixteen F1 hybrids were considered and planted in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) replicated thrice at experimental area of Oilseed Research Program, National Agriculture Research Centre (NARC), Islamabad, Pakistan in 2011. Combining ability for some important morphological traits included days to flower initiation, days to flower completion, days to maturity, plant height, head diameter and seed yield plant-1. In this concern general combining ability (GCA), reciprocals combining ability (RCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) for all traits were studied. The GCA and SCA variances due to lines and testers interaction were significant for all the characters. However, the magnitude of GCAs from CMS lines (females) and restorers (pollinators) were higher than the SCA indicating preponderance of additive genes in the expression of all the traits. Among the lines, CMS-HA-54 whereas in testers, RHP-71, by manifesting maximum GCA effects were considered as the best general combiners for almost all the traits indicating the presence of more additive gene effects in these parents, therefore may serve as potential parents for hybridization and to improve the characters studied. Among the F1 hybrids, CMS HA-99 * RHP-76 (1.54, 212.65) and CMS HA-101 * RHP-73 (0.91, 432.73) were found as the best specific combiners for head or capitulum and seed yield. Hence, if farming community and researchers include these hybrids in their selection and hybridization program for the trait under study optimum result may be obtained. (author)

Sexy gene conversions: locating gene conversions on the X-chromosome.

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Lawson, Mark J; Zhang, Liqing

2009-08-01

Gene conversion can have a profound impact on both the short- and long-term evolution of genes and genomes. Here, we examined the gene families that are located on the X-chromosomes of human (Homo sapiens), chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), mouse (Mus musculus) and rat (Rattus norvegicus) for evidence of gene conversion. We identified seven gene families (WD repeat protein family, Ferritin Heavy Chain family, RAS-related Protein RAB-40 family, Diphosphoinositol polyphosphate phosphohydrolase family, Transcription Elongation Factor A family, LDOC1-related family, Zinc Finger Protein ZIC, and GLI family) that show evidence of gene conversion. Through phylogenetic analyses and synteny evidence, we show that gene conversion has played an important role in the evolution of these gene families and that gene conversion has occurred independently in both primates and rodents. Comparing the results with those of two gene conversion prediction programs (GENECONV and Partimatrix), we found that both GENECONV and Partimatrix have very high false negative rates (i.e. failed to predict gene conversions), which leads to many undetected gene conversions. The combination of phylogenetic analyses with physical synteny evidence exhibits high resolution in the detection of gene conversions.

Evidence against the energetic cost hypothesis for the short introns in highly expressed genes

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Niu Deng-Ke

2008-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In animals, the moss Physcomitrella patens and the pollen of Arabidopsis thaliana, highly expressed genes have shorter introns than weakly expressed genes. A popular explanation for this is selection for transcription efficiency, which includes two sub-hypotheses: to minimize the energetic cost or to minimize the time cost. Results In an individual human, different organs may differ up to hundreds of times in cell number (for example, a liver versus a hypothalamus. Considered at the individual level, a gene specifically expressed in a large organ is actually transcribed tens or hundreds of times more than a gene with a similar expression level (a measure of mRNA abundance per cell specifically expressed in a small organ. According to the energetic cost hypothesis, the former should have shorter introns than the latter. However, in humans and mice we have not found significant differences in intron length between large-tissue/organ-specific genes and small-tissue/organ-specific genes with similar expression levels. Qualitative estimation shows that the deleterious effect (that is, the energetic burden of long introns in highly expressed genes is too negligible to be efficiently selected against in mammals. Conclusion The short introns in highly expressed genes should not be attributed to energy constraint. We evaluated evidence for the time cost hypothesis and other alternatives.

Genetic test utilization and diagnostic yield in adult patients with neurological disorders.

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Bardakjian, Tanya M; Helbig, Ingo; Quinn, Colin; Elman, Lauren B; McCluskey, Leo F; Scherer, Steven S; Gonzalez-Alegre, Pedro

2018-03-28

To determine the diagnostic yield of different genetic test modalities in adult patients with neurological disorders, we evaluated all adult patients seen for genetic diagnostic evaluation in the outpatient neurology practice at the University of Pennsylvania between January 2016 and April 2017 as part of the newly created Penn Neurogenetics Program. Subjects were identified through our electronic medical system as those evaluated by the Program's single clinical genetic counselor in that period. A total of 377 patients were evaluated by the Penn Neurogenetics Program in different settings and genetic testing recommended. Of those, 182 (48%) were seen in subspecialty clinic setting and 195 (52%) in a General Neurogenetics Clinic. Genetic testing was completed in over 80% of patients in whom it was recommended. The diagnostic yield was 32% across disease groups. Stratified by testing modality, the yield was highest with directed testing (50%) and array comparative genomic hybridization (45%), followed by gene panels and exome testing (25% each). In conclusion, genetic testing can be successfully requested in clinic in a large majority of adult patients. Age is not a limiting factor for a genetic diagnostic evaluation and the yield of clinical testing across phenotypes (almost 30%) is consistent with previous phenotype-focused or research-based studies. These results should inform the development of specific guidelines for clinical testing and serve as evidence to improve reimbursement by insurance payers.

Diagnosing CADASIL using MRI: evidence from families with known mutations of Notch 3 gene

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chawda, S.J.; Lange, R.P.J. de; St-Clair, D.; Hourihan, M.D.; Halpin, S.F.S.

2000-01-01

Clinical data and MRI findings are presented on 18 subjects from two families with neuropathologically confirmed CADASIL. DNA analysis revealed mutations in exon 4 of Notch 3 gene in both families. All family members with mutations in Notch 3 gene had extensive abnormalities on MRI, principally lesions in the white matter of the frontal lobes and in the external capsules. Of several family members in whom a diagnosis of CADASIL was suspected on the basis of minor symptoms, one had MRI changes consistent with CADASIL; none of these cases carried a mutation in the Notch 3 gene. MRI and clinical features that may alert the radiologist to the diagnosis of CADASIL are reviewed. However, a wide differential diagnosis exists for the MRI appearances of CADASIL, including multiple sclerosis and small-vessel disease secondary to hypertension. The definitive diagnosis cannot be made on MRI alone and requires additional evidence, where available, from a positive family history and by screening DNA for mutations of Notch 3 gene. (orig.)

The tripartite capsid gene of Salmonella phage Gifsy-2 yields a capsid assembly pathway engaging features from HK97 and λ

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Effantin, Gregory; Figueroa-Bossi, Nara; Schoehn, Guy; Bossi, Lionello; Conway, James F.

2010-01-01

Phage Gifsy-2, a lambdoid phage infecting Salmonella, has an unusually large composite gene coding for its major capsid protein (mcp) at the C-terminal end, a ClpP-like protease at the N-terminus, and a ∼ 200 residue central domain of unknown function but which may have a scaffolding role. This combination of functions on a single coding region is more extensive than those observed in other phages such as HK97 (scaffold-capsid fusion) and λ (protease-scaffold fusion). To study the structural phenotype of the unique Gifsy-2 capsid gene, we have purified Gifsy-2 particles and visualized capsids and procapsids by cryoelectron microscopy, determining structures to resolutions up to 12 A. The capsids have lambdoid T = 7 geometry and are well modeled with the atomic structures of HK97 mcp and phage λ gpD decoration protein. Thus, the unique Gifsy-2 capsid protein gene yields a capsid maturation pathway engaging features from both phages HK97 and λ.

Evidence-based gene models for structural and functional annotations of the oil palm genome.

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Chan, Kuang-Lim; Tatarinova, Tatiana V; Rosli, Rozana; Amiruddin, Nadzirah; Azizi, Norazah; Halim, Mohd Amin Ab; Sanusi, Nik Shazana Nik Mohd; Jayanthi, Nagappan; Ponomarenko, Petr; Triska, Martin; Solovyev, Victor; Firdaus-Raih, Mohd; Sambanthamurthi, Ravigadevi; Murphy, Denis; Low, Eng-Ti Leslie

2017-09-08

Oil palm is an important source of edible oil. The importance of the crop, as well as its long breeding cycle (10-12 years) has led to the sequencing of its genome in 2013 to pave the way for genomics-guided breeding. Nevertheless, the first set of gene predictions, although useful, had many fragmented genes. Classification and characterization of genes associated with traits of interest, such as those for fatty acid biosynthesis and disease resistance, were also limited. Lipid-, especially fatty acid (FA)-related genes are of particular interest for the oil palm as they specify oil yields and quality. This paper presents the characterization of the oil palm genome using different gene prediction methods and comparative genomics analysis, identification of FA biosynthesis and disease resistance genes, and the development of an annotation database and bioinformatics tools. Using two independent gene-prediction pipelines, Fgenesh++ and Seqping, 26,059 oil palm genes with transcriptome and RefSeq support were identified from the oil palm genome. These coding regions of the genome have a characteristic broad distribution of GC 3 (fraction of cytosine and guanine in the third position of a codon) with over half the GC 3 -rich genes (GC 3  ≥ 0.75286) being intronless. In comparison, only one-seventh of the oil palm genes identified are intronless. Using comparative genomics analysis, characterization of conserved domains and active sites, and expression analysis, 42 key genes involved in FA biosynthesis in oil palm were identified. For three of them, namely EgFABF, EgFABH and EgFAD3, segmental duplication events were detected. Our analysis also identified 210 candidate resistance genes in six classes, grouped by their protein domain structures. We present an accurate and comprehensive annotation of the oil palm genome, focusing on analysis of important categories of genes (GC 3 -rich and intronless), as well as those associated with important functions, such as FA

Tillering and panicle branching genes in rice.

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Liang, Wei-hong; Shang, Fei; Lin, Qun-ting; Lou, Chen; Zhang, Jing

2014-03-01

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most important staple food crops in the world, and rice tillering and panicle branching are important traits determining grain yield. Since the gene MONOCULM 1 (MOC 1) was first characterized as a key regulator in controlling rice tillering and branching, great progress has been achieved in identifying important genes associated with grain yield, elucidating the genetic basis of yield-related traits. Some of these important genes were shown to be applicable for molecular breeding of high-yielding rice. This review focuses on recent advances, with emphasis on rice tillering and panicle branching genes, and their regulatory networks. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Dissecting grain yield pathways and their interactions with grain dry matter content by a two-step correlation approach with maize seedling transcriptome

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Melchinger Albrecht E

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The importance of maize for human and animal nutrition, but also as a source for bio-energy is rapidly increasing. Maize yield is a quantitative trait controlled by many genes with small effects, spread throughout the genome. The precise location of the genes and the identity of the gene networks underlying maize grain yield is unknown. The objective of our study was to contribute to the knowledge of these genes and gene networks by transcription profiling with microarrays. Results We assessed the grain yield and grain dry matter content (an indicator for early maturity of 98 maize hybrids in multi-environment field trials. The gene expression in seedlings of the parental inbred lines, which have four different genetic backgrounds, was assessed with genome-scale oligonucleotide arrays. We identified genes associated with grain yield and grain dry matter content using a newly developed two-step correlation approach and found overlapping gene networks for both traits. The underlying metabolic pathways and biological processes were elucidated. Genes involved in sucrose degradation and glycolysis, as well as genes involved in cell expansion and endocycle were found to be associated with grain yield. Conclusions Our results indicate that the capability of providing energy and substrates, as well as expanding the cell at the seedling stage, highly influences the grain yield of hybrids. Knowledge of these genes underlying grain yield in maize can contribute to the development of new high yielding varieties.

No evidence for Fabaceae Gametophytic self-incompatibility being determined by Rosaceae, Solanaceae, and Plantaginaceae S-RNase lineage genes.

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Aguiar, Bruno; Vieira, Jorge; Cunha, Ana E; Vieira, Cristina P

2015-06-02

Fabaceae species are important in agronomy and livestock nourishment. They have a long breeding history, and most cultivars have lost self-incompatibility (SI), a genetic barrier to self-fertilization. Nevertheless, to improve legume crop breeding, crosses with wild SI relatives of the cultivated varieties are often performed. Therefore, it is fundamental to characterize Fabaceae SI system(s). We address the hypothesis of Fabaceae gametophytic (G)SI being RNase based, by recruiting the same S-RNase lineage gene of Rosaceae, Solanaceae or Plantaginaceae SI species. We first identify SSK1 like genes (described only in species having RNase based GSI), in the Trifolium pratense, Medicago truncatula, Cicer arietinum, Glycine max, and Lupinus angustifolius genomes. Then, we characterize the S-lineage T2-RNase genes in these genomes. In T. pratense, M. truncatula, and C. arietinum we identify S-RNase lineage genes that in phylogenetic analyses cluster with Pyrinae S-RNases. In M. truncatula and C. arietinum genomes, where large scaffolds are available, these sequences are surrounded by F-box genes that in phylogenetic analyses also cluster with S-pollen genes. In T. pratense the S-RNase lineage genes show, however, expression in tissues not involved in GSI. Moreover, levels of diversity are lower than those observed for other S-RNase genes. The M. truncatula and C. arietinum S-RNase and S-pollen like genes phylogenetically related to Pyrinae S-genes, are also expressed in tissues other than those involved in GSI. To address if other T2-RNases could be determining Fabaceae GSI, here we obtained a style with stigma transcriptome of Cytisus striatus, a species that shows significant difference on the percentage of pollen growth in self and cross-pollinations. Expression and polymorphism analyses of the C. striatus S-RNase like genes revealed that none of these genes, is the S-pistil gene. We find no evidence for Fabaceae GSI being determined by Rosaceae, Solanaceae, and

Evidence of recent interkingdom horizontal gene transfer between bacteria and Candida parapsilosis

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Butler Geraldine

2008-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background To date very few incidences of interdomain gene transfer into fungi have been identified. Here, we used the emerging genome sequences of Candida albicans WO-1, Candida tropicalis, Candida parapsilosis, Clavispora lusitaniae, Pichia guilliermondii, and Lodderomyces elongisporus to identify recent interdomain HGT events. We refer to these as CTG species because they translate the CTG codon as serine rather than leucine, and share a recent common ancestor. Results Phylogenetic and syntenic information infer that two C. parapsilosis genes originate from bacterial sources. One encodes a putative proline racemase (PR. Phylogenetic analysis also infers that there were independent transfers of bacterial PR enzymes into members of the Pezizomycotina, and protists. The second HGT gene in C. parapsilosis belongs to the phenazine F (PhzF superfamily. Most CTG species also contain a fungal PhzF homolog. Our phylogeny suggests that the CTG homolog originated from an ancient HGT event, from a member of the proteobacteria. An analysis of synteny suggests that C. parapsilosis has lost the endogenous fungal form of PhzF, and subsequently reacquired it from a proteobacterial source. There is evidence that Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Basidiomycotina also obtained a PhzF homolog through HGT. Conclusion Our search revealed two instances of well-supported HGT from bacteria into the CTG clade, both specific to C. parapsilosis. Therefore, while recent interkingdom gene transfer has taken place in the CTG lineage, its occurrence is rare. However, our analysis will not detect ancient gene transfers, and we may have underestimated the global extent of HGT into CTG species.

The effect of high concentrations of glufosinate ammonium on the yield components of transgenic spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) constitutively expressing the bar gene.

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Áy, Zoltán; Mihály, Róbert; Cserháti, Mátyás; Kótai, Éva; Pauk, János

2012-01-01

We present an experiment done on a bar(+) wheat line treated with 14 different concentrations of glufosinate ammonium-an effective component of nonselective herbicides-during seed germination in a closed experimental system. Yield components as number of spikes per plant, number of grains per spike, thousand kernel weight, and yield per plant were thoroughly analysed and statistically evaluated after harvesting. We found that a concentration of glufosinate ammonium 5000 times the lethal dose was not enough to inhibit the germination of transgenic plants expressing the bar gene. Extremely high concentrations of glufosinate ammonium caused a bushy phenotype, significantly lower numbers of grains per spike, and thousand kernel weights. Concerning the productivity, we observed that concentrations of glufosinate ammonium 64 times the lethal dose did not lead to yield depression. Our results draw attention to the possibilities implied in the transgenic approaches.

Differential expression of CURS gene during various growth stages, climatic condition and soil nutrients in turmeric (Curcuma longa): Towards site specific cultivation for high curcumin yield.

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Sandeep, I Sriram; Das, Suryasnata; Nasim, Noohi; Mishra, Antaryami; Acharya, Laxmikanta; Joshi, Raj Kumar; Nayak, Sanghamitra; Mohanty, Sujata

2017-09-01

Curcuma longa L., accumulates substantial amount of curcumin and essential oil. Little is known about the differential expression of curcumin synthase (CURS) gene and consequent curcumin content variations at different agroclimatic zones. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of climate, soil and harvesting phase on expression of CURS gene for curcumin yield in two high yielding turmeric cultivars. Expression of CURS gene at different experimental zones as well as at different harvesting phase was studied through transcriptional analysis by qRT-PCR. Curcumin varied from 1.5 to 5% and 1.4-5% in Surama and Roma respectively. The expression of CURS also varied from 0.402 to 5.584 fold in Surama and 0.856-5.217 fold in Roma. Difference in curcumin content at a particular zone varied among different harvesting period from 3.95 to 4.31% in Surama and 3.57-3.83% in Roma. Expression of CURS gene was also effected by harvesting time of the rhizome which varied from 7.389 to 16.882 fold in Surama and 4.41-8.342 fold in Roma. The CURS gene expression was found regardless of variations in curcumin content at different experimental zones. This may be due to the effects of soil and environmental variables. Expression was positively correlated with curcumin content with different harvesting time at a particular zone. This find indicates effect of soil and environment on molecular and biochemical dynamics of curcumin biosynthesis and could be useful in genetic improvement of turmeric. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

PERFORMANCE OF YIELD AND YIELD CONTRIBUTING CHARACTERISTICS OF BC2F3 POPULATION WITH ADDITION OF BLAST RESISTANT GENE

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Muhammad Mahmudul Hasan

2015-10-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACTThe study was carried out in the University Putra Malaysia (UPM Rice Research Centre to evaluate the yield performance of newly developed selected blast resistant plants of BC2F3 generations derived from a cross between MR263, a high yielding rice variety but blast susceptible and Pongsu Seribu 1, donor with blast resistant (Pi-7(tand Pi-d (t1, Pir2-3(tgenes and qLN2 QTL, Malaysian local variety. On the basis of assessed traits, the plants 12, 6, 7, 5, 21, 22, 5, 26, 11, 8, 10, 13 and 15 had the higher yield, blast resistant and good morphological traits. More than 70% heritability was found in days to maturity, plant height, tiller numbers per hill, and panicle per hill, 80% heritability was found in filled grain and yield per hill and more than 90% heritability was found in grain length, grain width and seed weight. Cluster analysis based on the traits grouped 30 plants along with MR263 into seven clusters. According to PCA, the first four principal components account for about 69.3% total variation for all measured traits and exhibited high correlation among the characteristics analyzed.

Apparent polyploidization after gamma irradiation: pitfalls in the use of quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) for the estimation of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA gene copy numbers.

Science.gov (United States)

Kam, Winnie W Y; Lake, Vanessa; Banos, Connie; Davies, Justin; Banati, Richard

2013-05-30

Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) has been widely used to quantify changes in gene copy numbers after radiation exposure. Here, we show that gamma irradiation ranging from 10 to 100 Gy of cells and cell-free DNA samples significantly affects the measured qPCR yield, due to radiation-induced fragmentation of the DNA template and, therefore, introduces errors into the estimation of gene copy numbers. The radiation-induced DNA fragmentation and, thus, measured qPCR yield varies with temperature not only in living cells, but also in isolated DNA irradiated under cell-free conditions. In summary, the variability in measured qPCR yield from irradiated samples introduces a significant error into the estimation of both mitochondrial and nuclear gene copy numbers and may give spurious evidence for polyploidization.

Are GM Crops for Yield and Resilience Possible?

Science.gov (United States)

Paul, Matthew J; Nuccio, Michael L; Basu, Shib Sankar

2018-01-01

Crop yield improvements need to accelerate to avoid future food insecurity. Outside Europe, genetically modified (GM) crops for herbicide- and insect-resistance have been transformative in agriculture; other traits have also come to market. However, GM of yield potential and stress resilience has yet to impact on food security. Genes have been identified for yield such as grain number, size, leaf growth, resource allocation, and signaling for drought tolerance, but there is only one commercialized drought-tolerant GM variety. For GM and genome editing to impact on yield and resilience there is a need to understand yield-determining processes in a cell and developmental context combined with evaluation in the grower environment. We highlight a sugar signaling mechanism as a paradigm for this approach. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evidence of current impact of climate change on life : A walk from genes to the biosphere

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Penuelas, Josep; Sardans, Jordi; Estiarte, Marc; Ogaya, Roma; Carnicer, Jofre; Coll, Marta; Barbeta, Adria; Rivas-Ubach, Albert; Llusia, Joan; Garbulsky, Martin; Filella, Iolanda; Jump, Alistair S.

We review the evidence of how organisms and populations are currently responding to climate change through phenotypic plasticity, genotypic evolution, changes in distribution and, in some cases, local extinction. Organisms alter their gene expression and metabolism to increase the concentrations of

The Effect of High Concentrations of Glufosinate Ammonium on the Yield Components of Transgenic Spring Wheat (Triticum aestivum L. Constitutively Expressing the bar Gene

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Zoltán Áy

2012-01-01

Full Text Available We present an experiment done on a bar+ wheat line treated with 14 different concentrations of glufosinate ammonium—an effective component of nonselective herbicides—during seed germination in a closed experimental system. Yield components as number of spikes per plant, number of grains per spike, thousand kernel weight, and yield per plant were thoroughly analysed and statistically evaluated after harvesting. We found that a concentration of glufosinate ammonium 5000 times the lethal dose was not enough to inhibit the germination of transgenic plants expressing the bar gene. Extremely high concentrations of glufosinate ammonium caused a bushy phenotype, significantly lower numbers of grains per spike, and thousand kernel weights. Concerning the productivity, we observed that concentrations of glufosinate ammonium 64 times the lethal dose did not lead to yield depression. Our results draw attention to the possibilities implied in the transgenic approaches.

Estimation of Heterosis and Combining Ability in F1 Hybrids of Upland Cotton for Yield and Fiber Traits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arain, B.T.; Baloch, M.J.; Bughio, Q.U.A.; Sial, P.; Arain, M.A.; Baloch, A.

2015-01-01

The experimental research was conducted so as to determine the general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) estimates and heterotic effects for seed cotton yield and fibre traits in 5 x 5 half diallel crosses of upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). The parental genotypes studied were; CRIS-134, IR-3701, IR-1524, FH-113 and MG-6. The characters such as bolls/plant, sympodial branches/plant, boll weight (g), plant height (cm), fibre length (mm), seed cotton yield/plant (g), seed index (g) and ginning out turn percentage were studied. The experiment was laid-out in a randomized complete block design with four replications at experimental field of the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam, Pakistan during 2013. The results revealed that, parents and hybrids differed significantly for their mean performance regarding all the traits studied. The importance of heterotic effects was evident from the significance of parents vs. hybrids performance. The variances due to GCA and SCA were significant for all the traits except that GCA was non-significant for boll weight only whereas, SCA was non-significant for boll weight, seed index and ginning out turn percentage. The significance of GCA indicated the importance of additive genes advocating the traits while, the involvement of non-additive genes was evident from the significance of SCA variances. The GCA variances were greater than SCA for bolls per plant, plant height, seed cotton yield and lint percentage while, SCA variances were higher than GCA for sympodial branches/plant and fibre length. Parents IR-3701, FH-113 and MG-6 displayed higher positive GCA effects for bolls/plant, sympodial branches/plant, fibre length, seed cotton yield, seed index and ginning out turn percentage. The per se performance of these three parents was exactly reflected in their GCA effects and such happenings are exceptional. Such results suggested that, all three parents were

FMR1 gene expansion and scans without evidence of dopaminergic deficits in parkinsonism patients.

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Hall, D A; Jennings, D; Seibyl, J; Tassone, F; Marek, K

2010-11-01

To determine if patients with parkinsonism and fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) gene expansions have a striatal dopamine deficit similar to Parkinson disease (PD) patients. The authors studied three patients with parkinsonism carrying small expansions in the FMR1 gene (41-60 CGG) with [(123)I]β-CIT SPECT imaging. The patients responded to dopaminergic medications, but had preserved dopamine transporter density. These results suggest that parkinsonism associated with smaller FMR1 expansions may be related to mechanisms other than pre-synaptic dopaminergic changes and may represent a potential explanation for at least some parkinsonian cases with scans without evidence of dopaminergic deficits (SWEDD). Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evidence of a major gene from Bayesian segregation analyses of liability to osteochondral diseases in pigs.

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Kadarmideen, Haja N; Janss, Luc L G

2005-11-01

Bayesian segregation analyses were used to investigate the mode of inheritance of osteochondral lesions (osteochondrosis, OC) in pigs. Data consisted of 1163 animals with OC and their pedigrees included 2891 animals. Mixed-inheritance threshold models (MITM) and several variants of MITM, in conjunction with Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, were developed for the analysis of these (categorical) data. Results showed major genes with significant and substantially higher variances (range 1.384-37.81), compared to the polygenic variance (sigmau2). Consequently, heritabilities for a mixed inheritance (range 0.65-0.90) were much higher than the heritabilities from the polygenes. Disease allele frequencies range was 0.38-0.88. Additional analyses estimating the transmission probabilities of the major gene showed clear evidence for Mendelian segregation of a major gene affecting osteochondrosis. The variants, MITM with informative prior on sigmau2, showed significant improvement in marginal distributions and accuracy of parameters. MITM with a "reduced polygenic model" for parameterization of polygenic effects avoided convergence problems and poor mixing encountered in an "individual polygenic model." In all cases, "shrinkage estimators" for fixed effects avoided unidentifiability for these parameters. The mixed-inheritance linear model (MILM) was also applied to all OC lesions and compared with the MITM. This is the first study to report evidence of major genes for osteochondral lesions in pigs; these results may also form a basis for underpinning the genetic inheritance of this disease in other animals as well as in humans.

Mutations in Barley Row Type Genes Have Pleiotropic Effects on Shoot Branching.

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Corinna Brit Liller

Full Text Available Cereal crop yield is determined by different yield components such as seed weight, seed number per spike and the tiller number and spikes. Negative correlations between these traits are often attributed to resource limitation. However, recent evidence suggests that the same genes or regulatory modules can regulate both inflorescence branching and tillering. It is therefore important to explore the role of genetic correlations between different yield components in small grain cereals. In this work, we studied pleiotropic effects of row type genes on seed size, seed number per spike, thousand grain weight, and tillering in barley to better understand the genetic correlations between individual yield components. Allelic mutants of nine different row type loci (36 mutants, in the original spring barley varieties Barke, Bonus and Foma and introgressed in the spring barley cultivar Bowman, were phenotyped under greenhouse and outdoor conditions. We identified two main mutant groups characterized by their relationships between seed and tillering parameters. The first group comprises all mutants with an increased number of seeds and significant change in tiller number at early development (group 1a or reduced tillering only at full maturity (group 1b. Mutants in the second group are characterized by a reduction in seeds per spike and tiller number, thus exhibiting positive correlations between seed and tiller number. Reduced tillering at full maturity (group 1b is likely due to resource limitations. In contrast, altered tillering at early development (groups 1a and 2 suggests that the same genes or regulatory modules affect inflorescence and shoot branching. Understanding the genetic bases of the trade-offs between these traits is important for the genetic manipulation of individual yield components.

Identification and Evolutionary Analysis of Potential Candidate Genes in a Human Eating Disorder

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Ubadah Sabbagh

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to find genes linked with eating disorders and associated with both metabolic and neural systems. Our operating hypothesis was that there are genetic factors underlying some eating disorders resting in both those pathways. Specifically, we are interested in disorders that may rest in both sleep and metabolic function, generally called Night Eating Syndrome (NES. A meta-analysis of the Gene Expression Omnibus targeting the mammalian nervous system, sleep, and obesity studies was performed, yielding numerous genes of interest. Through a text-based analysis of the results, a number of potential candidate genes were identified. VGF, in particular, appeared to be relevant both to obesity and, broadly, to brain or neural development. VGF is a highly connected protein that interacts with numerous targets via proteolytically digested peptides. We examined VGF from an evolutionary perspective to determine whether other available evidence supported a role for the gene in human disease. We conclude that some of the already identified variants in VGF from human polymorphism studies may contribute to eating disorders and obesity. Our data suggest that there is enough evidence to warrant eGWAS and GWAS analysis of these genes in NES patients in a case-control study.

Identification and Evolutionary Analysis of Potential Candidate Genes in a Human Eating Disorder.

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Sabbagh, Ubadah; Mullegama, Saman; Wyckoff, Gerald J

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to find genes linked with eating disorders and associated with both metabolic and neural systems. Our operating hypothesis was that there are genetic factors underlying some eating disorders resting in both those pathways. Specifically, we are interested in disorders that may rest in both sleep and metabolic function, generally called Night Eating Syndrome (NES). A meta-analysis of the Gene Expression Omnibus targeting the mammalian nervous system, sleep, and obesity studies was performed, yielding numerous genes of interest. Through a text-based analysis of the results, a number of potential candidate genes were identified. VGF, in particular, appeared to be relevant both to obesity and, broadly, to brain or neural development. VGF is a highly connected protein that interacts with numerous targets via proteolytically digested peptides. We examined VGF from an evolutionary perspective to determine whether other available evidence supported a role for the gene in human disease. We conclude that some of the already identified variants in VGF from human polymorphism studies may contribute to eating disorders and obesity. Our data suggest that there is enough evidence to warrant eGWAS and GWAS analysis of these genes in NES patients in a case-control study.

Ubiquitin--conserved protein or selfish gene?

Science.gov (United States)

Catic, André; Ploegh, Hidde L

2005-11-01

The posttranslational modifier ubiquitin is encoded by a multigene family containing three primary members, which yield the precursor protein polyubiquitin and two ubiquitin moieties, Ub(L40) and Ub(S27), that are fused to the ribosomal proteins L40 and S27, respectively. The gene encoding polyubiquitin is highly conserved and, until now, those encoding Ub(L40) and Ub(S27) have been generally considered to be equally invariant. The evolution of the ribosomal ubiquitin moieties is, however, proving to be more dynamic. It seems that the genes encoding Ub(L40) and Ub(S27) are actively maintained by homologous recombination with the invariant polyubiquitin locus. Failure to recombine leads to deterioration of the sequence of the ribosomal ubiquitin moieties in several phyla, although this deterioration is evidently constrained by the structural requirements of the ubiquitin fold. Only a few amino acids in ubiquitin are vital for its function, and we propose that conservation of all three ubiquitin genes is driven not only by functional properties of the ubiquitin protein, but also by the propensity of the polyubiquitin locus to act as a 'selfish gene'.

Neuroplasticity of selective attention: Research foundations and preliminary evidence for a gene by intervention interaction

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Stevens, Courtney; Pakulak, Eric; Hampton Wray, Amanda; Bell, Theodore A.; Neville, Helen J.

2017-01-01

This article reviews the trajectory of our research program on selective attention, which has moved from basic research on the neural processes underlying selective attention to translational studies using selective attention as a neurobiological target for evidence-based interventions. We use this background to present a promising preliminary investigation of how genetic and experiential factors interact during development (i.e., gene × intervention interactions). Our findings provide evidence on how exposure to a family-based training can modify the associations between genotype (5-HTTLPR) and the neural mechanisms of selective attention in preschool children from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds. PMID:28819066

Neuroplasticity of selective attention: Research foundations and preliminary evidence for a gene by intervention interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Isbell, Elif; Stevens, Courtney; Pakulak, Eric; Hampton Wray, Amanda; Bell, Theodore A; Neville, Helen J

2017-08-29

This article reviews the trajectory of our research program on selective attention, which has moved from basic research on the neural processes underlying selective attention to translational studies using selective attention as a neurobiological target for evidence-based interventions. We use this background to present a promising preliminary investigation of how genetic and experiential factors interact during development (i.e., gene × intervention interactions). Our findings provide evidence on how exposure to a family-based training can modify the associations between genotype (5-HTTLPR) and the neural mechanisms of selective attention in preschool children from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds.

Transgenic Cotton Plants Expressing the HaHR3 Gene Conferred Enhanced Resistance to Helicoverpa armigera and Improved Cotton Yield.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Qiang; Wang, Zhenzhen; He, Yunxin; Xiong, Yehui; Lv, Shun; Li, Shupeng; Zhang, Zhigang; Qiu, Dewen; Zeng, Hongmei

2017-08-30

RNA interference (RNAi) has been developed as an efficient technology. RNAi insect-resistant transgenic plants expressing double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) that is ingested into insects to silence target genes can affect the viability of these pests or even lead to their death. HaHR3 , a molt-regulating transcription factor gene, was previously selected as a target expressed in bacteria and tobacco plants to control Helicoverpa armigera by RNAi technology. In this work, we selected the dsRNA- HaHR3 fragment to silence HaHR3 in cotton bollworm for plant mediated-RNAi research. A total of 19 transgenic cotton lines expressing HaHR3 were successfully cultivated, and seven generated lines were used to perform feeding bioassays. Transgenic cotton plants expressing ds HaHR3 were shown to induce high larval mortality and deformities of pupation and adult eclosion when used to feed the newly hatched larvae, and 3rd and 5th instar larvae of H. armigera . Moreover, HaHR3 transgenic cotton also demonstrated an improved cotton yield when compared with controls.

A split hand-split foot (SHFM3) gene is located at 10q24{yields}25

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gurrieri, F.; Genuardi, M.; Nanni, L.; Sangiorgi, E.; Garofalo, G. [Catholic Univ. of Rome (Italy)] [and others

1996-04-24

The split hand-split foot (SHSF) malformation affects the central rays of the upper and lower limbs. It presents either as an isolated defect or in association with other skeletal or non-skeletal abnormalities. An autosomal SHSF locus (SHFM1) was previously mapped to 7q22.1. We report the mapping of a second autosomal SHSF locus to 10q24{yields}25 region. Maximum lod scores of 3.73, 4.33 and 4.33 at a recombination fraction of zero were obtained for the loci D10S198, PAX2 and D10S1239, respectively. An 19 cM critical region could be defined by haplotype analysis and several genes with a potential role in limb morphogenesis are located in this region. Heterogeneity testing indicates the existence of at least one additional autosomal SHSF locus. 36 refs., 3 figs., 3 tabs.

Haplotype analysis of the genes encoding glutamine synthetase plastic isoforms and their association with nitrogen-use- and yield-related traits in bread wheat.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xin-Peng; Zhao, Xue-Qiang; He, Xue; Zhao, Guang-Yao; Li, Bin; Liu, Dong-Cheng; Zhang, Ai-Min; Zhang, Xue-Yong; Tong, Yi-Ping; Li, Zhen-Sheng

2011-01-01

Glutamine synthetase (GS) plays a key role in the growth, nitrogen (N) use and yield potential of cereal crops. Investigating the haplotype variation of GS genes and its association with agronomic traits may provide useful information for improving wheat N-use efficiency and yield. We isolated the promoter and coding region sequences of the plastic glutamine synthetase isoform (GS2) genes located on chromosomes 2A, 2B and 2D in bread wheat. By analyzing nucleotide sequence variations of the coding region, two, six and two haplotypes were distinguished for TaGS2-A1 (a and b), TaGS2-B1 (a-f) and TaGS2-D1 (a and b), respectively. By analyzing the frequency data of different haplotypes and their association with N use and agronomic traits, four major and favorable TaGS2 haplotypes (A1b, B1a, B1b, D1a) were revealed. These favorable haplotypes may confer better seedling growth, better agronomic performance, and improved N uptake during vegetative growth or grain N concentration. Our data suggest that certain TaGS2 haplotypes may be valuable in breeding wheat varieties with improved agronomic performance and N-use efficiency. © The Authors (2010). Journal compilation © New Phytologist Trust (2010).

Further evidence of the limited role of candidate genes in relation to infant-mother attachment outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Leerkes, Esther M; Gedaly, Lindsey R; Zhou, Nan; Calkins, Susan; Henrich, Vincent C; Smolen, Andrew

2017-02-01

In this paper, we examine the associations between specific candidate genes (DRD2, DRD4, COMT, biallelic and tri-allelic 5HTTLPR, and OXTR) and infant attachment outcomes as main effects and in conjunction with maternal sensitivity. The sample included 200 infants (97 European American, 94 African-American, and 9 biracial) and their mothers. Maternal sensitivity and overtly negative maternal behavior were observed when infants were 6 months and 1 year old in distress-eliciting contexts, attachment was assessed via the Strange Situation at age 1, and DNA samples were collected when children were 2 years old. Consistent with recent research in large samples, there was little evidence that these genes are associated with attachment security, disorganization, or distress as main effects (in additive, dominant, and homozygous models) or in conjunction with maternal sensitivity or overtly negative behavior (primarily dominance models). Furthermore, there was little evidence that associations vary as a function of race.

Meta-analysis of grain yield QTL identified during agricultural drought in grasses showed consensus.

Science.gov (United States)

Swamy, B P Mallikarjuna; Vikram, Prashant; Dixit, Shalabh; Ahmed, H U; Kumar, Arvind

2011-06-16

In the last few years, efforts have been made to identify large effect QTL for grain yield under drought in rice. However, identification of most precise and consistent QTL across the environments and genetics backgrounds is essential for their successful use in Marker-assisted Selection. In this study, an attempt was made to locate consistent QTL regions associated with yield increase under drought by applying a genome-wide QTL meta-analysis approach. The integration of 15 maps resulted in a consensus map with 531 markers and a total map length of 1821 cM. Fifty-three yield QTL reported in 15 studies were projected on a consensus map and meta-analysis was performed. Fourteen meta-QTL were obtained on seven chromosomes. MQTL1.2, MQTL1.3, MQTL1.4, and MQTL12.1 were around 700 kb and corresponded to a reasonably small genetic distance of 1.8 to 5 cM and they are suitable for use in marker-assisted selection (MAS). The meta-QTL for grain yield under drought coincided with at least one of the meta-QTL identified for root and leaf morphology traits under drought in earlier reports. Validation of major-effect QTL on a panel of random drought-tolerant lines revealed the presence of at least one major QTL in each line. DTY12.1 was present in 85% of the lines, followed by DTY4.1 in 79% and DTY1.1 in 64% of the lines. Comparative genomics of meta-QTL with other cereals revealed that the homologous regions of MQTL1.4 and MQTL3.2 had QTL for grain yield under drought in maize, wheat, and barley respectively. The genes in the meta-QTL regions were analyzed by a comparative genomics approach and candidate genes were deduced for grain yield under drought. Three groups of genes such as stress-inducible genes, growth and development-related genes, and sugar transport-related genes were found in clusters in most of the meta-QTL. Meta-QTL with small genetic and physical intervals could be useful in Marker-assisted selection individually and in combinations. Validation and comparative

Further evidence of an Amerindian contribution to the Polynesian gene pool on Easter Island.

Science.gov (United States)

Thorsby, E; Flåm, S T; Woldseth, B; Dupuy, B M; Sanchez-Mazas, A; Fernandez-Vina, M A

2009-06-01

Available evidence suggests a Polynesian origin of the Easter Island population. We recently found that some native Easter Islanders also carried some common American Indian (Amerindian) human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles, which probably were introduced before Europeans discovered the island in 1722. In this study, we report molecular genetic investigations of 21 other selected native Easter Islanders. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome markers showed no traces of an Amerindian contribution. However, high-resolution genomic HLA typing showed that two individuals carried some other common Amerindian HLA alleles, different from those found in our previous investigations. The new data support our previous evidence of an Amerindian contribution to the gene pool on Easter Island.

Expression of an Arabidopsis molybdenum cofactor sulphurase gene in soybean enhances drought tolerance and increases yield under field conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yajun; Zhang, Jiachang; Zhang, Juan; Hao, Ling; Hua, Jinping; Duan, Liusheng; Zhang, Mingcai; Li, Zhaohu

2013-08-01

LOS5/ABA3 gene encoding molybdenum cofactor sulphurase is involved in aldehyde oxidase (AO) activity in Arabidopsis, which indirectly regulates ABA biosynthesis and increased stress tolerance. Here, we used a constitutive super promoter to drive LOS5/ABA3 overexpression in soybean (Glycine max L.) to enhance drought tolerance in growth chamber and field conditions. Expression of LOS5/ABA3 was up-regulated by drought stress, which led to increasing AO activity and then a notable increase in ABA accumulation. Transgenic soybean under drought stress had reduced water loss by decreased stomatal aperture size and transpiration rate, which alleviated leaf wilting and maintained higher relative water content. Exposed to drought stress, transgenic soybean exhibited reduced cell membrane damage by reducing electrolyte leakage and production of malondialdehyde and promoting proline accumulation and antioxidant enzyme activities. Also, overexpression of LOS5/ABA3 enhanced expression of stress-up-regulated genes. Furthermore, the seed yield of transgenic plants is at least 21% higher than that of wide-type plants under drought stress conditions in the field. These data suggest that overexpression of LOS5/ABA3 could improve drought tolerance in transgenic soybean via enhanced ABA accumulation, which could activate expression of stress-up-regulated genes and cause a series of physiological and biochemical resistant responses. © 2013 Society for Experimental Biology, Association of Applied Biologists and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Evidence for positive selection in putative virulence factors within the Paracoccidioides brasiliensis species complex.

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Daniel R Matute

Full Text Available Paracoccidioides brasiliensis is a dimorphic fungus that is the causative agent of paracoccidioidomycosis, the most important prevalent systemic mycosis in Latin America. Recently, the existence of three genetically isolated groups in P. brasiliensis was demonstrated, enabling comparative studies of molecular evolution among P. brasiliensis lineages. Thirty-two gene sequences coding for putative virulence factors were analyzed to determine whether they were under positive selection. Our maximum likelihood-based approach yielded evidence for selection in 12 genes that are involved in different cellular processes. An in-depth analysis of four of these genes showed them to be either antigenic or involved in pathogenesis. Here, we present evidence indicating that several replacement mutations in gp43 are under positive balancing selection. The other three genes (fks, cdc42 and p27 show very little variation among the P. brasiliensis lineages and appear to be under positive directional selection. Our results are consistent with the more general observations that selective constraints are variable across the genome, and that even in the genes under positive selection, only a few sites are altered. We present our results within an evolutionary framework that may be applicable for studying adaptation and pathogenesis in P. brasiliensis and other pathogenic fungi.

A comparative gene analysis with rice identified orthologous group II HKT genes and their association with Na(+) concentration in bread wheat.

Science.gov (United States)

Ariyarathna, H A Chandima K; Oldach, Klaus H; Francki, Michael G

2016-01-19

Although the HKT transporter genes ascertain some of the key determinants of crop salt tolerance mechanisms, the diversity and functional role of group II HKT genes are not clearly understood in bread wheat. The advanced knowledge on rice HKT and whole genome sequence was, therefore, used in comparative gene analysis to identify orthologous wheat group II HKT genes and their role in trait variation under different saline environments. The four group II HKTs in rice identified two orthologous gene families from bread wheat, including the known TaHKT2;1 gene family and a new distinctly different gene family designated as TaHKT2;2. A single copy of TaHKT2;2 was found on each homeologous chromosome arm 7AL, 7BL and 7DL and each gene was expressed in leaf blade, sheath and root tissues under non-stressed and at 200 mM salt stressed conditions. The proteins encoded by genes of the TaHKT2;2 family revealed more than 93% amino acid sequence identity but ≤52% amino acid identity compared to the proteins encoded by TaHKT2;1 family. Specifically, variations in known critical domains predicted functional differences between the two protein families. Similar to orthologous rice genes on chromosome 6L, TaHKT2;1 and TaHKT2;2 genes were located approximately 3 kb apart on wheat chromosomes 7AL, 7BL and 7DL, forming a static syntenic block in the two species. The chromosomal region on 7AL containing TaHKT2;1 7AL-1 co-located with QTL for shoot Na(+) concentration and yield in some saline environments. The differences in copy number, genes sequences and encoded proteins between TaHKT2;2 homeologous genes and other group II HKT gene families within and across species likely reflect functional diversity for ion selectivity and transport in plants. Evidence indicated that neither TaHKT2;2 nor TaHKT2;1 were associated with primary root Na(+) uptake but TaHKT2;1 may be associated with trait variation for Na(+) exclusion and yield in some but not all saline environments.

Physical mapping of QTL for tuber yield, starch content and starch yield in tetraploid potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) by means of genome wide genotyping by sequencing and the 8.3 K SolCAP SNP array.

Science.gov (United States)

Schönhals, Elske Maria; Ding, Jia; Ritter, Enrique; Paulo, Maria João; Cara, Nicolás; Tacke, Ekhard; Hofferbert, Hans-Reinhard; Lübeck, Jens; Strahwald, Josef; Gebhardt, Christiane

2017-08-22

Tuber yield and starch content of the cultivated potato are complex traits of decisive importance for breeding improved varieties. Natural variation of tuber yield and starch content depends on the environment and on multiple, mostly unknown genetic factors. Dissection and molecular identification of the genes and their natural allelic variants controlling these complex traits will lead to the development of diagnostic DNA-based markers, by which precision and efficiency of selection can be increased (precision breeding). Three case-control populations were assembled from tetraploid potato cultivars based on maximizing the differences between high and low tuber yield (TY), starch content (TSC) and starch yield (TSY, arithmetic product of TY and TSC). The case-control populations were genotyped by restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) and the 8.3 k SolCAP SNP genotyping array. The allele frequencies of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were compared between cases and controls. RADseq identified, depending on data filtering criteria, between 6664 and 450 genes with one or more differential SNPs for one, two or all three traits. Differential SNPs in 275 genes were detected using the SolCAP array. A genome wide association study using the SolCAP array on an independent, unselected population identified SNPs associated with tuber starch content in 117 genes. Physical mapping of the genes containing differential or associated SNPs, and comparisons between the two genome wide genotyping methods and two different populations identified genome segments on all twelve potato chromosomes harboring one or more quantitative trait loci (QTL) for TY, TSC and TSY. Several hundred genes control tuber yield and starch content in potato. They are unequally distributed on all potato chromosomes, forming clusters between 0.5-4 Mbp width. The largest fraction of these genes had unknown function, followed by genes with putative signalling and regulatory functions. The

Improving the yield from fermentative hydrogen production.

Science.gov (United States)

Kraemer, Jeremy T; Bagley, David M

2007-05-01

Efforts to increase H(2) yields from fermentative H(2) production include heat treatment of the inoculum, dissolved gas removal, and varying the organic loading rate. Although heat treatment kills methanogens and selects for spore-forming bacteria, the available evidence indicates H(2) yields are not maximized compared to bromoethanesulfonate, iodopropane, or perchloric acid pre-treatments and spore-forming acetogens are not killed. Operational controls (low pH, short solids retention time) can replace heat treatment. Gas sparging increases H(2) yields compared to un-sparged reactors, but no relationship exists between the sparging rate and H(2) yield. Lower sparging rates may improve the H(2) yield with less energy input and product dilution. The reasons why sparging improves H(2) yields are unknown, but recent measurements of dissolved H(2) concentrations during sparging suggest the assumption of decreased inhibition of the H(2)-producing enzymes is unlikely. Significant disagreement exists over the effect of organic loading rate (OLR); some studies show relatively higher OLRs improve H(2) yield while others show the opposite. Discovering the reasons for higher H(2) yields during dissolved gas removal and changes in OLR will help improve H(2) yields.

Lack of direct evidence for natural selection at the candidate thrifty gene locus, PPARGC1A.

Science.gov (United States)

Cadzow, Murray; Merriman, Tony R; Boocock, James; Dalbeth, Nicola; Stamp, Lisa K; Black, Michael A; Visscher, Peter M; Wilcox, Phillip L

2016-11-15

The gene PPARGC1A, in particular the Gly482Ser variant (rs8192678), had been proposed to be subject to natural selection, particularly in recent progenitors of extant Polynesian populations. Reasons include high levels of population differentiation and increased frequencies of the derived type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk 482Ser allele, and association with body mass index (BMI) in a small Tongan population. However, no direct statistical tests for selection have been applied. Using a range of Polynesian populations (Tongan, Māori, Samoan) we re-examined evidence for association between Gly482Ser with T2D and BMI as well as gout. Using also Asian, European, and African 1000 Genome Project samples a range of statistical tests for selection (F ST , integrated haplotype score (iHS), cross population extended haplotype homozygosity (XP-EHH), Tajima's D and Fay and Wu's H) were conducted on the PPARGC1A locus. No statistically significant evidence for association between Gly482Ser and any of BMI, T2D or gout was found. Population differentiation (F ST ) was smallest between Asian and Pacific populations (New Zealand Māori ≤ 0.35, Samoan ≤ 0.20). When compared to European (New Zealand Māori ≤ 0.40, Samoan ≤ 0.25) or African populations (New Zealand Māori ≤ 0.80, Samoan ≤ 0.66) this differentiation was larger. We did not find any strong evidence for departure from neutral evolution at this locus when applying any of the other statistical tests for selection. However, using the same analytical methods, we found evidence for selection in specific populations at previously identified loci, indicating that lack of selection was the most likely explanation for the lack of evidence of selection in PPARGC1A. We conclude that there is no compelling evidence for selection at this locus, and that this gene should not be considered a candidate thrifty gene locus in Pacific populations. High levels of population differentiation at this locus and the

Genetic options for improving fodder yield and quality in forage sorghum

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Aruna

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Improving yield and quality of fodder from forage sorghum is important, especially in the semi-arid tropics, where sorghum is a major source of fodder. The aim of this work was to understand the genetic basis of fodder yield and quality traits, and character associations, and to estimate combining ability of the parents. The experiment was carried out during 2 successive rainy seasons using 10 parents crossed in a half-diallel design. Significant differences among the genotypes for fodder yield, quality and cell wall constituents were observed. Important quality traits, crude protein and digestibility (IVOMD, were not correlated with fodder yield, indicating the potential to improve yield and quality simultaneously in forage sorghum. General combining ability and specific combining ability variances showed that, for almost all characters, both additive and non-additive gene effects were important, with a predominance of non-additive effects. Parental lines SEVS4, HC308 and UPMC503 were good general combiners for yield and quality. The brown midrib lines, EC582508 and EC582510, were good general combiners for low lignin and high IVOMD. Strategies for improving forage sorghum to suit animal and biofuel industries are discussed.Keywords: Digestibility, crude protein, ADL, diallel analysis, gene effects.DOI: 10.17138/TGFT(349-58

Roles for the yeast RAD18 and RAD52 DNA repair genes in UV mutagenesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Armstrong, J D; Chadee, D N; Kunz, B A

1994-11-01

Experimental evidence indicates that although the Saccharomyces cerevisiae RAD18 and RAD52 genes are not required for nucleotide excision repair, they function in the processing of UV-induced DNA damage in yeast. Conflicting statements regarding the UV mutability of strains deleted for RAD18 prompted us to re-examine the influence of RAD18, and RAD52, on UV mutagenesis. To do so, we characterized mutations induced by UV in SUP4-o, a yeast suppressor tRNA gene. SUP4-o was maintained on a plasmid in isogenic strains that either carried one of two different rad18 deletions (rad18 delta) or had RAD52 disrupted. Both rad18 deletions decreased the frequency of UV-induced SUP4-o mutations to levels close to those for spontaneous mutagenesis in the rad18 delta backgrounds, and prevented a net increase in mutant yield. A detailed analysis of mutations isolated after UV irradiation of one of the rad18 delta strains uncovered little evidence of the specificity features typical for UV mutagenesis in the isogenic repair-proficient (RAD) parent (e.g., predominance of G.C-->A.T transitions). Evidently, UV induction of SUP4-o mutations is highly dependent on the RAD18 gene. Compared to the RAD strain, disruption of RAD52 reduced the frequency and yield of UV mutagenesis by about two-thirds. Closer inspection revealed that 80% of this reduction was due to a decrease in the frequency of G.C-->A.T transitions. In addition, there were differences in the distributions and site specificities of single base-pair substitutions. Thus, RAD52 also participates in UV mutagenesis of a plasmid-borne gene in yeast, but to a lesser extent than RAD18.

Associations between dopamine and serotonin genes and job satisfaction: preliminary evidence from the Add Health Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Zhaoli; Li, Wendong; Arvey, Richard D

2011-11-01

Previous behavioral genetic studies have found that job satisfaction is partially heritable. We went a step further to examine particular genetic markers that may be associated with job satisfaction. Using an oversample from the National Adolescent Longitudinal Study (Add Health Study), we found 2 genetic markers, dopamine receptor gene DRD4 VNTR and serotonin transporter gene 5-HTTLPR, to be weakly but significantly associated with job satisfaction. Furthermore, we found study participants' level of pay to mediate the DRD4 and job satisfaction relationship. However, we found no evidence that self-esteem mediated the relationships between these 2 genes and job satisfaction. The study represents an initial effort to introduce a molecular genetics approach to the fields of organizational psychology and organizational behavior. (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved.

Gene interactions and genetics of blast resistance and yield ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

2014-08-11

Aug 11, 2014 ... of chemical measures for the control and management of blast, which are not .... tion of genetic components of variation, epistasis model and gene effects in two .... and environmental variance is estimated from mean variance.

Distribution of genes associated with yield potential and water ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

on the FMs related to yield and water saving in wheat. Till date, six loci ..... Hu Y., Moiwo J. P., Yang Y., Han S. and Yang Y. 2010 Agricul- tural water-saving ... Lyu L., Hu Y., Li Y. and Wang P. 2007 Effect of irrigation treatment on water use ... Zhang Y. J., Fan P. S., Zhang X., Chen C. J. and Zhou M. G. 2009. Quantification of ...

Expression of the Aeluropus littoralis AlSAP Gene Enhances Rice Yield under Field Drought at the Reproductive Stage

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Thaura Ghneim-Herrera

2017-06-01

Full Text Available We evaluated the yields of Oryza sativa L. ‘Nipponbare’ rice lines expressing a gene encoding an A20/AN1 domain stress-associated protein, AlSAP, from the halophyte grass Aeluropus littoralis under the control of different promoters. Three independent field trials were conducted, with drought imposed at the reproductive stage. In all trials, the two transgenic lines, RN5 and RN6, consistently out-performed non-transgenic (NT and wild-type (WT controls, providing 50–90% increases in grain yield (GY. Enhancement of tillering and panicle fertility contributed to this improved GY under drought. In contrast with physiological records collected during previous greenhouse dry-down experiments, where drought was imposed at the early tillering stage, we did not observe significant differences in photosynthetic parameters, leaf water potential, or accumulation of antioxidants in flag leaves of AlSAP-lines subjected to drought at flowering. However, AlSAP expression alleviated leaf rolling and leaf drying induced by drought, resulting in increased accumulation of green biomass. Therefore, the observed enhanced performance of the AlSAP-lines subjected to drought at the reproductive stage can be tentatively ascribed to a primed status of the transgenic plants, resulting from a higher accumulation of biomass during vegetative growth, allowing reserve remobilization and maintenance of productive tillering and grain filling. Under irrigated conditions, the overall performance of AlSAP-lines was comparable with, or even significantly better than, the NT and WT controls. Thus, AlSAP expression inflicted no penalty on rice yields under optimal growth conditions. Our results support the use of AlSAP transgenics to reduce rice GY losses under drought conditions.

Lack of evidence for intermolecular epistatic interactions between adiponectin and resistin gene polymorphisms in Malaysian male subjects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cia-Hin Lau

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Epistasis (gene-gene interaction is a ubiquitous component of the genetic architecture of complex traits such as susceptibility to common human diseases. Given the strong negative correlation between circulating adiponectin and resistin levels, the potential intermolecular epistatic interactions between ADIPOQ (SNP+45T > G, SNP+276G > T, SNP+639T > C and SNP+1212A > G and RETN (SNP-420C > G and SNP+299G > A gene polymorphisms in the genetic risk underlying type 2 diabetes (T2DM and metabolic syndrome (MS were assessed. The potential mutual influence of the ADIPOQ and RETN genes on their adipokine levels was also examined. The rare homozygous genotype (risk alleles of SNP-420C > G at the RETN locus tended to be co-inherited together with the common homozygous genotypes (protective alleles of SNP+639T > C and SNP+1212A > G at the ADIPOQ locus. Despite the close structural relationship between the ADIPOQ and RETN genes, there was no evidence of an intermolecular epistatic interaction between these genes. There was also no reciprocal effect of the ADIPOQ and RETN genes on their adipokine levels, i.e., ADIPOQ did not affect resistin levels nor did RETN affect adiponectin levels. The possible influence of the ADIPOQ gene on RETN expression warrants further investigation.

Gene action in some yield attributes of bread wheat under two water regimes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rabbani, A.; Mahmood, A.; Naeem-ud-Din; Shabbir, G.

2011-01-01

Breeders are always interested in the task of developing new varieties for changing environments. Thus, they have to deal with new crosses to select desired combinations. Grain yield is a complex character that is influenced by the fluctuating behavior of the environment. To overcome this situation, it is necessary to breed wheat varieties which perform better than existing ones under diverse conditions. A complete diallel cross was prepared from eight parental wheat accessions with a range of tolerance to drought. F1 hybrids and parents were grown at Barani Agricultural Research Institute, Chakwal. At maturity peduncle length, number of spike lets per spike, number of grains per spike, dry weight per plant at maturity and harvest index were recorded. Over-dominance genetic effects were important for the expression of number of spike lets per spike, number of grains per spike, dry weight per plant at maturity and harvest index under irrigated and rain fed conditions while additive type of gene action were important for the expression of peduncle length under irrigated and rain fed conditions. Average degree of dominance for peduncle length is 0.683 and 0.829 under irrigated and rain fed conditions respectively. Average degree of dominance for peduncle length was less than unity showing partial dominance and greater than unity showing over dominance in all characters under both irrigated and rain fed conditions. (author)

No Evidence That Schizophrenia Candidate Genes Are More Associated With Schizophrenia Than Noncandidate Genes.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Emma C; Border, Richard; Melroy-Greif, Whitney E; de Leeuw, Christiaan A; Ehringer, Marissa A; Keller, Matthew C

2017-11-15

A recent analysis of 25 historical candidate gene polymorphisms for schizophrenia in the largest genome-wide association study conducted to date suggested that these commonly studied variants were no more associated with the disorder than would be expected by chance. However, the same study identified other variants within those candidate genes that demonstrated genome-wide significant associations with schizophrenia. As such, it is possible that variants within historic schizophrenia candidate genes are associated with schizophrenia at levels above those expected by chance, even if the most-studied specific polymorphisms are not. The present study used association statistics from the largest schizophrenia genome-wide association study conducted to date as input to a gene set analysis to investigate whether variants within schizophrenia candidate genes are enriched for association with schizophrenia. As a group, variants in the most-studied candidate genes were no more associated with schizophrenia than were variants in control sets of noncandidate genes. While a small subset of candidate genes did appear to be significantly associated with schizophrenia, these genes were not particularly noteworthy given the large number of more strongly associated noncandidate genes. The history of schizophrenia research should serve as a cautionary tale to candidate gene investigators examining other phenotypes: our findings indicate that the most investigated candidate gene hypotheses of schizophrenia are not well supported by genome-wide association studies, and it is likely that this will be the case for other complex traits as well. Copyright © 2017 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

NHR-23 dependent collagen and hedgehog-related genes required for molting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kouns, Nathaniel A.; Nakielna, Johana; Behensky, Frantisek [Laboratory of Model Systems, Institute of Inherited Metabolic Disorders, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague (Czech Republic); Krause, Michael W. [Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD (United States); Kostrouch, Zdenek [Laboratory of Model Systems, Institute of Inherited Metabolic Disorders, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague (Czech Republic); Kostrouchova, Marta, E-mail: marta.kostrouchova@lf1.cuni.cz [Laboratory of Model Systems, Institute of Inherited Metabolic Disorders, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague (Czech Republic)

2011-10-07

Highlights: {yields} NHR-23 is a critical regulator of nematode development and molting. {yields} The manuscript characterizes the loss-of-function phenotype of an nhr-23 mutant. {yields} Whole genome expression analysis identifies new potential targets of NHR-23. {yields} Hedgehog-related genes are identified as NHR-23 dependent genes. {yields} New link between sterol mediated signaling and regulation by NHR-23 is found. -- Abstract: NHR-23, a conserved member of the nuclear receptor family of transcription factors, is required for normal development in Caenorhabditis elegans where it plays a critical role in growth and molting. In a search for NHR-23 dependent genes, we performed whole genome comparative expression microarrays on both control and nhr-23 inhibited synchronized larvae. Genes that decreased in response to nhr-23 RNAi included several collagen genes. Unexpectedly, several hedgehog-related genes were also down-regulated after nhr-23 RNAi. A homozygous nhr-23 deletion allele was used to confirm the RNAi knockdown phenotypes and the changes in gene expression. Our results indicate that NHR-23 is a critical co-regulator of functionally linked genes involved in growth and molting and reveal evolutionary parallels among the ecdysozoa.

Slifers revisited: a method for determining yields independent of radiochemical measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rambo, J.T.

1976-01-01

It would be very desirable if an independent method other than radiochemical measurement were available to determine the yields of low-yield events in the alluviums and tuffs of areas 2, 9, and 10 at the Nevada Test Site. The successful application of slifers to the measurement of yields from high-yield events suggests that under some conditions they may also be usable with low-yield events. This view is supported by the evidence discussed here, which is based on direct experience with slifer yield measurements for low-yield events in porous media. Suggested methods for improving slifer yield determinations and a method for determining yields independent of radiochemical measurements are offered

Genomic evidence of bitter taste in snakes and phylogenetic analysis of bitter taste receptor genes in reptiles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huaming Zhong

2017-08-01

Full Text Available As nontraditional model organisms with extreme physiological and morphological phenotypes, snakes are believed to possess an inferior taste system. However, the bitter taste sensation is essential to distinguish the nutritious and poisonous food resources and the genomic evidence of bitter taste in snakes is largely scarce. To explore the genetic basis of the bitter taste of snakes and characterize the evolution of bitter taste receptor genes (Tas2rs in reptiles, we identified Tas2r genes in 19 genomes (species corresponding to three orders of non-avian reptiles. Our results indicated contractions of Tas2r gene repertoires in snakes, however dramatic gene expansions have occurred in lizards. Phylogenetic analysis of the Tas2rs with NJ and BI methods revealed that Tas2r genes of snake species formed two clades, whereas in lizards the Tas2r genes clustered into two monophyletic clades and four large clades. Evolutionary changes (birth and death of intact Tas2r genes in reptiles were determined by reconciliation analysis. Additionally, the taste signaling pathway calcium homeostasis modulator 1 (Calhm1 gene of snakes was putatively functional, suggesting that snakes still possess bitter taste sensation. Furthermore, Phylogenetically Independent Contrasts (PIC analyses reviewed a significant correlation between the number of Tas2r genes and the amount of potential toxins in reptilian diets, suggesting that insectivores such as some lizards may require more Tas2rs genes than omnivorous and carnivorous reptiles.

Extensive gene remodeling in the viral world: new evidence for nongradual evolution in the mobilome network.

Science.gov (United States)

Jachiet, Pierre-Alain; Colson, Philippe; Lopez, Philippe; Bapteste, Eric

2014-08-07

Complex nongradual evolutionary processes such as gene remodeling are difficult to model, to visualize, and to investigate systematically. Despite these challenges, the creation of composite (or mosaic) genes by combination of genetic segments from unrelated gene families was established as an important adaptive phenomena in eukaryotic genomes. In contrast, almost no general studies have been conducted to quantify composite genes in viruses. Although viral genome mosaicism has been well-described, the extent of gene mosaicism and its rules of emergence remain largely unexplored. Applying methods from graph theory to inclusive similarity networks, and using data from more than 3,000 complete viral genomes, we provide the first demonstration that composite genes in viruses are 1) functionally biased, 2) involved in key aspects of the arm race between cells and viruses, and 3) can be classified into two distinct types of composite genes in all viral classes. Beyond the quantification of the widespread recombination of genes among different viruses of the same class, we also report a striking sharing of genetic information between viruses of different classes and with different nucleic acid types. This latter discovery provides novel evidence for the existence of a large and complex mobilome network, which appears partly bound by the sharing of genetic information and by the formation of composite genes between mobile entities with different genetic material. Considering that there are around 10E31 viruses on the planet, gene remodeling appears as a hugely significant way of generating and moving novel sequences between different kinds of organisms on Earth. © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

Fooling the Market? Municipal Yields and Unfunded State Pension Liabilities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lekniute, Z.; Beetsma, R.M.W.J.; Ponds, Eduard

2016-01-01

Existing empirical evidence at the country level exhibits a positive relationship between public indebtedness and the yield on the public debt. Using panel data over the period 2001 – 2014, we show that this relationship holds also for municipal bond yields and the indebtedness of U.S. states.

25-Hydroxycholecalciferol Enhances Male Broiler Breast Meat Yield through the mTOR Pathway.

Science.gov (United States)

Vignale, Karen; Greene, Elizabeth S; Caldas, Justina V; England, Judith A; Boonsinchai, Nirun; Sodsee, Phiphob; Pollock, Erik D; Dridi, Sami; Coon, Craig N

2015-05-01

In recent years, there has been a growing body of evidence indicating that replacing cholecalciferol (vitamin D₃) with 25-hydroxycholecalciferol [25(OH)D₃] through dietary supplementation enhances breast meat yield in broiler chickens. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms are still unknown. We investigated the effect of 25(OH)D₃ on male broiler growth performance (body weight, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, and breast meat yield), muscle protein synthesis, and the potential underlying molecular mechanisms. Male Cobb 500 broiler chickens were divided into 4 body weight-matched groups and received a control diet with normal cholecalciferol (2760 IU/kg feed) for 42 d, a diet with high concentrations of cholecalciferol (5520 IU/kg feed) for 42 d, or a diet with 25(OH)D₃ (5520 IU/kg feed) for 42 d (HyD-42). A fourth group consumed the HyD-42 for 21 d and then control feed for 21 d (HyD-21) (n = 360 birds, 12 replicates/treatment). Food and clean water were available for ad libitum consumption. At the end of the 42-d experiment, protein turnover was measured by phenylalanine flooding dose. Breast muscle tissues were collected and protein synthesis-related gene and protein expression were measured by real time polymerase chain reaction and Western blot, respectively. Functional studies were performed in vitro with the use of a quail myoblast (QM7) cell line. QM7 cells were treated with 2 doses (1 nM and 10 nM) of cholecalciferol or 25(OH)D₃ alone or in combination with 100 nM rapamycin, and cell proliferation was determined by cell proliferation assay. Protein synthesis-related gene and protein expression were also determined. The HyD-42 increased 25(OH)D₃ circulating concentrations by 126% (P meat yield (P vitro functional studies showed that cells treated with 25(OH)D₃ for 24 h had increased VDR expression, and activated the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR)/S6 kinase (S6K) pathway, enhanced Ki67 protein concentrations, and induced QM7

Evidence for gene-environment interaction in a genome wide study of nonsyndromic cleft palate

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beaty, Terri H; Ruczinski, Ingo; Murray, Jeffrey C

2011-01-01

Nonsyndromic cleft palate (CP) is a common birth defect with a complex and heterogeneous etiology involving both genetic and environmental risk factors. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using 550 case-parent trios, ascertained through a CP case collected in an international...... consortium. Family-based association tests of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) and three common maternal exposures (maternal smoking, alcohol consumption, and multivitamin supplementation) were used in a combined 2 df test for gene (G) and gene-environment (G × E) interaction simultaneously, plus...... multiple SNPs associated with higher risk of CP in the presence of maternal smoking. Additional evidence of reduced risk due to G × E interaction in the presence of multivitamin supplementation was observed for SNPs in BAALC on chr. 8. These results emphasize the need to consider G × E interaction when...

Differential metabolite profiles during fruit development in high-yielding oil palm mesocarp.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huey Fang Teh

Full Text Available To better understand lipid biosynthesis in oil palm mesocarp, in particular the differences in gene regulation leading to and including de novo fatty acid biosynthesis, a multi-platform metabolomics technology was used to profile mesocarp metabolites during six critical stages of fruit development in comparatively high- and low-yielding oil palm populations. Significantly higher amino acid levels preceding lipid biosynthesis and nucleosides during lipid biosynthesis were observed in a higher yielding commercial palm population. Levels of metabolites involved in glycolysis revealed interesting divergence of flux towards glycerol-3-phosphate, while carbon utilization differences in the TCA cycle were proven by an increase in malic acid/citric acid ratio. Apart from insights into the regulation of enhanced lipid production in oil palm, these results provide potentially useful metabolite yield markers and genes of interest for use in breeding programmes.

Are Hox genes ancestrally involved in axial patterning? Evidence from the hydrozoan Clytia hemisphaerica (Cnidaria.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roxane Chiori

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The early evolution and diversification of Hox-related genes in eumetazoans has been the subject of conflicting hypotheses concerning the evolutionary conservation of their role in axial patterning and the pre-bilaterian origin of the Hox and ParaHox clusters. The diversification of Hox/ParaHox genes clearly predates the origin of bilaterians. However, the existence of a "Hox code" predating the cnidarian-bilaterian ancestor and supporting the deep homology of axes is more controversial. This assumption was mainly based on the interpretation of Hox expression data from the sea anemone, but growing evidence from other cnidarian taxa puts into question this hypothesis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Hox, ParaHox and Hox-related genes have been investigated here by phylogenetic analysis and in situ hybridisation in Clytia hemisphaerica, an hydrozoan species with medusa and polyp stages alternating in the life cycle. Our phylogenetic analyses do not support an origin of ParaHox and Hox genes by duplication of an ancestral ProtoHox cluster, and reveal a diversification of the cnidarian HOX9-14 genes into three groups called A, B, C. Among the 7 examined genes, only those belonging to the HOX9-14 and the CDX groups exhibit a restricted expression along the oral-aboral axis during development and in the planula larva, while the others are expressed in very specialised areas at the medusa stage. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Cross species comparison reveals a strong variability of gene expression along the oral-aboral axis and during the life cycle among cnidarian lineages. The most parsimonious interpretation is that the Hox code, collinearity and conservative role along the antero-posterior axis are bilaterian innovations.

Unusual conservation of mitochondrial gene order in Crassostrea oysters: evidence for recent speciation in Asia

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

Background Oysters are morphologically plastic and hence difficult subjects for taxonomic and evolutionary studies. It is long been suspected, based on the extraordinary species diversity observed, that Asia Pacific is the epicenter of oyster speciation. To understand the species diversity and its evolutionary history, we collected five Crassostrea species from Asia and sequenced their complete mitochondrial (mt) genomes in addition to two newly released Asian oysters (C. iredalei and Saccostrea mordax) for a comprehensive analysis. Results The six Asian Crassostrea mt genomes ranged from 18,226 to 22,446 bp in size, and all coded for 39 genes (12 proteins, 2 rRNAs and 25 tRNAs) on the same strand. Their genomes contained a split of the rrnL gene and duplication of trnM, trnK and trnQ genes. They shared the same gene order that differed from an Atlantic sister species by as many as nine tRNA changes (6 transpositions and 3 duplications) and even differed significantly from S. mordax in protein-coding genes. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that the six Asian Crassostrea species emerged between 3 and 43 Myr ago, while the Atlantic species evolved 83 Myr ago. Conclusions The complete conservation of gene order in the six Asian Crassostrea species over 43 Myr is highly unusual given the remarkable rate of rearrangements in their sister species and other bivalves. It provides strong evidence for the recent speciation of the six Crassostrea species in Asia. It further indicates that changes in mt gene order may not be strictly a function of time but subject to other constraints that are presently not well understood. PMID:21189147

Irrigation offsets wheat yield reductions from warming temperatures

Science.gov (United States)

Tack, Jesse; Barkley, Andrew; Hendricks, Nathan

2017-11-01

Temperature increases due to climate change are expected to cause substantial reductions in global wheat yields. However, uncertainty remains regarding the potential role for irrigation as an adaptation strategy to offset heat impacts. Here we utilize over 7000 observations spanning eleven Kansas field-trial locations, 180 varieties, and 29 years to show that irrigation significantly reduces the negative impact of warming temperatures on winter wheat yields. Dryland wheat yields are estimated to decrease about eight percent for every one-degree Celsius increase in temperature, yet irrigation completely offsets this negative impact in our sample. As in previous studies, we find that important interactions exist between heat stress and precipitation for dryland production. Here, uniquely, we observe both dryland and irrigated trials side-by-side at the same locations and find that precipitation does not provide the same reduction in heat stress as irrigation. This is likely to be because the timing, intensity, and volume of water applications influence wheat yields, so the ability to irrigate—rather than relying on rainfall alone—has a stronger influence on heat stress. We find evidence of extensive differences of water-deficit stress impacts across varieties. This provides some evidence of the potential for adapting to hotter and drier climate conditions using optimal variety selection. Overall, our results highlight the critical role of water management for future global food security. Water scarcity not only reduces crop yields through water-deficit stress, but also amplifies the negative effects of warming temperatures.

The stochastic seasonal behavior of energy commodity convenience yields

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mirantes, Andrés García; Población, Javier; Serna, Gregorio

2013-01-01

This paper contributes to the commodity pricing literature by consistently modeling the convenience yield with its empirically observed properties. Specifically, in this paper, we show how a four-factor model for the stochastic behavior of commodity prices, with two long- and short-term factors and two additional seasonal factors, may accommodate some of the most important empirically observed characteristics of commodity convenience yields, such as the mean reversion and stochastic seasonality. Based on this evidence, a theoretical model is presented and estimated to characterize the commodity convenience yield dynamics that are consistent with previous findings. We also show that commodity price seasonality is better estimated through convenience yields than through futures prices. - Highlights: • Energy commodity convenience yields exhibit mean reversion and stochastic seasonality. • We present a model for convenience yields accounting for their observed characteristics. • Commodity price seasonality is better estimated through convenience yields

No evidence for allelic association between bipolar disorder and monoamine oxidase A gene polymorphisms

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Craddock, N.; Daniels, J.; Roberts, E. [Univ. of Wales, College of Medicine, Cardiff (United Kingdom)] [and others

1995-08-14

We have tested the hypothesis that DNA markers in the MAOA gene show allelic association with bipolar affective disorder. Eighty-four unrelated Caucasian patients with DSM III-R bipolar disorder and 84 Caucasian controls were typed for three markers in MAOA: a dinucleotide repeat in intron 2, a VNTR in intron 1, and an Fnu4HI RFLP in exon 8. No evidence for allelic association was observed between any of the markers and bipolar disorder. 9 refs., 1 tab.

Evidence that the ancestral haplotype in Australian hemochromatosis patients may be associated with a common mutation in the gene.

OpenAIRE

Crawford, D H; Powell, L W; Leggett, B A; Francis, J S; Fletcher, L M; Webb, S I; Halliday, J W; Jazwinska, E C

1995-01-01

Hemochromatosis (HC) is a common inherited disorder of iron metabolism for which neither the gene nor biochemical defect have yet been identified. The aim of this study was to look for clinical evidence that the predominant ancestral haplotype in Australian patients is associated with a common mutation in the gene. We compared indices of iron metabolism and storage in three groups of HC patients categorized according to the presence of the ancestral haplotype (i.e., patients with two copies, ...

Genomic evidence of geographically widespread effect of gene flow from polar bears into brown bears.

Science.gov (United States)

Cahill, James A; Stirling, Ian; Kistler, Logan; Salamzade, Rauf; Ersmark, Erik; Fulton, Tara L; Stiller, Mathias; Green, Richard E; Shapiro, Beth

2015-03-01

Polar bears are an arctic, marine adapted species that is closely related to brown bears. Genome analyses have shown that polar bears are distinct and genetically homogeneous in comparison to brown bears. However, these analyses have also revealed a remarkable episode of polar bear gene flow into the population of brown bears that colonized the Admiralty, Baranof and Chichagof islands (ABC islands) of Alaska. Here, we present an analysis of data from a large panel of polar bear and brown bear genomes that includes brown bears from the ABC islands, the Alaskan mainland and Europe. Our results provide clear evidence that gene flow between the two species had a geographically wide impact, with polar bear DNA found within the genomes of brown bears living both on the ABC islands and in the Alaskan mainland. Intriguingly, while brown bear genomes contain up to 8.8% polar bear ancestry, polar bear genomes appear to be devoid of brown bear ancestry, suggesting the presence of a barrier to gene flow in that direction. © 2014 The Authors. Molecular Ecology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Expression of the Arabidopsis vacuolar H+-pyrophosphatase gene (AVP1) improves the shoot biomass of transgenic barley and increases grain yield in a saline field

KAUST Repository

Schilling, Rhiannon K.

2013-11-22

Cereal varieties with improved salinity tolerance are needed to achieve profitable grain yields in saline soils. The expression of AVP1, an Arabidopsis gene encoding a vacuolar proton pumping pyrophosphatase (H+-PPase), has been shown to improve the salinity tolerance of transgenic plants in greenhouse conditions. However, the potential for this gene to improve the grain yield of cereal crops in a saline field has yet to be evaluated. Recent advances in high-throughput nondestructive phenotyping technologies also offer an opportunity to quantitatively evaluate the growth of transgenic plants under abiotic stress through time. In this study, the growth of transgenic barley expressing AVP1 was evaluated under saline conditions in a pot experiment using nondestructive plant imaging and in a saline field trial. Greenhouse-grown transgenic barley expressing AVP1 produced a larger shoot biomass compared to segregants, as determined by an increase in projected shoot area, when grown in soil with 150 mm NaCl. This increase in shoot biomass of transgenic AVP1 barley occurred from an early growth stage and also in nonsaline conditions. In a saline field, the transgenic barley expressing AVP1 also showed an increase in shoot biomass and, importantly, produced a greater grain yield per plant compared to wild-type plants. Interestingly, the expression of AVP1 did not alter barley leaf sodium concentrations in either greenhouse- or field-grown plants. This study validates our greenhouse-based experiments and indicates that transgenic barley expressing AVP1 is a promising option for increasing cereal crop productivity in saline fields. © 2013 Society for Experimental Biology, Association of Applied Biologists and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Expression of the Arabidopsis vacuolar H+-pyrophosphatase gene (AVP1) improves the shoot biomass of transgenic barley and increases grain yield in a saline field

KAUST Repository

Schilling, Rhiannon K.; Marschner, Petra; Shavrukov, Yuri N.; Berger, Bettina; Tester, Mark A.; Roy, Stuart John; Plett, Darren Craig

2013-01-01

Cereal varieties with improved salinity tolerance are needed to achieve profitable grain yields in saline soils. The expression of AVP1, an Arabidopsis gene encoding a vacuolar proton pumping pyrophosphatase (H+-PPase), has been shown to improve the salinity tolerance of transgenic plants in greenhouse conditions. However, the potential for this gene to improve the grain yield of cereal crops in a saline field has yet to be evaluated. Recent advances in high-throughput nondestructive phenotyping technologies also offer an opportunity to quantitatively evaluate the growth of transgenic plants under abiotic stress through time. In this study, the growth of transgenic barley expressing AVP1 was evaluated under saline conditions in a pot experiment using nondestructive plant imaging and in a saline field trial. Greenhouse-grown transgenic barley expressing AVP1 produced a larger shoot biomass compared to segregants, as determined by an increase in projected shoot area, when grown in soil with 150 mm NaCl. This increase in shoot biomass of transgenic AVP1 barley occurred from an early growth stage and also in nonsaline conditions. In a saline field, the transgenic barley expressing AVP1 also showed an increase in shoot biomass and, importantly, produced a greater grain yield per plant compared to wild-type plants. Interestingly, the expression of AVP1 did not alter barley leaf sodium concentrations in either greenhouse- or field-grown plants. This study validates our greenhouse-based experiments and indicates that transgenic barley expressing AVP1 is a promising option for increasing cereal crop productivity in saline fields. © 2013 Society for Experimental Biology, Association of Applied Biologists and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Allelism of Genes in the Ml-a locus

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Giese, Nanna Henriette; Jensen, Hans Peter; Jørgensen, Jørgen Helms

1980-01-01

Seven barley lines or varieties, each with a different gene at the Ml-a locus for resistance to Erysiphe graminis were intercrossed. Progeny testing of the F2s using two different fungal isolates per cross provided evidence that there are two or more loci in the Ml-a region. Apparent recombinants...... were also screened for recombination between the Hor1 and Hor2 loci which are situated either side of the Ml-a locus. The cross between Ricardo and Iso42R (Rupee) yielded one possible recombinant, with Ml-a3 and Ml-a(Rul) in the coupling phase; other recombinants had wild-type genes in the coupling...... phase. Iso20R, derived from Hordeum spontaneum 'H204', carrying Ml-a6, had an additional gene, in close coupling with Ml-a6, tentatively named Ml-aSp2 or Reglv, causing an intermediate infection type with isolate EmA30. It is suggested that Ml-a(Ar) in Emir and Ml-a(Rul), shown to differ from other Ml...

“Zebrafishing” for Novel Genes Relevant to the Glomerular Filtration Barrier

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nils Hanke

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Data for genes relevant to glomerular filtration barrier function or proteinuria is continually increasing in an era of microarrays, genome-wide association studies, and quantitative trait locus analysis. Researchers are limited by published literature searches to select the most relevant genes to investigate. High-throughput cell cultures and other in vitro systems ultimately need to demonstrate proof in an in vivo model. Generating mammalian models for the genes of interest is costly and time intensive, and yields only a small number of test subjects. These models also have many pitfalls such as possible embryonic mortality and failure to generate phenotypes or generate nonkidney specific phenotypes. Here we describe an in vivo zebrafish model as a simple vertebrate screening system to identify genes relevant to glomerular filtration barrier function. Using our technology, we are able to screen entirely novel genes in 4–6 weeks in hundreds of live test subjects at a fraction of the cost of a mammalian model. Our system produces consistent and reliable evidence for gene relevance in glomerular kidney disease; the results then provide merit for further analysis in mammalian models.

Senescence-induced ectopic expression of A. tumefaciens ipt gene in wheat delays leaf senescence, increases cytokinin content, nitrate influx and nitrate reductase activity but does not affect grain yield

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Sýkorová, Blanka; Kurešová, G.; Daskalova, S.; Trčková, M.; Hoyerová, Klára; Raimanová, I.; Motyka, Václav; Trávníčková, Alena; Elliott, M. C.; Kamínek, Miroslav

2008-01-01

Roč. 59, č. 2 (2008), s. 377-387 ISSN 0022-0957 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA522/02/0530; GA MŠk 1M06030; GA AV ČR(CZ) IAA600380507 Keywords : Cytokinins * grain yield * ipt gene Subject RIV: EF - Botanics Impact factor: 4.001, year: 2008

Rodent Zic Genes in Neural Network Wiring.

Science.gov (United States)

Herrera, Eloísa

2018-01-01

The formation of the nervous system is a multistep process that yields a mature brain. Failure in any of the steps of this process may cause brain malfunction. In the early stages of embryonic development, neural progenitors quickly proliferate and then, at a specific moment, differentiate into neurons or glia. Once they become postmitotic neurons, they migrate to their final destinations and begin to extend their axons to connect with other neurons, sometimes located in quite distant regions, to establish different neural circuits. During the last decade, it has become evident that Zic genes, in addition to playing important roles in early development (e.g., gastrulation and neural tube closure), are involved in different processes of late brain development, such as neuronal migration, axon guidance, and refinement of axon terminals. ZIC proteins are therefore essential for the proper wiring and connectivity of the brain. In this chapter, we review our current knowledge of the role of Zic genes in the late stages of neural circuit formation.

Loss of Sfpq Causes Long-Gene Transcriptopathy in the Brain

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Akihide Takeuchi

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Summary: Genes specifically expressed in neurons contain members with extended long introns. Longer genes present a problem with respect to fulfilment of gene length transcription, and evidence suggests that dysregulation of long genes is a mechanism underlying neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. Here, we report the discovery that RNA-binding protein Sfpq is a critical factor for maintaining transcriptional elongation of long genes. We demonstrate that Sfpq co-transcriptionally binds to long introns and is required for sustaining long-gene transcription by RNA polymerase II through mediating the interaction of cyclin-dependent kinase 9 with the elongation complex. Phenotypically, Sfpq disruption caused neuronal apoptosis in developing mouse brains. Expression analysis of Sfpq-regulated genes revealed specific downregulation of developmentally essential neuronal genes longer than 100 kb in Sfpq-disrupted brains; those genes are enriched in associations with neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases. The identified molecular machinery yields directions for targeted investigations of the association between long-gene transcriptopathy and neuronal diseases. : It has been a long-standing question how mammalian neuronal cells achieve full gene length transcription of extra-long genes. Takeuchi et al. show that RNA-binding protein Sfpq sustains long-gene transcription through Pol II-CTD activation. Loss of Sfpq caused long-gene transcriptopathy, which could be the cause of neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. Keywords: RNA-binding protein, transcriptional regulation, RNA polymerase II, cyclin-dependent kinase 9, RBP/transcript-dependent elongation, long-gene transcriptotherapy, neuronal development, neurological and psychiatric diseases, long-gene diseases, long genopathies

Association analysis of 94 candidate genes and schizophrenia-related endophenotypes.

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Tiffany A Greenwood

Full Text Available While it is clear that schizophrenia is highly heritable, the genetic basis of this heritability is complex. Human genetic, brain imaging, and model organism studies have met with only modest gains. A complementary research tactic is to evaluate the genetic substrates of quantitative endophenotypes with demonstrated deficits in schizophrenia patients. We used an Illumina custom 1,536-SNP array to interrogate 94 functionally relevant candidate genes for schizophrenia and evaluate association with both the qualitative diagnosis of schizophrenia and quantitative endophenotypes for schizophrenia. Subjects included 219 schizophrenia patients and normal comparison subjects of European ancestry and 76 schizophrenia patients and normal comparison subjects of African ancestry, all ascertained by the UCSD Schizophrenia Research Program. Six neurophysiological and neurocognitive endophenotype test paradigms were assessed: prepulse inhibition (PPI, P50 suppression, the antisaccade oculomotor task, the Letter-Number Span Test, the California Verbal Learning Test-II, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test-64 Card Version. These endophenotype test paradigms yielded six primary endophenotypes with prior evidence of heritability and demonstrated schizophrenia-related impairments, as well as eight secondary measures investigated as candidate endophenotypes. Schizophrenia patients showed significant deficits on ten of the endophenotypic measures, replicating prior studies and facilitating genetic analyses of these phenotypes. A total of 38 genes were found to be associated with at least one endophenotypic measure or schizophrenia with an empirical p-value<0.01. Many of these genes have been shown to interact on a molecular level, and eleven genes displayed evidence for pleiotropy, revealing associations with three or more endophenotypic measures. Among these genes were ERBB4 and NRG1, providing further support for a role of these genes in schizophrenia susceptibility

Comparative Transcriptome Analysis of Latex Reveals Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Increased Rubber Yield in Hevea brasiliensis Self-Rooting Juvenile Clones.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Hui-Liang; Guo, Dong; Zhu, Jia-Hong; Wang, Ying; Chen, Xiong-Ting; Peng, Shi-Qing

2016-01-01

Rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) self-rooting juvenile clones (JCs) are promising planting materials for rubber production. In a comparative trial between self-rooting JCs and donor clones (DCs), self-rooting JCs exhibited better performance in rubber yield. To study the molecular mechanism associated with higher rubber yield in self-rooting JCs, we sequenced and comparatively analyzed the latex of rubber tree self-rooting JCs and DCs at the transcriptome level. Total raw reads of 34,632,012 and 35,913,020 bp were obtained from the library of self-rooting JCs and DCs, respectively, by using Illumina HiSeq 2000 sequencing technology. De novo assemblies yielded 54689 unigenes from the library of self-rooting JCs and DCs. Among 54689 genes, 1716 genes were identified as differentially expressed between self-rooting JCs and DCs via comparative transcript profiling. Functional analysis showed that the genes related to the mass of categories were differentially enriched between the two clones. Several genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism, hormone metabolism and reactive oxygen species scavenging were up-regulated in self-rooting JCs, suggesting that the self-rooting JCs provide sufficient molecular basis for the increased rubber yielding, especially in the aspects of improved latex metabolisms and latex flow. Some genes encoding epigenetic modification enzymes were also differentially expressed between self-rooting JCs and DCs. Epigenetic modifications may lead to gene differential expression between self-rooting JCs and DCs. These data will provide new cues to understand the molecular mechanism underlying the improved rubber yield of H. brasiliensis self-rooting clones.

Evidence for a climate signal in trends of global crop yield variability over the past 50 years

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Osborne, T M; Wheeler, T R

2013-01-01

Low variability of crop production from year to year is desirable for many reasons, including reduced income risk and stability of supplies. Therefore, it is important to understand the nature of yield variability, whether it is changing through time, and how it varies between crops and regions. Previous studies have shown that national crop yield variability has changed in the past, with the direction and magnitude dependent on crop type and location. Whilst such studies acknowledge the importance of climate variability in determining yield variability, it has been assumed that its magnitude and its effect on crop production have not changed through time and, hence, that changes to yield variability have been due to non-climatic factors. We address this assumption by jointly examining yield and climate variability for three major crops (rice, wheat and maize) over the past 50 years. National yield time series and growing season temperature and precipitation were de-trended and related using multiple linear regression. Yield variability changed significantly in half of the crop–country combinations examined. For several crop–country combinations, changes in yield variability were related to changes in climate variability. (letter)

Heterologous Production and Yield Improvement of Epothilones in Burkholderiales Strain DSM 7029.

Science.gov (United States)

Bian, Xiaoying; Tang, Biao; Yu, Yucong; Tu, Qiang; Gross, Frank; Wang, Hailong; Li, Aiying; Fu, Jun; Shen, Yuemao; Li, Yue-Zhong; Stewart, A Francis; Zhao, Guoping; Ding, Xiaoming; Müller, Rolf; Zhang, Youming

2017-07-21

The cloning of microbial natural product biosynthetic gene clusters and their heterologous expression in a suitable host have proven to be a feasible approach to improve the yield of valuable natural products and to begin mining cryptic natural products in microorganisms. Myxobacteria are a prolific source of novel bioactive natural products with only limited choices of heterologous hosts that have been exploited. Here, we describe the use of Burkholderiales strain DSM 7029 as a potential heterologous host for the functional expression of myxobacterial secondary metabolites. Using a newly established electroporation procedure, the 56 kb epothilone biosynthetic gene cluster from the myxobacterium Sorangium cellulosum was introduced into the chromosome of strain DSM 7029 by transposition. Production of epothilones A, B, C, and D was detected despite their yields being low. Optimization of the medium, introduction of the exogenous methylmalonyl-CoA biosynthetic pathway, and overexpression of rare tRNA genes resulted in an approximately 75-fold increase in the total yields of epothilones to 307 μg L -1 . These results show that strain DSM 7029 has the potential to produce epothilones with reasonable titers and might be a broadly applicable host for the heterologous expression of other myxobacterial polyketide synthases and nonribosomal peptide synthetases, expediting the process of genome mining.

Action of multiple intra-QTL genes concerted around a co-localized transcription factor underpins a large effect QTL

Science.gov (United States)

Dixit, Shalabh; Kumar Biswal, Akshaya; Min, Aye; Henry, Amelia; Oane, Rowena H.; Raorane, Manish L.; Longkumer, Toshisangba; Pabuayon, Isaiah M.; Mutte, Sumanth K.; Vardarajan, Adithi R.; Miro, Berta; Govindan, Ganesan; Albano-Enriquez, Blesilda; Pueffeld, Mandy; Sreenivasulu, Nese; Slamet-Loedin, Inez; Sundarvelpandian, Kalaipandian; Tsai, Yuan-Ching; Raghuvanshi, Saurabh; Hsing, Yue-Ie C.; Kumar, Arvind; Kohli, Ajay

2015-01-01

Sub-QTLs and multiple intra-QTL genes are hypothesized to underpin large-effect QTLs. Known QTLs over gene families, biosynthetic pathways or certain traits represent functional gene-clusters of genes of the same gene ontology (GO). Gene-clusters containing genes of different GO have not been elaborated, except in silico as coexpressed genes within QTLs. Here we demonstrate the requirement of multiple intra-QTL genes for the full impact of QTL qDTY12.1 on rice yield under drought. Multiple evidences are presented for the need of the transcription factor ‘no apical meristem’ (OsNAM12.1) and its co-localized target genes of separate GO categories for qDTY12.1 function, raising a regulon-like model of genetic architecture. The molecular underpinnings of qDTY12.1 support its effectiveness in further improving a drought tolerant genotype and for its validity in multiple genotypes/ecosystems/environments. Resolving the combinatorial value of OsNAM12.1 with individual intra-QTL genes notwithstanding, identification and analyses of qDTY12.1has fast-tracked rice improvement towards food security. PMID:26507552

Evidence for plasticity genotypes in a gene-gene-environment interaction : the TRAILS study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nederhof, E; Bouma, Esther; Riese, Harriette; Laceulle, Odilia; Ormel, J.; Oldehinkel, A.J.

2010-01-01

The purpose was to study how functional polymorphisms in the brain derived neurotrophic factor gene (BDNF val66met) and the serotonin transporter gene linked promotor region (5-HTTLPR) interact with childhood adversities in predicting Effortful Control. Effortful Control refers to the ability to

Evolution of glutamate dehydrogenase genes: evidence for lateral gene transfer within and between prokaryotes and eukaryotes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roger Andrew J

2003-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Lateral gene transfer can introduce genes with novel functions into genomes or replace genes with functionally similar orthologs or paralogs. Here we present a study of the occurrence of the latter gene replacement phenomenon in the four gene families encoding different classes of glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH, to evaluate and compare the patterns and rates of lateral gene transfer (LGT in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Results We extend the taxon sampling of gdh genes with nine new eukaryotic sequences and examine the phylogenetic distribution pattern of the various GDH classes in combination with maximum likelihood phylogenetic analyses. The distribution pattern analyses indicate that LGT has played a significant role in the evolution of the four gdh gene families. Indeed, a number of gene transfer events are identified by phylogenetic analyses, including numerous prokaryotic intra-domain transfers, some prokaryotic inter-domain transfers and several inter-domain transfers between prokaryotes and microbial eukaryotes (protists. Conclusion LGT has apparently affected eukaryotes and prokaryotes to a similar extent within the gdh gene families. In the absence of indications that the evolution of the gdh gene families is radically different from other families, these results suggest that gene transfer might be an important evolutionary mechanism in microbial eukaryote genome evolution.

The evolutionary history of bears is characterized by gene flow across species

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Vikas; Lammers, Fritjof; Bidon, Tobias; Pfenninger, Markus; Kolter, Lydia; Nilsson, Maria A.; Janke, Axel

2017-01-01

Bears are iconic mammals with a complex evolutionary history. Natural bear hybrids and studies of few nuclear genes indicate that gene flow among bears may be more common than expected and not limited to polar and brown bears. Here we present a genome analysis of the bear family with representatives of all living species. Phylogenomic analyses of 869 mega base pairs divided into 18,621 genome fragments yielded a well-resolved coalescent species tree despite signals for extensive gene flow across species. However, genome analyses using different statistical methods show that gene flow is not limited to closely related species pairs. Strong ancestral gene flow between the Asiatic black bear and the ancestor to polar, brown and American black bear explains uncertainties in reconstructing the bear phylogeny. Gene flow across the bear clade may be mediated by intermediate species such as the geographically wide-spread brown bears leading to large amounts of phylogenetic conflict. Genome-scale analyses lead to a more complete understanding of complex evolutionary processes. Evidence for extensive inter-specific gene flow, found also in other animal species, necessitates shifting the attention from speciation processes achieving genome-wide reproductive isolation to the selective processes that maintain species divergence in the face of gene flow. PMID:28422140

The evolutionary history of bears is characterized by gene flow across species.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Vikas; Lammers, Fritjof; Bidon, Tobias; Pfenninger, Markus; Kolter, Lydia; Nilsson, Maria A; Janke, Axel

2017-04-19

Bears are iconic mammals with a complex evolutionary history. Natural bear hybrids and studies of few nuclear genes indicate that gene flow among bears may be more common than expected and not limited to polar and brown bears. Here we present a genome analysis of the bear family with representatives of all living species. Phylogenomic analyses of 869 mega base pairs divided into 18,621 genome fragments yielded a well-resolved coalescent species tree despite signals for extensive gene flow across species. However, genome analyses using different statistical methods show that gene flow is not limited to closely related species pairs. Strong ancestral gene flow between the Asiatic black bear and the ancestor to polar, brown and American black bear explains uncertainties in reconstructing the bear phylogeny. Gene flow across the bear clade may be mediated by intermediate species such as the geographically wide-spread brown bears leading to large amounts of phylogenetic conflict. Genome-scale analyses lead to a more complete understanding of complex evolutionary processes. Evidence for extensive inter-specific gene flow, found also in other animal species, necessitates shifting the attention from speciation processes achieving genome-wide reproductive isolation to the selective processes that maintain species divergence in the face of gene flow.

High-yield production of herbicidal thaxtomins and analogs in a nonpathogenic Streptomyces strain.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Guangde; Zhang, Yucheng; Powell, Magan M; Zhang, Peilan; Zuo, Ran; Zhang, Yi; Kallifidas, Dimitrios; Tieu, Albert M; Luesch, Hendrik; Loria, Rosemary; Ding, Yousong

2018-03-30

Thaxtomins are virulence factors of most plant pathogenic Streptomyces strains. Due to their potent herbicidal activity, attractive environmental compatibility and inherent biodegradability, thaxtomins are key active ingredients of bioherbicides approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. However, the low yield of thaxtomins in native Streptomyces producers limits their wide agricultural applications. Here, we describe the high-yield production of thaxtomins in a heterologous host. The thaxtomin gene cluster from S. scabiei 87.22 was cloned and expressed in S. albus J1074 after chromosomal integration. The production of thaxtomins and nitro-tryptophan analogs were observed using LC-MS analysis. When culturing the engineered S. albus J1074 in the minimal medium TMDc, the yield of the most abundant and herbicidal analog, thaxtomin A, was 10 times higher than S. scabiei 87.22, and optimization of the medium resulted in the highest yield of thaxtomin analogs at about 222 mg/L. Further engineering of the thaxtomin biosynthetic gene cluster through gene deletion led to the production of multiple biosynthetic intermediates important to the chemical synthesis of new analogs. Additionally, the versatility of the thaxtomin biosynthetic system in S. albus J1074 was capitalized to produce one unnatural fluorinated analog 5-F-thaxtomin A, whose structure was elucidated by a combination of MS and 1D and 2D NMR analyses. Natural and unnatural thaxtomins demonstrated potent herbicidal activity in radish seedling assays. These results indicated that S. albus J1074 has the potential to produce thaxtomins and thereof with high yield, fostering their agricultural applications. IMPORTANCE Thaxtomins are agriculturally valuable herbicidal natural products but the productivity of native producers is limiting. Heterologous expression of thaxtomin gene cluster in S. albus J1074 resulted in the highest yield of thaxtomins ever reported, representing a significant leap

Diallel analysis to study the genetic makeup of spike and yield ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journal of Biotechnology ... Five wheat genotypes were crossed in complete diallel fashion for gene ... by pursuing pedigree method while heterosis can be exploited for spike length, grain weight per spike and grain yield per plant.

Gene expression profiles during short-term heat stress; branching vs. massive Scleractinian corals of the Red Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Keren Maor-Landaw

2016-03-01

Full Text Available It is well-established that there is a hierarchy of susceptibilities amongst coral genera during heat-stress. However, molecular mechanisms governing these differences are still poorly understood. Here we explored if specific corals possessing different morphologies and different susceptibilities to heat stress may manifest varied gene expression patterns. We examined expression patterns of seven genes in the branching corals Stylophora pistillata and Acropora eurystoma and additionally in the massive robust coral, Porites sp. The tested genes are representatives of key cellular processes occurring during heat-stress in Cnidaria: oxidative stress, ER stress, energy metabolism, DNA repair and apoptosis. Varied response to the heat-stress, in terms of visual coral paling, algal maximum quantum yield and host gene expression was evident in the different growth forms. The two branching corals exhibited similar overall responses that differed from that of the massive coral. A. eurystoma that is considered as a susceptible species did not bleach in our experiment, but tissue sloughing was evident at 34 °C. Interestingly, in this species redox regulation genes were up-regulated at the very onset of the thermal challenge. In S. pistillata, bleaching was evident at 34 °C and most of the stress markers were already up-regulated at 32 °C, either remaining highly expressed or decreasing when temperatures reached 34 °C. The massive Porites species displayed severe bleaching at 32 °C but stress marker genes were only significantly elevated at 34 °C. We postulate that by expelling the algal symbionts from Porites tissues, oxidation damages are reduced and stress genes are activated only at a progressed stage. The differential gene expression responses exhibited here can be correlated with the literature well-documented hierarchy of susceptibilities amongst coral morphologies and genera in Eilat’s coral reef.

The Infant Gut Microbiome: Evidence for Obesity Risk and Dietary Intervention

Science.gov (United States)

Koleva, Petya T.; Bridgman, Sarah L.; Kozyrskyj, Anita L.

2015-01-01

Increasing globally, particularly in children, obesity is a serious public health issue and risk factor for overweight and metabolic disease in later life. Both in experimental animal and human studies, advances in gene sequencing technologies have yielded intriguing possibilities for the role of the gut microbiome in later development of overweight status. Before translating study findings into practice, we must first reconcile inconsistencies between animal experimentation, and human adult and infant studies. Recent evidence for associations with gut microbiota and infant weight gain or child weight status, implicate Bacteroides and Lactobacillus species. Dietary manipulation with human milk and pre/probiotic formulations holds promise for preventing obesity. PMID:25835047

The Infant Gut Microbiome: Evidence for Obesity Risk and Dietary Intervention

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petya T. Koleva

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Increasing globally, particularly in children, obesity is a serious public health issue and risk factor for overweight and metabolic disease in later life. Both in experimental animal and human studies, advances in gene sequencing technologies have yielded intriguing possibilities for the role of the gut microbiome in later development of overweight status. Before translating study findings into practice, we must first reconcile inconsistencies between animal experimentation, and human adult and infant studies. Recent evidence for associations with gut microbiota and infant weight gain or child weight status, implicate Bacteroides and Lactobacillus species. Dietary manipulation with human milk and pre/probiotic formulations holds promise for preventing obesity.

Study of gene expression alteration in male androgenetic alopecia: evidence of predominant molecular signalling pathways.

Science.gov (United States)

Michel, L; Reygagne, P; Benech, P; Jean-Louis, F; Scalvino, S; Ly Ka So, S; Hamidou, Z; Bianovici, S; Pouch, J; Ducos, B; Bonnet, M; Bensussan, A; Patatian, A; Lati, E; Wdzieczak-Bakala, J; Choulot, J-C; Loing, E; Hocquaux, M

2017-11-01

Male androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is the most common form of hair loss in men. It is characterized by a distinct pattern of progressive hair loss starting from the frontal area and the vertex of the scalp. Although several genetic risk loci have been identified, relevant genes for AGA remain to be defined. To identify biomarkers associated with AGA. Molecular biomarkers associated with premature AGA were identified through gene expression analysis using cDNA generated from scalp vertex biopsies of hairless or bald men with premature AGA, and healthy volunteers. This monocentric study reveals that genes encoding mast cell granule enzymes, inflammatory mediators and immunoglobulin-associated immune mediators were significantly overexpressed in AGA. In contrast, underexpressed genes appear to be associated with the Wnt/β-catenin and bone morphogenic protein/transforming growth factor-β signalling pathways. Although involvement of these pathways in hair follicle regeneration is well described, functional interpretation of the transcriptomic data highlights different events that account for their inhibition. In particular, one of these events depends on the dysregulated expression of proopiomelanocortin, as confirmed by polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry. In addition, lower expression of CYP27B1 in patients with AGA supports the notion that changes in vitamin D metabolism contributes to hair loss. This study provides compelling evidence for distinct molecular events contributing to alopecia that may pave the way for new therapeutic approaches. © 2017 British Association of Dermatologists.

The ‘Pokemon’ (ZBTB7) Gene: No Evidence of Association with Sporadic Breast Cancer

Science.gov (United States)

Salas, Antonio; Vega, Ana; Milne, Roger L.; García-Magariños, Manuel; Ruibal, Álvaro; Benítez, Javier; Carracedo, Ángel

2008-01-01

It has been proposed that the excess of familiar risk associated with breast cancer could be explained by the cumulative effect of multiple weakly predisposing alleles. The transcriptional repressor FBI1, also known as Pokemon, has recently been identified as a critical factor in oncogenesis. This protein is encoded by the ZBTB7 gene. Here we aimed to determine whether polymorphisms in ZBTB7 are associated with breast cancer risk in a sample of cases and controls collected in hospitals from North and Central Spanish patients. We genotyped 15 SNPs in ZBTB7, including the flanking regions, with an average coverage of 1 SNP/2.4 Kb, in 360 sporadic breast cancer cases and 402 controls. Comparison of allele, genotype and haplotype frequencies between cases and controls did not reveal associations using Pearson’s chi-square test and a permutation procedure to correct for multiple test. In this, the first study of the ZBTB7 gene in relation to, sporadic breast cancer, we found no evidence of an association. PMID:21892298

Linking stomatal traits and expression of slow anion channel genes HvSLAH1 2 HvSLAC1 with grain yield for increasing salinity tolerance in barley

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaohui eLiu

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Soil salinity is an environmental and agricultural problem in many parts of the world. One of the keys to breeding barley for adaptation to salinity lies in a better understanding of the genetic control of stomatal regulation. We have employed a range of physiological and molecular techniques (stomata assay, gas exchange, phylogenetic analysis, QTL analysis, and gene expression to investigate stomatal behaviour and genotypic variation in barley cultivars and a genetic population in four experimental trials. A set of relatively efficient and reliable methods were developed for the characterisation of stomatal behaviour of large numbers of varieties and genetic lines. Furthermore, we have found a large genetic variation of gas exchange and stomatal traits in barley in response to salinity stress. Salt-tolerant CM72 showed significantly larger stomatal aperture in 200 mM NaCl treatment than that of salt-sensitive Gairdner. Stomatal traits such as aperture width/length were found to significantly correlate with grain yield in salt treatment. Phenotypic characterisation and QTL analysis of a segregating double haploid population of the CM72/Gairdner resulted in the identification of significant stomatal traits-related QTLs for salt tolerance. Moreover, expression analysis of the slow anion channel genes HvSLAH1 and HvSLAC1 demonstrated that their up-regulation is linked to high barley grain yield in the field.

Evidence of differential HLA class I-mediated viral evolution in functional and accessory/regulatory genes of HIV-1.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zabrina L Brumme

2007-07-01

Full Text Available Despite the formidable mutational capacity and sequence diversity of HIV-1, evidence suggests that viral evolution in response to specific selective pressures follows generally predictable mutational pathways. Population-based analyses of clinically derived HIV sequences may be used to identify immune escape mutations in viral genes; however, prior attempts to identify such mutations have been complicated by the inability to discriminate active immune selection from virus founder effects. Furthermore, the association between mutations arising under in vivo immune selection and disease progression for highly variable pathogens such as HIV-1 remains incompletely understood. We applied a viral lineage-corrected analytical method to investigate HLA class I-associated sequence imprinting in HIV protease, reverse transcriptase (RT, Vpr, and Nef in a large cohort of chronically infected, antiretrovirally naïve individuals. A total of 478 unique HLA-associated polymorphisms were observed and organized into a series of "escape maps," which identify known and putative cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL epitopes under selection pressure in vivo. Our data indicate that pathways to immune escape are predictable based on host HLA class I profile, and that epitope anchor residues are not the preferred sites of CTL escape. Results reveal differential contributions of immune imprinting to viral gene diversity, with Nef exhibiting far greater evidence for HLA class I-mediated selection compared to other genes. Moreover, these data reveal a significant, dose-dependent inverse correlation between HLA-associated polymorphisms and HIV disease stage as estimated by CD4(+ T cell count. Identification of specific sites and patterns of HLA-associated polymorphisms across HIV protease, RT, Vpr, and Nef illuminates regions of the genes encoding these products under active immune selection pressure in vivo. The high density of HLA-associated polymorphisms in Nef compared to other

Pectin Methylesterase Genes Influence Solid Wood Properties of Eucalyptus pilularis1[C][W][OA

Science.gov (United States)

Sexton, Timothy R.; Henry, Robert J.; Harwood, Chris E.; Thomas, Dane S.; McManus, Luke J.; Raymond, Carolyn; Henson, Michael; Shepherd, Mervyn

2012-01-01

This association study of Eucalyptus pilularis populations provides empirical evidence for the role of Pectin Methylesterase (PME) in influencing solid wood characteristics of Eucalyptus. PME6 was primarily associated with the shrinkage and collapse of drying timber, which are phenotypic traits consistent with the role of pectin as a hydrophilic polysaccharide. PME7 was primarily associated with cellulose and pulp yield traits and had an inverse correlation with lignin content. Selection of specific alleles in these genes may be important for improving trees as sources of high-quality wood products. A heterozygote advantage was postulated for the PME7 loci and, in combination with haplotype blocks, may explain the absence of a homozygous class at all single-nucleotide polymorphisms investigated in this gene. PMID:22052017

Combined inactivation of the Clostridium cellulolyticum lactate and malate dehydrogenase genes substantially increases ethanol yield from cellulose and switchgrass fermentations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Yongchao [ORNL; Tschaplinski, Timothy J [ORNL; Engle, Nancy L [ORNL; Hamilton, Choo Yieng [ORNL; Rodriguez, Jr., Miguel [ORNL; Liao, James C [ORNL; Schadt, Christopher Warren [ORNL; Guss, Adam M [ORNL; Yang, Yunfeng [ORNL; Graham, David E [ORNL

2012-01-01

Background: The model bacterium Clostridium cellulolyticum efficiently hydrolyzes crystalline cellulose and hemicellulose, using cellulosomes to degrade lignocellulosic biomass. Although it imports and ferments both pentose and hexose sugars to produce a mixture of ethanol, acetate, lactate, H2 and CO2, the proportion of ethanol is low, which impedes its use in consolidated bioprocessing for biofuels. Therefore genetic engineering will likely be required to improve the ethanol yield. Random mutagenesis, plasmid transformation, and heterologous expression systems have previously been developed for C. cellulolyticum, but targeted mutagenesis has not been reported for this organism. Results: The first targeted gene inactivation system was developed for C. cellulolyticum, based on a mobile group II intron originating from the Lactococcus lactis L1.LtrB intron. This markerless mutagenesis system was used to disrupt both the paralogous L-lactate dehydrogenase (Ccel_2485; ldh) and L-malate dehydrogenase (Ccel_0137; mdh) genes, distinguishing the overlapping substrate specificities of these enzymes. Both mutations were then combined in a single strain. This double mutant produced 8.5-times more ethanol than wild-type cells growing on crystalline cellulose. Ethanol constituted 93% of the major fermentation products (by molarity), corresponding to a molar ratio of ethanol to organic acids of 15, versus 0.18 in wild-type cells. During growth on acid-pretreated switchgrass, the double mutant also produced four-times as much ethanol as wild-type cells. Detailed metabolomic analyses identified increased flux through the oxidative branch of the mutant s TCA pathway. Conclusions: The efficient intron-based gene inactivation system produced the first gene-targeted mutations in C. cellulolyticum. As a key component of the genetic toolbox for this bacterium, markerless targeted mutagenesis enables functional genomic research in C. cellulolyticum and rapid genetic engineering to

Grain-filling duration and grain yield relationships in wheat mutants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Larik, A.S.

1987-01-01

Nine stable mutants of bread wheat along with their mother cultivars were investigated for grain-filling characteristics in relation to grain yield. Significant differences among mutants for grain-filling duration and grain-filling index were observed. Inspite of the consistent differences in grain-filling duration there was no significant association between grain-filling duration and grain yield in C-591 and Nayab mutants. Failure to detect an yield advantage due to differences in grain-filling duration in these genotypes suggests that any advantage derived from alteration of grain-filling period may have been outweighed by the coincident changes in length of the vegetative period. Other factors such as synchrony of anthesis may have limited out ability to find an association between grainfilling duration and grain yield. On the contrary, significant association between grain-filling duration and grain yield displayed by indus-66 indus-66 mutants derived from gamma rays, shows the ability of gamma rays to induce functional alternations in the pattern of gene arrangements controlling these traits. Thus, the vaability observed in these physiological traits suggests that selection for these traits could be useful in improving grain yield. (author)

Combined protein construct and synthetic gene engineering for heterologous protein expression and crystallization using Gene Composer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Walchli John

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background With the goal of improving yield and success rates of heterologous protein production for structural studies we have developed the database and algorithm software package Gene Composer. This freely available electronic tool facilitates the information-rich design of protein constructs and their engineered synthetic gene sequences, as detailed in the accompanying manuscript. Results In this report, we compare heterologous protein expression levels from native sequences to that of codon engineered synthetic gene constructs designed by Gene Composer. A test set of proteins including a human kinase (P38α, viral polymerase (HCV NS5B, and bacterial structural protein (FtsZ were expressed in both E. coli and a cell-free wheat germ translation system. We also compare the protein expression levels in E. coli for a set of 11 different proteins with greatly varied G:C content and codon bias. Conclusion The results consistently demonstrate that protein yields from codon engineered Gene Composer designs are as good as or better than those achieved from the synonymous native genes. Moreover, structure guided N- and C-terminal deletion constructs designed with the aid of Gene Composer can lead to greater success in gene to structure work as exemplified by the X-ray crystallographic structure determination of FtsZ from Bacillus subtilis. These results validate the Gene Composer algorithms, and suggest that using a combination of synthetic gene and protein construct engineering tools can improve the economics of gene to structure research.

Evidence for the existence of water:ethanol clusters from o-Ps yields

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, F.A.; Beling, C.D.

1982-01-01

Lifetime measurements have been made in mixtures of water and ethanol at 293 K. Fluctuations are observed in both o-Ps yield and decay rate as a function of water concentration with local maxima occurring at molecular ratios (EtOH:H 2 O) of 4:1 and 1:1. The results are interpreted in terms of cluster formation at these concentrations. (Auth.)

Evidence of recent interspecies horizontal gene transfer regarding nucleopolyhedrovirus infection of Spodoptera frugiperda.

Science.gov (United States)

Barrera, Gloria Patricia; Belaich, Mariano Nicolás; Patarroyo, Manuel Alfonso; Villamizar, Laura Fernanda; Ghiringhelli, Pablo Daniel

2015-11-25

Baculoviruses are insect-associated viruses carrying large, circular double-stranded-DNA genomes with significant biotechnological applications such as biological pest control, recombinant protein production, gene delivery in mammals and as a model of DNA genome evolution. These pathogens infect insects from the orders Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera and Diptera, and have high species diversity which is expressed in their diverse biological properties including morphology, virulence or pathogenicity. Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), the fall armyworm, represents a significant pest for agriculture in America; it is a host for baculoviruses such as the Spodoptera frugiperda multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (SfMNPV) (Colombia strain, genotype A) having been classified as a Group II alphabaculovirus making it a very attractive target for bioinsecticidal use. Genome analysis by pyrosequencing revealed that SfMNPV ColA has 145 ORFs, 2 of which were not present in the other sequenced genotypes of the virus (SfMNPV-NicB, SfMNPV-NicG, SfMNPV-19 and SfMNPV-3AP2). An in-depth bioinformatics study showed that ORF023 and ORF024 were acquired by a recent homologous recombination process between Spodoptera frugiperda and Spodoptera litura (the Oriental leafworm moth) nucleopolyhedroviruses. Auxiliary genes are numerous in the affected locus which has a homologous region (hr3), a repetitive sequence associated with genome replication which became lost in SfColA along with 1 ORF. Besides, the mRNAs associated with two acquired genes appeared in the virus' life-cycle during the larval stage. Predictive studies concerning the theoretical proteins identified that ORF023 protein would be a phosphatase involved in DNA repair and that the ORF024 protein would be a membrane polypeptide associated with cell transport. The SfColA genome was thus revealed to be a natural recombinant virus showing evidence of recent horizontal gene transfer between different baculovirus species occurring

Norrie disease gene is distinct from the monoamine oxidase genes

OpenAIRE

Sims, Katherine B.; Ozelius, Laurie; Corey, Timothy; Rinehart, William B.; Liberfarb, Ruth; Haines, Jonathan; Chen, Wei Jane; Norio, Reijo; Sankila, Eeva; de la Chapelle, Albert; Murphy, Dennis L.; Gusella, James; Breakefield, Xandra O.

1989-01-01

The genes for MAO-A and MAO-B appear to be very close to the Norrie disease gene, on the basis of loss and /or disruption of the MAO genes and activities in atypical Norrie disease patients deleted for the DXS7 locus; linkage among the MAO genes, the Norrie disease gene, and the DXS7 locus; and mapping of all these loci to the chromosomal region Xp11. The present study provides evidence that the MAO genes are not disrupted in “classic” Norrie disease patients. Genomic DNA from these “nondelet...

Genetic characterisation of seed yield and fertility traits in perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Studer, Bruno; Jensen, Louise Bach; Hentrup, Stephan

2008-01-01

A population. Path analysis partitioned the direct and indirect effects of seed yield components on seed yield per plant. Seed yield per panicle showed the highest effect on total seed yield. The adjusted mean values of each trait and a genetic linkage map consisting of 97 anonymous and 85 gene associated DNA......Seed yield is a trait of major interest for the key grassland species Lolium perenne L. An F2 mapping population of perennial ryegrass (VrnA), recently characterised for vernalisation response, was assessed in a glasshouse for traits related to seed yield based on a lattice design with four...... replications over 2 years. The traits heading date, plant height, length of panicles, number of panicles per plant, seed yield per panicle, flag leaf length, flag leaf width and seed yield per plant revealed repeatabilities ranging from 41 to 76% and a considerable amount of genetic variation in the Vrn...

Establishing a high yielding streptomyces-based cell-free protein synthesis system.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jian; Wang, He; Kwon, Yong-Chan; Jewett, Michael C

2017-06-01

Cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) has emerged as a powerful platform for applied biotechnology and synthetic biology, with a range of applications in synthesizing proteins, evolving proteins, and prototyping genetic circuits. To expand the current CFPS repertoire, we report here the development and optimization of a Streptomyces-based CFPS system for the expression of GC-rich genes. By developing a streamlined crude extract preparation protocol and optimizing reaction conditions, we were able to achieve active enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) yields of greater than 50 μg/mL with batch reactions lasting up to 3 h. By adopting a semi-continuous reaction format, the EGFP yield could be increased to 282 ± 8 μg/mL and the reaction time was extended to 48 h. Notably, our extract preparation procedures were robust to multiple Streptomyces lividans and Streptomyces coelicolor strains, although expression yields varied. We show that our optimized Streptomyces lividans system provides benefits when compared to an Escherichia coli-based CFPS system for increasing percent soluble protein expression for four Streptomyces-originated high GC-content genes that are involved in biosynthesis of the nonribosomal peptides tambromycin and valinomycin. Looking forward, we believe that our Streptomyces-based CFPS system will contribute significantly towards efforts to express complex natural product gene clusters (e.g., nonribosomal peptides and polyketides), providing a new avenue for obtaining and studying natural product biosynthesis pathways. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 1343-1353. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Brazilian Soybean Yields and Yield Gaps Vary with Farm Size

Science.gov (United States)

Jeffries, G. R.; Cohn, A.; Griffin, T. S.; Bragança, A.

2017-12-01

Understanding the farm size-specific characteristics of crop yields and yield gaps may help to improve yields by enabling better targeting of technical assistance and agricultural development programs. Linking remote sensing-based yield estimates with property boundaries provides a novel view of the relationship between farm size and yield structure (yield magnitude, gaps, and stability over time). A growing literature documents variations in yield gaps, but largely ignores the role of farm size as a factor shaping yield structure. Research on the inverse farm size-productivity relationship (IR) theory - that small farms are more productive than large ones all else equal - has documented that yield magnitude may vary by farm size, but has not considered other yield structure characteristics. We examined farm size - yield structure relationships for soybeans in Brazil for years 2001-2015. Using out-of-sample soybean yield predictions from a statistical model, we documented 1) gaps between the 95th percentile of attained yields and mean yields within counties and individual fields, and 2) yield stability defined as the standard deviation of time-detrended yields at given locations. We found a direct relationship between soy yields and farm size at the national level, while the strength and the sign of the relationship varied by region. Soybean yield gaps were found to be inversely related to farm size metrics, even when yields were only compared to farms of similar size. The relationship between farm size and yield stability was nonlinear, with mid-sized farms having the most stable yields. The work suggests that farm size is an important factor in understanding yield structure and that opportunities for improving soy yields in Brazil are greatest among smaller farms.

Functional evolution in the plant SQUAMOSA-PROMOTER BINDING PROTEIN-LIKE (SPL gene family

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Jill Christine Preston

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The SQUAMOSA-PROMOTER BINDING PROTEIN-LIKE (SPL family of transcription factors is functionally diverse, controlling a number of fundamental aspects of plant growth and development, including vegetative phase change, flowering time, branching, and leaf initiation rate. In natural plant populations, variation in flowering time and shoot architecture have major consequences for fitness. Likewise, in crop species, variation in branching and developmental rate impact biomass and yield. Thus, studies aimed at dissecting how the various functions are partitioned among different SPL genes in diverse plant lineages are key to providing insight into the genetic basis of local adaptation and have already garnered attention by crop breeders. Here we use phylogenetic reconstruction to reveal nine major SPL gene lineages, each of which is described in terms of function and diversification. To assess evidence for ancestral and derived functions within each SPL gene lineage, we use ancestral character state reconstructions. Our analyses suggest an emerging pattern of sub-functionalization, neo-functionalization, and possible convergent evolution following both ancient and recent gene duplication. Based on these analyses we suggest future avenues of research that may prove fruitful for elucidating the importance of SPL gene evolution in plant growth and development.

Diagnostic Yield of Sequencing Familial Hypercholesterolemia Genes in Severe Hypercholesterolemia

Science.gov (United States)

Khera, Amit V.; Won, Hong-Hee; Peloso, Gina M.; Lawson, Kim S.; Bartz, Traci M.; Deng, Xuan; van Leeuwen, Elisabeth M.; Natarajan, Pradeep; Emdin, Connor A.; Bick, Alexander G.; Morrison, Alanna C.; Brody, Jennifer A.; Gupta, Namrata; Nomura, Akihiro; Kessler, Thorsten; Duga, Stefano; Bis, Joshua C.; van Duijn, Cornelia M.; Cupples, L. Adrienne; Psaty, Bruce; Rader, Daniel J.; Danesh, John; Schunkert, Heribert; McPherson, Ruth; Farrall, Martin; Watkins, Hugh; Lander, Eric; Wilson, James G.; Correa, Adolfo; Boerwinkle, Eric; Merlini, Piera Angelica; Ardissino, Diego; Saleheen, Danish; Gabriel, Stacey; Kathiresan, Sekar

2017-01-01

Background About 7% of US adults have severe hypercholesterolemia (untreated LDL cholesterol ≥190 mg/dl). Such high LDL levels may be due to familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), a condition caused by a single mutation in any of three genes. Lifelong elevations in LDL cholesterol in FH mutation carriers may confer CAD risk beyond that captured by a single LDL cholesterol measurement. Objectives Assess the prevalence of a FH mutation among those with severe hypercholesterolemia and determine whether CAD risk varies according to mutation status beyond the observed LDL cholesterol. Methods Three genes causative for FH (LDLR, APOB, PCSK9) were sequenced in 26,025 participants from 7 case-control studies (5,540 CAD cases, 8,577 CAD-free controls) and 5 prospective cohort studies (11,908 participants). FH mutations included loss-of-function variants in LDLR, missense mutations in LDLR predicted to be damaging, and variants linked to FH in ClinVar, a clinical genetics database. Results Among 8,577 CAD-free control participants, 430 had LDL cholesterol ≥190 mg/dl; of these, only eight (1.9%) carried a FH mutation. Similarly, among 11,908 participants from 5 prospective cohorts, 956 had LDL cholesterol ≥190 mg/dl and of these, only 16 (1.7%) carried a FH mutation. Within any stratum of observed LDL cholesterol, risk of CAD was higher among FH mutation carriers when compared with non-carriers. When compared to a reference group with LDL cholesterol <130 mg/dl and no mutation, participants with LDL cholesterol ≥190 mg/dl and no FH mutation had six-fold higher risk for CAD (OR 6.0; 95%CI 5.2–6.9) whereas those with LDL cholesterol ≥190 mg/dl as well as a FH mutation demonstrated twenty-two fold increased risk (OR 22.3; 95%CI 10.7–53.2). Conclusions Among individuals with LDL cholesterol ≥190 mg/dl, gene sequencing identified a FH mutation in <2%. However, for any given observed LDL cholesterol, FH mutation carriers are at substantially increased risk for CAD

Systematic screening for mutations in the promoter and the coding region of the 5-HT{sub 1A} gene

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Erdmann, J.; Shimron-Abarbanell, D.; Cichon, S. [Univ. of Bonn (Germany)] [and others

1995-10-09

In the present study we sought to identify genetic variation in the 5-HT{sub 1A} receptor gene which through alteration of protein function or level of expression might contribute to the genetic predisposition to neuropsychiatric diseases. Genomic DNA samples from 159 unrelated subjects (including 45 schizophrenic, 46 bipolar affective, and 43 patients with Tourette`s syndrome, as well as 25 healthy controls) were investigated by single-strand conformation analysis. Overlapping PCR (polymerase chain reaction) fragments covered the whole coding sequence as well as the 5{prime} untranslated region of the 5-HT{sub 1A} gene. The region upstream to the coding sequence we investigated contains a functional promoter. We found two rare nucleotide sequence variants. Both mutations are located in the coding region of the gene: a coding mutation (A{yields}G) in nucleotide position 82 which leads to an amino acid exchange (Ile{yields}Val) in position 28 of the receptor protein and a silent mutation (C{yields}T) in nucleotide position 549. The occurrence of the Ile-28-Val substitution was studied in an extended sample of patients (n = 352) and controls (n = 210) but was found in similar frequencies in all groups. Thus, this mutation is unlikely to play a significant role in the genetic predisposition to the diseases investigated. In conclusion, our study does not provide evidence that the 5-HT{sub 1A} gene plays either a major or a minor role in the genetic predisposition to schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder, or Tourette`s syndrome. 29 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab.

Molecular evolution of glutamine synthetase II: Phylogenetic evidence of a non-endosymbiotic gene transfer event early in plant evolution

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tartar Aurélien

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Glutamine synthetase (GS is essential for ammonium assimilation and the biosynthesis of glutamine. The three GS gene families (GSI, GSII, and GSIII are represented in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. In this study, we examined the evolutionary relationship of GSII from eubacterial and eukaryotic lineages and present robust phylogenetic evidence that GSII was transferred from γ-Proteobacteria (Eubacteria to the Chloroplastida. Results GSII sequences were isolated from four species of green algae (Trebouxiophyceae, and additional green algal (Chlorophyceae and Prasinophytae and streptophyte (Charales, Desmidiales, Bryophyta, Marchantiophyta, Lycopodiophyta and Tracheophyta sequences were obtained from public databases. In Bayesian and maximum likelihood analyses, eubacterial (GSIIB and eukaryotic (GSIIE GSII sequences formed distinct clades. Both GSIIB and GSIIE were found in chlorophytes and early-diverging streptophytes. The GSIIB enzymes from these groups formed a well-supported sister clade with the γ-Proteobacteria, providing evidence that GSIIB in the Chloroplastida arose by horizontal gene transfer (HGT. Bayesian relaxed molecular clock analyses suggest that GSIIB and GSIIE coexisted for an extended period of time but it is unclear whether the proposed HGT happened prior to or after the divergence of the primary endosymbiotic lineages (the Archaeplastida. However, GSIIB genes have not been identified in glaucophytes or red algae, favoring the hypothesis that GSIIB was gained after the divergence of the primary endosymbiotic lineages. Duplicate copies of the GSIIB gene were present in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Volvox carteri f. nagariensis, and Physcomitrella patens. Both GSIIB proteins in C. reinhardtii and V. carteri f. nagariensis had N-terminal transit sequences, indicating they are targeted to the chloroplast or mitochondrion. In contrast, GSIIB proteins of P. patens lacked transit sequences, suggesting

Crop diversity for yield increase.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chengyun Li

2009-11-01

Full Text Available Traditional farming practices suggest that cultivation of a mixture of crop species in the same field through temporal and spatial management may be advantageous in boosting yields and preventing disease, but evidence from large-scale field testing is limited. Increasing crop diversity through intercropping addresses the problem of increasing land utilization and crop productivity. In collaboration with farmers and extension personnel, we tested intercropping of tobacco, maize, sugarcane, potato, wheat and broad bean--either by relay cropping or by mixing crop species based on differences in their heights, and practiced these patterns on 15,302 hectares in ten counties in Yunnan Province, China. The results of observation plots within these areas showed that some combinations increased crop yields for the same season between 33.2 and 84.7% and reached a land equivalent ratio (LER of between 1.31 and 1.84. This approach can be easily applied in developing countries, which is crucial in face of dwindling arable land and increasing food demand.

Gene-Gene Interactions in the Folate Metabolic Pathway and the Risk of Conotruncal Heart Defects

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Philip J. Lupo

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Conotruncal and related heart defects (CTRD are common, complex malformations. Although there are few established risk factors, there is evidence that genetic variation in the folate metabolic pathway influences CTRD risk. This study was undertaken to assess the association between inherited (i.e., case and maternal gene-gene interactions in this pathway and the risk of CTRD. Case-parent triads (n=727, ascertained from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, were genotyped for ten functional variants of nine folate metabolic genes. Analyses of inherited genotypes were consistent with the previously reported association between MTHFR A1298C and CTRD (adjusted P=.02, but provided no evidence that CTRD was associated with inherited gene-gene interactions. Analyses of the maternal genotypes provided evidence of a MTHFR C677T/CBS 844ins68 interaction and CTRD risk (unadjusted P=.02. This association is consistent with the effects of this genotype combination on folate-homocysteine biochemistry but remains to be confirmed in independent study populations.

Climate Variability and Yields of Major Staple Food Crops in Northern Ghana

Science.gov (United States)

Amikuzuno, J.

2012-12-01

Climate variability, the short-term fluctuations in average weather conditions, and agriculture affect each other. Climate variability affects the agroecological and growing conditions of crops and livestock, and is recently believed to be the greatest impediment to the realisation of the first Millennium Development Goal of reducing poverty and food insecurity in arid and semi-arid regions of developing countries. Conversely, agriculture is a major contributor to climate variability and change by emitting greenhouse gases and reducing the agroecology's potential for carbon sequestration. What however, is the empirical evidence of this inter-dependence of climate variability and agriculture in Sub-Sahara Africa? In this paper, we provide some insight into the long run relationship between inter-annual variations in temperature and rainfall, and annual yields of the most important staple food crops in Northern Ghana. Applying pooled panel data of rainfall, temperature and yields of the selected crops from 1976 to 2010 to cointegration and Granger causality models, there is cogent evidence of cointegration between seasonal, total rainfall and crop yields; and causality from rainfall to crop yields in the Sudano-Guinea Savannah and Guinea Savannah zones of Northern Ghana. This suggests that inter-annual yields of the crops have been influenced by the total mounts of rainfall in the planting season. Temperature variability over the study period is however stationary, and is suspected to have minimal effect if any on crop yields. Overall, the results confirm the appropriateness of our attempt in modelling long-term relationships between the climate and crop yield variables.

Genetic evidence for the association between the early growth response 3 (EGR3 gene and schizophrenia.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rui Zhang

Full Text Available Recently, two genome scan meta-analysis studies have found strong evidence for the association of loci on chromosome 8p with schizophrenia. The early growth response 3 (EGR3 gene located in chromosome 8p21.3 was also found to be involved in the etiology of schizophrenia. However, subsequent studies failed to replicate this finding. To investigate the genetic role of EGR3 in Chinese patients, we genotyped four SNPs (average interval ∼2.3 kb in the chromosome region of EGR3 in 470 Chinese schizophrenia patients and 480 healthy control subjects. The SNP rs35201266 (located in intron 1 of EGR3 showed significant differences between cases and controls in both genotype frequency distribution (P = 0.016 and allele frequency distribution (P = 0.009. Analysis of the haplotype rs35201266-rs3750192 provided significant evidence for association with schizophrenia (P = 0.0012; a significant difference was found for the common haplotype AG (P = 0.0005. Furthermore, significant associations were also found in several other two-, and three-SNP tests of haplotype analyses. The meta-analysis revealed a statistically significant association between rs35201266 and schizophrenia (P = 0.0001. In summary, our study supports the association of EGR3 with schizophrenia in our Han Chinese sample, and further functional exploration of the EGR3 gene will contribute to the molecular basis for the complex network underlying schizophrenia pathogenesis.

Monte Carlo simulation of a simple gene network yields new evolutionary insights.

Science.gov (United States)

Andrecut, M; Cloud, D; Kauffman, S A

2008-02-07

Monte Carlo simulations of a genetic toggle switch show that its behavior can be more complex than analytic models would suggest. We show here that as a result of the interplay between frequent and infrequent reaction events, such a switch can have more stable states than an analytic model would predict, and that the number and character of these states depend to a large extent on the propensity of transcription factors to bind to and dissociate from promoters. The effects of gene duplications differ even more; in analytic models, these seem to result in the disappearance of bi-stability and thus a loss of the switching function, but a Monte Carlo simulation shows that they can result in the appearance of new stable states without the loss of old ones, and thus in an increase of the complexity of the switch's behavior which may facilitate the evolution of new cellular functions. These differences are of interest with respect to the evolution of gene networks, particularly in clonal lines of cancer cells, where the duplication of active genes is an extremely common event, and often seems to result in the appearance of viable new cellular phenotypes.

Remodeling of ribosomal genes in somatic cells by Xenopus egg extract

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ostrup, Olga, E-mail: osvarcova@gmail.com [Institute of Basic Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg C (Denmark); Stem Cell Epigenetics Laboratory, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo (Norway); Norwegian Center for Stem Cell Research, Oslo (Norway); Hyttel, Poul; Klaerke, Dan A. [Institute of Basic Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg C (Denmark); Collas, Philippe, E-mail: philc@medisin.uio.no [Stem Cell Epigenetics Laboratory, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo (Norway); Norwegian Center for Stem Cell Research, Oslo (Norway)

2011-09-02

Highlights: {yields} Xenopus egg extract remodels nuclei and alter cell growth characteristics. {yields} Ribosomal genes are reprogrammed within 6 h after extract exposure. {yields} rDNA reprogramming involves promoter targeting of SNF2H remodeling complex. {yields} Xenopus egg extract does not initiate stress-related response in somatic cells. {yields} Aza-cytidine elicits a stress-induced response in reprogrammed cells. -- Abstract: Extracts from Xenopus eggs can reprogram gene expression in somatic nuclei, however little is known about the earliest processes associated with the switch in the transcriptional program. We show here that an early reprogramming event is the remodeling of ribosomal chromatin and gene expression. This occurs within hours of extract treatment and is distinct from a stress response. Egg extract elicits remodeling of the nuclear envelope, chromatin and nucleolus. Nucleolar remodeling involves a rapid and stable decrease in ribosomal gene transcription, and promoter targeting of the nucleolar remodeling complex component SNF2H without affecting occupancy of the transcription factor UBF and the stress silencers SUV39H1 and SIRT1. During this process, nucleolar localization of UBF and SIRT1 is not altered. On contrary, azacytidine pre-treatment has an adverse effect on rDNA remodeling induced by extract and elicits a stress-type nuclear response. Thus, an early event of Xenopus egg extract-mediated nuclear reprogramming is the remodeling of ribosomal genes involving nucleolar remodeling complex. Condition-specific and rapid silencing of ribosomal genes may serve as a sensitive marker for evaluation of various reprogramming methods.

Evidence of a bigenomic regulation of mitochondrial gene expression by thyroid hormone during rat brain development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sinha, Rohit Anthony; Pathak, Amrita; Mohan, Vishwa; Babu, Satish; Pal, Amit; Khare, Drirh; Godbole, Madan M.

2010-01-01

Hypothyroidism during early mammalian brain development is associated with decreased expression of various mitochondrial encoded genes along with evidence for mitochondrial dysfunction. However, in-spite of the similarities between neurological disorders caused by perinatal hypothyroidism and those caused by various genetic mitochondrial defects we still do not know as to how thyroid hormone (TH) regulates mitochondrial transcription during development and whether this regulation by TH is nuclear mediated or through mitochondrial TH receptors? We here in rat cerebellum show that hypothyroidism causes reduction in expression of nuclear encoded genes controlling mitochondrial biogenesis like PGC-1α, NRF-1α and Tfam. Also, we for the first time demonstrate a mitochondrial localization of thyroid hormone receptor (mTR) isoform in developing brain capable of binding a TH response element (DR2) present in D-loop region of mitochondrial DNA. These results thus indicate an integrated nuclear-mitochondrial cross talk in regulation of mitochondrial transcription by TH during brain development.

Evidence of a bigenomic regulation of mitochondrial gene expression by thyroid hormone during rat brain development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sinha, Rohit Anthony; Pathak, Amrita; Mohan, Vishwa; Babu, Satish; Pal, Amit; Khare, Drirh [Department of Endocrinology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow 226014 (India); Godbole, Madan M., E-mail: madangodbole@yahoo.co.in [Department of Endocrinology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow 226014 (India)

2010-07-02

Hypothyroidism during early mammalian brain development is associated with decreased expression of various mitochondrial encoded genes along with evidence for mitochondrial dysfunction. However, in-spite of the similarities between neurological disorders caused by perinatal hypothyroidism and those caused by various genetic mitochondrial defects we still do not know as to how thyroid hormone (TH) regulates mitochondrial transcription during development and whether this regulation by TH is nuclear mediated or through mitochondrial TH receptors? We here in rat cerebellum show that hypothyroidism causes reduction in expression of nuclear encoded genes controlling mitochondrial biogenesis like PGC-1{alpha}, NRF-1{alpha} and Tfam. Also, we for the first time demonstrate a mitochondrial localization of thyroid hormone receptor (mTR) isoform in developing brain capable of binding a TH response element (DR2) present in D-loop region of mitochondrial DNA. These results thus indicate an integrated nuclear-mitochondrial cross talk in regulation of mitochondrial transcription by TH during brain development.

Genetic basis of some yield components in gossypium hirsutum l

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Javed, A.; Azhar, F.M.; Khan, I.A.; Rana, S.A.

2014-01-01

A 5 * 5 diallel analysis was conducted to study the inheritance of seed cotton yield, number of bolls and boll weight in Gossypium hirsutum L. using combining ability technique. The analysis of the data revealed that variance due to specific combining ability was significant for all the three traits signifying the importance of non additive gene action. The comparison of the parents showed that NF-801-2-37 was the best general combiner for seed cotton yield, number of bolls and boll weight followed by Acala-63-75. Best hybrid combinations identified were Acala-63-75 * NF-801-2-37 for seed cotton yield and DPL-61 * NF-801-2-37 for number of bolls and boll weight. Higher proportion of dominance variance in all three traits suggested delayed selection or use of heterosis breeding in crop improvement programs. (author)

A Metabolic Gene Cluster in the Wheat W1 and the Barley Cer-cqu Loci Determines β-Diketone Biosynthesis and Glaucousness.

Science.gov (United States)

Hen-Avivi, Shelly; Savin, Orna; Racovita, Radu C; Lee, Wing-Sham; Adamski, Nikolai M; Malitsky, Sergey; Almekias-Siegl, Efrat; Levy, Matan; Vautrin, Sonia; Bergès, Hélène; Friedlander, Gilgi; Kartvelishvily, Elena; Ben-Zvi, Gil; Alkan, Noam; Uauy, Cristobal; Kanyuka, Kostya; Jetter, Reinhard; Distelfeld, Assaf; Aharoni, Asaph

2016-06-01

The glaucous appearance of wheat (Triticum aestivum) and barley (Hordeum vulgare) plants, that is the light bluish-gray look of flag leaf, stem, and spike surfaces, results from deposition of cuticular β-diketone wax on their surfaces; this phenotype is associated with high yield, especially under drought conditions. Despite extensive genetic and biochemical characterization, the molecular genetic basis underlying the biosynthesis of β-diketones remains unclear. Here, we discovered that the wheat W1 locus contains a metabolic gene cluster mediating β-diketone biosynthesis. The cluster comprises genes encoding proteins of several families including type-III polyketide synthases, hydrolases, and cytochrome P450s related to known fatty acid hydroxylases. The cluster region was identified in both genetic and physical maps of glaucous and glossy tetraploid wheat, demonstrating entirely different haplotypes in these accessions. Complementary evidence obtained through gene silencing in planta and heterologous expression in bacteria supports a model for a β-diketone biosynthesis pathway involving members of these three protein families. Mutations in homologous genes were identified in the barley eceriferum mutants defective in β-diketone biosynthesis, demonstrating a gene cluster also in the β-diketone biosynthesis Cer-cqu locus in barley. Hence, our findings open new opportunities to breed major cereal crops for surface features that impact yield and stress response. © 2016 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved.

Functional evolution of ADAMTS genes: Evidence from analyses of phylogeny and gene organization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Van Meir Erwin G

2005-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The ADAMTS (A Disintegrin-like and Metalloprotease with Thrombospondin motifs proteins are a family of metalloproteases with sequence similarity to the ADAM proteases, that contain the thrombospondin type 1 sequence repeat motifs (TSRs common to extracellular matrix proteins. ADAMTS proteins have recently gained attention with the discovery of their role in a variety of diseases, including tissue and blood disorders, cancer, osteoarthritis, Alzheimer's and the genetic syndromes Weill-Marchesani syndrome (ADAMTS10, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (ADAMTS13, and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome type VIIC (ADAMTS2 in humans and belted white-spotting mutation in mice (ADAMTS20. Results Phylogenetic analysis and comparison of the exon/intron organization of vertebrate (Homo, Mus, Fugu, chordate (Ciona and invertebrate (Drosophila and Caenorhabditis ADAMTS homologs has elucidated the evolutionary relationships of this important gene family, which comprises 19 members in humans. Conclusions The evolutionary history of ADAMTS genes in vertebrate genomes has been marked by rampant gene duplication, including a retrotransposition that gave rise to a distinct ADAMTS subfamily (ADAMTS1, -4, -5, -8, -15 that may have distinct aggrecanase and angiogenesis functions.

Mutant genes in pea breeding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Swiecicki, W.K.

1990-01-01

Full text: Mutations of genes Dpo (dehiscing pods) and A (anthocyanin synthesis) played a role in pea domestication. A number of other genes were important in cultivar development for 3 types of usage (dry seeds, green vegetable types, fodder), e.g. fn, fna, le, p, v, fas and af. New genes (induced and spontaneous), are important for present ideotypes and are registered by the Pisum Genetics Association (PGA). Comparison of a pea variety ideotype with the variation available in gene banks shows that breeders need 'new' features. In mutation induction experiments, genotype, mutagen and method of treatment (e.g. combined or fractionated doses) are varied for broadening the mutation spectrum and selecting more genes of agronomic value. New genes are genetically analysed. In Poland, some mutant varieties with the gene afila were registered, controlling lodging by a shorter stem and a higher number of internodes. Really non-lodging pea varieties could strongly increase seed yield. But the probability of detecting a major gene for lodging resistance is low. Therefore, mutant genes with smaller influence on plant architecture are sought, to combine their effect by crossing. Promising seem to be the genes rogue, reductus and arthritic as well as a number of mutant genes not yet genetically identified. The gene det for terminal inflorescence - similarly to Vicia faba - changes plant development. Utilisation of assimilates and ripening should be better. Improvement of harvest index should give higher seed yield. A number of genes controlling disease resistance are well known (eg. Fw, Fnw, En, mo and sbm). Important in mass screening of resistance are closely linked gene markers. Pea gene banks collect respective lines, but mutants induced in highly productive cultivars would be better. Inducing gene markers sometimes seems to be easier than transfer by crossing. Mutation induction in pea breeding is probably more important because a high number of monogenic features are

A scale invariant clustering of genes on human chromosome 7

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kendal Wayne S

2004-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Vertebrate genes often appear to cluster within the background of nontranscribed genomic DNA. Here an analysis of the physical distribution of gene structures on human chromosome 7 was performed to confirm the presence of clustering, and to elucidate possible underlying statistical and biological mechanisms. Results Clustering of genes was confirmed by virtue of a variance of the number of genes per unit physical length that exceeded the respective mean. Further evidence for clustering came from a power function relationship between the variance and mean that possessed an exponent of 1.51. This power function implied that the spatial distribution of genes on chromosome 7 was scale invariant, and that the underlying statistical distribution had a Poisson-gamma (PG form. A PG distribution for the spatial scattering of genes was validated by stringent comparisons of both the predicted variance to mean power function and its cumulative distribution function to data derived from chromosome 7. Conclusion The PG distribution was consistent with at least two different biological models: In the microrearrangement model, the number of genes per unit length of chromosome represented the contribution of a random number of smaller chromosomal segments that had originated by random breakage and reconstruction of more primitive chromosomes. Each of these smaller segments would have necessarily contained (on average a gamma distributed number of genes. In the gene cluster model, genes would be scattered randomly to begin with. Over evolutionary timescales, tandem duplication, mutation, insertion, deletion and rearrangement could act at these gene sites through a stochastic birth death and immigration process to yield a PG distribution. On the basis of the gene position data alone it was not possible to identify the biological model which best explained the observed clustering. However, the underlying PG statistical model implicated neutral

Population genetic implications from sequence variation in four Y chromosome genes.

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, P; Wang, F; Underhill, P A; Franco, C; Yang, W H; Roxas, A; Sung, R; Lin, A A; Hyman, R W; Vollrath, D; Davis, R W; Cavalli-Sforza, L L; Oefner, P J

2000-06-20

Some insight into human evolution has been gained from the sequencing of four Y chromosome genes. Primary genomic sequencing determined gene SMCY to be composed of 27 exons that comprise 4,620 bp of coding sequence. The unfinished sequencing of the 5' portion of gene UTY1 was completed by primer walking, and a total of 20 exons were found. By using denaturing HPLC, these two genes, as well as DBY and DFFRY, were screened for polymorphic sites in 53-72 representatives of the five continents. A total of 98 variants were found, yielding nucleotide diversity estimates of 2.45 x 10(-5), 5. 07 x 10(-5), and 8.54 x 10(-5) for the coding regions of SMCY, DFFRY, and UTY1, respectively, with no variant having been observed in DBY. In agreement with most autosomal genes, diversity estimates for the noncoding regions were about 2- to 3-fold higher and ranged from 9. 16 x 10(-5) to 14.2 x 10(-5) for the four genes. Analysis of the frequencies of derived alleles for all four genes showed that they more closely fit the expectation of a Luria-Delbrück distribution than a distribution expected under a constant population size model, providing evidence for exponential population growth. Pairwise nucleotide mismatch distributions date the occurrence of population expansion to approximately 28,000 years ago. This estimate is in accord with the spread of Aurignacian technology and the disappearance of the Neanderthals.

Nature of gene action and genetic parameters for yield and its ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Reza

2013-12-18

Dec 18, 2013 ... by several chickpea breeders to evaluate the potential of populations for intra population improvement and the usefulness of parents in inter population breeding prog- rams, and to select inbred lines in hybrid breeding programs. The estimation of additive and non-additive gene action through this ...

Resolution of the African hominoid trichotomy by use of a mitochondrial gene sequence

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ruvolo, M.; Disotell, T.R.; Allard, M.W. (Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)); Brown, W.M. (Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor (United States)); Honeycutt, R.L. (Texas A and M Univ., College Station (United States))

1991-02-15

Mitochondrial DNA sequences encoding the cytochrome oxidase subunit II gene have been determined for five primate species, siamang (Hylobates syndactylus), lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), pygmy chimpanzee (Pan paniscus), crab-eating macaque (Macaca fascicularis), and green monkey (Cercopithecus aethiops), and compared with published sequences of other primate and nonprimate species. Comparisons of cytochrome oxidase subunit II gene sequences provide clear-cut evidence from the mitochondrial genome for the separation of the African ape trichotomy into two evolutionary lineages, one leading to gorillas and the other to humans and chimpanzees. Several different tree-building methods support this same phylogenetic tree topology. The comparisons also yield trees in which a substantial length separates the divergence point of gorillas from that of humans and chimpanzees, suggesting that the lineage most immediately ancestral to humans and chimpanzees may have been in existence for a relatively long time.

Resolution of the African hominoid trichotomy by use of a mitochondrial gene sequence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruvolo, M.; Disotell, T.R.; Allard, M.W.; Brown, W.M.; Honeycutt, R.L.

1991-01-01

Mitochondrial DNA sequences encoding the cytochrome oxidase subunit II gene have been determined for five primate species, siamang (Hylobates syndactylus), lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), pygmy chimpanzee (Pan paniscus), crab-eating macaque (Macaca fascicularis), and green monkey (Cercopithecus aethiops), and compared with published sequences of other primate and nonprimate species. Comparisons of cytochrome oxidase subunit II gene sequences provide clear-cut evidence from the mitochondrial genome for the separation of the African ape trichotomy into two evolutionary lineages, one leading to gorillas and the other to humans and chimpanzees. Several different tree-building methods support this same phylogenetic tree topology. The comparisons also yield trees in which a substantial length separates the divergence point of gorillas from that of humans and chimpanzees, suggesting that the lineage most immediately ancestral to humans and chimpanzees may have been in existence for a relatively long time

Translocation breakpoint at 7q31 associated with tics: further evidence for IMMP2L as a candidate gene for Tourette syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Chirag; Cooper-Charles, Lisa; McMullan, Dominic J; Walker, Judith M; Davison, Val; Morton, Jenny

2011-06-01

Gilles de la Tourette syndrome is a complex neuropsychiatric disorder with a strong genetic basis. We identified a male patient with Tourette syndrome-like tics and an apparently balanced de novo translocation [46,XY,t(2;7)(p24.2;q31)]. Further analysis using array comparative genomic hybridisation (CGH) revealed a cryptic deletion at 7q31.1-7q31.2. Breakpoints disrupting this region have been reported in one isolated and one familial case of Tourette syndrome. In our case, IMMP2L, a gene coding for a human homologue of the yeast inner mitochondrial membrane peptidase subunit 2, was disrupted by the breakpoint on 7q31.1, with deletion of exons 1-3 of the gene. The IMMP2L gene has previously been proposed as a candidate gene for Tourette syndrome, and our case provides further evidence of its possible role in the pathogenesis. The deleted region (7q31.1-7q31.2) of 7.2 Mb of genomic DNA also encompasses numerous genes, including FOXP2, associated with verbal dyspraxia, and the CFTR gene.

Exogenous empirical-evidence equilibria in perfect-monitoring repeated games yield correlated equilibria

KAUST Repository

Dudebout, Nicolas; Shamma, Jeff S.

2014-01-01

This paper proves that exogenous empirical-evidence equilibria (xEEEs) in perfect-monitoring repeated games induce correlated equilibria of the associated one-shot game. An empirical-evidence equilibrium (EEE) is a solution concept for stochastic games. At equilibrium, agents' strategies are optimal with respect to models of their opponents. These models satisfy a consistency condition with respect to the actual behavior of the opponents. As such, EEEs replace the full-rationality requirement of Nash equilibria by a consistency-based bounded-rationality one. In this paper, the framework of empirical evidence is summarized, with an emphasis on perfect-monitoring repeated games. A less constraining notion of consistency is introduced. The fact that an xEEE in a perfect-monitoring repeated game induces a correlated equilibrium on the underlying one-shot game is proven. This result and the new notion of consistency are illustrated on the hawk-dove game. Finally, a method to build specific correlated equilibria from xEEEs is derived.

Exogenous empirical-evidence equilibria in perfect-monitoring repeated games yield correlated equilibria

KAUST Repository

Dudebout, Nicolas

2014-12-15

This paper proves that exogenous empirical-evidence equilibria (xEEEs) in perfect-monitoring repeated games induce correlated equilibria of the associated one-shot game. An empirical-evidence equilibrium (EEE) is a solution concept for stochastic games. At equilibrium, agents\\' strategies are optimal with respect to models of their opponents. These models satisfy a consistency condition with respect to the actual behavior of the opponents. As such, EEEs replace the full-rationality requirement of Nash equilibria by a consistency-based bounded-rationality one. In this paper, the framework of empirical evidence is summarized, with an emphasis on perfect-monitoring repeated games. A less constraining notion of consistency is introduced. The fact that an xEEE in a perfect-monitoring repeated game induces a correlated equilibrium on the underlying one-shot game is proven. This result and the new notion of consistency are illustrated on the hawk-dove game. Finally, a method to build specific correlated equilibria from xEEEs is derived.

Variation across mitochondrial gene trees provides evidence for systematic error: How much gene tree variation is biological?

Science.gov (United States)

Richards, Emilie J; Brown, Jeremy M; Barley, Anthony J; Chong, Rebecca A; Thomson, Robert C

2018-02-19

The use of large genomic datasets in phylogenetics has highlighted extensive topological variation across genes. Much of this discordance is assumed to result from biological processes. However, variation among gene trees can also be a consequence of systematic error driven by poor model fit, and the relative importance of biological versus methodological factors in explaining gene tree variation is a major unresolved question. Using mitochondrial genomes to control for biological causes of gene tree variation, we estimate the extent of gene tree discordance driven by systematic error and employ posterior prediction to highlight the role of model fit in producing this discordance. We find that the amount of discordance among mitochondrial gene trees is similar to the amount of discordance found in other studies that assume only biological causes of variation. This similarity suggests that the role of systematic error in generating gene tree variation is underappreciated and critical evaluation of fit between assumed models and the data used for inference is important for the resolution of unresolved phylogenetic questions.

Evidence for gene-environment interaction in a genome wide study of isolated, non-syndromic cleft palate

Science.gov (United States)

Beaty, Terri H.; Ruczinski, Ingo; Murray, Jeffrey C.; Marazita, Mary L.; Munger, Ronald G.; Hetmanski, Jacqueline B.; Murray, Tanda; Redett, Richard J.; Fallin, M. Daniele; Liang, Kung Yee; Wu, Tao; Patel, Poorav J.; Jin, Sheng C.; Zhang, Tian Xiao; Schwender, Holger; Wu-Chou, Yah Huei; Chen, Philip K; Chong, Samuel S; Cheah, Felicia; Yeow, Vincent; Ye, Xiaoqian; Wang, Hong; Huang, Shangzhi; Jabs, Ethylin W.; Shi, Bing; Wilcox, Allen J.; Lie, Rolv T.; Jee, Sun Ha; Christensen, Kaare; Doheny, Kimberley F.; Pugh, Elizabeth W.; Ling, Hua; Scott, Alan F.

2011-01-01

Non-syndromic cleft palate (CP) is a common birth defect with a complex and heterogeneous etiology involving both genetic and environmental risk factors. We conducted a genome wide association study (GWAS) using 550 case-parent trios, ascertained through a CP case collected in an international consortium. Family based association tests of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) and three common maternal exposures (maternal smoking, alcohol consumption and multivitamin supplementation) were used in a combined 2 df test for gene (G) and gene-environment (G×E) interaction simultaneously, plus a separate 1 df test for G×E interaction alone. Conditional logistic regression models were used to estimate effects on risk to exposed and unexposed children. While no SNP achieved genome wide significance when considered alone, markers in several genes attained or approached genome wide significance when G×E interaction was included. Among these, MLLT3 and SMC2 on chromosome 9 showed multiple SNPs resulting in increased risk if the mother consumed alcohol during the peri-conceptual period (3 months prior to conception through the first trimester). TBK1 on chr. 12 and ZNF236 on chr. 18 showed multiple SNPs associated with higher risk of CP in the presence of maternal smoking. Additional evidence of reduced risk due to G×E interaction in the presence of multivitamin supplementation was observed for SNPs in BAALC on chr. 8. These results emphasize the need to consider G×E interaction when searching for genes influencing risk to complex and heterogeneous disorders, such as non-syndromic CP. PMID:21618603

Gene expression based evidence of innate immune response activation in the epithelium with oral lichen planus

Science.gov (United States)

Adami, Guy R.; Yeung, Alexander C.F.; Stucki, Grant; Kolokythas, Antonia; Sroussi, Herve Y.; Cabay, Robert J.; Kuzin, Igor; Schwartz, Joel L.

2014-01-01

Objective Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a disease of the oral mucosa of unknown cause producing lesions with an intense band-like inflammatory infiltrate of T cells to the subepithelium and keratinocyte cell death. We performed gene expression analysis of the oral epithelium of lesions in subjects with OLP and its sister disease, oral lichenoid reaction (OLR), in order to better understand the role of the keratinocytes in these diseases. Design Fourteen patients with OLP or OLR were included in the study, along with a control group of 23 subjects with a variety of oral diseases and a normal group of 17 subjects with no clinically visible mucosal abnormalities. Various proteins have been associated with OLP, based on detection of secreted proteins or changes in RNA levels in tissue samples consisting of epithelium, stroma, and immune cells. The mRNA level of twelve of these genes expressed in the epithelium was tested in the three groups. Results Four genes showed increased expression in the epithelium of OLP patients: CD14, CXCL1, IL8, and TLR1, and at least two of these proteins, TLR1 and CXCL1, were expressed at substantial levels in oral keratinocytes. Conclusions Because of the large accumulation of T cells in lesions of OLP it has long been thought to be an adaptive immunity malfunction. We provide evidence that there is increased expression of innate immune genes in the epithelium with this illness, suggesting a role for this process in the disease and a possible target for treatment. PMID:24581860

Evidence for a weakening strength of temperature-corn yield relation in the United States during 1980–2010

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Leng, Guoyong

2017-12-01

Temperature is known to be correlated with crop yields, causing reduction of crop yield with climate warming without adaptations or CO2 fertilization effects. The historical temperature-crop yield relation has often been used for informing future changes. This relationship, however, may change over time following alternations in other environmental factors. Results show that the strength of the relationship between the interannual variability of growing season temperature and corn yield (RGST_CY) has declined in the United States between 1980 and 2010 with a loss in the statistical significance. The regression slope which represents the anomalies in corn yield that occur in association with 1 degree temperature anomaly has decreased significantly from -6.9%/K of the first half period to -2.4%/K~-3.5%/K of the second half period. This implies that projected corn yield reduction will be overestimated by a fact of 2 in a given warming scenario, if the corn-temperature relation is derived from the earlier historical period. Changes in RGST_CY are mainly observed in Midwest Corn Belt and central High Plains, and are well reproduced by 11 process-based crop models. In Midwest rain-fed systems, the decrease of negative temperature effects coincides with an increase in water availability by precipitation. In irrigated areas where water stress is minimized, the decline of beneficial temperature effects is significantly related to the increase in extreme hot days. The results indicate that an extrapolation of historical yield response to temperature may bias the assessment of agriculture vulnerability to climate change. Efforts to reduce climate impacts on agriculture should pay attention not only to climate change, but also to changes in climate-crop yield relations. There are some caveats that should be acknowledged as the analysis is restricted to the changes in the linear relation between growing season mean temperature and corn yield for the specific study period.

Natural Selection in Virulence Genes of Francisella tularensis.

Science.gov (United States)

Gunnell, Mark K; Robison, Richard A; Adams, Byron J

2016-06-01

A fundamental tenet of evolution is that alleles that are under negative selection are often deleterious and confer no evolutionary advantage. Negatively selected alleles are removed from the gene pool and are eventually extinguished from the population. Conversely, alleles under positive selection do confer an evolutionary advantage and lead to an increase in the overall fitness of the organism. These alleles increase in frequency until they eventually become fixed in the population. Francisella tularensis is a zoonotic pathogen and a potential biothreat agent. The most virulent type of F. tularensis, Type A, is distributed across North America with Type A.I occurring mainly in the east and Type A.II appearing mainly in the west. F. tularensis is thought to be a genome in decay (losing genes) because of the relatively large number of pseudogenes present in its genome. We hypothesized that the observed frequency of gene loss/pseudogenes may be an artifact of evolution in response to a changing environment, and that genes involved in virulence should be under strong positive selection. To test this hypothesis, we sequenced and compared whole genomes of Type A.I and A.II isolates. We analyzed a subset of virulence and housekeeping genes from several F. tularensis subspecies genomes to ascertain the presence and extent of positive selection. Eleven previously identified virulence genes were screened for positive selection along with 10 housekeeping genes. Analyses of selection yielded one housekeeping gene and 7 virulence genes which showed significant evidence of positive selection at loci implicated in cell surface structures and membrane proteins, metabolism and biosynthesis, transcription, translation and cell separation, and substrate binding and transport. Our results suggest that while the loss of functional genes through disuse could be accelerated by negative selection, the genome decay in Francisella could also be the byproduct of adaptive evolution

Separating heat stress from moisture stress: analyzing yield response to high temperature in irrigated maize

Science.gov (United States)

Carter, Elizabeth K.; Melkonian, Jeff; Riha, Susan J.; Shaw, Stephen B.

2016-09-01

Several recent studies have indicated that high air temperatures are limiting maize (Zea mays L.) yields in the US Corn Belt and project significant yield losses with expected increases in growing season temperatures. Further work has suggested that high air temperatures are indicative of high evaporative demand, and that decreases in maize yields which correlate to high temperatures and vapor pressure deficits (VPD) likely reflect underlying soil moisture limitations. It remains unclear whether direct high temperature impacts on yields, independent of moisture stress, can be observed under current temperature regimes. Given that projected high temperature and moisture may not co-vary the same way as they have historically, quantitative analyzes of direct temperature impacts are critical for accurate yield projections and targeted mitigation strategies under shifting temperature regimes. To evaluate yield response to above optimum temperatures independent of soil moisture stress, we analyzed climate impacts on irrigated maize yields obtained from the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) corn yield contests for Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. In irrigated maize, we found no evidence of a direct negative impact on yield by daytime air temperature, calculated canopy temperature, or VPD when analyzed seasonally. Solar radiation was the primary yield-limiting climate variable. Our analyses suggested that elevated night temperature impacted yield by increasing rates of phenological development. High temperatures during grain-fill significantly interacted with yields, but this effect was often beneficial and included evidence of acquired thermo-tolerance. Furthermore, genetics and management—information uniquely available in the NCGA contest data—explained more yield variability than climate, and significantly modified crop response to climate. Thermo-acclimation, improved genetics and changes to management practices have the potential to partially or completely

High yield CTMP fibres as a possibility of the more efficient yield of wood raw material

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Klašnja Bojana A.

2004-01-01

Full Text Available The evident shortage of wood as a raw material has become a limiting factor in the pulp and paper industry which is the greatest consumer of wood in Europe. The situation in our country is similar. During the few past years, the production of poplar and willow pulpwood was 220.000 m3 per year, which is insufficient for the planned increase in the production of sulphate pulp (175.000 tons till 2005. This paper deals with the aspects of the more efficient yield of raw material, based on the significantly higher yield of CTMP fibres, as well as with the significance of the lower adverse effect on the environment. It also analyses the conditions of production and the quality of the obtained fibres, as a possible substitute for chemical pulp and secondary fibres in papers of different quality. The main reasons for the production and use of CTMP fibres in our country are reported.

Yield Mapping in Salix; Skoerdekartering av salix

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anderson, Christoffer; Gilbertsson, Mikael; Rogstrand, Gustav; Thylen, Lars

2004-09-01

willow. It is also possible to measure variations between fields. From the physical and chemical parameters in the soil it is difficult to get a decisive picture of which parameters actually have an effect on the yield, especially if you look at one parameter at time. It is often the interplay between many parameters that results in yield variability. One thing that is evident is that if one parameter is critically low or high, for example extremely dry soil, it effects the yield negatively. Because of problems with the equipment, data could only be collected from five fields in order to make this analysis.

Diallel Analysis using Hayman Method to Study Genetic Parameters of Yield Components in Pepper(Capsicum annuum L.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MUHAMAD SYUKUR

2010-12-01

Full Text Available One method to obtain genetic information is the diallel cross analysis. The objective of this study was to eavluate the genetic parameters of six inbred pepper (Capsicum annuum L. using full diallel crosses. The experiment was conducted at IPB Experiment Field, Cikabayan, Darmaga. The design was randomized complete block design (RCBD using three replications as blocks. Data from generation F1 and parents were analyzed using the Hayman Method. Results indicated that no epistatic effects were significant for all the traits assessed. Additive genetic effects were larger than the dominant effects for yield per plant, fruit length, and diameter fruit traits. Dominant genetic effects were larger than the additive effects for fruit weight traits. Narrow-sense and broad-sense heritability were high for all the traits assessed. The character of the yield per plant, fruit weight and fruit diameter shows that there were more dominant genes in the parents. There were more recessive genes in parents for the fruit length character. IPB C7 parent was the most recessive genes containing control characters in the yield per plant. In the new improved varieties of high yielding, IPB C7 could be crossed with IPB C9. Employing individual or mass selection breeding should be successful in developing high-productivity lines in this population.

Combining Ability of Pod Yield and Related Traits of Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L. under Salinity Stress

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Md. Abul Kalam Azad

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A study was performed using 6×6 F1 diallel population without reciprocals to assess the mode of inheritance of pod yield and related traits in groundnut with imposed salinity stress. Heterosis was found for pod number and yield. Data on general and specific combining ability (gca and sca indicated additive and nonadditive gene actions. The gca: sca ratios were much less than unity suggesting predominant role of nonadditive gene effects. Cultivars “Binachinabadam-2” and “Dacca-1” and mutant M6/25/64-82 had the highest, second highest, and third highest pod number, as well as gca values, respectively. These two cultivars and another mutant M6/15/70-19 also had the highest, second highest, and third highest pod yield, as well as gca values, respectively. Therefore, “Dacca-1”, “Binachinabadam-2”, M6/25/64-82, and M6/15/70-19 could be used as source of salinity tolerance. Cross combinations showing high sca effects arising from parents with high and low gca values for any trait indicate the influence of nonadditive genes on their expression. Parents of these crosses can be used for biparental mating or reciprocal recurrent selection for developing high yielding varieties. Crosses with high sca effects having both parents with good gca effects could be exploited by pedigree breeding to get transgressive segregants.

Optimizing rice yields while minimizing yield-scaled global warming potential.

Science.gov (United States)

Pittelkow, Cameron M; Adviento-Borbe, Maria A; van Kessel, Chris; Hill, James E; Linquist, Bruce A

2014-05-01

To meet growing global food demand with limited land and reduced environmental impact, agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are increasingly evaluated with respect to crop productivity, i.e., on a yield-scaled as opposed to area basis. Here, we compiled available field data on CH4 and N2 O emissions from rice production systems to test the hypothesis that in response to fertilizer nitrogen (N) addition, yield-scaled global warming potential (GWP) will be minimized at N rates that maximize yields. Within each study, yield N surplus was calculated to estimate deficit or excess N application rates with respect to the optimal N rate (defined as the N rate at which maximum yield was achieved). Relationships between yield N surplus and GHG emissions were assessed using linear and nonlinear mixed-effects models. Results indicate that yields increased in response to increasing N surplus when moving from deficit to optimal N rates. At N rates contributing to a yield N surplus, N2 O and yield-scaled N2 O emissions increased exponentially. In contrast, CH4 emissions were not impacted by N inputs. Accordingly, yield-scaled CH4 emissions decreased with N addition. Overall, yield-scaled GWP was minimized at optimal N rates, decreasing by 21% compared to treatments without N addition. These results are unique compared to aerobic cropping systems in which N2 O emissions are the primary contributor to GWP, meaning yield-scaled GWP may not necessarily decrease for aerobic crops when yields are optimized by N fertilizer addition. Balancing gains in agricultural productivity with climate change concerns, this work supports the concept that high rice yields can be achieved with minimal yield-scaled GWP through optimal N application rates. Moreover, additional improvements in N use efficiency may further reduce yield-scaled GWP, thereby strengthening the economic and environmental sustainability of rice systems. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Synonymous genes explore different evolutionary landscapes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guillaume Cambray

2008-11-01

Full Text Available The evolutionary potential of a gene is constrained not only by the amino acid sequence of its product, but by its DNA sequence as well. The topology of the genetic code is such that half of the amino acids exhibit synonymous codons that can reach different subsets of amino acids from each other through single mutation. Thus, synonymous DNA sequences should access different regions of the protein sequence space through a limited number of mutations, and this may deeply influence the evolution of natural proteins. Here, we demonstrate that this feature can be of value for manipulating protein evolvability. We designed an algorithm that, starting from an input gene, constructs a synonymous sequence that systematically includes the codons with the most different evolutionary perspectives; i.e., codons that maximize accessibility to amino acids previously unreachable from the template by point mutation. A synonymous version of a bacterial antibiotic resistance gene was computed and synthesized. When concurrently submitted to identical directed evolution protocols, both the wild type and the recoded sequence led to the isolation of specific, advantageous phenotypic variants. Simulations based on a mutation isolated only from the synthetic gene libraries were conducted to assess the impact of sub-functional selective constraints, such as codon usage, on natural adaptation. Our data demonstrate that rational design of synonymous synthetic genes stands as an affordable improvement to any directed evolution protocol. We show that using two synonymous DNA sequences improves the overall yield of the procedure by increasing the diversity of mutants generated. These results provide conclusive evidence that synonymous coding sequences do experience different areas of the corresponding protein adaptive landscape, and that a sequence's codon usage effectively constrains the evolution of the encoded protein.

Role of RecA protein in untargeted UV mutagenesis of bacteriophage lambda: evidence for the requirement for the dinB gene

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brotcorne-Lannoye, A.; Maenhaut-Michel, G.

1986-01-01

Untargeted UV mutagenesis of bacteriophage lambda--i.e., the increased recovery of lambda mutants when unirradiated lambda infects UV-irradiated Escherichia coli--is thought to be mediated by a transient decrease in DNA replication fidelity, generating mutations in the newly synthesized strands. Using the bacteriophage lambda cI857----lambda c mutation system, we provide evidence that the RecA protein, shown previously to be required for this mutagenic pathway, is no longer needed when the LexA protein is inactivated by mutation. We suggest that the error-prone DNA replication responsible for UV-induced untargeted mutagenesis is turned on by the presence of replication-blocking lesions in the host cell DNA and that the RecA protein is required only to derepress the relevant din gene(s). This is in contrast to mutagenesis of irradiated bacteria or irradiated phage lambda, in which activated RecA protein has a second role in mutagenesis in addition to the cleavage of the LexA protein. Among the tested din genes, the dinB gene product (in addition to the uvrA and uvrB gene products) was found to be required for untargeted mutagenesis of bacteriophage lambda. To our knowledge, a phenotype associated with the dinB gene has not been reported previously

Simulated vs. empirical weather responsiveness of crop yields: US evidence and implications for the agricultural impacts of climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Mistry, Malcolm N.; Wing, Ian Sue; De Cian, Enrica

2017-07-01

Global gridded crop models (GGCMs) are the workhorse of assessments of the agricultural impacts of climate change. Yet the changes in crop yields projected by different models in response to the same meteorological forcing can differ substantially. Through an inter-method comparison, we provide a first glimpse into the origins and implications of this divergence—both among GGCMs and between GGCMs and historical observations. We examine yields of rainfed maize, wheat, and soybeans simulated by six GGCMs as part of the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project-Fast Track (ISIMIP-FT) exercise, comparing 1981-2004 hindcast yields over the coterminous United States (US) against US Department of Agriculture (USDA) time series for about 1000 counties. Leveraging the empirical climate change impacts literature, we estimate reduced-form econometric models of crop yield responses to temperature and precipitation exposures for both GGCMs and observations. We find that up to 60% of the variance in both simulated and observed yields is attributable to weather variation. A majority of the GGCMs have difficulty reproducing the observed distribution of percentage yield anomalies, and exhibit aggregate responses that show yields to be more weather-sensitive than in the observational record over the predominant range of temperature and precipitation conditions. This disparity is largely attributable to heterogeneity in GGCMs’ responses, as opposed to uncertainty in historical weather forcings, and is responsible for widely divergent impacts of climate on future crop yields.

Combined inactivation of the Clostridium cellulolyticum lactate and malate dehydrogenase genes substantially increases ethanol yield from cellulose and switchgrass fermentations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Yongchao

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The model bacterium Clostridium cellulolyticum efficiently degrades crystalline cellulose and hemicellulose, using cellulosomes to degrade lignocellulosic biomass. Although it imports and ferments both pentose and hexose sugars to produce a mixture of ethanol, acetate, lactate, H2 and CO2, the proportion of ethanol is low, which impedes its use in consolidated bioprocessing for biofuels production. Therefore genetic engineering will likely be required to improve the ethanol yield. Plasmid transformation, random mutagenesis and heterologous expression systems have previously been developed for C. cellulolyticum, but targeted mutagenesis has not been reported for this organism, hindering genetic engineering. Results The first targeted gene inactivation system was developed for C. cellulolyticum, based on a mobile group II intron originating from the Lactococcus lactis L1.LtrB intron. This markerless mutagenesis system was used to disrupt both the paralogous L-lactate dehydrogenase (Ccel_2485; ldh and L-malate dehydrogenase (Ccel_0137; mdh genes, distinguishing the overlapping substrate specificities of these enzymes. Both mutations were then combined in a single strain, resulting in a substantial shift in fermentation toward ethanol production. This double mutant produced 8.5-times more ethanol than wild-type cells growing on crystalline cellulose. Ethanol constituted 93% of the major fermentation products, corresponding to a molar ratio of ethanol to organic acids of 15, versus 0.18 in wild-type cells. During growth on acid-pretreated switchgrass, the double mutant also produced four times as much ethanol as wild-type cells. Detailed metabolomic analyses identified increased flux through the oxidative branch of the mutant's tricarboxylic acid pathway. Conclusions The efficient intron-based gene inactivation system produced the first non-random, targeted mutations in C. cellulolyticum. As a key component of the genetic toolbox

Effect of Integrated Nutrient Management on Yield and Yield ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Declining soil fertility is one of the major problems causing yield reduction of barley ... (VC) with inorganic NP on growth, yield and yield components of food barley. ... The experiments were laid out in a randomized complete block design with ...

Molecular genetic studies of natives on Easter Island: evidence of an early European and Amerindian contribution to the Polynesian gene pool.

Science.gov (United States)

Lie, B A; Dupuy, B M; Spurkland, A; Fernández-Viña, M A; Hagelberg, E; Thorsby, E

2007-01-01

Most archaeological and linguistic evidence suggest a Polynesian origin of the population of Easter Island (Rapanui), and this view has been supported by the identification of Polynesian mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) polymorphisms in prehistoric skeletal remains. However, some evidence of an early South American contact also exists (the sweet potato, bottle gourd etc.), but genetic studies have so far failed to show an early Amerindian contribution to the gene pool on Easter Island. To address this issue, we analyzed mtDNA and Y chromosome markers and performed high-resolution human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genotyping of DNA harvested from previously collected sera of 48 reputedly nonadmixed native Easter Islanders. All individuals carried mtDNA types and HLA alleles previously found in Polynesia, and most men carried Y chromosome markers of Polynesian origin, providing further evidence of a Polynesian origin of the population of Easter Island. A few individuals carried HLA alleles and/or Y chromosome markers of European origin. More interestingly, some individuals carried the HLA alleles A*0212 and B*3905, which are of typical Amerindian origin. The genealogy of some of the individuals carrying these non-Polynesian HLA alleles and their haplotypic backgrounds suggest an introduction into Easter Island in the early 1800s, or earlier. Thus, there may have been an early European and Amerindian contribution to the Polynesian gene pool of Easter Island.

Identification of circulating miRNA involved in meat yield of Korean cattle.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Surim; Park, Seung-Ju; Cheong, Jae-Kyoung; Ko, Jong-Youl; Bong, Jinjong; Baik, Myunggi

2017-07-01

Cattle plays an important role in providing essential nutrients through meat production. Thus, we focused on epigenetic factors associated with meat yield. To investigate circulating miRNAs that are involved with meat yield and connect biofluids and longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle in Korean cattle, we performed analyses of the carcass characteristics, miRNA array, qPCR, and bioinformatics. Carcass characteristics relative to the yield grade (YG) showed that the yield index and rib eye area were the highest, whereas the backfat thickness was the lowest for YG A (equal to high YG) cattle among the three YGs. miRNA array sorted the circulating miRNAs that connect biofluids and LD muscle. miRNA qPCR showed that miR-15a (r = 0.84), miR-26b (r = 0.91), and miR-29c (r = 0.92) had positive relationships with biofluids and LD muscle. In YG A cattle, miR-26b was considered to be a circulating miRNA connecting biofluids and LD muscle because the target genes of miR-26b were more involved with myogenesis. Then, miR-26b-targeted genes, DIAPH3 and YOD1, were downregulated in YG A cattle. Our results suggest that miR-15a, miR-26b, and miR-29c are upregulated in biofluids and LD muscle, whereas DIAPH3 and YOD1 are downregulated in the LD muscle of finishing cattle steers. © 2017 International Federation for Cell Biology.

Alternate bearing in citrus: changes in the expression of flowering control genes and in global gene expression in ON- versus OFF-crop trees.

Science.gov (United States)

Shalom, Liron; Samuels, Sivan; Zur, Naftali; Shlizerman, Lyudmila; Zemach, Hanita; Weissberg, Mira; Ophir, Ron; Blumwald, Eduardo; Sadka, Avi

2012-01-01

Alternate bearing (AB) is the process in fruit trees by which cycles of heavy yield (ON crop) one year are followed by a light yield (OFF crop) the next. Heavy yield usually reduces flowering intensity the following year. Despite its agricultural importance, how the developing crop influences the following year's return bloom and yield is not fully understood. It might be assumed that an 'AB signal' is generated in the fruit, or in another organ that senses fruit presence, and moves into the bud to determine its fate-flowering or vegetative growth. The bud then responds to fruit presence by altering regulatory and metabolic pathways. Determining these pathways, and when they are altered, might indicate the nature of this putative AB signal. We studied bud morphology, the expression of flowering control genes, and global gene expression in ON- and OFF-crop buds. In May, shortly after flowering and fruit set, OFF-crop buds were already significantly longer than ON-crop buds. The number of differentially expressed genes was higher in May than at the other tested time points. Processes differentially expressed between ON- and OFF-crop trees included key metabolic and regulatory pathways, such as photosynthesis and secondary metabolism. The expression of genes of trehalose metabolism and flavonoid metabolism was validated by nCounter technology, and the latter was confirmed by metabolomic analysis. Among genes induced in OFF-crop trees was one homologous to SQUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING-LIKE (SPL), which controls juvenile-to-adult and annual phase transitions, regulated by miR156. The expression pattern of SPL-like, miR156 and other flowering control genes suggested that fruit load affects bud fate, and therefore development and metabolism, a relatively long time before the flowering induction period. Results shed light on some of the metabolic and regulatory processes that are altered in ON and OFF buds.

Yield trends and yield gap analysis of major crops in the world

OpenAIRE

Hengsdijk, H.; Langeveld, J.W.A.

2009-01-01

This study aims to quantify the gap between current and potential yields of major crops in the world, and the production constraints that contribute to this yield gap. Using an expert-based evaluation of yield gaps and the literature, global and regional yields and yield trends of major crops are quantified, yield gaps evaluated by crop experts, current yield progress by breeding estimated, and different yield projections compared. Results show decreasing yield growth for wheat and rice, but ...

Evidence of digenic inheritance in autoinflammation-associated genes

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

6European University of Cyprus, The School of Medicine, 1516 Egkomi, Cyprus. Abstract. Familial .... effect of variants in alternative hereditary autoinflammatory genes was ..... ing of disease pathogenesis, used for more effective diagnos-.

Equity yields

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vrugt, E.; van Binsbergen, J.H.; Koijen, R.S.J.; Hueskes, W.

2013-01-01

We study a new data set of dividend futures with maturities up to ten years across three world regions: the US, Europe, and Japan. We use these asset prices to construct equity yields, analogous to bond yields. We decompose the equity yields to obtain a term structure of expected dividend growth

Molecular signature of high yield (growth influenza a virus reassortants prepared as candidate vaccine seeds.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manojkumar Ramanunninair

Full Text Available Human influenza virus isolates generally grow poorly in embryonated chicken eggs. Hence, gene reassortment of influenza A wild type (wt viruses is performed with a highly egg adapted donor virus, A/Puerto Rico/8/1934 (PR8, to provide the high yield reassortant (HYR viral 'seeds' for vaccine production. HYR must contain the hemagglutinin (HA and neuraminidase (NA genes of wt virus and one to six 'internal' genes from PR8. Most studies of influenza wt and HYRs have focused on the HA gene. The main objective of this study is the identification of the molecular signature in all eight gene segments of influenza A HYR candidate vaccine seeds associated with high growth in ovo.The genomes of 14 wt parental viruses, 23 HYRs (5 H1N1; 2, 1976 H1N1-SOIV; 2, 2009 H1N1pdm; 2 H2N2 and 12 H3N2 and PR8 were sequenced using the high-throughput sequencing pipeline with big dye terminator chemistry.Silent and coding mutations were found in all internal genes derived from PR8 with the exception of the M gene. The M gene derived from PR8 was invariant in all 23 HYRs underlining the critical role of PR8 M in high yield phenotype. None of the wt virus derived internal genes had any silent change(s except the PB1 gene in X-157. The highest number of recurrent silent and coding mutations was found in NS. With respect to the surface antigens, the majority of HYRs had coding mutations in HA; only 2 HYRs had coding mutations in NA.In the era of application of reverse genetics to alter influenza A virus genomes, the mutations identified in the HYR gene segments associated with high growth in ovo may be of great practical benefit to modify PR8 and/or wt virus gene sequences for improved growth of vaccine 'seed' viruses.

A continental-wide perspective: the genepool of nuclear encoded ribosomal DNA and single-copy gene sequences in North American Boechera (Brassicaceae.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christiane Kiefer

Full Text Available 74 of the currently accepted 111 taxa of the North American genus Boechera (Brassicaceae were subject to pyhlogenetic reconstruction and network analysis. The dataset comprised 911 accessions for which ITS sequences were analyzed. Phylogenetic analyses yielded largely unresolved trees. Together with the network analysis confirming this result this can be interpreted as an indication for multiple, independent, and rapid diversification events. Network analyses were superimposed with datasets describing i geographical distribution, ii taxonomy, iii reproductive mode, and iv distribution history based on phylogeographic evidence. Our results provide first direct evidence for enormous reticulate evolution in the entire genus and give further insights into the evolutionary history of this complex genus on a continental scale. In addition two novel single-copy gene markers, orthologues of the Arabidopsis thaliana genes At2g25920 and At3g18900, were analyzed for subsets of taxa and confirmed the findings obtained through the ITS data.

Inheritance of seed yield and related traits in some lentil (lens culinaris medik) genotypes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rasheed, S.; Hanif, M.; Sadiq, S.; Abbas, G.; Asghar, M.J.; Haq, M.A.

2008-01-01

The study was conducted at Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology (NIAB), Faisalabad during the year 2006-2007. Fifteen lentil lines/varieties were evaluated to exploit yield components to the maximum extent and to formulate section criteria for the improvement of seed yield. Significant genetic variation was observed for all the traits. All the traits under study had high heritability values except number of primary branches. Higher values of heritability coupled with genetic advance were observed for seed yield (98.30%, 128.20%), harvest index (97.10%, 79.40%), biological yield (94.30%, 56.10%) and hundred seed weight (88.30%, 50.80%) which indicates The role of additive genes to control these traits. Hundred seed weight (0.67, 0.65), harvest index (0.94, 0.93) and Biological yield (0.81, 0.80) had positive and highly significant correlation with seed yield at both genotypic and phenotypic levels. Number of primary branches, hundred seed weight, harvest index and biological yield showed positive direct effect along with positive genotypic correlation with seed yield. Finally, it was concluded that the traits like hundred seed weight, harvest index and biological yield can be exploited for the improvement of seed yield in lentil. (author)

Improvement in genetic characteristics and oil yield of selected soybean progenies from octuple crosses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hamawaki Osvaldo Toshiyuki

2000-01-01

Full Text Available The objective of the present study was to evaluate 44 soybean octuple crosses in the F4:3[8] and F5:3[8] generations in order to select progenies superior for seed oil yield (OY and other important agronomic characteristics. Octuple crosses were hybridized in a chain mating system. In one group, crosses were carried out for three generations with the adapted x exotic parents until octuple crosses with 75% adapted genes and 25% exotic genes were obtained. In a second group, hybridization of adapted x adapted parents originated crosses with 100% adapted genes. During the growing season 1994/95, the progenies F4:3[8] were evaluated by using the augmented block design. The progenies F5:3[8] were evaluated during the growing season 1995/96 in three experiments using augmented block design without repetition. The octuple crosses gave origin to superior progenies for all the characters studied. In the C22 cross, OY values were 707 kg/ha. The estimates of heritability in relation to the crosses average resulted in the following mean, minimum and maximum values, respectively: number of days to maturity (52.35%, 3.71%, 84.23%; agronomic value (26.69%, 1.62%, 61.28% and grain yield (29.28%, 1.52%, 61.06%. The observed genetic gains for grain yield in the early, intermediate and late F5:3[8] progenies were superior to the expected genetic gains and the observed genetic gains for OY were more expressive in the early and late F5:[8] progenies. The genetic variability remaining in the selected progenies of some crosses suggests that further genetic gains for grain yield and OY might be possible with advanced selection cycles.

Pattern of quantitative inheritance of yield and component traits in opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maurya Krishna Nand

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Generation mean analysis of cross NB-5x58/1 and its reciprocal cross was carried out to understand the nature of gene action in opium poppy. The significance of A, B, C and D scaling tests indicated presence of non-allelic interaction in the inheritance of traits except capsule size and husk yield/plant for reciprocal cross. Additive as well as dominance components of gene action were found in both the crosses. Most of the traits had greater non fixable dominance ‘h’ and dominance x dominance effects ‘l’ than fixable additive (d and additive x additive effects (i except leaves/plant, branches/plant, capsules/plant, stem diameter, capsule weight/plant, husk yield/plant, opium yield/plant, codeine and narcotine content which showed greater importance of additive (d and additive x additive effects (i effects. Inter-mating of the best parents, diallel selective mating or biparental mating in early segregating generations followed by recurrent selections were suggested for genetic improvement of opium poppy.

GoGene: gene annotation in the fast lane.

Science.gov (United States)

Plake, Conrad; Royer, Loic; Winnenburg, Rainer; Hakenberg, Jörg; Schroeder, Michael

2009-07-01

High-throughput screens such as microarrays and RNAi screens produce huge amounts of data. They typically result in hundreds of genes, which are often further explored and clustered via enriched GeneOntology terms. The strength of such analyses is that they build on high-quality manual annotations provided with the GeneOntology. However, the weakness is that annotations are restricted to process, function and location and that they do not cover all known genes in model organisms. GoGene addresses this weakness by complementing high-quality manual annotation with high-throughput text mining extracting co-occurrences of genes and ontology terms from literature. GoGene contains over 4,000,000 associations between genes and gene-related terms for 10 model organisms extracted from more than 18,000,000 PubMed entries. It does not cover only process, function and location of genes, but also biomedical categories such as diseases, compounds, techniques and mutations. By bringing it all together, GoGene provides the most recent and most complete facts about genes and can rank them according to novelty and importance. GoGene accepts keywords, gene lists, gene sequences and protein sequences as input and supports search for genes in PubMed, EntrezGene and via BLAST. Since all associations of genes to terms are supported by evidence in the literature, the results are transparent and can be verified by the user. GoGene is available at http://gopubmed.org/gogene.

Embryo quality predictive models based on cumulus cells gene expression

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Devjak R

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Since the introduction of in vitro fertilization (IVF in clinical practice of infertility treatment, the indicators for high quality embryos were investigated. Cumulus cells (CC have a specific gene expression profile according to the developmental potential of the oocyte they are surrounding, and therefore, specific gene expression could be used as a biomarker. The aim of our study was to combine more than one biomarker to observe improvement in prediction value of embryo development. In this study, 58 CC samples from 17 IVF patients were analyzed. This study was approved by the Republic of Slovenia National Medical Ethics Committee. Gene expression analysis [quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR] for five genes, analyzed according to embryo quality level, was performed. Two prediction models were tested for embryo quality prediction: a binary logistic and a decision tree model. As the main outcome, gene expression levels for five genes were taken and the area under the curve (AUC for two prediction models were calculated. Among tested genes, AMHR2 and LIF showed significant expression difference between high quality and low quality embryos. These two genes were used for the construction of two prediction models: the binary logistic model yielded an AUC of 0.72 ± 0.08 and the decision tree model yielded an AUC of 0.73 ± 0.03. Two different prediction models yielded similar predictive power to differentiate high and low quality embryos. In terms of eventual clinical decision making, the decision tree model resulted in easy-to-interpret rules that are highly applicable in clinical practice.

Gene stacking of multiple traits for high yield of fermentable sugars in plant biomass

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aznar, Aude; Chalvin, Camille; Shih, Patrick M.

2018-01-01

the ratio of C6 to C5 sugars in the cell wall and decreasing the lignin content are two important targets in engineering of plants that are more suitable for downstream processing for second-generation biofuel production.Results: We have studied the basic mechanisms of cell wall biosynthesis and identified...... genes involved in biosynthesis of pectic galactan, including the GALS1 galactan synthase and the UDP-galactose/UDP-rhamnose transporter URGT1. We have engineered plants with a more suitable biomass composition by applying these findings, in conjunction with synthetic biology and gene stacking tools...... to vessels where this polysaccharide is essential. Finally, the high galactan and low xylan traits were stacked with the low lignin trait obtained by expressing the QsuB gene encoding dehydroshikimate dehydratase in lignifying cells.Conclusion: The results show that approaches to increasing C6 sugar content...

Analysis of gene expression in normal and neoplastic human testis: new roles of RNA

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Novotny, G W; Nielsen, J E; Sonne, Si Brask

2007-01-01

Large-scale methods for analysing gene expression, such as microarrays, have yielded a wealth of information about gene expression at the mRNA level. However, expression of alternative transcripts, together with the presence of a wide range of largely undescribed RNA transcripts combined with reg......Large-scale methods for analysing gene expression, such as microarrays, have yielded a wealth of information about gene expression at the mRNA level. However, expression of alternative transcripts, together with the presence of a wide range of largely undescribed RNA transcripts combined...

Identification and reproducibility of diagnostic DNA markers for tuber starch and yield optimization in a novel association mapping population of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.).

Science.gov (United States)

Schönhals, E M; Ortega, F; Barandalla, L; Aragones, A; Ruiz de Galarreta, J I; Liao, J-C; Sanetomo, R; Walkemeier, B; Tacke, E; Ritter, E; Gebhardt, C

2016-04-01

SNPs in candidate genes Pain - 1, InvCD141 (invertases), SSIV (starch synthase), StCDF1 (transcription factor), LapN (leucine aminopeptidase), and cytoplasm type are associated with potato tuber yield, starch content and/or starch yield. Tuber yield (TY), starch content (TSC), and starch yield (TSY) are complex characters of high importance for the potato crop in general and for industrial starch production in particular. DNA markers associated with superior alleles of genes that control the natural variation of TY, TSC, and TSY could increase precision and speed of breeding new cultivars optimized for potato starch production. Diagnostic DNA markers are identified by association mapping in populations of tetraploid potato varieties and advanced breeding clones. A novel association mapping population of 282 genotypes including varieties, breeding clones and Andean landraces was assembled and field evaluated in Northern Spain for TY, TSC, TSY, tuber number (TN) and tuber weight (TW). The landraces had lower mean values of TY, TW, TN, and TSY. The population was genotyped for 183 microsatellite alleles, 221 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in fourteen candidate genes and eight known diagnostic markers for TSC and TSY. Association test statistics including kinship and population structure reproduced five known marker-trait associations of candidate genes and discovered new ones, particularly for tuber yield and starch yield. The inclusion of landraces increased the number of detected marker-trait associations. Integration of the present association mapping results with previous QTL linkage mapping studies for TY, TSC, TSY, TW, TN, and tuberization revealed some hot spots of QTL for these traits in the potato genome. The genomic positions of markers linked or associated with QTL for complex tuber traits suggest high multiplicity and genome wide distribution of the underlying genes.

Diploid yeast cells yield homozygous spontaneous mutations

Science.gov (United States)

Esposito, M. S.; Bruschi, C. V.; Brushi, C. V. (Principal Investigator)

1993-01-01

A leucine-requiring hybrid of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, homoallelic at the LEU1 locus (leu1-12/leu1-12) and heterozygous for three chromosome-VII genetic markers distal to the LEU1 locus, was employed to inquire: (1) whether spontaneous gene mutation and mitotic segregation of heterozygous markers occur in positive nonrandom association and (2) whether homozygous LEU1/LEU1 mutant diploids are generated. The results demonstrate that gene mutation of leu1-12 to LEU1 and mitotic segregation of heterozygous chromosome-VII markers occur in strong positive nonrandom association, suggesting that the stimulatory DNA lesion is both mutagenic and recombinogenic. In addition, genetic analysis of diploid Leu+ revertants revealed that approximately 3% of mutations of leu1-12 to LEU1 result in LEU1/LEU1 homozygotes. Red-white sectored Leu+ colonies exhibit genotypes that implicate post-replicational chromatid breakage and exchange near the site of leu1-12 reversion, chromosome loss, and subsequent restitution of diploidy, in the sequence of events leading to mutational homozygosis. By analogy, diploid cell populations can yield variants homozygous for novel recessive gene mutations at biologically significant rates. Mutational homozygosis may be relevant to both carcinogenesis and the evolution of asexual diploid organisms.

Photoprotection as a Trait for Rice Yield Improvement: Status and Prospects.

Science.gov (United States)

Murchie, Erik H; Ali, Asgar; Herman, Tiara

2015-12-01

Solar radiation is essential for photosynthesis and global crop productivity but it is also variable in space and time, frequently being limiting or in excess of plant requirements depending on season, environment and microclimate. Photoprotective mechanisms at the chloroplast level help to avoid oxidative stress and photoinhibition, which is a light-induced reduction in photosynthetic quantum efficiency often caused by damage to photosystem II. There is convincing evidence that photoinhibition has a large impact on biomass production in crops and this may be especially high in rice, which is typically exposed to high tropical light levels. Thus far there has been little attention to photoinhibition as a target for improvement of crop yield. However, we now have sufficient evidence to examine avenues for alleviation of this particular stress and the physiological and genetic basis for improvement in rice and other crops. Here we examine this evidence and identify new areas for attention. In particular we discuss how photoprotective mechanisms must be optimised at both the molecular and the canopy level in order to coordinate with efficient photosynthetic regulation and realise an increased biomass and yield in rice.

Selection of Phototransduction Genes in Homo sapiens.

Science.gov (United States)

Christopher, Mark; Scheetz, Todd E; Mullins, Robert F; Abràmoff, Michael D

2013-08-13

We investigated the evidence of recent positive selection in the human phototransduction system at single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and gene level. SNP genotyping data from the International HapMap Project for European, Eastern Asian, and African populations was used to discover differences in haplotype length and allele frequency between these populations. Numeric selection metrics were computed for each SNP and aggregated into gene-level metrics to measure evidence of recent positive selection. The level of recent positive selection in phototransduction genes was evaluated and compared to a set of genes shown previously to be under recent selection, and a set of highly conserved genes as positive and negative controls, respectively. Six of 20 phototransduction genes evaluated had gene-level selection metrics above the 90th percentile: RGS9, GNB1, RHO, PDE6G, GNAT1, and SLC24A1. The selection signal across these genes was found to be of similar magnitude to the positive control genes and much greater than the negative control genes. There is evidence for selective pressure in the genes involved in retinal phototransduction, and traces of this selective pressure can be demonstrated using SNP-level and gene-level metrics of allelic variation. We hypothesize that the selective pressure on these genes was related to their role in low light vision and retinal adaptation to ambient light changes. Uncovering the underlying genetics of evolutionary adaptations in phototransduction not only allows greater understanding of vision and visual diseases, but also the development of patient-specific diagnostic and intervention strategies.

Identification of key genes involved in polysaccharide bioflocculant synthesis in Bacillus licheniformis.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Zhen; Liu, Peize; Li, Zhipeng; Yu, Wencheng; Wang, Zhi; Yao, Haosheng; Wang, Yuanpeng; Li, Qingbiao; Deng, Xu; He, Ning

2017-03-01

The present study reports the sequenced genome of Bacillus licheniformis CGMCC 2876, which is composed of a 4,284,461 bp chromosome that contains 4,188 protein-coding genes, 72 tRNA genes, and 21 rRNA genes. Additional analysis revealed an eps gene cluster with 16 open reading frames. Conserved Domains Database analysis combined with qPCR experiments indicated that all genes in this cluster were involved in polysaccharide bioflocculant synthesis. Phosphoglucomutase and UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase were supposed to be key enzymes in polysaccharide secretion in B. licheniformis. A biosynthesis pathway for the production of polysaccharide bioflocculant involving the integration of individual genes was proposed based on functional analysis. Overexpression of epsDEF from the eps gene cluster in B. licheniformis CGMCC 2876 increased the flocculating activity of the recombinant strain by 90% compared to the original strain. Similarly, the crude yield of polysaccharide bioflocculant was enhanced by 27.8%. Overexpression of the UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase gene not only increased the flocculating activity by 71% but also increased bioflocculant yield by 13.3%. Independent of UDP-N-acetyl-D-mannosamine dehydrogenase gene, flocculating activity, and polysaccharide yield were negatively impacted by overexpression of the UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 2-epimerase gene. Overall, epsDEF and gtaB2 were identified as key genes for polysaccharide bioflocculant synthesis in B. licheniformis. These results will be useful for further engineering of B. licheniformis for industrial bioflocculant production. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 645-655. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Genetic Parameters and Combining Ability Effects of Parents for Seed Yield and other Quantitative Traits in Black Gram [Vigna mungo (L. Hepper

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Supriyo CHAKRABORTY

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Line x tester analysis was carried out in black gram [Vigna mungo (L. Hepper], an edible legume, to estimate the gca (general combining ability effects of parents (3 lines and 3 testers and the SCA (specific combining ability effects of 9 crosses for seed yield and other eleven quantitative traits. Though additive and nonadditive gene actions governed the expression of quantitative traits, the magnitude of nonadditive gene action was higher than that of additive gene action for each quantitative trait. Two parents viz. UG157 and DPU915 were good general combiners. Two crosses namely PDB 88-31/DPU 915 and PLU 277/KAU7 had high per se performance along with positive significant SCA effect for seed yield/plant. The degree of dominance revealed overdominance for all the traits except clusters/plant with partial dominance. The predictability ratio also revealed the predominant role of nonadditive gene action in the genetic control of quantitative traits. Narrow sense heritability was also low for each trait. Recurrent selection or biparental mating followed by selection which can exploit both additive and nonadditive gene actions would be of interest for yield improvement in black gram. Due to presence of high magnitude of nonadditive gene action, heterosis breeding could also be attempted to develop low cost hybrid variety using genetic male sterility system in black gram.

The dopamine D2 receptor gene, perceived parental support, and adolescent loneliness : longitudinal evidence for gene-environment interactions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Roekel, Eeske; Goossens, Luc; Scholte, Ron H. J.; Engels, Rutger C. M. E.; Verhagen, Maaike

2011-01-01

Background: Loneliness is a common problem in adolescence. Earlier research focused on genes within the serotonin and oxytocin systems, but no studies have examined the role of dopamine-related genes in loneliness. In the present study, we focused on the dopamine D2 receptor gene (DRD2). Methods:

Abundance profiling of specific gene groups using precomputed gut metagenomes yields novel biological hypotheses.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Konstantin Yarygin

Full Text Available The gut microbiota is essentially a multifunctional bioreactor within a human being. The exploration of its enormous metabolic potential provides insights into the mechanisms underlying microbial ecology and interactions with the host. The data obtained using "shotgun" metagenomics capture information about the whole spectrum of microbial functions. However, each new study presenting new sequencing data tends to extract only a little of the information concerning the metabolic potential and often omits specific functions. A meta-analysis of the available data with an emphasis on biomedically relevant gene groups can unveil new global trends in the gut microbiota. As a step toward the reuse of metagenomic data, we developed a method for the quantitative profiling of user-defined groups of genes in human gut metagenomes. This method is based on the quick analysis of a gene coverage matrix obtained by pre-mapping the metagenomic reads to a global gut microbial catalogue. The method was applied to profile the abundance of several gene groups related to antibiotic resistance, phages, biosynthesis clusters and carbohydrate degradation in 784 metagenomes from healthy populations worldwide and patients with inflammatory bowel diseases and obesity. We discovered country-wise functional specifics in gut resistome and virome compositions. The most distinct features of the disease microbiota were found for Crohn's disease, followed by ulcerative colitis and obesity. Profiling of the genes belonging to crAssphage showed that its abundance varied across the world populations and was not associated with clinical status. We demonstrated temporal resilience of crAssphage and the influence of the sample preparation protocol on its detected abundance. Our approach offers a convenient method to add value to accumulated "shotgun" metagenomic data by helping researchers state and assess novel biological hypotheses.

Wheat Brassinosteroid-Insensitive1 (TaBRI1 Interacts with Members of TaSERK Gene Family and Cause Early Flowering and Seed Yield Enhancement in Arabidopsis.

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Akanksha Singh

Full Text Available Brassinosteroids (BRs hormones are important for plant growth, development and immune responses. They are sensed by the transmembrane receptor kinase Brassinosteroid-Insensitive 1 (BRI1 when they bind to its extracellular Leu-rich repeat (LRR domain. We cloned and characterized the TaBRI1 from T. aestivum and raised overexpression transgenics in Arabidopsis to decipher its functional role. TaBRI1 protein consists of a putative signal peptide followed by 25 leucine rich repeats (LRR, a transmembrane domain and a C-terminal kinase domain. The analysis determined the interaction of TaBRI1 with five members of the wheat Somatic Embryogenesis Receptor Kinase (TaSERKs gene family (TaSERK1, TaSERK2, TaSERK3, TaSERK4 and TaSERK5, at the plasma membrane. Furthermore, overexpression of TaBRI1 in Arabidopsis leads to the early flowering, increased silique size and seed yield. Root growth analysis of TaBRI1 overexpressing transgenic plants showed hypersensitivity to epi-brassinolide (epi-BL hormone in a dose-dependent manner. Interestingly, transgenic Arabidopsis plants show thermotolerance phenotype at the seedling stages as revealed by chlorophyll content, photosystem II activity and membrane stability. The transcriptome profiling on the basis of microarray analysis indicates up-regulation of several genes related to brassinosteroid signaling pathway, abiotic stress response, defense response and transcription factors. These studies predict the possible role of TaBRI1 gene in plant growth and development imparting tolerance to thermal stress.

Increased SBPase activity improves photosynthesis and grain yield in wheat grown in greenhouse conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Driever, Steven M; Simkin, Andrew J; Alotaibi, Saqer; Fisk, Stuart J; Madgwick, Pippa J; Sparks, Caroline A; Jones, Huw D; Lawson, Tracy; Parry, Martin A J; Raines, Christine A

2017-09-26

To meet the growing demand for food, substantial improvements in yields are needed. This is particularly the case for wheat, where global yield has stagnated in recent years. Increasing photosynthesis has been identified as a primary target to achieve yield improvements. To increase leaf photosynthesis in wheat, the level of the Calvin-Benson cycle enzyme sedoheptulose-1,7-biphosphatase (SBPase) has been increased through transformation and expression of a Brachypodium distachyon SBPase gene construct. Transgenic lines with increased SBPase protein levels and activity were grown under greenhouse conditions and showed enhanced leaf photosynthesis and increased total biomass and dry seed yield. This showed the potential of improving yield potential by increasing leaf photosynthesis in a crop species such as wheat. The results are discussed with regard to future strategies for further improvement of photosynthesis in wheat.This article is part of the themed issue 'Enhancing photosynthesis in crop plants: targets for improvement'. © 2017 The Authors.

Correlating Information Contents of Gene Ontology Terms to Infer Semantic Similarity of Gene Products

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mingxin Gan

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Successful applications of the gene ontology to the inference of functional relationships between gene products in recent years have raised the need for computational methods to automatically calculate semantic similarity between gene products based on semantic similarity of gene ontology terms. Nevertheless, existing methods, though having been widely used in a variety of applications, may significantly overestimate semantic similarity between genes that are actually not functionally related, thereby yielding misleading results in applications. To overcome this limitation, we propose to represent a gene product as a vector that is composed of information contents of gene ontology terms annotated for the gene product, and we suggest calculating similarity between two gene products as the relatedness of their corresponding vectors using three measures: Pearson’s correlation coefficient, cosine similarity, and the Jaccard index. We focus on the biological process domain of the gene ontology and annotations of yeast proteins to study the effectiveness of the proposed measures. Results show that semantic similarity scores calculated using the proposed measures are more consistent with known biological knowledge than those derived using a list of existing methods, suggesting the effectiveness of our method in characterizing functional relationships between gene products.

Molecular evidence of the toxic effects of diatom diets on gene expression patterns in copepods.

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Chiara Lauritano

Full Text Available Diatoms are dominant photosynthetic organisms in the world's oceans and are considered essential in the transfer of energy through marine food chains. However, these unicellular plants at times produce secondary metabolites such as polyunsaturated aldehydes and other products deriving from the oxidation of fatty acids that are collectively termed oxylipins. These cytotoxic compounds are responsible for growth inhibition and teratogenic activity, potentially sabotaging future generations of grazers by inducing poor recruitment in marine organisms such as crustacean copepods.Here we show that two days of feeding on a strong oxylipin-producing diatom (Skeletonema marinoi is sufficient to inhibit a series of genes involved in aldehyde detoxification, apoptosis, cytoskeleton structure and stress response in the copepod Calanus helgolandicus. Of the 18 transcripts analyzed by RT-qPCR at least 50% were strongly down-regulated (aldehyde dehydrogenase 9, 8 and 6, cellular apoptosis susceptibility and inhibitor of apoptosis IAP proteins, heat shock protein 40, alpha- and beta-tubulins compared to animals fed on a weak oxylipin-producing diet (Chaetoceros socialis which showed no changes in gene expression profiles.Our results provide molecular evidence of the toxic effects of strong oxylipin-producing diatoms on grazers, showing that primary defense systems that should be activated to protect copepods against toxic algae can be inhibited. On the other hand other classical detoxification genes (glutathione S-transferase, superoxide dismutase, catalase, cytochrome P450 were not affected possibly due to short exposure times. Given the importance of diatom blooms in nutrient-rich aquatic environments these results offer a plausible explanation for the inefficient use of a potentially valuable food resource, the spring diatom bloom, by some copepod species.

Radionuclide reporter gene imaging for cardiac gene therapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inubushi, Masayuki; Tamaki, Nagara

2007-01-01

In the field of cardiac gene therapy, angiogenic gene therapy has been most extensively investigated. The first clinical trial of cardiac angiogenic gene therapy was reported in 1998, and at the peak, more than 20 clinical trial protocols were under evaluation. However, most trials have ceased owing to the lack of decisive proof of therapeutic effects and the potential risks of viral vectors. In order to further advance cardiac angiogenic gene therapy, remaining open issues need to be resolved: there needs to be improvement of gene transfer methods, regulation of gene expression, development of much safer vectors and optimisation of therapeutic genes. For these purposes, imaging of gene expression in living organisms is of great importance. In radionuclide reporter gene imaging, ''reporter genes'' transferred into cell nuclei encode for a protein that retains a complementary ''reporter probe'' of a positron or single-photon emitter; thus expression of the reporter genes can be imaged with positron emission tomography or single-photon emission computed tomography. Accordingly, in the setting of gene therapy, the location, magnitude and duration of the therapeutic gene co-expression with the reporter genes can be monitored non-invasively. In the near future, gene therapy may evolve into combination therapy with stem/progenitor cell transplantation, so-called cell-based gene therapy or gene-modified cell therapy. Radionuclide reporter gene imaging is now expected to contribute in providing evidence on the usefulness of this novel therapeutic approach, as well as in investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying neovascularisation and safety issues relevant to further progress in conventional gene therapy. (orig.)

Nitrogenase gene amplicons from global marine surface waters are dominated by genes of non-cyanobacteria

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Farnelid, Hanna; Andersson, Anders F.; Bertilsson, Stefan

2011-01-01

analysis of 79,090 nitrogenase (nifH) PCR amplicons encoding 7,468 unique proteins from surface samples (ten DNA samples and two RNA samples) collected at ten marine locations world-wide provides the first in-depth survey of a functional bacterial gene and yield insights into the composition and diversity...... by unicellular cyanobacteria, 42% of the identified non-cyanobacterial nifH clusters from the corresponding DNA samples were also detected in cDNA. The study indicates that non-cyanobacteria account for a substantial part of the nifH gene pool in marine surface waters and that these genes are at least...

[Effect of gene optimization on the expression and purification of HDV small antigen produced by genetic engineering].

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Jun-Ying; Meng, Qing-Ling; Guo, Min-Zhuo; Yi, Yao; Su, Qiu-Dong; Lu, Xue-Xin; Qiu, Feng; Bi, Sheng-Li

2012-10-01

To study the effect of gene optimization on the expression and purification of HDV small antigen produced by genetic engineering. Based on the colon preference of E. coli, the HDV small antigen original gene from GenBank was optimized. Both the original gene and the optimized gene expressed in prokaryotic cells, SDS-PAGE was made to analyze the protein expression yield and to decide which protein expression style was more proportion than the other. Furthermore, two antigens were purified by chromatography in order to compare the purity by SDS-PAGE and Image Lab software. SDS-PAGE indicated that the molecular weight of target proteins from two groups were the same as we expected. Gene optimization resulted in the higher yield and it could make the product more soluble. After chromatography, the purity of target protein from optimized gene was up to 96.3%, obviously purer than that from original gene. Gene optimization could increase the protein expression yield and solubility of genetic engineering HDV small antigen. In addition, the product from the optimized gene group was easier to be purified for diagnosis usage.

The Dopamine D2 Receptor Gene, Perceived Parental Support, and Adolescent Loneliness: Longitudinal Evidence for Gene-Environment Interactions

Science.gov (United States)

van Roekel, Eeske; Goossens, Luc; Scholte, Ron H. J.; Engels, Rutger C. M. E.; Verhagen, Maaike

2011-01-01

Background: Loneliness is a common problem in adolescence. Earlier research focused on genes within the serotonin and oxytocin systems, but no studies have examined the role of dopamine-related genes in loneliness. In the present study, we focused on the dopamine D2 receptor gene (DRD2). Methods: Associations among the DRD2, sex, parental support,…

Influence of micronutrients and their method of application on yield and yield components of sunflower

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baraich, A.A.K.; Gandahi, A.W.

2016-01-01

The sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) has been recognized as a crop with high potentials that can successfully meet future oil requirements of the country. Formulation of micronutrients (MN) based fertilizer, in terms of application rate and method, and uptake of MN by sunflower has the ability not only to ensure nutrients availability to plants particularly in MN-limiting environments but also can manipulate the environmental hazards associated with over inorganic fertilization. To support this view, clear experimental evidence is still lacking. In addition, the current experiments aimed to evaluate the influence of MN and its method of application on yield and yield components of sunflower cultivars/hybrids. Three sunflower cultivars (HO-1, Hysun-39 and Ausigold-62) along with three MN (Z, B and Fe) and two application methods (soil and foliar) were used in the experiment. Three Zn application rate (3, 5 and 8 kg ha-1) along with 0.75 kg ha-1 B and 0.30 kg Fe ha-1 were used in four combinations such as 0-0-0, 0-0.75-0.30, 0-0.75-0.30, 3-0.75-0.30, 5-0.75-0.30, 8-0.75-0.30 kg Z, B and Fe ha-1, respectively. A control (no MN) treatment was also included for comparison. Two year averaged study exhibited that foliar application of Zn, B and Fe at rate of 8-0.30-0.75 kg ha-1 increased stem girth, head diameter, number of seeds head-1, seed weight head-1, seed index, oil content and seed yield by 21%, 27%, 13%, 34%, 19%, 24 and 31%, respectively over control. Among cultivars/hybrids, the hybrids HO-1 and Hysun-39 had taller plants, seed weight head-1, seeds head-1 and earlier in flowering and maturity. Flowering and maturity was delayed in Ausi Gold-62 with higher seed index and oil content. It is concluded that foliar application of micronutrients at the rate of 8+0.75+0.30 Zn, B and Fe kg ha-1 had substantially improved yield and yield related traits of sunflower cultivars HO-1, Hysun-39 and Ausi gold-62. (author)

Application of DNA Machineries for the Barcode Patterned Detection of Genes or Proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Zhixin; Luo, Guofeng; Wulf, Verena; Willner, Itamar

2018-06-05

The study introduces an analytical platform for the detection of genes or aptamer-ligand complexes by nucleic acid barcode patterns generated by DNA machineries. The DNA machineries consist of nucleic acid scaffolds that include specific recognition sites for the different genes or aptamer-ligand analytes. The binding of the analytes to the scaffolds initiate, in the presence of the nucleotide mixture, a cyclic polymerization/nicking machinery that yields displaced strands of variable lengths. The electrophoretic separation of the resulting strands provides barcode patterns for the specific detection of the different analytes. Mixtures of DNA machineries that yield, upon sensing of different genes (or aptamer ligands), one-, two-, or three-band barcode patterns are described. The combination of nucleic acid scaffolds acting, in the presence of polymerase/nicking enzyme and nucleotide mixture, as DNA machineries, that generate multiband barcode patterns provide an analytical platform for the detection of an individual gene out of many possible genes. The diversity of genes (or other analytes) that can be analyzed by the DNA machineries and the barcode patterned imaging is given by the Pascal's triangle. As a proof-of-concept, the detection of one of six genes, that is, TP53, Werner syndrome, Tay-Sachs normal gene, BRCA1, Tay-Sachs mutant gene, and cystic fibrosis disorder gene by six two-band barcode patterns is demonstrated. The advantages and limitations of the detection of analytes by polymerase/nicking DNA machineries that yield barcode patterns as imaging readout signals are discussed.

Inductive matrix completion for predicting gene-disease associations.

Science.gov (United States)

Natarajan, Nagarajan; Dhillon, Inderjit S

2014-06-15

Most existing methods for predicting causal disease genes rely on specific type of evidence, and are therefore limited in terms of applicability. More often than not, the type of evidence available for diseases varies-for example, we may know linked genes, keywords associated with the disease obtained by mining text, or co-occurrence of disease symptoms in patients. Similarly, the type of evidence available for genes varies-for example, specific microarray probes convey information only for certain sets of genes. In this article, we apply a novel matrix-completion method called Inductive Matrix Completion to the problem of predicting gene-disease associations; it combines multiple types of evidence (features) for diseases and genes to learn latent factors that explain the observed gene-disease associations. We construct features from different biological sources such as microarray expression data and disease-related textual data. A crucial advantage of the method is that it is inductive; it can be applied to diseases not seen at training time, unlike traditional matrix-completion approaches and network-based inference methods that are transductive. Comparison with state-of-the-art methods on diseases from the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) database shows that the proposed approach is substantially better-it has close to one-in-four chance of recovering a true association in the top 100 predictions, compared to the recently proposed Catapult method (second best) that has bigdata.ices.utexas.edu/project/gene-disease. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press.

Metabolic enzyme cost explains variable trade-offs between microbial growth rate and yield.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meike T Wortel

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Microbes may maximize the number of daughter cells per time or per amount of nutrients consumed. These two strategies correspond, respectively, to the use of enzyme-efficient or substrate-efficient metabolic pathways. In reality, fast growth is often associated with wasteful, yield-inefficient metabolism, and a general thermodynamic trade-off between growth rate and biomass yield has been proposed to explain this. We studied growth rate/yield trade-offs by using a novel modeling framework, Enzyme-Flux Cost Minimization (EFCM and by assuming that the growth rate depends directly on the enzyme investment per rate of biomass production. In a comprehensive mathematical model of core metabolism in E. coli, we screened all elementary flux modes leading to cell synthesis, characterized them by the growth rates and yields they provide, and studied the shape of the resulting rate/yield Pareto front. By varying the model parameters, we found that the rate/yield trade-off is not universal, but depends on metabolic kinetics and environmental conditions. A prominent trade-off emerges under oxygen-limited growth, where yield-inefficient pathways support a 2-to-3 times higher growth rate than yield-efficient pathways. EFCM can be widely used to predict optimal metabolic states and growth rates under varying nutrient levels, perturbations of enzyme parameters, and single or multiple gene knockouts.

Yield, yield components and dry matter digestibility of alfalfa experimental populations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katić Slobodan

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Alfalfa is the most important forage crop grown in the temperate regions. It is cultivated for production of vegetative aerial mass used fresh or as hay, and recently as haylage and silage. In many centres worldwide, efforts are made to breed and create new alfalfa cultivars with both higher yields and of higher nutritional value. The aim of this paper was to determine yield and digestibility of 12 experimental populations of alfalfa, and to compare their results to the yields of well-known domestic alfalfa commercial cultivars. The results show significant differences in yield of green forage and dry matter among alfalfa populations, as well as in yield components, height, proportion of leaves in yield and growth rate (tab. 1, 2 and 3. Differences between in vitro digestible dry matter (% and yields of in vitro digestible dry matter (t ha-1 were also significant (tab. 5 and 6. Yield and quality of experimental populations were at the same level or higher than of control cultivars. Synthetic SINUSA exceeded the control cutivars (NS Mediana ZMS V and Banat VS in yield and quality of dry matter. .

Tagging of resistance gene(s) to rhizomania disease in sugar beet ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The rhizomania disease is one of the most important diseases in Iran and some other parts of the world which potentially could play a role in decreasing sugar yield in fields. One approach to combat with this disease is the use of resistance varieties. This varieties have been identified which are having resistance genes to ...

Evidence that the ancestral haplotype in Australian hemochromatosis patients may be associated with a common mutation in the gene

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Crawford, D.H.G.; Powell, L.W.; Leggett, B.A. [Univ. of Queensland (Australia)] [and others

1995-08-01

Hemochromatosis (HC) is a common inherited disorder of iron metabolism for which neither the gene nor biochemical defect have yet been identified. The aim of this study was to look for clinical evidence that the predominant ancestral haplotype in Australian patients is associated with a common mutation in the gene. We compared indices of iron metabolism and storage in three groups of HC patients categorized according to the presence of the ancestral haplotype (i.e., patients with two copies, one copy, and no copies of the ancestral haplotype). We also examined iron indices in two groups of HC heterozygotes (those with the ancestral haplotype and those without) and in age-matched controls. These analyses indicate that (i) HC patients with two copies of the ancestral haplotype show significantly more severe expression of the disorder than those with one copy or those without, (ii) HC heterozygotes have partial clinical expression, which may be influenced by the presence of the ancestral haplotype in females but not in males, and (iii) the high population frequency of the HC gene may be the result of the selective advantage conferred by protecting heterozygotes against iron deficiency. 18 refs., 3 tabs.

Slope Controls Grain Yield and Climatic Yield in Mountainous Yunnan province, China

Science.gov (United States)

Duan, X.; Rong, L.; Gu, Z.; Feng, D.

2017-12-01

Mountainous regions are increasingly vulnerable to food insecurity because of limited arable land, growing population pressure, and climate change. Development of sustainable mountain agriculture will require an increased understanding of the effects of environmental factors on grain and climatic yields. The objective of this study was to explore the relationships between actual grain yield, climatic yield, and environmental factors in a mountainous region in China. We collected data on the average grain yield per unit area in 119 counties in Yunnan province from 1985 to 2012, and chose 17 environmental factors for the same period. Our results showed that actual grain yield ranged from 1.43 to 6.92 t·ha-1, and the climatic yield ranged from -0.15 to -0.01 t·ha-1. Lower climatic yield but higher grain yield was generally found in central areas and at lower slopes and elevations in the western and southwestern counties of Yunnan province. Higher climatic yield but lower grain yield were found in northwestern parts of Yunnan province on steep slopes. Annual precipation and temperature had a weak influence on the climatic yield. Slope explained 44.62 and 26.29% of the variation in grain yield and climatic yield. The effects of topography on grain and climatic yields were greater than climatic factors. Slope was the most important environmental variable for the variability in climatic and grain yields in the mountainous Yunnan province due to the highly heterogeneous topographic conditions. Conversion of slopes to terraces in areas with higher climatic yields is an effective way to maintain grain production in response to climate variability. Additionally, soil amendments and soil and water conservation measures should be considered to maintain soil fertility and aid in sustainable development in central areas, and in counties at lower slopes and elevations in western and southwestern Yunnan province.

Developing integrated crop knowledge networks to advance candidate gene discovery.

Science.gov (United States)

Hassani-Pak, Keywan; Castellote, Martin; Esch, Maria; Hindle, Matthew; Lysenko, Artem; Taubert, Jan; Rawlings, Christopher

2016-12-01

The chances of raising crop productivity to enhance global food security would be greatly improved if we had a complete understanding of all the biological mechanisms that underpinned traits such as crop yield, disease resistance or nutrient and water use efficiency. With more crop genomes emerging all the time, we are nearer having the basic information, at the gene-level, to begin assembling crop gene catalogues and using data from other plant species to understand how the genes function and how their interactions govern crop development and physiology. Unfortunately, the task of creating such a complete knowledge base of gene functions, interaction networks and trait biology is technically challenging because the relevant data are dispersed in myriad databases in a variety of data formats with variable quality and coverage. In this paper we present a general approach for building genome-scale knowledge networks that provide a unified representation of heterogeneous but interconnected datasets to enable effective knowledge mining and gene discovery. We describe the datasets and outline the methods, workflows and tools that we have developed for creating and visualising these networks for the major crop species, wheat and barley. We present the global characteristics of such knowledge networks and with an example linking a seed size phenotype to a barley WRKY transcription factor orthologous to TTG2 from Arabidopsis, we illustrate the value of integrated data in biological knowledge discovery. The software we have developed (www.ondex.org) and the knowledge resources (http://knetminer.rothamsted.ac.uk) we have created are all open-source and provide a first step towards systematic and evidence-based gene discovery in order to facilitate crop improvement.

OsPIN5b modulates rice (Oryza sativa) plant architecture and yield by changing auxin homeostasis, transport and distribution.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Guangwen; Coneva, Viktoriya; Casaretto, José A; Ying, Shan; Mahmood, Kashif; Liu, Fang; Nambara, Eiji; Bi, Yong-Mei; Rothstein, Steven J

2015-09-01

Plant architecture attributes such as tillering, plant height and panicle size are important agronomic traits that determine rice (Oryza sativa) productivity. Here, we report that altered auxin content, transport and distribution affect these traits, and hence rice yield. Overexpression of the auxin efflux carrier-like gene OsPIN5b causes pleiotropic effects, mainly reducing plant height, leaf and tiller number, shoot and root biomass, seed-setting rate, panicle length and yield parameters. Conversely, reduced expression of OsPIN5b results in higher tiller number, more vigorous root system, longer panicles and increased yield. We show that OsPIN5b is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) -localized protein that participates in auxin homeostasis, transport and distribution in vivo. This work describes an example of an auxin-related gene where modulating its expression can simultaneously improve plant architecture and yield potential in rice, and reveals an important effect of hormonal signaling on these traits. © 2015 The Authors The Plant Journal © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Yield trends and yield gap analysis of major crops in the world

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hengsdijk, H.; Langeveld, J.W.A.

2009-01-01

This study aims to quantify the gap between current and potential yields of major crops in the world, and the production constraints that contribute to this yield gap. Using an expert-based evaluation of yield gaps and the literature, global and regional yields and yield trends of major crops are

Effects of bovine prolactin gene polymorphism within exon 4 on milk ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In this study, polymorphism of prolactin gene was analyzed as a candidate gene responsible for variation and genetic trends in milk yield and composition traits. Genomic DNAs were extracted from 268 semen samples belonged to Iranian Holstein bulls. Genotyping for the prolactin gene using PCRRFLP technique and RsaI ...

Genealogical evidence for epidemics of selfish genes

OpenAIRE

Ingvarsson, Pär K.; Taylor, Douglas R.

2002-01-01

Some genetic elements spread infectiously in populations by increasing their rate of genetic transmission at the expense of other genes in the genome. These so-called selfish genetic elements comprise a substantial portion of eukaryotic genomes and have long been viewed as a potent evolutionary force. Despite this view, little is known about the evolutionary history of selfish genetic elements in natural populations, or their genetic effects on other portions of the genome. Here we use nuclea...

A Novel Energy Yields Calculation Method for Irregular Wind Farm Layout

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hou, Peng; Hu, Weihao; Soltani, Mohsen

2015-01-01

Due to the increasing size of offshore wind farm, the impact of the wake effect on energy yields become more and more evident. The Seafloor topography would limit the layout of the wind farm so that irregular layout is usually adopted inlarge scale offshore wind farm. However, the calculation...

Quantitative trait loci for yield and grain plumpness relative to maturity in three populations of barley (Hordeum vulgare L. grown in a low rain-fall environment.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bulti Tesso Obsa

Full Text Available Identifying yield and grain plumpness QTL that are independent of developmental variation or phenology is of paramount importance for developing widely adapted and stable varieties through the application of marker assisted selection. The current study was designed to dissect the genetic basis of yield performance and grain plumpness in southern Australia using three doubled haploid (DH populations developed from crosses between adapted parents that are similar in maturity and overall plant development. Three interconnected genetic populations, Commander x Fleet (CF, Commander x WI4304 (CW, and Fleet x WI4304 (FW developed from crossing of Australian elite barley genotypes, were used to map QTL controlling yield and grain plumpness. QTL for grain plumpness and yield were analysed using genetic linkage maps made of genotyping-by-sequencing markers and major phenology genes, and field trials at three drought prone environments for two growing seasons. Seventeen QTL were detected for grain plumpness. Eighteen yield QTL explaining from 1.2% to 25.0% of the phenotypic variation were found across populations and environments. Significant QTL x environment interaction was observed for all grain plumpness and yield QTL, except QPlum.FW-4H.1 and QYld.FW-2H.1. Unlike previous yield QTL studies in barley, none of the major developmental genes, including Ppd-H1, Vrn-H1, Vrn-H2 and Vrn-H3, that drive barley adaption significantly affected grain plumpness and yield here. Twenty-two QTL controlled yield or grain plumpness independently of known maturity QTL or genes. Adjustment for maturity effects through co-variance analysis had no major effect on these yield QTL indicating that they control yield per se.

Genetic Parameters and Combining Ability Effects of Parents for Seed Yield and other Quantitative Traits in Black Gram [Vigna mungo (L. Hepper

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Supriyo CHAKRABORTY

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Line x tester analysis was carried out in black gram [Vigna mungo (L. Hepper], an edible legume, to estimate the gca (general combining ability effects of parents (3 lines and 3 testers and the SCA (specific combining ability effects of 9 crosses for seed yield and other eleven quantitative traits. Though additive and nonadditive gene actions governed the expression of quantitative traits, the magnitude of nonadditive gene action was higher than that of additive gene action for each quantitative trait. Two parents viz. �UG157� and �DPU915� were good general combiners. Two crosses namely �PDB 88-31�/�DPU 915� and �PLU 277�/�KAU7� had high per se performance along with positive significant SCA effect for seed yield/plant. The degree of dominance revealed overdominance for all the traits except clusters/plant with partial dominance. The predictability ratio also revealed the predominant role of nonadditive gene action in the genetic control of quantitative traits. Narrow sense heritability was also low for each trait. Recurrent selection or biparental mating followed by selection which can exploit both additive and nonadditive gene actions would be of interest for yield improvement in black gram. Due to presence of high magnitude of nonadditive gene action, heterosis breeding could also be attempted to develop low cost hybrid variety using genetic male sterility system in black gram.

A Single Transcriptome of a Green Toad (Bufo viridis Yields Candidate Genes for Sex Determination and -Differentiation and Non-Anonymous Population Genetic Markers.

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Jörn F Gerchen

Full Text Available Large genome size, including immense repetitive and non-coding fractions, still present challenges for capacity, bioinformatics and thus affordability of whole genome sequencing in most amphibians. Here, we test the performance of a single transcriptome to understand whether it can provide a cost-efficient resource for species with large unknown genomes. Using RNA from six different tissues from a single Palearctic green toad (Bufo viridis specimen and Hiseq2000, we obtained 22,5 Mio reads and publish >100,000 unigene sequences. To evaluate efficacy and quality, we first use this data to identify green toad specific candidate genes, known from other vertebrates for their role in sex determination and differentiation. Of a list of 37 genes, the transcriptome yielded 32 (87%, many of which providing the first such data for this non-model anuran species. However, for many of these genes, only fragments could be retrieved. In order to allow also applications to population genetics, we further used the transcriptome for the targeted development of 21 non-anonymous microsatellites and tested them in genetic families and backcrosses. Eleven markers were specifically developed to be located on the B. viridis sex chromosomes; for eight markers we can indeed demonstrate sex-specific transmission in genetic families. Depending on phylogenetic distance, several markers, which are sex-linked in green toads, show high cross-amplification success across the anuran phylogeny, involving nine systematic anuran families. Our data support the view that single transcriptome sequencing (based on multiple tissues provides a reliable genomic resource and cost-efficient method for non-model amphibian species with large genome size and, despite limitations, should be considered as long as genome sequencing remains unaffordable for most species.

Random Subspace Aggregation for Cancer Prediction with Gene Expression Profiles

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Liying Yang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Background. Precisely predicting cancer is crucial for cancer treatment. Gene expression profiles make it possible to analyze patterns between genes and cancers on the genome-wide scale. Gene expression data analysis, however, is confronted with enormous challenges for its characteristics, such as high dimensionality, small sample size, and low Signal-to-Noise Ratio. Results. This paper proposes a method, termed RS_SVM, to predict gene expression profiles via aggregating SVM trained on random subspaces. After choosing gene features through statistical analysis, RS_SVM randomly selects feature subsets to yield random subspaces and training SVM classifiers accordingly and then aggregates SVM classifiers to capture the advantage of ensemble learning. Experiments on eight real gene expression datasets are performed to validate the RS_SVM method. Experimental results show that RS_SVM achieved better classification accuracy and generalization performance in contrast with single SVM, K-nearest neighbor, decision tree, Bagging, AdaBoost, and the state-of-the-art methods. Experiments also explored the effect of subspace size on prediction performance. Conclusions. The proposed RS_SVM method yielded superior performance in analyzing gene expression profiles, which demonstrates that RS_SVM provides a good channel for such biological data.

Genomic Evidence of Chemotrophic Metabolisms in Deep-Dwelling Chloroflexi Conferred by Ancient Horizontal Gene Transfer Events

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Momper, L. M.; Magnabosco, C.; Amend, J.; Osburn, M. R.; Fournier, G. P.

2017-12-01

The marine and terrestrial subsurface biospheres represent quite likely the largest reservoirs for life on Earth, directly impacting surface processes and global cycles throughout Earth's history. In the deep subsurface biosphere (DSB) organic carbon and energy are often extremely scarce. However, archaea and bacteria are able to persist in the DSB to at least 3.5 km below surface [1]. Understanding how they persist, and by what metabolisms they subsist, are key questions in this biosphere. To address these questions we investigated 5 global DSB environments: one legacy mine in South Dakota, USA, 3 mines in South Africa and marine fluids circulating beneath the Juan de Fuca Ridge. Boreholes within these mines provided access to fluids buried beneath the earth's surface and sampled depths down to 3.1 km. Geochemical data were collected concomitantly with DNA for metagenomic sequencing. We examined genomes of the ancient and deeply branching Chloroflexi for metabolic capabilities and interrogated the geochemical drivers behind those metabolisms with in situ thermodynamic modeling of reaction energetics. In total, 23 Chloroflexi genomes were identified and analyzed from the 5 subsurface sites. Genes for nitrate reduction (nar) and sulfite reduction (dsr) were found in many of the South Africa Chloroflexi but were absent from genomes collected in South Dakota. Indeed, nitrate reduction was among the most energetically favorable reactions in South African fluids (10-14 kJ cell-1 sec -1 per mol of reactant) and sulfur reduction with Fe2+ or H2 was also exergonic [2]. Conversely, genes for nitrite and nitrous oxide reduction (nrf, nir and nos) were found in genomes collected in South Dakota and Juan de Fuca, but not South Africa. We examined the origin of genes conferring these metabolisms in the Chloroflexi genomes. We discovered evidence for horizontal gene transfer (HGT) for all of these putative metabolisms. Retention of these genes in Chloroflexi lineages indicates

Immune genes undergo more adaptive evolution than non-immune system genes in Daphnia pulex

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McTaggart Seanna J

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Understanding which parts of the genome have been most influenced by adaptive evolution remains an unsolved puzzle. Some evidence suggests that selection has the greatest impact on regions of the genome that interact with other evolving genomes, including loci that are involved in host-parasite co-evolutionary processes. In this study, we used a population genetic approach to test this hypothesis by comparing DNA sequences of 30 putative immune system genes in the crustacean Daphnia pulex with 24 non-immune system genes. Results In support of the hypothesis, results from a multilocus extension of the McDonald-Kreitman (MK test indicate that immune system genes as a class have experienced more adaptive evolution than non-immune system genes. However, not all immune system genes show evidence of adaptive evolution. Additionally, we apply single locus MK tests and calculate population genetic parameters at all loci in order to characterize the mode of selection (directional versus balancing in the genes that show the greatest deviation from neutral evolution. Conclusions Our data are consistent with the hypothesis that immune system genes undergo more adaptive evolution than non-immune system genes, possibly as a result of host-parasite arms races. The results of these analyses highlight several candidate loci undergoing adaptive evolution that could be targeted in future studies.

On yield gaps and yield gains in intercropping

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gou, Fang; Yin, Wen; Hong, Yu; Werf, van der Wopke; Chai, Qiang; Heerink, Nico; Ittersum, van Martin K.

2017-01-01

Wheat-maize relay intercropping has been widely used by farmers in northwest China, and based on field experiments agronomists report it has a higher productivity than sole crops. However, the yields from farmers’ fields have not been investigated yet. Yield gap analysis provides a framework to

Evaluating the consistency of gene sets used in the analysis of bacterial gene expression data

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Tintle Nathan L

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Statistical analyses of whole genome expression data require functional information about genes in order to yield meaningful biological conclusions. The Gene Ontology (GO and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG are common sources of functionally grouped gene sets. For bacteria, the SEED and MicrobesOnline provide alternative, complementary sources of gene sets. To date, no comprehensive evaluation of the data obtained from these resources has been performed. Results We define a series of gene set consistency metrics directly related to the most common classes of statistical analyses for gene expression data, and then perform a comprehensive analysis of 3581 Affymetrix® gene expression arrays across 17 diverse bacteria. We find that gene sets obtained from GO and KEGG demonstrate lower consistency than those obtained from the SEED and MicrobesOnline, regardless of gene set size. Conclusions Despite the widespread use of GO and KEGG gene sets in bacterial gene expression data analysis, the SEED and MicrobesOnline provide more consistent sets for a wide variety of statistical analyses. Increased use of the SEED and MicrobesOnline gene sets in the analysis of bacterial gene expression data may improve statistical power and utility of expression data.

TIR-NBS-LRR genes are rare in monocots: evidence from diverse monocot orders

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Tarr D Ellen K

2009-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Plant resistance (R gene products recognize pathogen effector molecules. Many R genes code for proteins containing nucleotide binding site (NBS and C-terminal leucine-rich repeat (LRR domains. NBS-LRR proteins can be divided into two groups, TIR-NBS-LRR and non-TIR-NBS-LRR, based on the structure of the N-terminal domain. Although both classes are clearly present in gymnosperms and eudicots, only non-TIR sequences have been found consistently in monocots. Since most studies in monocots have been limited to agriculturally important grasses, it is difficult to draw conclusions. The purpose of our study was to look for evidence of these sequences in additional monocot orders. Findings Using degenerate PCR, we amplified NBS sequences from four monocot species (C. blanda, D. marginata, S. trifasciata, and Spathiphyllum sp., a gymnosperm (C. revoluta and a eudicot (C. canephora. We successfully amplified TIR-NBS-LRR sequences from dicot and gymnosperm DNA, but not from monocot DNA. Using databases, we obtained NBS sequences from additional monocots, magnoliids and basal angiosperms. TIR-type sequences were not present in monocot or magnoliid sequences, but were present in the basal angiosperms. Phylogenetic analysis supported a single TIR clade and multiple non-TIR clades. Conclusion We were unable to find monocot TIR-NBS-LRR sequences by PCR amplification or database searches. In contrast to previous studies, our results represent five monocot orders (Poales, Zingiberales, Arecales, Asparagales, and Alismatales. Our results establish the presence of TIR-NBS-LRR sequences in basal angiosperms and suggest that although these sequences were present in early land plants, they have been reduced significantly in monocots and magnoliids.

Effect of DNA sequence of Fab fragment on yield characteristics and cell growth of E. coli.

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Kulmala, Antti; Huovinen, Tuomas; Lamminmäki, Urpo

2017-06-19

Codon usage is one of the factors influencing recombinant protein expression. We were interested in the codon usage of an antibody Fab fragment gene exhibiting extreme toxicity in the E. coli host. The toxic synthetic human Fab gene contained domains optimized by the "one amino acid-one codon" method. We redesigned five segments of the Fab gene with a "codon harmonization" method described by Angov et al. and studied the effects of these changes on cell viability, Fab yield and display on filamentous phage using different vectors and bacterial strains. The harmonization considerably reduced toxicity, increased Fab expression from negligible levels to 10 mg/l, and restored the display on phage. Testing the impact of the individual redesigned segments revealed that the most significant effects were conferred by changes in the constant domain of the light chain. For some of the Fab gene variants, we also observed striking differences in protein yields when cloned from a chloramphenicol resistant vector into an identical vector, except with ampicillin resistance. In conclusion, our results show that the expression of a heterodimeric secretory protein can be improved by harmonizing selected DNA segments by synonymous codons and reveal additional complexity involved in heterologous protein expression.

Differential transcriptional modulation of duplicated fatty acid-binding protein genes by dietary fatty acids in zebrafish (Danio rerio: evidence for subfunctionalization or neofunctionalization of duplicated genes

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Denovan-Wright Eileen M

2009-09-01

, induction of the steady-state level of fabp mRNAs by dietary FAs correlated with induced levels of hnRNA for a given fabp gene. As such, up-regulation of the steady-state level of fabp mRNAs by FAs occurred at the level of initiation of transcription. None of the sister duplicates of these fabp genes exhibited an increase in their steady-state transcript levels in a specific tissue following feeding zebrafish any of the four experimental diets. Conclusion Differential induction of only one of the sister pair of duplicated fabp genes by FAs provides evidence to support the DDC model for retention of duplicated genes in the zebrafish genome by either subfunctionalization or neofunctionalization.

Evidence of sex-bias in gene expression in the brain transcriptome of two populations of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) with divergent life histories.

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Hale, Matthew C; McKinney, Garrett J; Thrower, Frank P; Nichols, Krista M

2018-01-01

Sex-bias in gene expression is a mechanism that can generate phenotypic variance between the sexes, however, relatively little is known about how patterns of sex-bias vary during development, and how variable sex-bias is between different populations. To that end, we measured sex-bias in gene expression in the brain transcriptome of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) during the first two years of development. Our sampling included from the fry stage through to when O. mykiss either migrate to the ocean or remain resident and undergo sexual maturation. Samples came from two F1 lines: One from migratory steelhead trout and one from resident rainbow trout. All samples were reared in a common garden environment and RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) was used to estimate patterns of gene expression. A total of 1,716 (4.6% of total) genes showed evidence of sex-bias in gene expression in at least one time point. The majority (96.7%) of sex-biased genes were differentially expressed during the second year of development, indicating that patterns of sex-bias in expression are tied to key developmental events, such as migration and sexual maturation. Mapping of differentially expressed genes to the O. mykiss genome revealed that the X chromosome is enriched for female upregulated genes, and this may indicate a lack of dosage compensation in rainbow trout. There were many more sex-biased genes in the migratory line than the resident line suggesting differences in patterns of gene expression in the brain between populations subjected to different forces of selection. Overall, our results suggest that there is considerable variation in the extent and identity of genes exhibiting sex-bias during the first two years of life. These differentially expressed genes may be connected to developmental differences between the sexes, and/or between adopting a resident or migratory life history.

Characterisation of a novel quantitative trait locus, GN4-1, for grain number and yield in rice (Oryza sativa L.).

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Zhou, Yong; Tao, Yajun; Yuan, Yuan; Zhang, Yanzhou; Miao, Jun; Zhang, Ron; Yi, Chuandeng; Gong, Zhiyun; Yang, Zefeng; Liang, Guohua

2018-03-01

A novel QTL for grain number, GN4-1, was identified and fine-mapped to an ~ 190-kb region on the long arm of rice chromosome 4. Rice grain yield is primarily determined by three components: number of panicles per plant, grain number per panicle and grain weight. Among these traits, grain number per panicle is the major contributor to grain yield formation and is a crucial trait for yield improvement. In this study, we identified a major quantitative trait locus (QTL) responsible for rice grain number on chromosome 4, designated GN4-1 (a QTL for Grain Number on chromosome 4), using advanced segregating populations derived from the crosses between an elite indica cultivar 'Zhonghui 8006' (ZH8006) and a japonica rice 'Wuyunjing 8' (WYJ8). GN4-1 was delimited to an ~ 190-kb region on chromosome 4. The genetic effect of GN4-1 was estimated using a pair of near-isogenic lines. The GN4-1 gene from WYJ8 promoted accumulation of cytokinins in the inflorescence and increased grain number per panicle by ~ 17%. More importantly, introduction of the WYJ8 GN4-1 gene into ZH8006 increased grain yield by ~ 14.3 and ~ 11.5% in the experimental plots in 2014 and 2015, respectively. In addition, GN4-1 promoted thickening of the culm and may enhance resistance to lodging. These results demonstrate that GN4-1 is a potentially valuable gene for improvement of yield and lodging resistance in rice breeding.

Constructive Technology Assessment (CTA) as a tool in coverage with evidence development: the case of the 70-gene prognosis signature for breast cancer diagnostics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Retel, Valesca; Retèl, Valesca P.; Bueno-de-Mesquita, Jolien M.; Hummel, J. Marjan; van de Vijver, Marc J.; Douma, Kirsten F.L.; Karsenberg, Kim; van Dam, Frits S.A.M.; van Krimpen, Cees; Bellot, Frank E.; Roumen, Rudi M.H.; Linn, Sabine C.; van Harten, Willem H.

2009-01-01

Objectives: Constructive Technology Assessment (CTA) is a means to guide early implementation of new developments in society, and can be used as an evaluation tool for Coverage with Evidence Development (CED). We used CTA for the introduction of a new diagnostic test in the Netherlands, the 70-gene

Constructive Technology Assessment (CTA) as a tool in Coverage with Evidence Development: The case of the 70-gene prognosis signature for breast cancer diagnostics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Retèl, Valesca P.; Bueno-de-Mesquita, Jolien M.; Hummel, Marjan J. M.; van de Vijver, Marc J.; Douma, Kirsten F. L.; Karsenberg, Kim; van Dam, Frits S. A. M.; van Krimpen, Cees; Bellot, Frank E.; Roumen, Rudi M. H.; Linn, Sabine C.; van Harten, Wim H.

2009-01-01

Objectives: Constructive Technology Assessment (CTA) is a means to guide early implementation of new developments in society, and can be used as an evaluation tool for Coverage with Evidence Development (CED). We used CTA for the introduction of a new diagnostic test in the Netherlands, the 70-gene

GABA metabolism pathway genes, UGA1 and GAD1, regulate replicative lifespan in Saccharomycescerevisiae

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kamei, Yuka; Tamura, Takayuki [Department of Bioscience, Faculty of Bioscience, Nagahama Institute of Bio-Science and Technology, 1266 Tamura, Nagahama, Shiga 526-0829 (Japan); Yoshida, Ryo [Department of Biotechnology, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871 (Japan); Ohta, Shinji [Department of Bioscience, Faculty of Bioscience, Nagahama Institute of Bio-Science and Technology, 1266 Tamura, Nagahama, Shiga 526-0829 (Japan); Fukusaki, Eiichiro [Department of Biotechnology, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871 (Japan); Mukai, Yukio, E-mail: y_mukai@nagahama-i-bio.ac.jp [Department of Bioscience, Faculty of Bioscience, Nagahama Institute of Bio-Science and Technology, 1266 Tamura, Nagahama, Shiga 526-0829 (Japan)

2011-04-01

Highlights: {yields}We demonstrate that two genes in the yeast GABA metabolism pathway affect aging. {yields} Deletion of the UGA1 or GAD1 genes extends replicative lifespan. {yields} Addition of GABA to wild-type cultures has no effect on lifespan. {yields} Intracellular GABA levels do not differ in longevity mutants and wild-type cells. {yields} Levels of tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates positively correlate with lifespan. -- Abstract: Many of the genes involved in aging have been identified in organisms ranging from yeast to human. Our previous study showed that deletion of the UGA3 gene-which encodes a zinc-finger transcription factor necessary for {gamma}-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-dependent induction of the UGA1 (GABA aminotransferase), UGA2 (succinate semialdehyde dehydrogenase), and UGA4 (GABA permease) genes-extends replicative lifespan in the budding yeast Saccharomycescerevisiae. Here, we found that deletion of UGA1 lengthened the lifespan, as did deletion of UGA3; in contrast, strains with UGA2 or UGA4 deletions exhibited no lifespan extension. The {Delta}uga1 strain cannot deaminate GABA to succinate semialdehyde. Deletion of GAD1, which encodes the glutamate decarboxylase that converts glutamate into GABA, also increased lifespan. Therefore, two genes in the GABA metabolism pathway, UGA1 and GAD1, were identified as aging genes. Unexpectedly, intracellular GABA levels in mutant cells (except for {Delta}uga2 cells) did not differ from those in wild-type cells. Addition of GABA to culture media, which induces transcription of the UGA structural genes, had no effect on replicative lifespan of wild-type cells. Multivariate analysis of {sup 1}H nuclear magnetic resonance spectra for the whole-cell metabolite levels demonstrated a separation between long-lived and normal-lived strains. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of identified metabolites showed that levels of tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates positively correlated with lifespan

Effect of Different Tillage Methods and Cover Crop Types on Yield and Yield Components of Wheat

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Z Sharefee

2018-05-01

treatments were applied, seedbed preparation was carried out and wheat Anfarm- 4 (Bam was planted. At the end of the growing season, yield and yield components of wheat were measured. Results and Discussion The results indicated that the maximum grain yield, biological yield, and spike.m-2 of wheat were observed with the no-till and reduced tillage treatments. The wheat spike weight significantly increased in the treatment of no-tillage compared with conventional tillage treatment. It seems that increased crop yield under no-till and reduced till systems might be owing to the enhancement of the soil nutrient status, reduced weed populations, improved physical health of the soil improved soil water status and increased efficiency of nutrient usage in these systems comparing with the conventional tillage systems. The main effect of cover crop type showed that incorporating chickling pea and rocket salad resulted in the greatest grain yield, thousand-kernal weight, spike weight, and biological yield of wheat compared to the control (no cover crop and also chickling pea, rocket salad and barley caused the greatest grain. Spike-1 of wheat compared to the control (no cover crop. Although the use of total cover crops improved yield and yield components in wheat. Chickling pea superiority in many traits was evident in comparison with other cover crops. This superiority could be due to the fact that this plant belongs to the legume family and legumes release higher amounts of nitrogen during decomposition compared to grass species. Grasses produce large amounts of carbon and are slowly decomposed. Although rocket salad does not belong to the legume family, due to having deep roots, it is able to absorb nutrients from the deep soil layers and provide the main plant with these nutrients after its decay. Conclusions The results of this study revealed that employment of conservation tillage systems remarkably affected the yield and yield components of wheat, and the greatest positive

Gene-gene interactions and gene polymorphisms of VEGFA and EG-VEGF gene systems in recurrent pregnancy loss.

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Su, Mei-Tsz; Lin, Sheng-Hsiang; Chen, Yi-Chi; Kuo, Pao-Lin

2014-06-01

Both vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) and endocrine gland-derived vascular endothelial growth factor (EG-VEGF) systems play major roles in angiogenesis. A body of evidence suggests VEGFs regulate critical processes during pregnancy and have been associated with recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). However, little information is available regarding the interaction of these two major major angiogenesis-related systems in early human pregnancy. This study was conducted to investigate the association of gene polymorphisms and gene-gene interaction among genes in VEGFA and EG-VEGF systems and idiopathic RPL. A total of 98 women with history of idiopathic RPL and 142 controls were included, and 5 functional SNPs selected from VEGFA, KDR, EG-VEGF (PROK1), PROKR1 and PROKR2 were genotyped. We used multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) analysis to choose a best model and evaluate gene-gene interactions. Ingenuity pathways analysis (IPA) was introduced to explore possible complex interactions. Two receptor gene polymorphisms [KDR (Q472H) and PROKR2 (V331M)] were significantly associated with idiopathic RPL (P<0.01). The MDR test revealed that the KDR (Q472H) polymorphism was the best loci to be associated with RPL (P=0.02). IPA revealed EG-VEGF and VEGFA systems shared several canonical signaling pathways that may contribute to gene-gene interactions, including the Akt, IL-8, EGFR, MAPK, SRC, VHL, HIF-1A and STAT3 signaling pathways. Two receptor gene polymorphisms [KDR (Q472H) and PROKR2 (V331M)] were significantly associated with idiopathic RPL. EG-VEGF and VEGFA systems shared several canonical signaling pathways that may contribute to gene-gene interactions, including the Akt, IL-8, EGFR, MAPK, SRC, VHL, HIF-1A and STAT3.

Outbred genome sequencing and CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing in butterflies

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Li, Xueyan; Fan, Dingding; Zhang, Wei; Liu, Guichun; Zhang, Lu; Zhao, Li; Fang, Xiaodong; Chen, Lei; Dong, Yang; Chen, Yuan; Ding, Yun; Zhao, Ruoping; Feng, Mingji; Zhu, Yabing; Feng, Yue; Jiang, Xuanting; Zhu, Deying; Xiang, Hui; Feng, Xikan; Li, Shuaicheng; Wang, Jun; Zhang, Guojie; Kronforst, Marcus R.; Wang, Wen

2015-01-01

Butterflies are exceptionally diverse but their potential as an experimental system has been limited by the difficulty of deciphering heterozygous genomes and a lack of genetic manipulation technology. Here we use a hybrid assembly approach to construct high-quality reference genomes for Papilio xuthus (contig and scaffold N50: 492 kb, 3.4 Mb) and Papilio machaon (contig and scaffold N50: 81 kb, 1.15 Mb), highly heterozygous species that differ in host plant affiliations, and adult and larval colour patterns. Integrating comparative genomics and analyses of gene expression yields multiple insights into butterfly evolution, including potential roles of specific genes in recent diversification. To functionally test gene function, we develop an efficient (up to 92.5%) CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing method that yields obvious phenotypes with three genes, Abdominal-B, ebony and frizzled. Our results provide valuable genomic and technological resources for butterflies and unlock their potential as a genetic model system. PMID:26354079

Antisense-induced suppression of taxoid 14β- hydroxylase gene ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis showed that the 14OH mRNA level in transgenic cells dropped dramatically, suggesting that the expression of endogenous14OH gene was significantly suppressed by the exogenous as14OH gene. Correspondingly, the total yield of three major C-14 ...

[Analysis of genetic models and gene effects on main agronomy characters in rapeseed].

Science.gov (United States)

Li, J; Qiu, J; Tang, Z; Shen, L

1992-01-01

According to four different genetic models, the genetic patterns of 8 agronomy traits were analysed by using the data of 24 generations which included positive and negative cross of 81008 x Tower, both of the varieties are of good quality. The results showed that none of 8 characters could fit in with additive-dominance models. Epistasis was found in all of these characters, and it has significant effect on generation means. Seed weight/plant and some other main yield characters are controlled by duplicate interaction genes. The interaction between triple genes or multiple genes needs to be utilized in yield heterosis.

Gene therapy and reproductive medicine.

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Stribley, John M; Rehman, Khurram S; Niu, Hairong; Christman, Gregory M

2002-04-01

To review the literature on the principles of gene therapy and its potential application in reproductive medicine. Literature review. Gene therapy involves transfer of genetic material to target cells using a delivery system, or vector. Attention has primarily focused on viral vectors. Significant problems remain to be overcome including low efficacy of gene transfer, the transient expression of some vectors, safety issues with modified adenoviruses and retroviruses, and ethical concerns. If these issues can be resolved, gene therapy will be applicable to an increasing spectrum of single and multiple gene disorders, as the Human Genome Project data are analyzed, and the genetic component of human disease becomes better understood. Gynecologic gene therapy has advanced to human clinical trials for ovarian carcinoma, and shows potential for the treatment of uterine leiomyomata. Obstetric applications of gene therapy, including fetal gene therapy, remain more distant goals. Concerns about the safety of human gene therapy research are being actively addressed, and remarkable progress in improving DNA transfer has been made. The first treatment success for a genetic disease (severe combined immunodeficiency disease) has been achieved, and ongoing research efforts will eventually yield clinical applications in many spheres of reproductive medicine.

Gene alterations at Drosophila inversion breakpoints provide prima facie evidence for natural selection as an explanation for rapid chromosomal evolution.

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Guillén, Yolanda; Ruiz, Alfredo

2012-02-01

Chromosomal inversions have been pervasive during the evolution of the genus Drosophila, but there is significant variation between lineages in the rate of rearrangement fixation. D. mojavensis, an ecological specialist adapted to a cactophilic niche under extreme desert conditions, is a chromosomally derived species with ten fixed inversions, five of them not present in any other species. In order to explore the causes of the rapid chromosomal evolution in D. mojavensis, we identified and characterized all breakpoints of seven inversions fixed in chromosome 2, the most dynamic one. One of the inversions presents unequivocal evidence for its generation by ectopic recombination between transposon copies and another two harbor inverted duplications of non-repetitive DNA at the two breakpoints and were likely generated by staggered single-strand breaks and repair by non-homologous end joining. Four out of 14 breakpoints lay in the intergenic region between preexisting duplicated genes, suggesting an adaptive advantage of separating previously tightly linked duplicates. Four out of 14 breakpoints are associated with transposed genes, suggesting these breakpoints are fragile regions. Finally two inversions contain novel genes at their breakpoints and another three show alterations of genes at breakpoints with potential adaptive significance. D. mojavensis chromosomal inversions were generated by multiple mechanisms, an observation that does not provide support for increased mutation rate as explanation for rapid chromosomal evolution. On the other hand, we have found a number of gene alterations at the breakpoints with putative adaptive consequences that directly point to natural selection as the cause of D. mojavensis rapid chromosomal evolution.

Gene alterations at Drosophila inversion breakpoints provide prima facie evidence for natural selection as an explanation for rapid chromosomal evolution

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Guillén Yolanda

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Chromosomal inversions have been pervasive during the evolution of the genus Drosophila, but there is significant variation between lineages in the rate of rearrangement fixation. D. mojavensis, an ecological specialist adapted to a cactophilic niche under extreme desert conditions, is a chromosomally derived species with ten fixed inversions, five of them not present in any other species. Results In order to explore the causes of the rapid chromosomal evolution in D. mojavensis, we identified and characterized all breakpoints of seven inversions fixed in chromosome 2, the most dynamic one. One of the inversions presents unequivocal evidence for its generation by ectopic recombination between transposon copies and another two harbor inverted duplications of non-repetitive DNA at the two breakpoints and were likely generated by staggered single-strand breaks and repair by non-homologous end joining. Four out of 14 breakpoints lay in the intergenic region between preexisting duplicated genes, suggesting an adaptive advantage of separating previously tightly linked duplicates. Four out of 14 breakpoints are associated with transposed genes, suggesting these breakpoints are fragile regions. Finally two inversions contain novel genes at their breakpoints and another three show alterations of genes at breakpoints with potential adaptive significance. Conclusions D. mojavensis chromosomal inversions were generated by multiple mechanisms, an observation that does not provide support for increased mutation rate as explanation for rapid chromosomal evolution. On the other hand, we have found a number of gene alterations at the breakpoints with putative adaptive consequences that directly point to natural selection as the cause of D. mojavensis rapid chromosomal evolution.

Gene alterations at Drosophila inversion breakpoints provide prima facie evidence for natural selection as an explanation for rapid chromosomal evolution

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Background Chromosomal inversions have been pervasive during the evolution of the genus Drosophila, but there is significant variation between lineages in the rate of rearrangement fixation. D. mojavensis, an ecological specialist adapted to a cactophilic niche under extreme desert conditions, is a chromosomally derived species with ten fixed inversions, five of them not present in any other species. Results In order to explore the causes of the rapid chromosomal evolution in D. mojavensis, we identified and characterized all breakpoints of seven inversions fixed in chromosome 2, the most dynamic one. One of the inversions presents unequivocal evidence for its generation by ectopic recombination between transposon copies and another two harbor inverted duplications of non-repetitive DNA at the two breakpoints and were likely generated by staggered single-strand breaks and repair by non-homologous end joining. Four out of 14 breakpoints lay in the intergenic region between preexisting duplicated genes, suggesting an adaptive advantage of separating previously tightly linked duplicates. Four out of 14 breakpoints are associated with transposed genes, suggesting these breakpoints are fragile regions. Finally two inversions contain novel genes at their breakpoints and another three show alterations of genes at breakpoints with potential adaptive significance. Conclusions D. mojavensis chromosomal inversions were generated by multiple mechanisms, an observation that does not provide support for increased mutation rate as explanation for rapid chromosomal evolution. On the other hand, we have found a number of gene alterations at the breakpoints with putative adaptive consequences that directly point to natural selection as the cause of D. mojavensis rapid chromosomal evolution. PMID:22296923

Elevation of the Yields of Very Long Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids via Minimal Codon Optimization of Two Key Biosynthetic Enzymes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fei Xia

Full Text Available Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5Δ5,8,11,14,17 and Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6Δ4,7,10,13,16,19 are nutritionally beneficial to human health. Transgenic production of EPA and DHA in oilseed crops by transferring genes originating from lower eukaryotes, such as microalgae and fungi, has been attempted in recent years. However, the low yield of EPA and DHA produced in these transgenic crops is a major hurdle for the commercialization of these transgenics. Many factors can negatively affect transgene expression, leading to a low level of converted fatty acid products. Among these the codon bias between the transgene donor and the host crop is one of the major contributing factors. Therefore, we carried out codon optimization of a fatty acid delta-6 desaturase gene PinD6 from the fungus Phytophthora infestans, and a delta-9 elongase gene, IgASE1 from the microalga Isochrysis galbana for expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Arabidopsis respectively. These are the two key genes encoding enzymes for driving the first catalytic steps in the Δ6 desaturation/Δ6 elongation and the Δ9 elongation/Δ8 desaturation pathways for EPA/DHA biosynthesis. Hence expression levels of these two genes are important in determining the final yield of EPA/DHA. Via PCR-based mutagenesis we optimized the least preferred codons within the first 16 codons at their N-termini, as well as the most biased CGC codons (coding for arginine within the entire sequences of both genes. An expression study showed that transgenic Arabidopsis plants harbouring the codon-optimized IgASE1 contained 64% more elongated fatty acid products than plants expressing the native IgASE1 sequence, whilst Saccharomyces cerevisiae expressing the codon optimized PinD6 yielded 20 times more desaturated products than yeast expressing wild-type (WT PinD6. Thus the codon optimization strategy we developed here offers a simple, effective and low-cost alternative to whole gene synthesis for high

Evidence for an asthma risk locus on chromosome Xp: a replication linkage study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brasch-Andersen, C; Møller, M U; Haagerup, A

2008-01-01

replication sample as used in the present study. The aim of the study was to replicate linkage to candidate regions for asthma in an independent Danish sample. METHODS: We performed a replication study investigating linkage to candidate regions for asthma on chromosomes 1p36.31-p36.21, 5q15-q23.2, 6p24.3-p22...... studies have been carried out the results are still conflicting and call for replication experiments. A Danish genome-wide scan has prior reported evidence for candidate regions for asthma susceptibility genes on chromosomes 1p, 5q, 6p, 12q and Xp. Linkage to chromosome 12q was later confirmed in the same.......3, and Xp22.31-p11.4 using additional markers in an independent set of 136 Danish asthmatic sib pair families. RESULTS: Nonparametric multipoint linkage analyses yielded suggestive evidence for linkage to asthma to chromosome Xp21.2 (MLS 2.92) but failed to replicate linkage to chromosomes 1p36.31-p36.21, 5...

Evidence for the decay B{sup 0}{yields}J/{psi}{omega} and measurement of the relative branching fractions of B{sub s}{sup 0} meson decays to J/{psi}{eta} and J/{psi}{eta}{sup Prime}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aaij, R. [Nikhef National Institute for Subatomic Physics, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Abellan Beteta, C. [Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona (Spain); Adametz, A. [Physikalisches Institut, Ruprecht-Karls-Universitaet Heidelberg, Heidelberg (Germany); Adeva, B. [Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela (Spain); Adinolfi, M. [H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Bristol (United Kingdom); Adrover, C. [CPPM, Aix-Marseille Universite, CNRS/IN2P3, Marseille (France); Affolder, A. [Oliver Lodge Laboratory, University of Liverpool, Liverpool (United Kingdom); Ajaltouni, Z. [Clermont Universite, Universite Blaise Pascal, CNRS/IN2P3, LPC, Clermont-Ferrand (France); Albrecht, J.; Alessio, F. [European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva (Switzerland); Alexander, M. [School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow (United Kingdom); Ali, S. [Nikhef National Institute for Subatomic Physics, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Alkhazov, G. [Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute (PNPI), Gatchina (Russian Federation); Alvarez Cartelle, P. [Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela (Spain); Alves, A.A. [Sezione INFN di Roma La Sapienza, Roma (Italy); Amato, S. [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); Amhis, Y. [Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne (Switzerland); Anderlini, L. [Sezione INFN di Firenze, Firenze (Italy); Anderson, J. [Physik-Institut, Universitaet Zuerich, Zuerich (Switzerland); Appleby, R.B. [School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Manchester (United Kingdom); and others

2013-02-21

First evidence of the B{sup 0}{yields}J/{psi}{omega} decay is found and the B{sub s}{sup 0}{yields}J/{psi}{eta} and B{sub s}{sup 0}{yields}J/{psi}{eta}{sup Prime} decays are studied using a dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb{sup -1} collected by the LHCb experiment in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of {radical}(s)=7 TeV. The branching fractions of these decays are measured relative to that of the B{sup 0}{yields}J/{psi}{rho}{sup 0} decay: (B(B{sup 0}{yields}J/{psi}{omega}))/(B(B{sup 0}{yields}J/{psi}{rho}{sup 0})) =0.89{+-}0.19(stat){sub -0.13}{sup +0.07}(syst), (B(B{sub s}{sup 0}{yields}J/{psi}{eta}))/(B(B{sup 0}{yields}J/{psi}{rho}{sup 0})) =14.0{+-}1.2(stat){sub -1.5}{sup +1.1}(syst){sub -1.0}{sup +1.1}((f{sub d})/(f{sub s}) ), (B(B{sub s}{sup 0}{yields}J/{psi}{eta}{sup Prime }))/(B(B{sup 0}{yields}J/{psi}{rho}{sup 0})) =12.7{+-}1.1(stat){sub -1.3}{sup +0.5}(syst){sub -0.9}{sup +1.0}((f{sub d})/(f{sub s}) ), where the last uncertainty is due to the knowledge of f{sub d}/f{sub s}, the ratio of b-quark hadronization factors that accounts for the different production rate of B{sup 0} and B{sub s}{sup 0} mesons. The ratio of the branching fractions of B{sub s}{sup 0}{yields}J/{psi}{eta}{sup Prime} and B{sub s}{sup 0}{yields}J/{psi}{eta} decays is measured to be (B(B{sub s}{sup 0}{yields}J/{psi}{eta}{sup Prime }))/(B(B{sub s}{sup 0}{yields}J/{psi}{eta})) =0.90{+-}0.09(stat){sub -0.02}{sup +0.06}(syst).

Comparative genomics reveals cotton-specific virulence factors in flexible genomic regions in Verticillium dahliae and evidence of horizontal gene transfer from Fusarium.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jie-Yin; Liu, Chun; Gui, Yue-Jing; Si, Kai-Wei; Zhang, Dan-Dan; Wang, Jie; Short, Dylan P G; Huang, Jin-Qun; Li, Nan-Yang; Liang, Yong; Zhang, Wen-Qi; Yang, Lin; Ma, Xue-Feng; Li, Ting-Gang; Zhou, Lei; Wang, Bao-Li; Bao, Yu-Ming; Subbarao, Krishna V; Zhang, Geng-Yun; Dai, Xiao-Feng

2018-01-01

Verticillium dahliae isolates are most virulent on the host from which they were originally isolated. Mechanisms underlying these dominant host adaptations are currently unknown. We sequenced the genome of V. dahliae Vd991, which is highly virulent on its original host, cotton, and performed comparisons with the reference genomes of JR2 (from tomato) and VdLs.17 (from lettuce). Pathogenicity-related factor prediction, orthology and multigene family classification, transcriptome analyses, phylogenetic analyses, and pathogenicity experiments were performed. The Vd991 genome harbored several exclusive, lineage-specific (LS) genes within LS regions (LSRs). Deletion mutants of the seven genes within one LSR (G-LSR2) in Vd991 were less virulent only on cotton. Integration of G-LSR2 genes individually into JR2 and VdLs.17 resulted in significantly enhanced virulence on cotton but did not affect virulence on tomato or lettuce. Transcription levels of the seven LS genes in Vd991 were higher during the early stages of cotton infection, as compared with other hosts. Phylogenetic analyses suggested that G-LSR2 was acquired from Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum through horizontal gene transfer. Our results provide evidence that horizontal gene transfer from Fusarium to Vd991 contributed significantly to its adaptation to cotton and may represent a significant mechanism in the evolution of an asexual plant pathogen. © 2017 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2017 New Phytologist Trust.

ACC oxidase and miRNA 159a, and their involvement in fresh fruit bunch yield (FFB) via sex ratio determination in oil palm.

Science.gov (United States)

Somyong, Suthasinee; Poopear, Supannee; Sunner, Supreet Kaur; Wanlayaporn, Kitti; Jomchai, Nukoon; Yoocha, Thippawan; Ukoskit, Kittipat; Tangphatsornruang, Sithichoke; Tragoonrung, Somvong

2016-06-01

Oil palm (Elaeis guineesis Jacq.) is the most productive oil-bearing crop, yielding more oil per area than any other oil-bearing crops. However, there are still efforts to improve oil palm yield, in order to serve consumer and manufacturer demand. Oil palm produces female and male inflorescences in an alternating cycle. So, high sex ratio (SR), the ratio of female inflorescences to the total inflorescences, is a favorable trait in term of increasing yields in oil palm. This study aims to understand the genetic control for SR related traits, such as fresh fruit bunch yield (FFB), by characterizing genes at FFB quantitative trait loci (QTLs) on linkage 10 (chromosome 6) and linkage 15 (chromosome 10). Published oil palm sequences at the FFB QTLs were used to develop gene-based and simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. We used the multiple QTL analysis model (MQM) to characterize the relationship of new markers with the SR traits in the oil palm population. The RNA expression of the most linked QTL genes was also evaluated in various tissues of oil palm. We identified EgACCO1 (encoding aminocyclopropane carboxylate (ACC) oxidase) at chromosome 10 and EgmiR159a (microRNA 159a) at chromosome 6 to be the most linked QTL genes or determinants for FFB yield and/or female inflorescence number with a phenotype variance explained (PVE) from 10.4 to 15 % and suggest that these play the important roles in sex determination and differentiation in oil palm. The strongest expression of EgACCO1 and the predicted precursor of EgmiR159a was found in ovaries and, to a lesser extent, fruit development. In addition, highly normalized expression of EgmiR159a was found in female flowers. In summary, the QTL analysis and the RNA expression reveal that EgACCO1 and EgmiR159a are the potential genetic factors involved in female flower determination and hence would affect yield in oil palm. However, to clarify how these genetic factors regulate female flower determination, more investigation

Cell wall metabolism and hexose allocation contribute to biomass accumulation in high yielding extreme segregants of a Saccharum interspecific F2 population.

Science.gov (United States)

Wai, Ching Man; Zhang, Jisen; Jones, Tyler C; Nagai, Chifumi; Ming, Ray

2017-10-11

Sugarcane is an emerging dual-purpose biofuel crop for energy and sugar production, owing to its rapid growth rate, high sucrose storage in the stems, and high lignocellulosic yield. It has the highest biomass production reaching 1.9 billion tonnes in 2014 worldwide. To improve sugarcane biomass accumulation, we developed an interspecific cross between Saccharum officinarum 'LA Purple' and Saccharum robustum 'MOL5829'. Selected F1 individuals were self-pollinated to generate a transgressive F2 population with a wide range of biomass yield. Leaf and stem internodes of fourteen high biomass and eight low biomass F2 extreme segregants were used for RNA-seq to decipher the molecular mechanism of rapid plant growth and dry weight accumulation. Gene Ontology terms involved in cell wall metabolism and carbohydrate catabolism were enriched among 3274 differentially expressed genes between high and low biomass groups. Up-regulation of cellulose metabolism, pectin degradation and lignin biosynthesis genes were observed in the high biomass group, in conjunction with higher transcript levels of callose metabolic genes and the cell wall loosening enzyme expansin. Furthermore, UDP-glucose biosynthesis and sucrose conversion genes were differentially expressed between the two groups. A positive correlation between stem glucose, but not sucrose, levels and dry weight was detected. We thus postulated that the high biomass sugarcane plants rapidly convert sucrose to UDP-glucose, which is the building block of cell wall polymers and callose, in order to maintain the rapid plant growth. The gene interaction of cell wall metabolism, hexose allocation and cell division contributes to biomass yield.

Characterization of Gene Candidates for Vacuolar Sodium Transport from Hordeum Vulgare

KAUST Repository

Scheu, Arne Hagen August

2017-05-01

Soil salinity is a major abiotic stress for land plants, and multiple mechanisms of salt tolerance have evolved. Tissue tolerance is one of these mechanisms, which involves the sequestration of sodium into the vacuole to retain low cytosolic sodium concentrations. This enables the plant to maintain cellular functions, and ultimately maintain growth and yield. However, the molecular components involved in tissue tolerance remain elusive. Several candidate genes for vacuolar sodium sequestration have recently been identified by proteome analysis of vacuolar membranes purified from the salt-tolerant cereal Hordeum vulgare (barley). In this study, I aimed to characterize these candidates in more detail. I successfully cloned coding sequences for the majority of candidate genes with primers designed based on the barley reference genome sequence. During the course of this study a newer genome sequence with improved annotations was published, to which I also compared my observations. To study the candidate genes, I used the heterologous expression system Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast). I used several salt sensitive yeast strains (deficient in intrinsic sodium transporters) to test whether the candidate genes would affect their salt tolerance by mediating the sequestration of sodium into the yeast vacuole. I observed a reduction in growth upon expression for several of the gene candidate under salt-stress conditions. However, confocal microscopy suggests that most gene products are subject to degradation, and did not localize to the vacuolar membrane (tonoplast). Therefore, growth effects cannot be linked to protein function without further evidence. Various potential causes are discussed, including inaccuracies in the genome resource used as reference for primer design and issues inherent to the model system. Finally, I make suggestions on how to proceed to further characterize the candidate genes and hopefully identify novel sodium transporters from barley.

VARIABILITY OF YIELD AND YIELD COMPONENTS IN “EGUSI ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

journal

Estimate of expected genetic advance in seed yield plant-1 ranged between. 25.90-48.40%. ..... values in fruit and seed yield characters have been reported in culinary melon, ... and Khund, A. 2004. Extent of heterosis and heritability in some.

Fission product yields

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Valenta, V.; Hep, J.

1978-01-01

Data are summed up necessary for determining the yields of individual fission products from different fissionable nuclides. Fractional independent yields, cumulative and isobaric yields are presented here for the thermal fission of 235 U, 239 Pu, 241 Pu and for fast fission (approximately 1 MeV) of 235 U, 238 U, 239 Pu, 241 Pu; these values are included into the 5th version of the YIELDS library, supplementing the BIBFP library. A comparison is made of experimental data and possible improvements of calculational methods are suggested. (author)

Nitrate-induced genes in tomato roots. Array analysis reveals novel genes that may play a role in nitrogen nutrition.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Y H; Garvin, D F; Kochian, L V

2001-09-01

A subtractive tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) root cDNA library enriched in genes up-regulated by changes in plant mineral status was screened with labeled mRNA from roots of both nitrate-induced and mineral nutrient-deficient (-nitrogen [N], -phosphorus, -potassium [K], -sulfur, -magnesium, -calcium, -iron, -zinc, and -copper) tomato plants. A subset of cDNAs was selected from this library based on mineral nutrient-related changes in expression. Additional cDNAs were selected from a second mineral-deficient tomato root library based on sequence homology to known genes. These selection processes yielded a set of 1,280 mineral nutrition-related cDNAs that were arrayed on nylon membranes for further analysis. These high-density arrays were hybridized with mRNA from tomato plants exposed to nitrate at different time points after N was withheld for 48 h, for plants that were grown on nitrate/ammonium for 5 weeks prior to the withholding of N. One hundred-fifteen genes were found to be up-regulated by nitrate resupply. Among these genes were several previously identified as nitrate responsive, including nitrate transporters, nitrate and nitrite reductase, and metabolic enzymes such as transaldolase, transketolase, malate dehydrogenase, asparagine synthetase, and histidine decarboxylase. We also identified 14 novel nitrate-inducible genes, including: (a) water channels, (b) root phosphate and K(+) transporters, (c) genes potentially involved in transcriptional regulation, (d) stress response genes, and (e) ribosomal protein genes. In addition, both families of nitrate transporters were also found to be inducible by phosphate, K, and iron deficiencies. The identification of these novel nitrate-inducible genes is providing avenues of research that will yield new insights into the molecular basis of plant N nutrition, as well as possible networking between the regulation of N, phosphorus, and K nutrition.

Improvement of ethanol yield from glycerol via conversion of pyruvate to ethanol in metabolically engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Kyung Ok; Jung, Ju; Ramzi, Ahmad Bazli; Kim, Seung Wook; Park, Chulhwan; Han, Sung Ok

2012-02-01

The conversion of low-priced glycerol to higher value products has been proposed as a way to improve the economic viability of the biofuels industry. In a previous study, the conversion of glycerol to ethanol in a metabolically engineered strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was accomplished by minimizing the synthesis of glycerol, the main by-product in ethanol fermentation processing. To further improve ethanol production, overexpression of the native genes involved in conversion of pyruvate to ethanol in S. cerevisiae was successfully accomplished. The overexpression of an alcohol dehydrogenase (adh1) and a pyruvate decarboxylase (pdc1) caused an increase in growth rate and glycerol consumption under fermentative conditions, which led to a slight increase of the final ethanol yield. The overall expression of the adh1 and pdc1 genes in the modified strains, combined with the lack of the fps1 and gpd2 genes, resulted in a 1.4-fold increase (about 5.4 g/L ethanol produced) in fps1Δgpd2Δ (pGcyaDak, pGupCas) (about 4.0 g/L ethanol produced). In summary, it is possible to improve the ethanol yield by overexpression of the genes involved in the conversion of pyruvate to ethanol in engineered S. cerevisiae using glycerol as substrate.

Examination of association to autism of common genetic variationin genes related to dopamine.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, B M; Schnetz-Boutaud, N; Bartlett, J; Wright, H H; Abramson, R K; Cuccaro, M L; Gilbert, J R; Pericak-Vance, M A; Haines, J L

2008-12-01

Autism is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by a triad of complications. Autistic individuals display significant disturbances in language and reciprocal social interactions, combined with repetitive and stereotypic behaviors. Prevalence studies suggest that autism is more common than originally believed, with recent estimates citing a rate of one in 150. Although multiple genetic linkage and association studies have yielded multiple suggestive genes or chromosomal regions, a specific risk locus has yet to be identified and widely confirmed. Because many etiologies have been suggested for this complex syndrome, we hypothesize that one of the difficulties in identifying autism genes is that multiple genetic variants may be required to significantly increase the risk of developing autism. Thus, we took the alternative approach of examining 14 prominent dopamine pathway candidate genes for detailed study by genotyping 28 single nucleotide polymorphisms. Although we did observe a nominally significant association for rs2239535 (P=0.008) on chromosome 20, single-locus analysis did not reveal any results as significant after correction for multiple comparisons. No significant interaction was identified when Multifactor Dimensionality Reduction was employed to test specifically for multilocus effects. Although genome-wide linkage scans in autism have provided support for linkage to various loci along the dopamine pathway, our study does not provide strong evidence of linkage or association to any specific gene or combination of genes within the pathway. These results demonstrate that common genetic variation within the tested genes located within this pathway at most play a minor to moderate role in overall autism pathogenesis.

Classifying genes to the correct Gene Ontology Slim term in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using neighbouring genes with classification learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tsatsoulis Costas

2010-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background There is increasing evidence that gene location and surrounding genes influence the functionality of genes in the eukaryotic genome. Knowing the Gene Ontology Slim terms associated with a gene gives us insight into a gene's functionality by informing us how its gene product behaves in a cellular context using three different ontologies: molecular function, biological process, and cellular component. In this study, we analyzed if we could classify a gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae to its correct Gene Ontology Slim term using information about its location in the genome and information from its nearest-neighbouring genes using classification learning. Results We performed experiments to establish that the MultiBoostAB algorithm using the J48 classifier could correctly classify Gene Ontology Slim terms of a gene given information regarding the gene's location and information from its nearest-neighbouring genes for training. Different neighbourhood sizes were examined to determine how many nearest neighbours should be included around each gene to provide better classification rules. Our results show that by just incorporating neighbour information from each gene's two-nearest neighbours, the percentage of correctly classified genes to their correct Gene Ontology Slim term for each ontology reaches over 80% with high accuracy (reflected in F-measures over 0.80 of the classification rules produced. Conclusions We confirmed that in classifying genes to their correct Gene Ontology Slim term, the inclusion of neighbour information from those genes is beneficial. Knowing the location of a gene and the Gene Ontology Slim information from neighbouring genes gives us insight into that gene's functionality. This benefit is seen by just including information from a gene's two-nearest neighbouring genes.

Identification of Cell Wall Synthesis Regulatory Genes Controlling Biomass Characteristics and Yield in Rice (Oryza Sativa)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Peng, Zhaohua PEng [Mississippi State University; Ronald, Palmela [UC-Davis; Wang, Guo-Liang [The Ohio State University

2013-04-26

This project aims to identify the regulatory genes of rice cell wall synthesis pathways using a cell wall removal and regeneration system. We completed the gene expression profiling studies following the time course from cell wall removal to cell wall regeneration in rice suspension cells. We also completed, total proteome, nuclear subproteome and histone modification studies following the course from cell wall removal and cell wall regeneration process. A large number of differentially expressed regulatory genes and proteins were identified. Meanwhile, we generated RNAi and over-expression transgenic rice for 45 genes with at least 10 independent transgenic lines for each gene. In addition, we ordered T-DNA and transposon insertion mutants for 60 genes from Korea, Japan, and France and characterized the mutants. Overall, we have mutants and transgenic lines for over 90 genes, exceeded our proposed goal of generating mutants for 50 genes. Interesting Discoveries a) Cell wall re-synthesis in protoplasts may involve a novel cell wall synthesis mechanism. The synthesis of the primary cell wall is initiated in late cytokinesis with further modification during cell expansion. Phragmoplast plays an essential role in cell wall synthesis. It services as a scaffold for building the cell plate and formation of a new cell wall. Only one phragmoplast and one new cell wall is produced for each dividing cell. When the cell wall was removed enzymatically, we found that cell wall re-synthesis started from multiple locations simultaneously, suggesting that a novel mechanism is involved in cell wall re-synthesis. This observation raised many interesting questions, such as how the starting sites of cell wall synthesis are determined, whether phragmoplast and cell plate like structures are involved in cell wall re-synthesis, and more importantly whether the same set of enzymes and apparatus are used in cell wall re-synthesis as during cytokinesis. Given that many known cell wall

Construction of an ultrahigh-density genetic linkage map for Jatropha curcas L. and identification of QTL for fruit yield.

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Zhiqiang; Zhang, Shengkui; Wen, Mingfu; Lu, Cheng; Sun, Yufang; Zou, Meiling; Wang, Wenquan

2018-01-01

As an important biofuel plant, the demand for higher yield Jatropha curcas L. is rapidly increasing. However, genetic analysis of Jatropha and molecular breeding for higher yield have been hampered by the limited number of molecular markers available. An ultrahigh-density linkage map for a Jatropha mapping population of 153 individuals was constructed and covered 1380.58 cM of the Jatropha genome, with average marker density of 0.403 cM. The genetic linkage map consisted of 3422 SNP and indel markers, which clustered into 11 linkage groups. With this map, 13 repeatable QTLs (reQTLs) for fruit yield traits were identified. Ten reQTLs, qNF - 1 , qNF - 2a , qNF - 2b , qNF - 2c , qNF - 3 , qNF - 4 , qNF - 6 , qNF - 7a , qNF - 7b and qNF - 8, that control the number of fruits (NF) mapped to LGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8, whereas three reQTLs, qTWF - 1 , qTWF - 2 and qTWF - 3, that control the total weight of fruits (TWF) mapped to LGs 1, 2 and 3, respectively. It is interesting that there are two candidate critical genes, which may regulate Jatropha fruit yield. We also identified three pleiotropic reQTL pairs associated with both the NF and TWF traits. This study is the first to report an ultrahigh-density Jatropha genetic linkage map construction, and the markers used in this study showed great potential for QTL mapping. Thirteen fruit-yield reQTLs and two important candidate genes were identified based on this linkage map. This genetic linkage map will be a useful tool for the localization of other economically important QTLs and candidate genes for Jatropha .

Convergent evolution of gene networks by single-gene duplications in higher eukaryotes.

Science.gov (United States)

Amoutzias, Gregory D; Robertson, David L; Oliver, Stephen G; Bornberg-Bauer, Erich

2004-03-01

By combining phylogenetic, proteomic and structural information, we have elucidated the evolutionary driving forces for the gene-regulatory interaction networks of basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors. We infer that recurrent events of single-gene duplication and domain rearrangement repeatedly gave rise to distinct networks with almost identical hub-based topologies, and multiple activators and repressors. We thus provide the first empirical evidence for scale-free protein networks emerging through single-gene duplications, the dominant importance of molecular modularity in the bottom-up construction of complex biological entities, and the convergent evolution of networks.

yield and yield componemts of extra early maize (zea mays l.)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

SHARIFAI

maize crop and improve the soil structures and chemical nutrients of the soil. The significant interaction between intra-row spacing and poultry manure on cob diameter, 100 grain weight and grain yield showed the importance of poultry manure on yield and yield components of maize crop. Poultry manure increases both ...

An adapted yield criterion for the evolution of subsequent yield surfaces

Science.gov (United States)

Küsters, N.; Brosius, A.

2017-09-01

In numerical analysis of sheet metal forming processes, the anisotropic material behaviour is often modelled with isotropic work hardening and an average Lankford coefficient. In contrast, experimental observations show an evolution of the Lankford coefficients, which can be associated with a yield surface change due to kinematic and distortional hardening. Commonly, extensive efforts are carried out to describe these phenomena. In this paper an isotropic material model based on the Yld2000-2d criterion is adapted with an evolving yield exponent in order to change the yield surface shape. The yield exponent is linked to the accumulative plastic strain. This change has the effect of a rotating yield surface normal. As the normal is directly related to the Lankford coefficient, the change can be used to model the evolution of the Lankford coefficient during yielding. The paper will focus on the numerical implementation of the adapted material model for the FE-code LS-Dyna, mpi-version R7.1.2-d. A recently introduced identification scheme [1] is used to obtain the parameters for the evolving yield surface and will be briefly described for the proposed model. The suitability for numerical analysis will be discussed for deep drawing processes in general. Efforts for material characterization and modelling will be compared to other common yield surface descriptions. Besides experimental efforts and achieved accuracy, the potential of flexibility in material models and the risk of ambiguity during identification are of major interest in this paper.

Lactose binding to human galectin-7 (p53-induced gene 1) induces long-range effects through the protein resulting in increased dimer stability and evidence for positive cooperativity

Science.gov (United States)

Ermakova, Elena; Miller, Michelle C; Nesmelova, Irina V; López-Merino, Lara; Berbís, Manuel Alvaro; Nesmelov, Yuri; Tkachev, Yaroslav V; Lagartera, Laura; Daragan, Vladimir A; André, Sabine; Cañada, F Javier; Jiménez-Barbero, Jesús; Solís, Dolores; Gabius, Hans-Joachim; Mayo, Kevin H

2013-01-01

The product of p53-induced gene 1 is a member of the galectin family, i.e., galectin-7 (Gal-7). To move beyond structural data by X-ray diffraction, we initiated the study of the lectin by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and circular dichroism spectroscopies, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. In concert, our results indicate that lactose binding to human Gal-7 induces long-range effects (minor conformational shifts and changes in structural dynamics) throughout the protein that result in stabilization of the dimer state, with evidence for positive cooperativity. Monte Carlo fits of 15N-Gal-7 HSQC titrations with lactose using a two-site model yield K1 = 0.9 ± 0.6 × 103 M−1 and K2 = 3.4 ± 0.8 × 103 M−1. Ligand binding-induced stabilization of the Gal-7 dimer was supported by several lines of evidence: MD-based calculations of interaction energies between ligand-loaded and ligand-free states, gel filtration data and hetero-FRET spectroscopy that indicate a highly reduced tendency for dimer dissociation in the presence of lactose, CD-based thermal denaturation showing that the transition temperature of the lectin is significantly increased in the presence of lactose, and saturation transfer difference (STD) NMR using a molecular probe of the monomer state whose presence is diminished in the presence of lactose. MD simulations with the half-loaded ligand-bound state also provided insight into how allosteric signaling may occur. Overall, our results reveal long-range effects on Gal-7 structure and dynamics, which factor into entropic contributions to ligand binding and allow further comparisons with other members of the galectin family. PMID:23376190

Ncl Synchronously Regulates Na+, K+, and Cl- in Soybean and Greatly Increases the Grain Yield in Saline Field Conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Do, Tuyen Duc; Chen, Huatao; Hien, Vu Thi Thu; Hamwieh, Aladdin; Yamada, Tetsuya; Sato, Tadashi; Yan, Yongliang; Cong, Hua; Shono, Mariko; Suenaga, Kazuhiro; Xu, Donghe

2016-01-08

Salt stress inhibits soybean growth and reduces gain yield. Genetic improvement of salt tolerance is essential for sustainable soybean production in saline areas. In this study, we isolated a gene (Ncl) that could synchronously regulate the transport and accumulation of Na(+), K(+), and Cl(-) from a Brazilian soybean cultivar FT-Abyara using map-based cloning strategy. Higher expression of the salt tolerance gene Ncl in the root resulted in lower accumulations of Na(+), K(+), and Cl(-) in the shoot under salt stress. Transfer of Ncl with the Agrobacterium-mediated transformation method into a soybean cultivar Kariyutaka significantly enhanced its salt tolerance. Introgression of the tolerance allele into soybean cultivar Jackson, using DNA marker-assisted selection (MAS), produced an improved salt tolerance line. Ncl could increase soybean grain yield by 3.6-5.5 times in saline field conditions. Using Ncl in soybean breeding through gene transfer or MAS would contribute to sustainable soybean production in saline-prone areas.

No Evidence That Schizophrenia Candidate Genes Are More Associated With Schizophrenia Than Noncandidate Genes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Johnson, Emma C; Border, Richard; Melroy-Greif, Whitney E; de Leeuw, Christiaan A; Ehringer, Marissa A; Keller, Matthew C

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: A recent analysis of 25 historical candidate gene polymorphisms for schizophrenia in the largest genome-wide association study conducted to date suggested that these commonly studied variants were no more associated with the disorder than would be expected by chance. However, the same

Inheritance of grain yield and its correlation with yield components in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

SAM

2014-03-19

Mar 19, 2014 ... 7 × 7 incomplete diallel cross of seven wheat parents during the crop season of 2009 to 2010. Mean square of general ... Genetic background and yield traits of the seven parents. Parent. Pedigree. Released year ..... Correlation and path analysis for yield and yield contributing characters in wheat (Triticum ...

EVIDENCE FOR THE MACROPHAGE INDUCING GENE IN MYCOBACTERIUM INTRACELLULARE

Science.gov (United States)

Background: The Mycobacterium avium Complex (MAC) includes the species M. avium (MA), M. intracellulare (MI), and possibly others. Organisms belonging to the MAC are phylogenetically closely related, opportunistic pathogens. The macrophage inducing gene (mig) is the only well-des...

Germ-line gene therapy and the medical imperative.

Science.gov (United States)

Munson, Ronald; Davis, Lawrence H

1992-06-01

Somatic cell gene therapy has yielded promising results. If germ cell gene therapy can be developed, the promise is even greater: hundreds of genetic diseases might be virtually eliminated. But some claim the procedure is morally unacceptable. We thoroughly and sympathetically examine several possible reasons for this claim but find them inadequate. There is no moral reason, then, not to develop and employ germ-line gene therapy. Taking the offensive, we argue next that medicine has a prima facie moral obligation to do so.

Effects of cutting frequency on alfalfa yield and yield components in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Effects of cutting frequency on alfalfa yield and yield components in Songnen Plain, Northeast China. J Chen, F Tang, R Zhu, C Gao, G Di, Y Zhang. Abstract. The productivity and quality of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is strongly influenced by cutting frequency (F). To clarify that the yield and quality of alfalfa if affected by F, ...

Cloning and characterization of stress responsive Glp genes and their promotor regions from rice (abstract)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naqvi, S.M.S.; Mahmood, T.

2005-01-01

Plants respond to a number of environmental stimuli by modulating expression of genes. One such family of genes is now known as germin/germin-like protein genes (Glps). In order to detect any Glp gene response in rice, a pair of degenerate primers was designed based on consensus region from Glp sequences in Genbank. Using these primers a DNA fragment of about 550 bp was obtained by PCR amplification from genomic template. This 550 bp DNA was used as probe in Northern analysis. These studies provided evidence pointing to differential response of Glp expression to salt stress. RNA obtained from the roots was used for synthesis of cDNA. This cDNA was amplifiable with sense primer (RGLP1) from above mentioned pair and oligo-(dt) yielding a fragment of approx. 800 bp. Restriction analysis revealed that the PCR product was heterogeneous. After establishing that 800 bp fragment was the desired product, it was cloned in pCRII-TOPO. Five clones were picked up and analyzed by restriction analysis and sequencing. Two different Glp cDNAs were represented by these partial clones. Remaining sequence of the 5' end for clone 4 and 16 was obtained by Rapid Amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). The resultant sequences have been submitted to Genbank as Oryza sativa Rice Germin-like Protein 1 and 2 (osRGLP1 and 2). When full length genes corresponding to these sequences were amplified from genomic templates, resulting fragments were nearly 150 by larger than cDNAs. Cloning of structural genes for osRGLP1 revealed presence of a 162 bp intron in the coding region near 3' end. Preliminary evidence shows that expression of both osRGLP1 and 2 is severely reduced during salt stress. Another approach to establish both osRGLP1 and 2 genes involvement in stress tolerance is to study the ability of their promotor regions to drive expression of some reporter gene during stress. Promotor regions of about 1100 bp has been amplified and cloned and has been confirmed by restriction analysis and nested

Increasing anaerobic acetate consumption and ethanol yields in Saccharomyces cerevisiae with NADPH-specific alcohol dehydrogenase.

Science.gov (United States)

Henningsen, Brooks M; Hon, Shuen; Covalla, Sean F; Sonu, Carolina; Argyros, D Aaron; Barrett, Trisha F; Wiswall, Erin; Froehlich, Allan C; Zelle, Rintze M

2015-12-01

Saccharomyces cerevisiae has recently been engineered to use acetate, a primary inhibitor in lignocellulosic hydrolysates, as a cosubstrate during anaerobic ethanolic fermentation. However, the original metabolic pathway devised to convert acetate to ethanol uses NADH-specific acetylating acetaldehyde dehydrogenase and alcohol dehydrogenase and quickly becomes constrained by limited NADH availability, even when glycerol formation is abolished. We present alcohol dehydrogenase as a novel target for anaerobic redox engineering of S. cerevisiae. Introduction of an NADPH-specific alcohol dehydrogenase (NADPH-ADH) not only reduces the NADH demand of the acetate-to-ethanol pathway but also allows the cell to effectively exchange NADPH for NADH during sugar fermentation. Unlike NADH, NADPH can be freely generated under anoxic conditions, via the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway. We show that an industrial bioethanol strain engineered with the original pathway (expressing acetylating acetaldehyde dehydrogenase from Bifidobacterium adolescentis and with deletions of glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase genes GPD1 and GPD2) consumed 1.9 g liter(-1) acetate during fermentation of 114 g liter(-1) glucose. Combined with a decrease in glycerol production from 4.0 to 0.1 g liter(-1), this increased the ethanol yield by 4% over that for the wild type. We provide evidence that acetate consumption in this strain is indeed limited by NADH availability. By introducing an NADPH-ADH from Entamoeba histolytica and with overexpression of ACS2 and ZWF1, we increased acetate consumption to 5.3 g liter(-1) and raised the ethanol yield to 7% above the wild-type level. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Childhood problem behavior and parental divorce: evidence for gene-environment interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Robbers, Sylvana; van Oort, Floor; Huizink, Anja; Verhulst, Frank; van Beijsterveldt, Catharina; Boomsma, Dorret; Bartels, Meike

2012-10-01

The importance of genetic and environmental influences on children's behavioral and emotional problems may vary as a function of environmental exposure. We previously reported that 12-year-olds with divorced parents showed more internalizing and externalizing problems than children with married parents, and that externalizing problems in girls precede and predict later parental divorce. The aim of the current study was to investigate as to whether genetic and environmental influences on internalizing and externalizing problems were different for children from divorced versus non-divorced families. Maternal ratings on internalizing and externalizing problems were collected with the Child Behavior Checklist in 4,592 twin pairs at ages 3 and 12 years, of whom 367 pairs had experienced a parental divorce between these ages. Variance in internalizing and externalizing problems at ages 3 and 12 was analyzed with biometric models in which additive genetic and environmental effects were allowed to depend on parental divorce and sex. A difference in the contribution of genetic and environmental influences between divorced and non-divorced groups would constitute evidence for gene-environment interaction. For both pre- and post-divorce internalizing and externalizing problems, the total variances were larger for children from divorced families, which was mainly due to higher environmental variances. As a consequence, heritabilities were lower for children from divorced families, and the relative contributions of environmental influences were higher. Environmental influences become more important in explaining variation in children's problem behaviors in the context of parental divorce.

Evidence, from family studies, for linkage disequilibrium between TGFA and a gene for nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Feng, Hongshu; Lee, A.; Gasser, D.L. [Univ. of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA (United States); Sassani, R.; Bartlett, S.P. [Children`s Hospital of Philadelphia, PA (United States); Buetow, K.H. [Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA (United States); Hecht, J.T. [Univ. of Texas Medical School, Houston, TX (United States); Malcolm, S.; Winter, R.M.; Vintiner, G.M. [Univ. of London (United Kingdom)

1994-11-01

The inheritance of alleles of the transforming growth factor alpha (TGFA) locus has been studied in families affected with cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL/P), by using the transmission/disequilibrium test described by Spielman and colleagues. Only heterozygous parents with an affected child can be included in this test, but within such families a significantly greater frequency of C2 alleles were transmitted to affected children than would be expected by chance. There was no evidence that the total number of C2 alleles transmitted to affected and unaffected children differed significantly from random segregation. These data provide evidence from within families that a gene for susceptibility to CL/P is in significant linkage disequilibrium with the C2 allele of the TGFA locus. 30 refs., 1 fig., 2 tabs.

Gene expression profiling for guiding adjuvant chemotherapy decisions in women with early breast cancer: an evidence-based and economic analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

In February 2010, the Medical Advisory Secretariat (MAS) began work on evidence-based reviews of published literature surrounding three pharmacogenomic tests. This project came about when Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) asked MAS to provide evidence-based analyses on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of three oncology pharmacogenomic tests currently in use in Ontario.Evidence-based analyses have been prepared for each of these technologies. These have been completed in conjunction with internal and external stakeholders, including a Provincial Expert Panel on Pharmacogenomics (PEPP). Within the PEPP, subgroup committees were developed for each disease area. For each technology, an economic analysis was also completed by the Toronto Health Economics and Technology Assessment Collaborative (THETA) and is summarized within the reports.THE FOLLOWING REPORTS CAN BE PUBLICLY ACCESSED AT THE MAS WEBSITE AT: www.health.gov.on.ca/mas or at www.health.gov.on.ca/english/providers/program/mas/mas_about.htmlGENE EXPRESSION PROFILING FOR GUIDING ADJUVANT CHEMOTHERAPY DECISIONS IN WOMEN WITH EARLY BREAST CANCER: An Evidence-Based and Economic AnalysisEpidermal Growth Factor Receptor Mutation (EGFR) Testing for Prediction of Response to EGFR-Targeting Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor (TKI) Drugs in Patients with Advanced Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer: An Evidence-Based and Ecopnomic AnalysisK-RAS testing in Treatment Decisions for Advanced Colorectal Cancer: an Evidence-Based and Economic Analysis To review and synthesize the available evidence regarding the laboratory performance, prognostic value, and predictive value of Oncotype-DX for the target population. CONDITION AND TARGET POPULATION The target population of this review is women with newly diagnosed early stage (stage I-IIIa) invasive breast cancer that is estrogen-receptor (ER) positive and/or progesterone-receptor (PR) positive. Much of this review, however, is relevant for women with early stage (I and II) invasive breast

Characterization of the bovine pregnancy-associated glycoprotein gene family – analysis of gene sequences, regulatory regions within the promoter and expression of selected genes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Walker Angela M

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The Pregnancy-associated glycoproteins (PAGs belong to a large family of aspartic peptidases expressed exclusively in the placenta of species in the Artiodactyla order. In cattle, the PAG gene family is comprised of at least 22 transcribed genes, as well as some variants. Phylogenetic analyses have shown that the PAG family segregates into 'ancient' and 'modern' groupings. Along with sequence differences between family members, there are clear distinctions in their spatio-temporal distribution and in their relative level of expression. In this report, 1 we performed an in silico analysis of the bovine genome to further characterize the PAG gene family, 2 we scrutinized proximal promoter sequences of the PAG genes to evaluate the evolution pressures operating on them and to identify putative regulatory regions, 3 we determined relative transcript abundance of selected PAGs during pregnancy and, 4 we performed preliminary characterization of the putative regulatory elements for one of the candidate PAGs, bovine (bo PAG-2. Results From our analysis of the bovine genome, we identified 18 distinct PAG genes and 14 pseudogenes. We observed that the first 500 base pairs upstream of the translational start site contained multiple regions that are conserved among all boPAGs. However, a preponderance of conserved regions, that harbor recognition sites for putative transcriptional factors (TFs, were found to be unique to the modern boPAG grouping, but not the ancient boPAGs. We gathered evidence by means of Q-PCR and screening of EST databases to show that boPAG-2 is the most abundant of all boPAG transcripts. Finally, we provided preliminary evidence for the role of ETS- and DDVL-related TFs in the regulation of the boPAG-2 gene. Conclusion PAGs represent a relatively large gene family in the bovine genome. The proximal promoter regions of these genes display differences in putative TF binding sites, likely contributing to observed

New genes as drivers of phenotypic evolution

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Sidi; Krinsky, Benjamin H.; Long, Manyuan

2014-01-01

During the course of evolution, genomes acquire novel genetic elements as sources of functional and phenotypic diversity, including new genes that originated in recent evolution. In the past few years, substantial progress has been made in understanding the evolution and phenotypic effects of new genes. In particular, an emerging picture is that new genes, despite being present in the genomes of only a subset of species, can rapidly evolve indispensable roles in fundamental biological processes, including development, reproduction, brain function and behaviour. The molecular underpinnings of how new genes can develop these roles are starting to be characterized. These recent discoveries yield fresh insights into our broad understanding of biological diversity at refined resolution. PMID:23949544

The tumor suppressor Rb and its related Rbl2 genes are regulated by Utx histone demethylase

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Terashima, Minoru; Ishimura, Akihiko; Yoshida, Masakazu [Division of Functional Genomics, Cancer Research Institute, Kanazawa University, Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa 920-1192, Ishikawa (Japan); Suzuki, Yutaka; Sugano, Sumio [Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa 277-8561, Chiba (Japan); Suzuki, Takeshi, E-mail: suzuki-t@staff.kanazawa-u.ac.jp [Division of Functional Genomics, Cancer Research Institute, Kanazawa University, Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa 920-1192, Ishikawa (Japan)

2010-08-20

Research highlights: {yields} Utx increases expression of Rb and Rbl2 genes through its demethylase activity. {yields} Utx changes histone H3 methylation on the Rb and Rbl2 promoters. {yields} Utx induces decreased cell proliferation of mammalian primary cells. -- Abstract: Utx is a candidate tumor suppressor gene that encodes histone H3 lysine 27 (H3K27) demethylase. In this study, we found that ectopic expression of Utx enhanced the expression of retinoblastoma tumor suppressor gene Rb and its related gene Rbl2. This activation was dependent on the demethylase activity of Utx, and was suggested to contribute to the decreased cell proliferation induced by Utx. A chromatin immunoprecipitation assay showed that over-expressed Utx was associated with the promoter regions of Rb and Rbl2 resulting in the removal of repressive H3K27 tri-methylation and the increase in active H3K4 tri-methylation. Furthermore, siRNA-mediated knockdown of Utx revealed the recruitment of endogenous Utx protein on the promoters of Rb and Rbl2 genes. These results indicate that Rb and Rbl2 are downstream target genes of Utx and may play important roles in Utx-mediated cell growth control.

Convergent evolution of gene networks by single-gene duplications in higher eukaryotes

OpenAIRE

Amoutzias, Gregory D; Robertson, David L; Oliver, Stephen G; Bornberg-Bauer, Erich

2004-01-01

By combining phylogenetic, proteomic and structural information, we have elucidated the evolutionary driving forces for the gene-regulatory interaction networks of basic helix–loop–helix transcription factors. We infer that recurrent events of single-gene duplication and domain rearrangement repeatedly gave rise to distinct networks with almost identical hub-based topologies, and multiple activators and repressors. We thus provide the first empirical evidence for scale-free protein networks e...

Nance-Horan syndrome: a contiguous gene syndrome involving deletion of the amelogenin gene? A case report and molecular analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Franco, E; Hodgson, S; Lench, N; Roberts, G J

1995-03-01

A case of Nance-Horan syndrome in a male is presented, with some features of the condition in his carrier mother and her mother. It is proposed that Nance-Horan syndrome might be a contiguous gene syndrome mapping to chromosome Xp21.2-p22.3. The proband had congenital cataract microphthalmia and dental abnormalities including screwdriver shaped incisors and evidence of enamel pitting hypoplasia. The region Xp21.2-p22.3 also contains the tooth enamel protein gene, amelogenin (AMGX). Using molecular genetic techniques, we have shown that there is no evidence that the AMGX gene is deleted in this case of the Nance-Horan syndrome.

No evidence for mutations in exons 1, 8 and 18 of the patched gene in sporadic skin lesions of Brazilian patients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Granja F.

2003-01-01

Full Text Available There is strong evidence that the patched (PTCH gene is a gene for susceptibility to the nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome. PTCH has also been shown to mutate in both familial and sporadic basal cell carcinomas. However, mutations of the gene seem to be rare in squamous cell carcinomas. In order to characterize the role of the gene in the broader spectrum of sporadic skin malignant and pre-malignant lesions, we performed a polymerase chain reaction-single-strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP analysis of genomic DNA extracted from 105 adult patients (46 females and 59 males. There were 66 patients with basal cell carcinomas, 30 with squamous cell carcinomas, 2 with malignant melanomas and 7 patients with precancerous lesions. Two tissue samples were collected from each patient, one from the central portion of the tumor and another from normal skin. Using primers that encompass the entire exon 1, exon 8 and exon 18, where most of the mutations have been detected, we were unable to demonstrate any band shift. Three samples suspected to present aberrant migrating bands were excised from the gel and sequenced directly. In addition, we sequenced 12 other cases, including tumors and corresponding normal samples. A wild-type sequence was found in all 15 cases. Although our results do not exclude the presence of clonal alterations of the PTCH gene in skin cancers or mutations in other exons that were not screened, the present data do not support the presence of frequent mutations reported for non-melanoma skin cancer of other populations.

Light affects Varronia curassavica essential oil yield by increasing trichomes frequency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emily V.R. da S. Feijó

Full Text Available Light can act on essential oil yield directly on synthesis of secondary metabolites, or indirectly on plant growth. Varronia curassavica Jacq., Boraginaceae, is a native medicinal species from Brazil known as “erva-baleeira”, with anti-inflammatory activity related to its essential oil. Despite pharmacological evidences of this species and its economic importance for herbal medicine production, little is known about the effect of light on growth and essential oil production. This study aimed to analyze the influence of different irradiances on growth, frequency of trichomes, essential oil yield and composition of V. curassavica. The irradiance affected plant growth, but no significant alteration on leaf biomass was detected. The increase in essential oil content under higher irradiance reflected on essential oil yield, and is associated with higher frequency of glandular, globular trichomes. The essential oil composition, rich in caryophyllene derivatives was affected by irradiance, but α-humulene, the constituent of pharmaceutical interest, remained unchanged.

Gamma rays role in the improvement of yield and early maturity in soybean

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moualla, M Y; Ali, N M [Atomic Energy Commission, P.O.Box 6091, Damascus (Syrian Arab Republic)

1995-10-01

Seeds from soybean variety glycine max (L) Merr., were irradiated with three doses of gamma rays: 100, 150 and 200 Gray in order to obtain high yielding and early maturity mutants to grown after wheat in a two crop rotation. All the three doses induced morphological and physiological variation and malformation that increased with increasing the dose. Coefficient of variation values were higher in M2 than in their respective values of M3. The results showed no selection efficiency under the non optimal environmental growing conditions with this lack of efficiency being more evident for yield than for early maturity. Using FTAB statistical programme 20 M2 and M3 plant were selected for each character and when evaluated in the following generation, it was clear that selection efficiency was higher for early maturity than for yield; the latter being high yielding and 4 early maturing m 4 mutants were obtained. 3 tabs.

Gamma rays role in the improvement of yield and early maturity in soybean

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moualla, M.Y.; Ali, N.M.

1995-01-01

Seeds from soybean variety glycine max (L) Merr., were irradiated with three doses of gamma rays: 100, 150 and 200 Gray in order to obtain high yielding and early maturity mutants to grown after wheat in a two crop rotation. All the three doses induced morphological and physiological variation and malformation that increased with increasing the dose. Coefficient of variation values were higher in M2 than in their respective values of M3. The results showed no selection efficiency under the non optimal environmental growing conditions with this lack of efficiency being more evident for yield than for early maturity. Using FTAB statistical programme 20 M2 and M3 plant were selected for each character and when evaluated in the following generation, it was clear that selection efficiency was higher for early maturity than for yield; the latter being high yielding and 4 early maturing m 4 mutants were obtained. 3 tabs

Genome-wide identification of QTL for seed yield and yield-related traits and construction of a high-density consensus map for QTL comparison in Brassica napus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weiguo eZhao

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Seed yield (SY is the most important trait in rapeseed, which was determined by multiple seed yield-related traits (SYRTs and also easily subject to environmental influence. Lots of quantitative trait loci (QTL for SY and SYRTs were reported in Brassica napus. However, no studies have focused on SY and seven agronomic traits affecting SY simultaneous. Genome-wide QTL analysis for SY and seven SYRTs in eight environments was conducted in a doubled haploid population containing 348 lines. Totally, 18 and 208 QTLs for SY and SYRTs were observed, respectively, and then these QTLs were integrated into 144 consensus QTLs by a meta-analysis. Three major QTLs for SY were observed, including cqSY-C6-2 and cqSY-C6-3 that expressed stably in winter cultivation area for three years and cqSY-A2-2 only expressed in spring rapeseed area. Trait-by-trait meta-analysis revealed that the 144 consensus QTLs were integrated into 72 pleiotropic unique QTLs. Among them, all the unique QTLs affected SY, except for uq-A6-1, including uq.A2-3, uq.C1-2, uq.C1-3, uq.C6-1, uq.C6-5 and uq.C6-6 could also affect more than two SYRTs. According to high density consensus map construction and QTL comparison from literature, 36 QTLs from five populations were co-localized with QTLs identified in this study. In addition, 13 orthologs genes were observed, including five each genes for SY and SW, one each gene for BY, BH and PH, respectively. The genomic information of these QTLs would be valuable in hybrid cultivar breeding, and be helpful to analyze QTL expression in different environments.

The drug target genes show higher evolutionary conservation than non-target genes.

Science.gov (United States)

Lv, Wenhua; Xu, Yongdeng; Guo, Yiying; Yu, Ziqi; Feng, Guanglong; Liu, Panpan; Luan, Meiwei; Zhu, Hongjie; Liu, Guiyou; Zhang, Mingming; Lv, Hongchao; Duan, Lian; Shang, Zhenwei; Li, Jin; Jiang, Yongshuai; Zhang, Ruijie

2016-01-26

Although evidence indicates that drug target genes share some common evolutionary features, there have been few studies analyzing evolutionary features of drug targets from an overall level. Therefore, we conducted an analysis which aimed to investigate the evolutionary characteristics of drug target genes. We compared the evolutionary conservation between human drug target genes and non-target genes by combining both the evolutionary features and network topological properties in human protein-protein interaction network. The evolution rate, conservation score and the percentage of orthologous genes of 21 species were included in our study. Meanwhile, four topological features including the average shortest path length, betweenness centrality, clustering coefficient and degree were considered for comparison analysis. Then we got four results as following: compared with non-drug target genes, 1) drug target genes had lower evolutionary rates; 2) drug target genes had higher conservation scores; 3) drug target genes had higher percentages of orthologous genes and 4) drug target genes had a tighter network structure including higher degrees, betweenness centrality, clustering coefficients and lower average shortest path lengths. These results demonstrate that drug target genes are more evolutionarily conserved than non-drug target genes. We hope that our study will provide valuable information for other researchers who are interested in evolutionary conservation of drug targets.

Yields of ZP sweet maize hybrids in dependence on sowing densities

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Srdić Jelena

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Sweet maize differs from maize of standard grain quality by many important traits that affect the ear appearance, and especially by traits controlling taste. The ear appearance trait encompasses the kernel row number, configuration, row pattern (direction and arrangement, seed set, kernel width and depth, ear shape and size. The quality of immature kernels is controlled by genes by which sweet maize differs from common maize. In order to obtain high-ranking and high-quality yields, it is necessary to provide the most suitable cropping practices for sweet maize hybrids developed at the Maize Research Institute, Zemun Polje. The adequate sowing density is one of more important elements of correct cropping practices. The objective of the present study was to determine the effect of four sowing densities in four ZP sweet maize hybrids of different FAO maturity groups on ear qualitative traits and yields obtained on chernozem type of soil in Zemun Polje. The observed traits of sweet maize (ear length, kernel row number, number of kernels per row, yield and shelling percentage significantly varied over years. The higher sowing density was the higher yield of sweet maize was, hence the highest ear yield of 9.67 t ha-1 , on the average for all four hybrids, was recorded at the highest sowing density of 70,000 plants ha-1. The highest yield was detected in the hybrid ZP 424su. The highest shelling percentage (67.81% was found in the hybrid ZP 521su at the sowing density of 60,000 plants ha-1. Generally, it can be stated that sweet maize hybrids of a shorter growing season (FAO 400 could be cultivated up to 70,000 plants ha-1, while those of a longer growing season (FAO 500 could be grown up to 60,000 plants ha-1. In such a way, the most favorable parameters of yields and the highest yields can be obtained.

Norrie disease gene is distinct from the monoamine oxidase genes.

Science.gov (United States)

Sims, K B; Ozelius, L; Corey, T; Rinehart, W B; Liberfarb, R; Haines, J; Chen, W J; Norio, R; Sankila, E; de la Chapelle, A

1989-09-01

The genes for MAO-A and MAO-B appear to be very close to the Norrie disease gene, on the basis of loss and/or disruption of the MAO genes and activities in atypical Norrie disease patients deleted for the DXS7 locus; linkage among the MAO genes, the Norrie disease gene, and the DXS7 locus; and mapping of all these loci to the chromosomal region Xp11. The present study provides evidence that the MAO genes are not disrupted in "classic" Norrie disease patients. Genomic DNA from these "nondeletion" Norrie disease patients did not show rearrangements at the MAOA or DXS7 loci. Normal levels of MAO-A activities, as well as normal amounts and size of the MAO-A mRNA, were observed in cultured skin fibroblasts from these patients, and MAO-B activity in their platelets was normal. Catecholamine metabolites evaluated in plasma and urine were in the control range. Thus, although some atypical Norrie disease patients lack both MAO-A and MAO-B activities, MAO does not appear to be an etiologic factor in classic Norrie disease.

Gamma-ray mutagenesis studies in a new human-hamster hybrid, A(L)CD59(+/-), which has two human chromosomes 11 but is hemizygous for the CD59 gene

Science.gov (United States)

Kraemer, S. M.; Vannais, D. B.; Kronenberg, A.; Ueno, A.; Waldren, C. A.; Chatterjee, A. (Principal Investigator)

2001-01-01

Kraemer, S. M., Vannais, D. B., Kronenberg, A., Ueno, A. and Waldren, C. A. Gamma-Ray Mutagenesis Studies in a New Human-Hamster Hybrid, A(L)CD59(+/-), which has Two Human Chromosomes 11 but is Hemizygous for the CD59 Gene. Radiat. Res. 156, 10-19 (2001).We have developed a human-CHO hybrid cell line, named A(L)CD59(+/-), which has two copies of human chromosome 11 but is hemizygous for the CD59 gene and the CD59 cell surface antigen that it encodes. Our previous studies used the A(L) and A(L)C hybrids that respectively contain one or two sets of CHO chromosomes plus a single copy of human chromosome 11. The CD59 gene at 11p13.5 and the CD59 antigen encoded by it are the principal markers used in our mutagenesis studies. The hybrid A(L)CD59(+/-) contains two copies of human chromosome 11, only one of which carries the CD59 gene. The incidence of CD59 (-) mutants (formerly called S1(-)) induced by (137)Cs gamma rays is about fivefold greater in A(L)CD59(+/-) cells than in A(L) cells. Evidence is presented that this increase in mutant yield is due to the increased induction of certain classes of large chromosomal mutations that are lethal to A(L) cells but are tolerated in the A(L)CD59(+/-) hybrid. In addition, significantly more of the CD59 (-) mutants induced by (137)Cs gamma rays in A(L)CD59(+/-) cells display chromosomal instability than in A(L) cells. On the other hand, the yield of gamma-ray-induced CD59 (-) mutants in A(L)CD59(+/-) cells is half that of the A(L)C hybrid, which also tolerates very large mutations but has only one copy of human chromosome 11. We interpret the difference in mutability as evidence that repair processes involving the homologous chromosomes 11 play a role in determining mutant yields. The A(L)CD59(+/-) hybrid provides a useful new tool for quantifying mutagenesis and shedding light on mechanisms of genetic instability and mutagenesis.

Yield Stability in Winter Wheat Production: A Survey on German Farmers’ and Advisors’ Views

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Janna Macholdt

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Most of the available research studies have focused on the production of high grain yields of wheat and have neglected yield stability. However, yield stability is a relevant factor in agronomic practice and, therefore, is the focus of this comprehensive survey. The aim was to first describe the importance of yield stability as well as currently used practical management strategies that ensure yield stability in wheat production and secondly, to obtain potential research areas supporting yield stability in the complex system of agronomy. The target groups were German farmers with experience in wheat production and advisors with expertise in the field of wheat cultivation or research. A sample size of 615 completed questionnaires formed the data basis of this study. The study itself provides evidence that the yield stability of winter wheat is even more important than the amount of yield for a large proportion of farmers (48% and advisors (47%. Furthermore, in the view of the majority of the surveyed farmers and advisors, yield stability is gaining importance in climate change. Data analysis showed that site adapted cultivar choice, favorable crop rotations and integrated plant protection are ranked as three of the most important agronomic management practices to achieve high yield stability of wheat. Soil tillage and fertilization occupied a middle position, whereas sowing date and sowing density were estimated with lower importance. However, yield stability is affected by many environmental, genetic and agronomic factors, which subsequently makes it a complex matter. Hence, yield stability in farming practice must be analyzed and improved in a systems approach.

Bond yield curve construction

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Kožul Nataša

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In the broadest sense, yield curve indicates the market's view of the evolution of interest rates over time. However, given that cost of borrowing it closely linked to creditworthiness (ability to repay, different yield curves will apply to different currencies, market sectors, or even individual issuers. As government borrowing is indicative of interest rate levels available to other market players in a particular country, and considering that bond issuance still remains the dominant form of sovereign debt, this paper describes yield curve construction using bonds. The relationship between zero-coupon yield, par yield and yield to maturity is given and their usage in determining curve discount factors is described. Their usage in deriving forward rates and pricing related derivative instruments is also discussed.

The effect of the Tom Thumb dwarfing gene on grain size and grain number of wheat (Triticum aestivum)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gale, M.D.; Flintham, J.E.

1984-01-01

The Tom Thumb dwarfing gene, Rht3, like the related genes Rht1 and Rht2 from Norin 10, has pleiotropic effects on individual ear yields, and grain protein concentrations. An experiment was conducted in which tiller number per plant and grain number per spike were restricted to ascertain whether reduced grain size and protein content are primary or secondary competitive effects in near-isogenic lines. The potential for grain growth was shown to be identical in Rht3 and rht genotypes when grain set was restricted, indicating that the primary effect of the gene is to increase spikelet fertility. Nitrogen accumulation within the grain was also affected by inter-grain competition but decreased nitrogen yields per plant indicated that reduced protein levels are, in part, a primary effect of the gene. Analysis of individual grain yields within Rht3 and rht spikes showed that the gene affected developmental 'dominance' relationships within the spike. (author)

The gene expression profile of non-cultured, highly purified human adipose tissue pericytes: Transcriptomic evidence that pericytes are stem cells in human adipose tissue

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Silva Meirelles, Lindolfo da, E-mail: lindolfomeirelles@gmail.com [Center for Cell-Based Therapy (CEPID/FAPESP), Regional Center for Hemotherapy of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Rua Tenente Catão Roxo 2501, 14051-140 Ribeirão Preto, SP (Brazil); Laboratory for Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering, PPGBioSaúde, Lutheran University of Brazil, Av. Farroupilha 8001, 92425-900 Canoas, RS (Brazil); Deus Wagatsuma, Virgínia Mara de; Malta, Tathiane Maistro; Bonini Palma, Patrícia Viana [Center for Cell-Based Therapy (CEPID/FAPESP), Regional Center for Hemotherapy of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Rua Tenente Catão Roxo 2501, 14051-140 Ribeirão Preto, SP (Brazil); Araújo, Amélia Goes; Panepucci, Rodrigo Alexandre [Laboratory of Large-Scale Functional Biology (LLSFBio), Regional Center for Hemotherapy of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Rua Tenente Catão Roxo 2501, 14051-140 Ribeirão Preto, SP (Brazil); and others

2016-12-10

Pericytes (PCs) are a subset of perivascular cells that can give rise to mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) when culture-expanded, and are postulated to give rise to MSC-like cells during tissue repair in vivo. PCs have been suggested to behave as stem cells (SCs) in situ in animal models, although evidence for this role in humans is lacking. Here, we analyzed the transcriptomes of highly purified, non-cultured adipose tissue (AT)-derived PCs (ATPCs) to detect gene expression changes that occur as they acquire MSC characteristics in vitro, and evaluated the hypothesis that human ATPCs exhibit a gene expression profile compatible with an AT SC phenotype. The results showed ATPCs are non-proliferative and express genes characteristic not only of PCs, but also of AT stem/progenitor cells. Additional analyses defined a gene expression signature for ATPCs, and revealed putative novel ATPC markers. Almost all AT stem/progenitor cell genes differentially expressed by ATPCs were not expressed by ATMSCs or culture-expanded ATPCs. Genes expressed by ATMSCs but not by ATPCs were also identified. These findings strengthen the hypothesis that PCs are SCs in vascularized tissues, highlight gene expression changes they undergo as they assume an MSC phenotype, and provide new insights into PC biology. - Highlights: • Non-cultured adipose tissue-derived human pericytes (ncATPCs) exhibit a distinctive gene expression signature. • ncATPCs express key adipose tissue stem cell genes previously described in vivo in mice. • ncATPCs express message for anti-proliferative and antiangiogenic molecules. • Most ncATPC-specific transcripts are absent in culture-expanded pericytes or ATMSCs • Gene expression changes ncATPCs undergo as they acquire a cultured ATMSC phenotype are pointed out.

The gene expression profile of non-cultured, highly purified human adipose tissue pericytes: Transcriptomic evidence that pericytes are stem cells in human adipose tissue

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silva Meirelles, Lindolfo da; Deus Wagatsuma, Virgínia Mara de; Malta, Tathiane Maistro; Bonini Palma, Patrícia Viana; Araújo, Amélia Goes; Panepucci, Rodrigo Alexandre

2016-01-01

Pericytes (PCs) are a subset of perivascular cells that can give rise to mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) when culture-expanded, and are postulated to give rise to MSC-like cells during tissue repair in vivo. PCs have been suggested to behave as stem cells (SCs) in situ in animal models, although evidence for this role in humans is lacking. Here, we analyzed the transcriptomes of highly purified, non-cultured adipose tissue (AT)-derived PCs (ATPCs) to detect gene expression changes that occur as they acquire MSC characteristics in vitro, and evaluated the hypothesis that human ATPCs exhibit a gene expression profile compatible with an AT SC phenotype. The results showed ATPCs are non-proliferative and express genes characteristic not only of PCs, but also of AT stem/progenitor cells. Additional analyses defined a gene expression signature for ATPCs, and revealed putative novel ATPC markers. Almost all AT stem/progenitor cell genes differentially expressed by ATPCs were not expressed by ATMSCs or culture-expanded ATPCs. Genes expressed by ATMSCs but not by ATPCs were also identified. These findings strengthen the hypothesis that PCs are SCs in vascularized tissues, highlight gene expression changes they undergo as they assume an MSC phenotype, and provide new insights into PC biology. - Highlights: • Non-cultured adipose tissue-derived human pericytes (ncATPCs) exhibit a distinctive gene expression signature. • ncATPCs express key adipose tissue stem cell genes previously described in vivo in mice. • ncATPCs express message for anti-proliferative and antiangiogenic molecules. • Most ncATPC-specific transcripts are absent in culture-expanded pericytes or ATMSCs • Gene expression changes ncATPCs undergo as they acquire a cultured ATMSC phenotype are pointed out.

The Role of Soil Organic Matter for Maintaining Crop Yields: Evidence for a Renewed Conceptual Basis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schjønning, Per; Jensen, Johannes Lund; Bruun, Sander

2018-01-01

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is believed to play a crucial role for many soil functions and ecosystem services. Despite much research, a lower threshold of SOC for sustainable crop production has not been identified across soil types. We addressed a comprehensive dataset with yields of winter wheat...

Improved evidence-based genome-scale metabolic models for maize leaf, embryo, and endosperm

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Seaver, Samuel M. D.; Bradbury, Louis M. T.; Frelin, Océane; Zarecki, Raphy; Ruppin, Eytan; Hanson, Andrew D.; Henry, Christopher S.

2015-03-10

There is a growing demand for genome-scale metabolic reconstructions for plants, fueled by the need to understand the metabolic basis of crop yield and by progress in genome and transcriptome sequencing. Methods are also required to enable the interpretation of plant transcriptome data to study how cellular metabolic activity varies under different growth conditions or even within different organs, tissues, and developmental stages. Such methods depend extensively on the accuracy with which genes have been mapped to the biochemical reactions in the plant metabolic pathways. Errors in these mappings lead to metabolic reconstructions with an inflated number of reactions and possible generation of unreliable metabolic phenotype predictions. Here we introduce a new evidence-based genome-scale metabolic reconstruction of maize, with significant improvements in the quality of the gene-reaction associations included within our model. We also present a new approach for applying our model to predict active metabolic genes based on transcriptome data. This method includes a minimal set of reactions associated with low expression genes to enable activity of a maximum number of reactions associated with high expression genes. We apply this method to construct an organ-specific model for the maize leaf, and tissue specific models for maize embryo and endosperm cells. We validate our models using fluxomics data for the endosperm and embryo, demonstrating an improved capacity of our models to fit the available fluxomics data. All models are publicly available via the DOE Systems Biology Knowledgebase and PlantSEED, and our new method is generally applicable for analysis transcript profiles from any plant, paving the way for further in silico studies with a wide variety of plant genomes.

7755 EFFECT OF NPK FERTILIZER ON FRUIT YIELD AND YIELD ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Win7Ent

2013-06-03

Jun 3, 2013 ... peasant farmers in Nigeria. With the increased ... did not significantly (p=0.05) increase the fruit yield nor the seed yield. Key words: NPK fertilizer, Fruit ..... SAS (Statistical Analysis System) Version 9.1. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, ...

Molecular evidence for ongoing complementarity and horizontal gene transfer in endosymbiotic systems of mealybugs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergio eLópez-Madrigal

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Intracellular bacterial supply of essential amino acids is common among sap-feeding insects, thus complementing the scarcity of nitrogenous compounds in plant phloem. This is also the role of the two mealybug endosymbiotic systems whose genomes have been sequenced. In the nested endosymbiotic system from Planococcus citri (Pseudococcinae, Candidatus Tremblaya princeps and Candidatus Moranella endobia cooperate to synthesize essential amino acids, while in Phenacoccus avenae (Phenacoccinae this function is performed by its single endosymbiont Candidatus Tremblaya phenacola. However, little is known regarding the evolution of essential amino acid supplementation strategies in other mealybug systems. To address this knowledge gap, we screened for the presence of six selected loci involved in essential amino acid biosynthesis in five additional mealybug species. We found evidence of ongoing complementarity among endosymbionts from insects of subfamily Pseudococcinae, as well as horizontal gene transfer affecting endosymbionts from insects of family Phenacoccinae, providing a more comprehensive picture of the evolutionary history of these endosymbiotic systems. Additionally, we report two diagnostic motifs to help identify invasive mealybug species.

A scan for positively selected genes in the genomes of humans and chimpanzees.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rasmus Nielsen

2005-06-01

Full Text Available Since the divergence of humans and chimpanzees about 5 million years ago, these species have undergone a remarkable evolution with drastic divergence in anatomy and cognitive abilities. At the molecular level, despite the small overall magnitude of DNA sequence divergence, we might expect such evolutionary changes to leave a noticeable signature throughout the genome. We here compare 13,731 annotated genes from humans to their chimpanzee orthologs to identify genes that show evidence of positive selection. Many of the genes that present a signature of positive selection tend to be involved in sensory perception or immune defenses. However, the group of genes that show the strongest evidence for positive selection also includes a surprising number of genes involved in tumor suppression and apoptosis, and of genes involved in spermatogenesis. We hypothesize that positive selection in some of these genes may be driven by genomic conflict due to apoptosis during spermatogenesis. Genes with maximal expression in the brain show little or no evidence for positive selection, while genes with maximal expression in the testis tend to be enriched with positively selected genes. Genes on the X chromosome also tend to show an elevated tendency for positive selection. We also present polymorphism data from 20 Caucasian Americans and 19 African Americans for the 50 annotated genes showing the strongest evidence for positive selection. The polymorphism analysis further supports the presence of positive selection in these genes by showing an excess of high-frequency derived nonsynonymous mutations.

Evidence that steroid 5alpha-reductase isozyme genes are differentially methylated in human lymphocytes.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodríguez-Dorantes, M; Lizano-Soberón, M; Camacho-Arroyo, I; Calzada-León, R; Morimoto, S; Téllez-Ascencio, N; Cerbón, M A

2002-03-01

The synthesis of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) is catalyzed by steroid 5alpha-reductase isozymes 1 and 2, and this function determines the development of the male phenotype during embriogenesis and the growth of androgen sensitive tissues during puberty. The aim of this study was to determine the cytosine methylation status of 5alpha-reductase isozymes types 1 and 2 genes in normal and in 5alpha-reductase deficient men. Genomic DNA was obtained from lymphocytes of both normal subjects and patients with primary 5alpha-reductase deficiency due to point mutations in 5alpha-reductase 2 gene. Southern blot analysis of 5alpha-reductase types 1 and 2 genes from DNA samples digested with HpaII presented a different cytosine methylation pattern compared to that observed with its isoschizomer MspI, indicating that both genes are methylated in CCGG sequences. The analysis of 5alpha-reductase 1 gene from DNA samples digested with Sau3AI and its isoschizomer MboI which recognize methylation in GATC sequences showed an identical methylation pattern. In contrast, 5alpha-reductase 2 gene digested with Sau3AI presented a different methylation pattern to that of the samples digested with MboI, indicating that steroid 5alpha-reductase 2 gene possess methylated cytosines in GATC sequences. Analysis of exon 4 of 5alpha-reductase 2 gene after metabisulfite PCR showed that normal and deficient subjects present a different methylation pattern, being more methylated in patients with 5alpha-reductase 2 mutated gene. The overall results suggest that 5alpha-reductase genes 1 and 2 are differentially methylated in lymphocytes from normal and 5alpha-reductase deficient patients. Moreover, the extensive cytosine methylation pattern observed in exon 4 of 5alpha-reductase 2 gene in deficient patients, points out to an increased rate of mutations in this gene.

Response of Yield and Yield Components of Tef [Eragrostis Tef ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The partial budget analysis also indicates that applications of 46 kg. N ha-1 and 10 kg P ha-1 are ..... (1994) indicated that where the grain yield response is negative, yield reduction is primarily caused by a .... An Economic Training. Manual.

Transcriptional Profiling of Whole Blood Identifies a Unique 5-Gene Signature for Myelofibrosis and Imminent Myelofibrosis Transformation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hasselbalch, Hans Carl; Skov, Vibe; Stauffer Larsen, Thomas

2014-01-01

Identifying a distinct gene signature for myelofibrosis may yield novel information of the genes, which are responsible for progression of essential thrombocythemia and polycythemia vera towards myelofibrosis. We aimed at identifying a simple gene signature - composed of a few genes - which were...

Improvement in grain quality characteristics and yield in rice by induced mutation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Govindaswami, S.; Ghosh, A.K.; Misra, S.N.

1975-01-01

Improvement in grain quality has been obtained in two rice cultures CR.75-83 and CR-75-93 (Rexore X Chianan-8) after gamma irradiation. The culture CR.75-83 and R.75-93 have good field resistance for bacterial leaf blight, but have comparatively low yield potential (4-5 tonns/ha) and have defects in grain quality such as low gelatinization temperature of starch and relatively low amylose content with inferior cooking quality since one of their parents was a 'Ponlai' type (Taiwan japonica). Improvement in fineness of the kernel and cooking quality by mutation of genes especially for higher amylose content and intermediate gelatinization temperature have been achieved in CR.75-83 mutants No.1,4,6,7,8,9,11 and 13 under 15Kr., in CR.75-93 in mutant No.2,4 and 10 under 25 Kr. Yield atributes have also improved with a shortening in the total duration by 10 to 20 days. The feasibility of improving the cooking quality especially the geletinization temperature and amylose content in the high yielding varieties by mutagenesis is discussed. (author)

Genome-wide linkage mapping of yield-related traits in three Chinese bread wheat populations using high-density SNP markers.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Faji; Wen, Weie; He, Zhonghu; Liu, Jindong; Jin, Hui; Cao, Shuanghe; Geng, Hongwei; Yan, Jun; Zhang, Pingzhi; Wan, Yingxiu; Xia, Xianchun

2018-06-01

We identified 21 new and stable QTL, and 11 QTL clusters for yield-related traits in three bread wheat populations using the wheat 90 K SNP assay. Identification of quantitative trait loci (QTL) for yield-related traits and closely linked molecular markers is important in order to identify gene/QTL for marker-assisted selection (MAS) in wheat breeding. The objectives of the present study were to identify QTL for yield-related traits and dissect the relationships among different traits in three wheat recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations derived from crosses Doumai × Shi 4185 (D × S), Gaocheng 8901 × Zhoumai 16 (G × Z) and Linmai 2 × Zhong 892 (L × Z). Using the available high-density linkage maps previously constructed with the wheat 90 K iSelect single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array, 65, 46 and 53 QTL for 12 traits were identified in the three RIL populations, respectively. Among them, 34, 23 and 27 were likely to be new QTL. Eighteen common QTL were detected across two or three populations. Eleven QTL clusters harboring multiple QTL were detected in different populations, and the interval 15.5-32.3 cM around the Rht-B1 locus on chromosome 4BS harboring 20 QTL is an important region determining grain yield (GY). Thousand-kernel weight (TKW) is significantly affected by kernel width and plant height (PH), whereas flag leaf width can be used to select lines with large kernel number per spike. Eleven candidate genes were identified, including eight cloned genes for kernel, heading date (HD) and PH-related traits as well as predicted genes for TKW, spike length and HD. The closest SNP markers of stable QTL or QTL clusters can be used for MAS in wheat breeding using kompetitive allele-specific PCR or semi-thermal asymmetric reverse PCR assays for improvement of GY.

NAL1 allele from a rice landrace greatly increases yield in modern indica cultivars.

Science.gov (United States)

Fujita, Daisuke; Trijatmiko, Kurniawan Rudi; Tagle, Analiza Grubanzo; Sapasap, Maria Veronica; Koide, Yohei; Sasaki, Kazuhiro; Tsakirpaloglou, Nikolaos; Gannaban, Ritchel Bueno; Nishimura, Takeshi; Yanagihara, Seiji; Fukuta, Yoshimichi; Koshiba, Tomokazu; Slamet-Loedin, Inez Hortense; Ishimaru, Tsutomu; Kobayashi, Nobuya

2013-12-17

Increasing crop production is essential for securing the future food supply in developing countries in Asia and Africa as economies and populations grow. However, although the Green Revolution led to increased grain production in the 1960s, no major advances have been made in increasing yield potential in rice since then. In this study, we identified a gene, SPIKELET NUMBER (SPIKE), from a tropical japonica rice landrace that enhances the grain productivity of indica cultivars through pleiotropic effects on plant architecture. Map-based cloning revealed that SPIKE was identical to NARROW LEAF1 (NAL1), which has been reported to control vein pattern in leaf. Phenotypic analyses of a near-isogenic line of a popular indica cultivar, IR64, and overexpressor lines revealed increases in spikelet number, leaf size, root system, and the number of vascular bundles, indicating the enhancement of source size and translocation capacity as well as sink size. The near-isogenic line achieved 13-36% yield increase without any negative effect on grain appearance. Expression analysis revealed that the gene was expressed in all cell types: panicles, leaves, roots, and culms supporting the pleiotropic effects on plant architecture. Furthermore, SPIKE increased grain yield by 18% in the recently released indica cultivar IRRI146, and increased spikelet number in the genetic background of other popular indica cultivars. The use of SPIKE in rice breeding could contribute to food security in indica-growing regions such as South and Southeast Asia.

Correlation and path-cofficient analysis of seed yield and yield ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study was undertaken in order to determine the association among yield components and their direct and indirect effects on the seed yield of confectionery sunflower. 36 confectionery sunflower populations originated from different regions of Northwest Iran were characterized using 11 agromorphological traits ...

HvDep1 Is a Positive Regulator of Culm Elongation and Grain Size in Barley and Impacts Yield in an Environment-Dependent Manner.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Toni Wendt

Full Text Available Heterotrimeric G proteins are intracellular membrane-attached signal transducers involved in various cellular processes in both plants and animals. They consist of three subunits denoted as α, β and γ. The γ-subunits of the so-called AGG3 type, which comprise a transmembrane domain, are exclusively found in plants. In model species, these proteins have been shown to participate in the control of plant height, branching and seed size and could therefore impact the harvestable yield of various crop plants. Whether AGG3-type γ-subunits influence yield in temperate cereals like barley and wheat remains unknown. Using a transgenic complementation approach, we show here that the Scottish malting barley cultivar (cv. Golden Promise carries a loss-of-function mutation in HvDep1, an AGG3-type subunit encoding gene that positively regulates culm elongation and seed size in barley. Somewhat intriguingly, agronomic field data collected over a 12-year period reveals that the HvDep1 loss-of-function mutation in cv. Golden Promise has the potential to confer either a significant increase or decrease in harvestable yield depending on the environment. Our results confirm the role of AGG3-type subunit-encoding genes in shaping plant architecture, but interestingly also indicate that the impact HvDep1 has on yield in barley is both genotypically and environmentally sensitive. This may explain why widespread exploitation of variation in AGG3-type subunit-encoding genes has not occurred in temperate cereals while in rice the DEP1 locus is widely exploited to improve harvestable yield.

Genetic variations in ARE1 mediate grain yield by modulating nitrogen utilization in rice.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Qing; Nian, Jinqiang; Xie, Xianzhi; Yu, Hong; Zhang, Jian; Bai, Jiaoteng; Dong, Guojun; Hu, Jiang; Bai, Bo; Chen, Lichao; Xie, Qingjun; Feng, Jian; Yang, Xiaolu; Peng, Juli; Chen, Fan; Qian, Qian; Li, Jiayang; Zuo, Jianru

2018-02-21

In crops, nitrogen directly determines productivity and biomass. However, the improvement of nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUE) is still a major challenge in modern agriculture. Here, we report the characterization of are1, a genetic suppressor of a rice fd-gogat mutant defective in nitrogen assimilation. ARE1 is a highly conserved gene, encoding a chloroplast-localized protein. Loss-of-function mutations in ARE1 cause delayed senescence and result in 10-20% grain yield increases, hence enhance NUE under nitrogen-limiting conditions. Analysis of a panel of 2155 rice varieties reveals that 18% indica and 48% aus accessions carry small insertions in the ARE1 promoter, which result in a reduction in ARE1 expression and an increase in grain yield under nitrogen-limiting conditions. We propose that ARE1 is a key mediator of NUE and represents a promising target for breeding high-yield cultivars under nitrogen-limiting condition.

PCB dechlorination hotspots and reductive dehalogenase genes in sediments from a contaminated wastewater lagoon.

Science.gov (United States)

Mattes, Timothy E; Ewald, Jessica M; Liang, Yi; Martinez, Andres; Awad, Andrew; Richards, Patrick; Hornbuckle, Keri C; Schnoor, Jerald L

2017-08-12

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a class of persistent organic pollutants that are distributed worldwide. Although industrial PCB production has stopped, legacy contamination can be traced to several different commercial mixtures (e.g., Aroclors in the USA). Despite their persistence, PCBs are subject to naturally occurring biodegradation processes, although the microbes and enzymes involved are poorly understood. The biodegradation potential of PCB-contaminated sediments in a wastewater lagoon located in Virginia (USA) was studied. Total PCB concentrations in sediments ranged from 6.34 to 12,700 mg/kg. PCB congener profiles in sediment sample were similar to Aroclor 1248; however, PCB congener profiles at several locations showed evidence of dechlorination. The sediment microbial community structure varied among samples but was dominated by Proteobacteria and Firmicutes. The relative abundance of putative dechlorinating Chloroflexi (including Dehalococcoides sp.) was 0.01-0.19% among the sediment samples, with Dehalococcoides sp. representing 0.6-14.8% of this group. Other possible PCB dechlorinators present included the Clostridia and the Geobacteraceae. A PCR survey for potential PCB reductive dehalogenase genes (RDases) yielded 11 sequences related to RDase genes in PCB-respiring Dehalococcoides mccartyi strain CG5 and PCB-dechlorinating D. mccartyi strain CBDB1. This is the first study to retrieve potential PCB RDase genes from unenriched PCB-contaminated sediments.

Soviet test yields

Science.gov (United States)

Vergino, Eileen S.

Soviet seismologists have published descriptions of 96 nuclear explosions conducted from 1961 through 1972 at the Semipalatinsk test site, in Kazakhstan, central Asia [Bocharov et al., 1989]. With the exception of releasing news about some of their peaceful nuclear explosions (PNEs) the Soviets have never before published such a body of information.To estimate the seismic yield of a nuclear explosion it is necessary to obtain a calibrated magnitude-yield relationship based on events with known yields and with a consistent set of seismic magnitudes. U.S. estimation of Soviet test yields has been done through application of relationships to the Soviet sites based on the U.S. experience at the Nevada Test Site (NTS), making some correction for differences due to attenuation and near-source coupling of seismic waves.

Neurocarta: aggregating and sharing disease-gene relations for the neurosciences.

Science.gov (United States)

Portales-Casamar, Elodie; Ch'ng, Carolyn; Lui, Frances; St-Georges, Nicolas; Zoubarev, Anton; Lai, Artemis Y; Lee, Mark; Kwok, Cathy; Kwok, Willie; Tseng, Luchia; Pavlidis, Paul

2013-02-26

Understanding the genetic basis of diseases is key to the development of better diagnoses and treatments. Unfortunately, only a small fraction of the existing data linking genes to phenotypes is available through online public resources and, when available, it is scattered across multiple access tools. Neurocarta is a knowledgebase that consolidates information on genes and phenotypes across multiple resources and allows tracking and exploring of the associations. The system enables automatic and manual curation of evidence supporting each association, as well as user-enabled entry of their own annotations. Phenotypes are recorded using controlled vocabularies such as the Disease Ontology to facilitate computational inference and linking to external data sources. The gene-to-phenotype associations are filtered by stringent criteria to focus on the annotations most likely to be relevant. Neurocarta is constantly growing and currently holds more than 30,000 lines of evidence linking over 7,000 genes to 2,000 different phenotypes. Neurocarta is a one-stop shop for researchers looking for candidate genes for any disorder of interest. In Neurocarta, they can review the evidence linking genes to phenotypes and filter out the evidence they're not interested in. In addition, researchers can enter their own annotations from their experiments and analyze them in the context of existing public annotations. Neurocarta's in-depth annotation of neurodevelopmental disorders makes it a unique resource for neuroscientists working on brain development.

Evaluation of Yield, Yield Components and Growth Indices of Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L. in Conventional and Organic Farming Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mahdieh Hajghani

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Introduction Application of organic fertilizers in sustainable agriculture systems improves yield sustainability of field crop. Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L. is native to Middle East and belongs to the Asteraceae family. It is resistant to saline conditions, water stress, and can reach the deep-lying water of soil. The humic acid (HA mentioned as an environmentally friendly, organic matter with low levels of hormonal-like compounds is useful in improving agriculture production (Samavat and Malakuti 2006. The HA influence on plant growth depends on the source, concentration and molecular weight of the substance. Vermicompost is produced by earthworms, mainly Eisenia foetida, it has higher levels of available nutrients compared to the original materials of composts produced by other methods. Recent evidences suggest that using different amounts of vermicompost increased vegetative traits and concentration of minerals in sunflower. However, there has been little discussion about organic farming of safflower. The main objectives of the present study were to determine the effect of organic treatments on yield, yield components, and growth indices of safflower and to compare it with conventional agriculture. Materials and methods This research was conducted in Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Station in Kerman, Iran during 2012–2013. It was carried out in a randomized complete block (RCB design and had three replications. The current research has been performed to investigate the effects of two different sources of organic fertilizer on spring safflower. Four levels of vermicompost (V: 0, 3, 6 and 9 t ha-1 were considered in the main plots. Liquid humic acid at four different concentrations (HA: 0, 1000, 2000 and 3000 ppm were examined and kept in the subplots. Humic acid as a foliar treatment on leaf surface was applied twice at the beginning of stem elongation and at flowering times. In this study, aimed to compare organic farming

Gene replacement in Penicillium roqueforti.

Science.gov (United States)

Goarin, Anne; Silar, Philippe; Malagnac, Fabienne

2015-05-01

Most cheese-making filamentous fungi lack suitable molecular tools to improve their biotechnology potential. Penicillium roqueforti, a species of high industrial importance, would benefit from functional data yielded by molecular genetic approaches. This work provides the first example of gene replacement by homologous recombination in P. roqueforti, demonstrating that knockout experiments can be performed in this fungus. To do so, we improved the existing transformation method to integrate transgenes into P. roqueforti genome. In the meantime, we cloned the PrNiaD gene, which encodes a NADPH-dependent nitrate reductase that reduces nitrate to nitrite. Then, we performed a deletion of the PrNiaD gene from P. roqueforti strain AGO. The ΔPrNiaD mutant strain is more resistant to chlorate-containing medium than the wild-type strain, but did not grow on nitrate-containing medium. Because genomic data are now available, we believe that generating selective deletions of candidate genes will be a key step to open the way for a comprehensive exploration of gene function in P. roqueforti.

Computational fitness landscape for all gene-order permutations of an RNA virus.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kwang-il Lim

2009-02-01

Full Text Available How does the growth of a virus depend on the linear arrangement of genes in its genome? Answering this question may enhance our basic understanding of virus evolution and advance applications of viruses as live attenuated vaccines, gene-therapy vectors, or anti-tumor therapeutics. We used a mathematical model for vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV, a prototype RNA virus that encodes five genes (N-P-M-G-L, to simulate the intracellular growth of all 120 possible gene-order variants. Simulated yields of virus infection varied by 6,000-fold and were found to be most sensitive to gene-order permutations that increased levels of the L gene transcript or reduced levels of the N gene transcript, the lowest and highest expressed genes of the wild-type virus, respectively. Effects of gene order on virus growth also depended upon the host-cell environment, reflecting different resources for protein synthesis and different cell susceptibilities to infection. Moreover, by computationally deleting intergenic attenuations, which define a key mechanism of transcriptional regulation in VSV, the variation in growth associated with the 120 gene-order variants was drastically narrowed from 6,000- to 20-fold, and many variants produced higher progeny yields than wild-type. These results suggest that regulation by intergenic attenuation preceded or co-evolved with the fixation of the wild type gene order in the evolution of VSV. In summary, our models have begun to reveal how gene functions, gene regulation, and genomic organization of viruses interact with their host environments to define processes of viral growth and evolution.

Effects of phosphorus and zinc applications on the yields and yields ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Effects of phosphorus and zinc applications on the yields and yields components of sole early maturing maize ( Zea mays ) and bambaranut ( Vigna subterranean Thour. ) and in intercrop under southern guinea savannah ecology zone.

Cereal cyst nematode resistance conferred by the Cre7 gene from Aegilops triuncialis and its relationship with Cre genes from Australian wheat cultivars

OpenAIRE

Montes, Maria Jesus; Andrés, María Fe; Sin, E.; Lopez Braña, Isidoro; Martín-Sánchez, J.A.; Romero, M.D.; Delibes Castro, Angeles

2008-01-01

Cereal cyst nematode (CCN; Heterodera avenae Woll.) is a root pathogen of cereal crops that can cause severe yield losses in wheat (Triticum aestivum). Differential host–nematode interactions occur in wheat cultivars carrying different CCN resistance (Cre) genes. The objective of this study was to determine the CCN resistance conferred by the Cre7 gene from Aegilops triuncialis in a 42-chromosome introgression line and to assess the effects of the Cre1, Cre3, Cre4, and Cre8 genes present in A...

Identification of suitable reference genes for gene expression studies of shoulder instability.

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Mariana Ferreira Leal

Full Text Available Shoulder instability is a common shoulder injury, and patients present with plastic deformation of the glenohumeral capsule. Gene expression analysis may be a useful tool for increasing the general understanding of capsule deformation, and reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR has become an effective method for such studies. Although RT-qPCR is highly sensitive and specific, it requires the use of suitable reference genes for data normalization to guarantee meaningful and reproducible results. In the present study, we evaluated the suitability of a set of reference genes using samples from the glenohumeral capsules of individuals with and without shoulder instability. We analyzed the expression of six commonly used reference genes (ACTB, B2M, GAPDH, HPRT1, TBP and TFRC in the antero-inferior, antero-superior and posterior portions of the glenohumeral capsules of cases and controls. The stability of the candidate reference gene expression was determined using four software packages: NormFinder, geNorm, BestKeeper and DataAssist. Overall, HPRT1 was the best single reference gene, and HPRT1 and B2M composed the best pair of reference genes from different analysis groups, including simultaneous analysis of all tissue samples. GenEx software was used to identify the optimal number of reference genes to be used for normalization and demonstrated that the accumulated standard deviation resulting from the use of 2 reference genes was similar to that resulting from the use of 3 or more reference genes. To identify the optimal combination of reference genes, we evaluated the expression of COL1A1. Although the use of different reference gene combinations yielded variable normalized quantities, the relative quantities within sample groups were similar and confirmed that no obvious differences were observed when using 2, 3 or 4 reference genes. Consequently, the use of 2 stable reference genes for normalization, especially

High-yield nontoxic gene transfer through conjugation of the CM₁₈-Tat₁₁ chimeric peptide with nanosecond electric pulses.

Science.gov (United States)

Salomone, Fabrizio; Breton, Marie; Leray, Isabelle; Cardarelli, Francesco; Boccardi, Claudia; Bonhenry, Daniel; Tarek, Mounir; Mir, Lluis M; Beltram, Fabio

2014-07-07

We report a novel nontoxic, high-yield, gene delivery system based on the synergistic use of nanosecond electric pulses (NPs) and nanomolar doses of the recently introduced CM18-Tat11 chimeric peptide (sequence of KWKLFKKIGAVLKVLTTGYGRKKRRQRRR, residues 1-7 of cecropin-A, 2-12 of melittin, and 47-57 of HIV-1 Tat protein). This combined use makes it possible to drastically reduce the required CM18-Tat11 concentration and confines stable nanopore formation to vesicle membranes followed by DNA release, while no detectable perturbation of the plasma membrane is observed. Two different experimental assays are exploited to quantitatively evaluate the details of NPs and CM18-Tat11 cooperation: (i) cytofluorimetric analysis of the integrity of synthetic 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine giant unilamellar vesicles exposed to CM18-Tat11 and NPs and (ii) the in vitro transfection efficiency of a green fluorescent protein-encoding plasmid conjugated to CM18-Tat11 in the presence of NPs. Data support a model in which NPs induce membrane perturbation in the form of transient pores on all cellular membranes, while the peptide stabilizes membrane defects selectively within endosomes. Interestingly, atomistic molecular dynamics simulations show that the latter activity can be specifically attributed to the CM18 module, while Tat11 remains essential for cargo binding and vector subcellular localization. We argue that this result represents a paradigmatic example that can open the way to other targeted delivery protocols.

Gamma radiation induced mutant for improved yield components in sunflower

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elangovan, M.

2001-01-01

Sunflower has become an important oilseed in the Indian vegetable oil pool following its introduction from Russia in 1969. It can be used for all quality products useful to humans. The need for genetic variability and new useful gene sources has necessitated that sunflower breeders and geneticists utilize a wide range of germplasm in their breeding programmes. The induction of mutations in sunflower by physical and chemical mutagens has been practiced quite intensively in the last two decades. The results recorded to date suggest that utilization of mutagenesis could be a great advantage in improving the sunflower crop. An induced mutation programme was undertaken to generate variability in the variety 'Morden' using gamma rays. The certified and genetically pure seeds were irradiated with 50, 100, and 150 Gy gamma rays and used for further studies. Selection in M 2 generations, raised from different treatments, revealed the presence of an erectophylly leaf mutant from 50 Gy treatment. The isolated mutant showed improved yield components like head diameter, 100- seed weight and yield per plant. The mutant was a plant with short petiole length and erect leaves. This type of leaf get sunlight throughout the day. From morning to afternoon, the first half of the leaf gets sunlight, and from afternoon to evening the second half of the leaf gets sunlight. As a result of getting sunlight the whole day, the plant had more photosynthetic products and grew vigorously. Plant height, head diameter and 100-seed weight had direct effect on seed yield, and the number of leaves and stem diameter influenced the seed yield indirectly. In the M 3 generation, the mutant showed an almost two-fold increase over the parent variety for all investigated characters, except that of the yield per plant where there was a three-fold increase. The present investigation has shown that there are remarkable possibilities of increasing the yield components in sunflower by induced mutations

Archaeal promoter architecture and mechanism of gene activation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Peng, Nan; Ao, Xiang; Liang, Yun Xiang

2011-01-01

element named ara box directing arabinose-inducible expression and the basal promoter element TATA, serving as the binding site for the TATA-binding protein. Strikingly, these promoters possess a modular structure that allows an essentially inactive basal promoter to be strongly activated. The invoked...... mechanisms include TFB (transcription factor B) recruitment by the ara-box-binding factor to activate gene expression and modulation of TFB recruitment efficiency to yield differential gene expression....

6 Grain Yield

African Journals Online (AJOL)

create a favourable environment for rice ... developing lines adaptable to many ... have stable, not too short crop duration with ..... Analysis of variance of the effect of site and season on maturity, grain yield and plant ..... and yield components.

Expression of the lysostaphin gene of Staphylococcus simulans in a eukaryotic system.

OpenAIRE

Williamson, C M; Bramley, A J; Lax, A J

1994-01-01

The lysostaphin gene of Staphylococcus simulans was cloned into Escherichia coli. The 5' end of the gene was modified to include a eukaryotic start codon, the Kozak expression start site consensus sequence, and an enzyme site to facilitate manipulation of the gene. Transcription of the modified gene in vitro yielded an RNA transcript which, when added to a rabbit reticulocyte cell-free translation system, directed the synthesis of several products. The largest product, migrating at approximat...

The Drosophila melanogaster methuselah gene: a novel gene with ancient functions.

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Ana Rita Araújo

Full Text Available The Drosophila melanogaster G protein-coupled receptor gene, methuselah (mth, has been described as a novel gene that is less than 10 million years old. Nevertheless, it shows a highly specific expression pattern in embryos, larvae, and adults, and has been implicated in larval development, stress resistance, and in the setting of adult lifespan, among others. Although mth belongs to a gene subfamily with 16 members in D. melanogaster, there is no evidence for functional redundancy in this subfamily. Therefore, it is surprising that a novel gene influences so many traits. Here, we explore the alternative hypothesis that mth is an old gene. Under this hypothesis, in species distantly related to D. melanogaster, there should be a gene with features similar to those of mth. By performing detailed phylogenetic, synteny, protein structure, and gene expression analyses we show that the D. virilis GJ12490 gene is the orthologous of mth in species distantly related to D. melanogaster. We also show that, in D. americana (a species of the virilis group of Drosophila, a common amino acid polymorphism at the GJ12490 orthologous gene is significantly associated with developmental time, size, and lifespan differences. Our results imply that GJ12490 orthologous genes are candidates for developmental time and lifespan differences in Drosophila in general.

Analysis of the spatial variability of crop yield and soil properties in small agricultural plots

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Vieira Sidney Rosa

2003-01-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study was to assess spatial variability of soil properties and crop yield under no tillage as a function of time, in two soil/climate conditions in São Paulo State, Brazil. The two sites measured approximately one hectare each and were cultivated with crop sequences which included corn, soybean, cotton, oats, black oats, wheat, rye, rice and green manure. Soil fertility, soil physical properties and crop yield were measured in a 10-m grid. The soils were a Dusky Red Latossol (Oxisol and a Red Yellow Latossol (Ultisol. Soil sampling was performed in each field every two years after harvesting of the summer crop. Crop yield was measured at the end of each crop cycle, in 2 x 2.5 m sub plots. Data were analysed using semivariogram analysis and kriging interpolation for contour map generation. Yield maps were constructed in order to visually compare the variability of yields, the variability of the yield components and related soil properties. The results show that the factors affecting the variability of crop yield varies from one crop to another. The changes in yield from one year to another suggest that the causes of variability may change with time. The changes with time for the cross semivariogram between phosphorus in leaves and soybean yield is another evidence of this result.

Gene Prediction in Metagenomic Fragments with Deep Learning

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Shao-Wu Zhang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Next generation sequencing technologies used in metagenomics yield numerous sequencing fragments which come from thousands of different species. Accurately identifying genes from metagenomics fragments is one of the most fundamental issues in metagenomics. In this article, by fusing multifeatures (i.e., monocodon usage, monoamino acid usage, ORF length coverage, and Z-curve features and using deep stacking networks learning model, we present a novel method (called Meta-MFDL to predict the metagenomic genes. The results with 10 CV and independent tests show that Meta-MFDL is a powerful tool for identifying genes from metagenomic fragments.

Delimiting Coalescence Genes (C-Genes) in Phylogenomic Data Sets.

Science.gov (United States)

Springer, Mark S; Gatesy, John

2018-02-26

coalescence methods have emerged as a popular alternative for inferring species trees with large genomic datasets, because these methods explicitly account for incomplete lineage sorting. However, statistical consistency of summary coalescence methods is not guaranteed unless several model assumptions are true, including the critical assumption that recombination occurs freely among but not within coalescence genes (c-genes), which are the fundamental units of analysis for these methods. Each c-gene has a single branching history, and large sets of these independent gene histories should be the input for genome-scale coalescence estimates of phylogeny. By contrast, numerous studies have reported the results of coalescence analyses in which complete protein-coding sequences are treated as c-genes even though exons for these loci can span more than a megabase of DNA. Empirical estimates of recombination breakpoints suggest that c-genes may be much shorter, especially when large clades with many species are the focus of analysis. Although this idea has been challenged recently in the literature, the inverse relationship between c-gene size and increased taxon sampling in a dataset-the 'recombination ratchet'-is a fundamental property of c-genes. For taxonomic groups characterized by genes with long intron sequences, complete protein-coding sequences are likely not valid c-genes and are inappropriate units of analysis for summary coalescence methods unless they occur in recombination deserts that are devoid of incomplete lineage sorting (ILS). Finally, it has been argued that coalescence methods are robust when the no-recombination within loci assumption is violated, but recombination must matter at some scale because ILS, a by-product of recombination, is the raison d'etre for coalescence methods. That is, extensive recombination is required to yield the large number of independently segregating c-genes used to infer a species tree. If coalescent methods are powerful

Tomato transgenic plants expressing hairpin construct of a nematode protease gene conferred enhanced resistance to root-knot nematodes

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Tushar Kanti Dutta

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne incognita cause substantial yield losses in vegetables worldwide, and are difficult to manage. Continuous withdrawal of environmentally-harmful nematicides from the global market warrants the need for novel nematode management strategies. Utility of host-delivered RNAi has been demonstrated in several plants (Arabidopsis, tobacco and soybean that exhibited resistance against root-knot and cyst nematodes. Herein, a M. incognita-specific protease gene, cathepsin L cysteine proteinase (Mi-cpl-1, was targeted to generate tomato transgenic lines to evaluate the genetically modified nematode resistance. In vitro knockdown of Mi-cpl-1 gene led to the reduced attraction and penetration of M. incognita in tomato, suggesting the involvement of Mi-cpl-1 in nematode parasitism. Transgenic expression of the RNAi construct of Mi-cpl-1 gene resulted in 60-80% reduction in infection and multiplication of M. incognita in tomato. Evidence for in vitro and in vivo silencing of Mi-cpl-1 was confirmed by expression analysis using quantitative PCR. Our study demonstrates that Mi-cpl-1 plays crucial role during plant-nematode interaction and plant-mediated downregulation of this gene elicits detrimental effect on M. incognita development, reinforcing the potential of RNAi technology for management of phytonematodes in crop plants.

Methane-yielding microbial communities processing lactate-rich substrates: a piece of the anaerobic digestion puzzle.

Science.gov (United States)

Detman, Anna; Mielecki, Damian; Pleśniak, Łukasz; Bucha, Michał; Janiga, Marek; Matyasik, Irena; Chojnacka, Aleksandra; Jędrysek, Mariusz-Orion; Błaszczyk, Mieczysław K; Sikora, Anna

2018-01-01

Anaerobic digestion, whose final products are methane and carbon dioxide, ensures energy flow and circulation of matter in ecosystems. This naturally occurring process is used for the production of renewable energy from biomass. Lactate, a common product of acidic fermentation, is a key intermediate in anaerobic digestion of biomass in the environment and biogas plants. Effective utilization of lactate has been observed in many experimental approaches used to study anaerobic digestion. Interestingly, anaerobic lactate oxidation and lactate oxidizers as a physiological group in methane-yielding microbial communities have not received enough attention in the context of the acetogenic step of anaerobic digestion. This study focuses on metabolic transformation of lactate during the acetogenic and methanogenic steps of anaerobic digestion in methane-yielding bioreactors. Methane-yielding microbial communities instead of pure cultures of acetate producers were used to process artificial lactate-rich media to methane and carbon dioxide in up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors. The media imitated the mixture of acidic products found in anaerobic environments/digesters where lactate fermentation dominates in acidogenesis. Effective utilization of lactate and biogas production was observed. 16S rRNA profiling was used to examine the selected methane-yielding communities. Among Archaea present in the bioreactors, the order Methanosarcinales predominated. The acetoclastic pathway of methane formation was further confirmed by analysis of the stable carbon isotope composition of methane and carbon dioxide. The domain Bacteria was represented by Bacteroidetes , Firmicutes , Proteobacteria , Synergistetes , Actinobacteria , Spirochaetes , Tenericutes , Caldithrix , Verrucomicrobia , Thermotogae , Chloroflexi , Nitrospirae, and Cyanobacteria. Available genome sequences of species and/or genera identified in the microbial communities were searched for genes encoding the lactate

A Gene Module-Based eQTL Analysis Prioritizing Disease Genes and Pathways in Kidney Cancer

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Mary Qu Yang

Full Text Available Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC is the most common and most aggressive form of renal cell cancer (RCC. The incidence of RCC has increased steadily in recent years. The pathogenesis of renal cell cancer remains poorly understood. Many of the tumor suppressor genes, oncogenes, and dysregulated pathways in ccRCC need to be revealed for improvement of the overall clinical outlook of the disease. Here, we developed a systems biology approach to prioritize the somatic mutated genes that lead to dysregulation of pathways in ccRCC. The method integrated multi-layer information to infer causative mutations and disease genes. First, we identified differential gene modules in ccRCC by coupling transcriptome and protein-protein interactions. Each of these modules consisted of interacting genes that were involved in similar biological processes and their combined expression alterations were significantly associated with disease type. Then, subsequent gene module-based eQTL analysis revealed somatic mutated genes that had driven the expression alterations of differential gene modules. Our study yielded a list of candidate disease genes, including several known ccRCC causative genes such as BAP1 and PBRM1, as well as novel genes such as NOD2, RRM1, CSRNP1, SLC4A2, TTLL1 and CNTN1. The differential gene modules and their driver genes revealed by our study provided a new perspective for understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the disease. Moreover, we validated the results in independent ccRCC patient datasets. Our study provided a new method for prioritizing disease genes and pathways. Keywords: ccRCC, Causative mutation, Pathways, Protein-protein interaction, Gene module, eQTL

Using normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) to estimate sugarcane yield and yield components

Science.gov (United States)

Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) yield and yield components are important traits for growers and scientists to evaluate and select cultivars. Collection of these yield data would be labor intensive and time consuming in the early selection stages of sugarcane breeding cultivar development programs with a ...

Potato yield and yield structure depending on irrigation

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Milić Stanko

2010-01-01

Full Text Available In the agroclimatic conditions of the Vojvodina Province, the application of an economic water regime and modern technology is necessary for stable and intensive potato production. A two-year experiment on calcareous chernozem was carried out to determine how irrigation and different pre-irrigation soil moisture affect potato yield and distribution of tuber fraction in the potato yield. The block-design trial had four replicates and was adapted for sprinkler irrigation conditions. It included four treatments: irrigation with pre-irrigation moisture levels of 60 % of field water capacity (FC, irrigation with pre-irrigation moisture levels of 70 % (FC, irrigation with pre-irrigation moisture levels of 80% (FC, and a non-irrigated control treatment. Irrigation significantly increased the yield of potato, which increased from 37.27 % to 75.86 %. Under irrigation, the percentage of small fractions decreased in favour of the 55 mm one, or fractions above the 45-55 mm range. On average, irrigated treatments produced significantly more tubers than the conditions of natural water supply. .

Variation, heritability and association of yield, fiber and morphological traits in a near long staple upland cotton population

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shao, D.; Wang, T.; Zhang, H.; Zhu, J.; Tang, F.

2016-01-01

Development of near long staple (NLS) cotton germplasm represents a remarkable improvement in fiber properties of upland genotypes without compromising yield potential. This study aimed to evaluate a NLS population for variability in yield, fiber and morphological traits, investigate heritability and genetic advance of these traits, and analyze the interrelationships among them. The NLS lines exhibited large variation for lint yield per hectare and bolls per plant, while little variation for fiber properties. The highest genotypic (GCV) and phenotypic (PCV) coefficient of variation were recorded by lint yield per hectare (25.10%, 23.00%) followed by bolls per plant (18.88%, 16.38%). High heritability along with high response to selection was documented in plant height, bolls per plant and lint yield per hectare indicating that the additive gene function model in the inheritance of these traits and direct selection can be profitably applied on them. Favourable associations were found among fiber length, strength and fineness in this population. It is concluded that there is a great potential in the NSL population for further enhancing yield while maintaining high fiber quality. (author)

Chromosome aberration yields in human lymphocytes induced by fractionated doses of x-radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Purrott, R.J.; Reeder, E.

1976-01-01

Unstimulated (G 0 ) human peripheral blood lymphocytes were exposed at 37degC to doses of 200 or 500 rad of X-rays delivered in two equal fractions. The dose fractions were separated by intervals of up to 7 h in the 200 rad study and up to 48 h for 500 rad. In both studies the mean levels of dicentrics and total unstable aberrations began to decline when fractions were delivered with intervals of greater than 2 h. With 200 rad the yield had decreased to an additive baseline (i.e. equal to only twice the yield of a single 100-rad fraction) by an interval of 4 h. Following 500 rad the yield declined until 8 h and then remained 20% above the expected additive baseline even when 48 h separated the fractions. Possible explanations for this discrepancy are discussed. In a second experiment PHA stimulated lymphocyte cultures were exposed to 2 doses of 125 rad of X-rays up to 7 h apart in an attempt to demonstrate the late peak in aberration yield originally reported by Lane. Control cultures received unsplit doses of 250 rad at the time of the corresponding second 125-rad fraction. No evidence of a late peak in dicentric yield was observed. The yield remained approximately the same irrespective of the time interval between fractions but these split dose yields were significantly different from the accompanying unsplit controls

Compression of freestanding gold nanostructures: from stochastic yield to predictable flow

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mook, W M; Niederberger, C; Bechelany, M; Philippe, L; Michler, J

2010-01-01

Characterizing the mechanical response of isolated nanostructures is vitally important to fields such as microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) where the behaviour of nanoscale contacts can in large part determine system reliability and lifetime. To address this challenge directly, single crystal gold nanodots are compressed inside a high resolution scanning electron microscope (SEM) using a nanoindenter equipped with a flat punch tip. These structures load elastically, and then yield in a stochastic manner, at loads ranging from 16 to 110 μN, which is up to five times higher than the load necessary for flow after yield. Yielding is immediately followed by displacement bursts equivalent to 1-50% of the initial height, depending on the yield point. During the largest displacement bursts, strain energy within the structure is released while new surface area is created in the form of localized slip bands, which are evident in both the SEM movies and still-images. A first order estimate of the apparent energy release rate, in terms of fracture mechanics concepts, for bursts representing 5-50% of the structure's initial height is on the order of 10-100 J m -2 , which is approximately two orders of magnitude lower than bulk values. Once this initial strain burst during yielding has occurred, the structures flow in a ductile way. The implications of this behaviour, which is analogous to a brittle to ductile transition, are discussed with respect to mechanical reliability at the micro- and nanoscales.

Unwinding after high salinity stress: Pea DNA helicase 45 over- expression in tobacco confers high salinity tolerance without affecting yield (abstract)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tuteja, N.

2005-01-01

Soil salinity is an increasing threat for agriculture and is a major factor in reducing plant productivity; therefore, it is necessary to obtain salinity-tolerant varieties. A typical characteristic of soil salinity is the induction of multiple stress- inducible genes. Some of the genes encoding osmolytes, ion channels or enzymes are able to confer salinity-tolerant phenotypes when transferred to sensitive plants. As salinity stress affects the cellular gene-expression machinery, it is evident that molecules involved in nucleic acid processing including helicases, are likely to be affected as well. DNA helicases unwind duplex DNA and are involved in replication, repair, recombination and transcription while RNA helicases unfold the secondary structures in RNA and are involved in transcription, ribosome biogenesis and translation initiation. We have earlier reported the isolation of a pea DNA helicase 45 (PDH45) that exhibits striking homology with eIF-4A (Plant J. 24:219-230,2000). Here we report that PDH45 mRNA is induced in pea seedlings in response to high salt and its over- expression driven by a constitutive CAMV-355-promoter in tobacco plants confers salinity tolerance, thus suggesting a new pathway for manipulating stress tolerance in crop plants. The T0 transgenic plants showed high-levels of PDH45 protein in normal and stress conditions, as compared to wild type (WT) plants. The T0 transgenics also showed tolerance to high salinity as tested by a leaf disc senescence assay. The T1 transgenics were able to grow to maturity and set normal viable seeds under continuous salinity stress, without any reduction in plant yield, in terms of seed weight. Measurement of Na/sup +/ ions in different parts of the plant showed higher accumulation in the old leaves and negligible in seeds of T1 transgenic lines as compared with the WT plants. The possible mechanism of salinity tolerance will be discussed. Over-expression of PDH45 provides a possible example of the

Fto colocalizes with a satiety mediator oxytocin in the brain and upregulates oxytocin gene expression

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Olszewski, Pawel K., E-mail: olsze005@umn.edu [Department of Neuroscience, Functional Pharmacology, Uppsala University, 75124 Uppsala (Sweden); Minnesota Obesity Center, Saint Paul, MN 55108 (United States); Fredriksson, Robert; Eriksson, Jenny D. [Department of Neuroscience, Functional Pharmacology, Uppsala University, 75124 Uppsala (Sweden); Mitra, Anaya [Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Saint Paul, MN 55108 (United States); Radomska, Katarzyna J. [Department of Neuroscience, Functional Pharmacology, Uppsala University, 75124 Uppsala (Sweden); Gosnell, Blake A. [Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Saint Paul, MN 55108 (United States); Solvang, Maria N. [Department of Neuroscience, Functional Pharmacology, Uppsala University, 75124 Uppsala (Sweden); Levine, Allen S. [Minnesota Obesity Center, Saint Paul, MN 55108 (United States); Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Saint Paul, MN 55108 (United States); Schioeth, Helgi B. [Department of Neuroscience, Functional Pharmacology, Uppsala University, 75124 Uppsala (Sweden)

2011-05-13

Highlights: {yields} The majority of neurons synthesizing a satiety mediator, oxytocin, coexpress Fto. {yields} The level of colocalization is similar in the male and female brain. {yields} Fto overexpression in hypothalamic neurons increases oxytocin mRNA levels by 50%. {yields} Oxytocin does not affect Fto expression through negative feedback mechanisms. -- Abstract: Single nucleotide polymorphisms in the fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene have been associated with obesity in humans. Alterations in Fto expression in transgenic animals affect body weight, energy expenditure and food intake. Fto, a nuclear protein and proposed transcription co-factor, has been speculated to affect energy balance through a functional relationship with specific genes encoding feeding-related peptides. Herein, we employed double immunohistochemistry and showed that the majority of neurons synthesizing a satiety mediator, oxytocin, coexpress Fto in the brain of male and female mice. We then overexpressed Fto in a murine hypothalamic cell line and, using qPCR, detected a 50% increase in the level of oxytocin mRNA. Expression levels of several other feeding-related genes, including neuropeptide Y (NPY) and Agouti-related protein (AgRP), were unaffected by the FTO transfection. Addition of 10 and 100 nmol oxytocin to the cell culture medium did not affect Fto expression in hypothalamic cells. We conclude that Fto, a proposed transcription co-factor, influences expression of the gene encoding a satiety mediator, oxytocin.

Transcriptome-wide selection of a reliable set of reference genes for gene expression studies in potato cyst nematodes (Globodera spp.).

Science.gov (United States)

Sabeh, Michael; Duceppe, Marc-Olivier; St-Arnaud, Marc; Mimee, Benjamin

2018-01-01

Relative gene expression analyses by qRT-PCR (quantitative reverse transcription PCR) require an internal control to normalize the expression data of genes of interest and eliminate the unwanted variation introduced by sample preparation. A perfect reference gene should have a constant expression level under all the experimental conditions. However, the same few housekeeping genes selected from the literature or successfully used in previous unrelated experiments are often routinely used in new conditions without proper validation of their stability across treatments. The advent of RNA-Seq and the availability of public datasets for numerous organisms are opening the way to finding better reference genes for expression studies. Globodera rostochiensis is a plant-parasitic nematode that is particularly yield-limiting for potato. The aim of our study was to identify a reliable set of reference genes to study G. rostochiensis gene expression. Gene expression levels from an RNA-Seq database were used to identify putative reference genes and were validated with qRT-PCR analysis. Three genes, GR, PMP-3, and aaRS, were found to be very stable within the experimental conditions of this study and are proposed as reference genes for future work.

Comparing predicted yield and yield stability of willow and Miscanthus across Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Søren; Jaiswal, Deepak; Bentsen, Niclas Scott

2016-01-01

was 12.1 Mg DM ha−1 yr−1 for willow and 10.2 Mg DM ha−1 yr−1 for Miscanthus. Coefficent of variation as a measure for yield stability was poorest on the sandy soils of northern and western Jutland and the year-to-year variation in yield was greatest on these soils. Willow was predicted to outyield...... Miscanthus on poor, sandy soils whereas Miscanthus was higher yielding on clay-rich soils. The major driver of yield in both crops was variation in soil moisture, with radiation and precipitation exerting less influence. This is the first time these two major feedstocks for northern Europe have been compared....... The semi-mechanistic crop model BioCro was used to simulate the production of both short rotation coppice (SRC) willow and Miscanthus across Denmark. Predictions were made from high spatial resolution soil data and weather records across this area for 1990-2010. The potential average, rain-fed mean yield...

Exploring (novel) gene expression during retinoid-induced maturation and cell death of acute promyelocytic leukemia.

Science.gov (United States)

Benoit, G R; Tong, J H; Balajthy, Z; Lanotte, M

2001-01-01

During recent years, reports have shown that biological responses of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) cells to retinoids are more complex than initially envisioned. PML-RARalpha chimeric protein disturbs various biological processes such as cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. The distinct biological programs that regulate these processes stem from specific transcriptional activation of distinct (but overlapping) sets of genes. These programs are sometimes mutually exclusive and depend on whether the signals are delivered by RAR or RXR agonists. Furthermore, evidence that retinoid nuclear signaling by retinoid, on its own, is not enough to trigger these cellular responses is rapidly accumulating. Indeed, work with NB4 cells show that the fate of APL cells treated by retinoid depends on complex signaling cross-talk. Elucidation of the sequence of events and cascades of transcriptional regulation necessary for APL cell maturation will be an additional tool with which to further improve therapy by retinoids. In this task, the classical techniques used to analyze gene expression have proved time consuming, and their yield has been limited. Global analyses of the APL cell transcriptome are needed. We review the technical approaches currently available (differential display, complementary DNA microarrays), to identify novel genes involved in the determination of cell fate.

Reranking candidate gene models with cross-species comparison for improved gene prediction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pereira Fernando CN

2008-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Most gene finders score candidate gene models with state-based methods, typically HMMs, by combining local properties (coding potential, splice donor and acceptor patterns, etc. Competing models with similar state-based scores may be distinguishable with additional information. In particular, functional and comparative genomics datasets may help to select among competing models of comparable probability by exploiting features likely to be associated with the correct gene models, such as conserved exon/intron structure or protein sequence features. Results We have investigated the utility of a simple post-processing step for selecting among a set of alternative gene models, using global scoring rules to rerank competing models for more accurate prediction. For each gene locus, we first generate the K best candidate gene models using the gene finder Evigan, and then rerank these models using comparisons with putative orthologous genes from closely-related species. Candidate gene models with lower scores in the original gene finder may be selected if they exhibit strong similarity to probable orthologs in coding sequence, splice site location, or signal peptide occurrence. Experiments on Drosophila melanogaster demonstrate that reranking based on cross-species comparison outperforms the best gene models identified by Evigan alone, and also outperforms the comparative gene finders GeneWise and Augustus+. Conclusion Reranking gene models with cross-species comparison improves gene prediction accuracy. This straightforward method can be readily adapted to incorporate additional lines of evidence, as it requires only a ranked source of candidate gene models.

Sorted gene genealogies and species-specific nonsynonymous substitutions point to putative postmating prezygotic isolation genes in Allonemobius crickets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suegene Noh

2016-02-01

Full Text Available In the Allonemobius socius complex of crickets, reproductive isolation is primarily accomplished via postmating prezygotic barriers. We tested seven protein-coding genes expressed in the male ejaculate for patterns of evolution consistent with a putative role as postmating prezygotic isolation genes. Our recently diverged species generally lacked sequence variation. As a result, ω-based tests were only mildly successful. Some of our genes showed evidence of elevated ω values on the internal branches of gene trees. In a couple of genes, these internal branches coincided with both species branching events of the species tree, between A. fasciatus and the other two species, and between A. socius and A. sp. nov. Tex. In comparison, more successful approaches were those that took advantage of the varying degrees of lineage sorting and allele sharing among our young species. These approaches were particularly powerful within the contact zone. Among the genes we tested we found genes with genealogies that indicated relatively advanced degrees of lineage sorting across both allopatric and contact zone alleles. Within a contact zone between two members of the species complex, only a subset of genes maintained allelic segregation despite evidence of ongoing gene flow in other genes. The overlap in these analyses was arginine kinase (AK and apolipoprotein A-1 binding protein (APBP. These genes represent two of the first examples of sperm maturation, capacitation, and motility proteins with fixed non-synonymous substitutions between species-specific alleles that may lead to postmating prezygotic isolation. Both genes express ejaculate proteins transferred to females during copulation and were previously identified through comparative proteomics. We discuss the potential function of these genes in the context of the specific postmating prezygotic isolation phenotype among our species, namely conspecific sperm precedence and the superior ability of

Functional and bioinformatics analysis of an exopolysaccharide-related gene (epsN) from Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens ZW3.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jingrui; Tang, Wei; Zheng, Yongna; Xing, Zhuqing; Wang, Yanping

2016-09-01

A novel lactic acid bacteria strain Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens ZW3 exhibited the characteristics of high production of exopolysaccharide (EPS). The epsN gene, located in the eps gene cluster of this strain, is associated with EPS biosynthesis. Bioinformatics analysis of this gene was performed. The conserved domain analysis showed that the EpsN protein contained MATE-Wzx-like domains. Then the epsN gene was amplified to construct the recombinant expression vector pMG36e-epsN. The results showed that the EPS yields of the recombinants were significantly improved. By determining the yields of EPS and intracellular polysaccharide, it was considered that epsN gene could play its Wzx flippase role in the EPS biosynthesis. This is the first time to prove the effect of EpsN on L. kefiranofaciens EPS biosynthesis and further prove its functional property.

Bayesian assignment of gene ontology terms to gene expression experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Sykacek, P.

2012-01-01

Motivation: Gene expression assays allow for genome scale analyses of molecular biological mechanisms. State-of-the-art data analysis provides lists of involved genes, either by calculating significance levels of mRNA abundance or by Bayesian assessments of gene activity. A common problem of such approaches is the difficulty of interpreting the biological implication of the resulting gene lists. This lead to an increased interest in methods for inferring high-level biological information. A common approach for representing high level information is by inferring gene ontology (GO) terms which may be attributed to the expression data experiment. Results: This article proposes a probabilistic model for GO term inference. Modelling assumes that gene annotations to GO terms are available and gene involvement in an experiment is represented by a posterior probabilities over gene-specific indicator variables. Such probability measures result from many Bayesian approaches for expression data analysis. The proposed model combines these indicator probabilities in a probabilistic fashion and provides a probabilistic GO term assignment as a result. Experiments on synthetic and microarray data suggest that advantages of the proposed probabilistic GO term inference over statistical test-based approaches are in particular evident for sparsely annotated GO terms and in situations of large uncertainty about gene activity. Provided that appropriate annotations exist, the proposed approach is easily applied to inferring other high level assignments like pathways. Availability: Source code under GPL license is available from the author. Contact: peter.sykacek@boku.ac.at PMID:22962488

Bayesian assignment of gene ontology terms to gene expression experiments.

Science.gov (United States)

Sykacek, P

2012-09-15

Gene expression assays allow for genome scale analyses of molecular biological mechanisms. State-of-the-art data analysis provides lists of involved genes, either by calculating significance levels of mRNA abundance or by Bayesian assessments of gene activity. A common problem of such approaches is the difficulty of interpreting the biological implication of the resulting gene lists. This lead to an increased interest in methods for inferring high-level biological information. A common approach for representing high level information is by inferring gene ontology (GO) terms which may be attributed to the expression data experiment. This article proposes a probabilistic model for GO term inference. Modelling assumes that gene annotations to GO terms are available and gene involvement in an experiment is represented by a posterior probabilities over gene-specific indicator variables. Such probability measures result from many Bayesian approaches for expression data analysis. The proposed model combines these indicator probabilities in a probabilistic fashion and provides a probabilistic GO term assignment as a result. Experiments on synthetic and microarray data suggest that advantages of the proposed probabilistic GO term inference over statistical test-based approaches are in particular evident for sparsely annotated GO terms and in situations of large uncertainty about gene activity. Provided that appropriate annotations exist, the proposed approach is easily applied to inferring other high level assignments like pathways. Source code under GPL license is available from the author. peter.sykacek@boku.ac.at.

Constitutive expression of CaPLA1 conferred enhanced growth and grain yield in transgenic rice plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Ki Youl; Kim, Eun Yu; Seo, Young Sam; Kim, Woo Taek

2016-03-01

Phospholipids are not only important components of cell membranes, but participate in diverse processes in higher plants. In this study, we generated Capsicum annuum phospholipiase A1 (CaPLA1) overexpressing transgenic rice (Oryza sativa L.) plants under the control of the maize ubiquitin promoter. The T4 CaPLA1-overexpressing rice plants (Ubi:CaPLA1) had a higher root:shoot mass ratio than the wild-type plants in the vegetative stage. Leaf epidermal cells from transgenic plants had more cells than wild-type plants. Genes that code for cyclin and lipid metabolic enzymes were up-regulated in the transgenic lines. When grown under typical paddy field conditions, the transgenic plants produced more tillers, longer panicles and more branches per panicle than the wild-type plants, all of which resulted in greater grain yield. Microarray analysis suggests that gene expressions that are related with cell proliferation, lipid metabolism, and redox state were widely altered in CaPLA1-overexpressing transgenic rice plants. Ubi:CaPLA1 plants had a reduced membrane peroxidation state, as determined by malondialdehyde and conjugated diene levels and higher peroxidase activity than wild-type rice plants. Furthermore, three isoprenoid synthetic genes encoding terpenoid synthase, hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase and 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-CoA reductase were up-regulated in CaPLA1-overexpressing plants. We suggest that constitutive expression of CaPLA1 conferred increased grain yield with enhanced growth in transgenic rice plants by alteration of gene activities related with cell proliferation, lipid metabolism, membrane peroxidation state and isoprenoid biosynthesis.

Homology-dependent Gene Silencing in Paramecium

Science.gov (United States)

Ruiz, Françoise; Vayssié, Laurence; Klotz, Catherine; Sperling, Linda; Madeddu, Luisa

1998-01-01

Microinjection at high copy number of plasmids containing only the coding region of a gene into the Paramecium somatic macronucleus led to a marked reduction in the expression of the corresponding endogenous gene(s). The silencing effect, which is stably maintained throughout vegetative growth, has been observed for all Paramecium genes examined so far: a single-copy gene (ND7), as well as members of multigene families (centrin genes and trichocyst matrix protein genes) in which all closely related paralogous genes appeared to be affected. This phenomenon may be related to posttranscriptional gene silencing in transgenic plants and quelling in Neurospora and allows the efficient creation of specific mutant phenotypes thus providing a potentially powerful tool to study gene function in Paramecium. For the two multigene families that encode proteins that coassemble to build up complex subcellular structures the analysis presented herein provides the first experimental evidence that the members of these gene families are not functionally redundant. PMID:9529389

Global evaluation of a semiempirical model for yield anomalies and application to within-season yield forecasting.

Science.gov (United States)

Schauberger, Bernhard; Gornott, Christoph; Wechsung, Frank

2017-11-01

Quantifying the influence of weather on yield variability is decisive for agricultural management under current and future climate anomalies. We extended an existing semiempirical modeling scheme that allows for such quantification. Yield anomalies, measured as interannual differences, were modeled for maize, soybeans, and wheat in the United States and 32 other main producer countries. We used two yield data sets, one derived from reported yields and the other from a global yield data set deduced from remote sensing. We assessed the capacity of the model to forecast yields within the growing season. In the United States, our model can explain at least two-thirds (63%-81%) of observed yield anomalies. Its out-of-sample performance (34%-55%) suggests a robust yield projection capacity when applied to unknown weather. Out-of-sample performance is lower when using remote sensing-derived yield data. The share of weather-driven yield fluctuation varies spatially, and estimated coefficients agree with expectations. Globally, the explained variance in yield anomalies based on the remote sensing data set is similar to the United States (71%-84%). But the out-of-sample performance is lower (15%-42%). The performance discrepancy is likely due to shortcomings of the remote sensing yield data as it diminishes when using reported yield anomalies instead. Our model allows for robust forecasting of yields up to 2 months before harvest for several main producer countries. An additional experiment suggests moderate yield losses under mean warming, assuming no major changes in temperature extremes. We conclude that our model can detect weather influences on yield anomalies and project yields with unknown weather. It requires only monthly input data and has a low computational demand. Its within-season yield forecasting capacity provides a basis for practical applications like local adaptation planning. Our study underlines high-quality yield monitoring and statistics as critical

THE INFLUENCE OF FERTILIZATION ON YIELD AND YIELD COMPONENT FORMATION OF SOYBEAN VARIETIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eva CANDRÁKOVÁ

2009-03-01

Full Text Available In 2005 and 2006, the influence of fertilization was investigated on forming of yield components and yield of three soybean varieties in sugar beet growing area. Varieties Korada, Supra and OAC Vision were grown. Number of plants per m2, number of pods per plant, number of seeds in pod, thousand seeds weight, yield of seeds, yield of stems and harvest index were examined. Variants of fertilization: I. non-fertilized control, II. LAV 27 % (40 kg ha-1 net nutrient of N in growing stage of first pair of true leaves unfolded, III. Humix komplet (rate 8 l.ha-1 applied in growing stage of first pair of true leaves unfolded (4 l.ha-1 and in growing stage of first flower buds visible (4 l.ha-1, IV. Humix komplet in rate 8 l.ha-1 applied in growing stage of first pair of true leaves unfolded. The yields of seeds and stems were high significantly influenced by variety, fertilization and year. The significantly highest yield of seeds was achieved by Korada variety (4,04 t.ha-1. Varieties OAC Vision and Supra reached yields in interval 3,74-3,84 t.ha-1. Split rate of Humix komplet (III var significantly influenced yield of seeds and stems. The fertilization have increased weight of seeds in proportion to aboveground phyto-mass weight, what was expressed by harvest index.

Leveraging gene-environment interactions and endotypes for asthma gene discovery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bønnelykke, Klaus; Ober, Carole

2016-01-01

, such as childhood asthma with severe exacerbations, and on relevant exposures that are involved in gene-environment interactions (GEIs), such as rhinovirus infections, will improve detection of asthma genes and our understanding of the underlying mechanisms. We will discuss the challenges of considering GEIs......Asthma is a heterogeneous clinical syndrome that includes subtypes of disease with different underlying causes and disease mechanisms. Asthma is caused by a complex interaction between genes and environmental exposures; early-life exposures in particular play an important role. Asthma is also...... heritable, and a number of susceptibility variants have been discovered in genome-wide association studies, although the known risk alleles explain only a small proportion of the heritability. In this review, we present evidence supporting the hypothesis that focusing on more specific asthma phenotypes...

Subprimal purchasing and merchandising decisions for pork: relationship to retail yield and fabrication time.

Science.gov (United States)

Lorenzen, C L; Griffin, D B; Dockerty, T R; Walter, J P; Johnson, H K; Savell, J W

1996-01-01

Boxed pork was obtained to represent four different purchase specifications (different anatomical separation locations and[or] external fat trim levels) common in the pork industry to conduct a study of retail yields and labor requirements. Bone-in loins (n = 180), boneless loins (n = 94), and Boston butts (n = 148) were assigned randomly to fabrication styles within subprimals. When comparing cutting styles within subprimals, it was evident that cutting style affected percentage of retail yield and cutting time. When more bone-in cuts were prepared from bone-in loin subprimals, retail yields ranged from 92.80 +/- .61 to 95.28 +/- .45%, and processing times ranged from 222.57 +/- 10.13 to 318.99 +/- 7.85 s, from the four suppliers. When more boneless cuts were prepared from bone-in loin subprimals, retail yields ranged from 71.12 +/- 1.10 to 77.92 +/- .77% and processing times ranged from 453.49 +/- 8.95 to 631.09 +/- 15.04 s from the different loins. Comparing boneless to bone-in cuts from bone-in loins resulted in lower yields and required greater processing times. Significant variations in yields and times were found within cutting styles. These differences seemed to have been the result of variation in supplier fat trim level and anatomical separation (primarily scribe length).

Evidence for STAT4 as a common autoimmune gene: rs7574865 is associated with colonic Crohn's disease and early disease onset.

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Jürgen Glas

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Recent studies demonstrated an association of STAT4 variants with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE and rheumatoid arthritis (RA, indicating that multiple autoimmune diseases share common susceptibility genes. We therefore investigated the influence of STAT4 variants on the susceptibility and phenotype of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD in a large patient and control cohort. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Genomic DNA from 2704 individuals of Caucasian origin including 857 patients with Crohn's disease (CD, 464 patients with ulcerative colitis (UC, and 1383 healthy, unrelated controls was analyzed for seven SNPs in the STAT4 gene (rs11889341, rs7574865, rs7568275, rs8179673, rs10181656, rs7582694, rs10174238. In addition, a detailed genotype-phenotype analysis was performed. Our analysis revealed an association of the STAT4 SNP rs7574865 with overall decreased susceptibility to CD (p = 0.047, OR 0.86 [95% CI 0.74-0.99]. However, compared to CD patients carrying the wild type genotype, the STAT4 SNP rs7574865 was significantly associated with early CD onset (p = 0.021 and colonic CD (p = 0.008; OR = 4.60, 95% CI 1.63-12.96. For two other STAT4 variants, there was a trend towards protection against CD susceptibility (rs7568275, p = 0.058, OR 0.86 [95% CI 0.74-1.00]; rs10174238, p = 0.057, OR 0.86 [95% CI 0.75-1.00]. In contrast, we did not observe any association with UC susceptibility. Evidence for weak gene-gene interaction of STAT4 with the IL23R SNP rs11209026 was lost after Bonferroni correction. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results identified the STAT4 SNP rs7574865 as a disease-modifying gene variant in colonic CD. However, in contrast to SLE and RA, the effect of rs7574865 on CD susceptibility is only weak.

Evidence for STAT4 as a common autoimmune gene: rs7574865 is associated with colonic Crohn's disease and early disease onset.

Science.gov (United States)

Glas, Jürgen; Seiderer, Julia; Nagy, Melinda; Fries, Christoph; Beigel, Florian; Weidinger, Maria; Pfennig, Simone; Klein, Wolfram; Epplen, Jörg T; Lohse, Peter; Folwaczny, Matthias; Göke, Burkhard; Ochsenkühn, Thomas; Diegelmann, Julia; Müller-Myhsok, Bertram; Roeske, Darina; Brand, Stephan

2010-04-29

Recent studies demonstrated an association of STAT4 variants with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), indicating that multiple autoimmune diseases share common susceptibility genes. We therefore investigated the influence of STAT4 variants on the susceptibility and phenotype of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) in a large patient and control cohort. Genomic DNA from 2704 individuals of Caucasian origin including 857 patients with Crohn's disease (CD), 464 patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), and 1383 healthy, unrelated controls was analyzed for seven SNPs in the STAT4 gene (rs11889341, rs7574865, rs7568275, rs8179673, rs10181656, rs7582694, rs10174238). In addition, a detailed genotype-phenotype analysis was performed. Our analysis revealed an association of the STAT4 SNP rs7574865 with overall decreased susceptibility to CD (p = 0.047, OR 0.86 [95% CI 0.74-0.99]). However, compared to CD patients carrying the wild type genotype, the STAT4 SNP rs7574865 was significantly associated with early CD onset (p = 0.021) and colonic CD (p = 0.008; OR = 4.60, 95% CI 1.63-12.96). For two other STAT4 variants, there was a trend towards protection against CD susceptibility (rs7568275, p = 0.058, OR 0.86 [95% CI 0.74-1.00]; rs10174238, p = 0.057, OR 0.86 [95% CI 0.75-1.00]). In contrast, we did not observe any association with UC susceptibility. Evidence for weak gene-gene interaction of STAT4 with the IL23R SNP rs11209026 was lost after Bonferroni correction. Our results identified the STAT4 SNP rs7574865 as a disease-modifying gene variant in colonic CD. However, in contrast to SLE and RA, the effect of rs7574865 on CD susceptibility is only weak.

Prioritizing genes associated with prostate cancer development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gorlov, Ivan P; Logothetis, Christopher J; Sircar, Kanishka; Zhao, Hongya; Maity, Sankar N; Navone, Nora M; Gorlova, Olga Y; Troncoso, Patricia; Pettaway, Curtis A; Byun, Jin Young

2010-01-01

The genetic control of prostate cancer development is poorly understood. Large numbers of gene-expression datasets on different aspects of prostate tumorigenesis are available. We used these data to identify and prioritize candidate genes associated with the development of prostate cancer and bone metastases. Our working hypothesis was that combining meta-analyses on different but overlapping steps of prostate tumorigenesis will improve identification of genes associated with prostate cancer development. A Z score-based meta-analysis of gene-expression data was used to identify candidate genes associated with prostate cancer development. To put together different datasets, we conducted a meta-analysis on 3 levels that follow the natural history of prostate cancer development. For experimental verification of candidates, we used in silico validation as well as in-house gene-expression data. Genes with experimental evidence of an association with prostate cancer development were overrepresented among our top candidates. The meta-analysis also identified a considerable number of novel candidate genes with no published evidence of a role in prostate cancer development. Functional annotation identified cytoskeleton, cell adhesion, extracellular matrix, and cell motility as the top functions associated with prostate cancer development. We identified 10 genes--CDC2, CCNA2, IGF1, EGR1, SRF, CTGF, CCL2, CAV1, SMAD4, and AURKA--that form hubs of the interaction network and therefore are likely to be primary drivers of prostate cancer development. By using this large 3-level meta-analysis of the gene-expression data to identify candidate genes associated with prostate cancer development, we have generated a list of candidate genes that may be a useful resource for researchers studying the molecular mechanisms underlying prostate cancer development

[Accepted Manuscript] Annual Crop Yield Variation, Child Survival and Nutrition among Subsistence Farmers in Burkina Faso.

OpenAIRE

Belesova, K.; Gasparrini, A.; Sié, A.; Sauerborn, R.; Wilkinson, P.

2017-01-01

Whether year to year variation in crop yields affects the nutrition, health, and survival of subsistence farming populations is relevant to the understanding of the potential impacts of climate change. However, the empirical evidence is limited. We examined the association of child survival with inter-annual variation in food crop yield and middle-upper arm circumference (MUAC) in a subsistence farming population of rural Burkina Faso. The study was of 44,616 children < 5 years of age incl...

Identification of differentially expressed genes between developing seeds of different soybean cultivars

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Rongshuang Lin

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Soybean is a major source of protein and oil and a primary feedstock for biodiesel production. Research on soybean seed composition and yield has revealed that protein, oil and yield are controlled quantitatively and quantitative trait loci (QTL have been identified for each of these traits. However, very limited information is available regarding the genetic mechanisms controlling seed composition and yield. To help address this deficiency, we used Affymetrix Soybean GeneChips® to identify genes that are differentially expressed between developing seeds of the Minsoy and Archer soybean cultivars, which differ in seed weight, yield, protein content and oil content. A total of 700 probe sets were found to be expressed at significantly different (defined as having an adjusted p-value below or equal to 0.05 and an at least 2-fold difference levels between the two cultivars at one or more of the three developmental stages and in at least one of the two years assayed. Comparison of data from soybeans collected in two different years revealed that 97 probe sets were expressed at significantly different levels in both years. Functional annotations were assigned to 78% of these 97 probe sets based on the SoyBase Affymetrix™ GeneChip® Soybean Genome Array Annotation. Genes involved in receptor binding/activity and protein binding are overrepresented among the group of 97 probe sets that were differentially expressed in both years assayed. Probe sets involved in growth/development, signal transduction, transcription, defense/stress response and protein and lipid metabolism were also identified among the 97 probe sets and their possible implications in the regulation of agronomic traits are discussed. As the Minsoy and Archer soybean cultivars differ with respect to seed size, yield, protein content and lipid content, some of the differentially expressed probe sets identified in this study may thus play important roles in controlling these traits

Effects of application boron on yields, yield component and oil ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study was conducted to investigate the effects of five boron (B) doses; 0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0 kg B ha-1 in B-deficient calcareous soils on yield and some yield components of four sunflower genotypes. Genotypes have shown variations with respect to their responses to B applications. AS-615 and Coban had the ...

Influence of Inter and Intra-rows Spacing on Yield and Yield ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Abyssinia

yield and yield components of fresh market(Bishola) and processing (Cochoro) tomato cultivars. ... row spacing had a significant effect on plan canopy width, above ground dry biomass, ... Poor varietal performance and management practices that includeinter and intra-row spacing ..... of assimilate export from the leaves.

Responses of Winter Wheat Yields to Warming-Mediated Vernalization Variations Across Temperate Europe

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Xiuchen Wu

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Rapid climate warming, with much higher warming rates in winter and spring, could affect the vernalization fulfillment, a critical process for induction of crop reproductive growth and consequent grain filling in temperate winter crops. However, regional observational evidence of the effects of historical warming-mediated vernalization variations on temperate winter crop yields is lacking. Here, we statistically quantified the interannual sensitivity of winter wheat yields to vernalization degree days (VDD during 1975–2009 and its spatial relationship with multi-year mean VDD over temperate Europe (TE, using EUROSTAT crop yield statistics, observed and simulated crop phenology data and gridded daily climate data. Our results revealed a pervasively positive interannual sensitivity of winter wheat yields to variations in VDD (γVDD over TE, with a mean γVDD of 2.8 ± 1.5 kg ha−1 VDD−1. We revealed a significant (p < 0.05 negative exponential relationship between γVDD and multi-year mean VDD for winter wheat across TE, with higher γVDD in winter wheat planting areas with lower multi-year mean VDD. Our findings shed light on potential vulnerability of winter wheat yields to warming-mediated vernalization variations over TE, particularly considering a likely future warmer climate.

Effects of fertilisation and irrigation practices on yield, maturity and storability of onions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. SUOJALA

2008-12-01

Full Text Available The study aimed to establish whether a high onion yield and good storage performance could be obtained with low fertilisation rates if irrigation was applied when necessary. Two-year experiments investigated the effects of three NPK fertiliser levels (N 50, 100, 125/150 kg/ha, with and without irrigation, on yield, advancement of maturity, storage losses and shelf life. High fertilisation advanced maturity but irrigation had no effect. High fertilisation increased yield only in 1996 (5B7%, but irrigation increased the yield noticeably: by 33.5% in 1995 and 8.5% in 1996. There was no interaction between fertilisation and irrigation. The low fertilisation optimum is attributed to the mineralisation of soil nitrogen, as the soil was rich in organic matter. At the low fertilisation level, plants took up twice as much nitrogen as present in the fertiliser, and with increased fertilisation the nitrogen uptake increased markedly. The foliage nitrogen content was low, evidently as a result of late harvesting. Treatments had only a minor effect on the storage performance and shelf life of onions. The results suggest that fertilisation rates could be reduced in onion production. Irrigation during warm and dry periods is essential to achieve the maximum yield potential and does not impair the storage quality of onions.;

High diagnostic yield of syndromic intellectual disability by targeted next-generation sequencing.

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez, Francisco; Caro-Llopis, Alfonso; Roselló, Mónica; Oltra, Silvestre; Mayo, Sonia; Monfort, Sandra; Orellana, Carmen

2017-02-01

Intellectual disability is a very complex condition where more than 600 genes have been reported. Due to this extraordinary heterogeneity, a large proportion of patients remain without a specific diagnosis and genetic counselling. The need for new methodological strategies in order to detect a greater number of mutations in multiple genes is therefore crucial. In this work, we screened a large panel of 1256 genes (646 pathogenic, 610 candidate) by next-generation sequencing to determine the molecular aetiology of syndromic intellectual disability. A total of 92 patients, negative for previous genetic analyses, were studied together with their parents. Clinically relevant variants were validated by conventional sequencing. A definitive diagnosis was achieved in 29 families by testing the 646 known pathogenic genes. Mutations were found in 25 different genes, where only the genes KMT2D, KMT2A and MED13L were found mutated in more than one patient. A preponderance of de novo mutations was noted even among the X linked conditions. Additionally, seven de novo probably pathogenic mutations were found in the candidate genes AGO1, JARID2, SIN3B, FBXO11, MAP3K7, HDAC2 and SMARCC2. Altogether, this means a diagnostic yield of 39% of the cases (95% CI 30% to 49%). The developed panel proved to be efficient and suitable for the genetic diagnosis of syndromic intellectual disability in a clinical setting. Next-generation sequencing has the potential for high-throughput identification of genetic variations, although the challenges of an adequate clinical interpretation of these variants and the knowledge on further unknown genes causing intellectual disability remain to be solved. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Improvement of enzymatic saccharification yield in Arabidopsis thaliana by ectopic expression of the rice SUB1A-1 transcription factor

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Lizeth Núñez-López

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Saccharification of polysaccharides releases monosaccharides that can be used by ethanol-producing microorganisms in biofuel production. To improve plant biomass as a raw material for saccharification, factors controlling the accumulation and structure of carbohydrates must be identified. Rice SUB1A-1 is a transcription factor that represses the turnover of starch and postpones energy-consuming growth processes under submergence stress. Arabidopsis was employed to test if heterologous expression of SUB1A-1 or SUB1C-1 (a related gene can be used to improve saccharification. Cellulolytic and amylolytic enzymatic treatments confirmed that SUB1A-1 transgenics had better saccharification yield than wild-type (Col-0, mainly from accumulated starch. This improved saccharification yield was developmentally controlled; when compared to Col-0, young transgenic vegetative plants yielded 200–300% more glucose, adult vegetative plants yielded 40–90% more glucose and plants in reproductive stage had no difference in yield. We measured photosynthetic parameters, starch granule microstructure, and transcript abundance of genes involved in starch degradation (SEX4, GWD1, juvenile transition (SPL3-5 and meristematic identity (FUL, SOC1 but found no differences to Col-0, indicating that starch accumulation may be controlled by down-regulation of CONSTANS and FLOWERING LOCUS T by SUB1A-1 as previously reported. SUB1A-1 transgenics also offered less resistance to deformation than wild-type concomitant to up-regulation of AtEXP2 expansin and BGL2 glucan-1,3,-beta-glucosidase. We conclude that heterologous SUB1A-1 expression can improve saccharification yield and softness, two traits needed in bioethanol production.

Efficacy of combining ING4 and TRAIL genes in cancer-targeting gene virotherapy strategy: first evidence in preclinical hepatocellular carcinoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Galal El-Shemi, A; Mohammed Ashshi, A; Oh, E; Jung, B-K; Basalamah, M; Alsaegh, A; Yun, C-O

2018-01-01

Current treatments of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are ineffective and unsatisfactory in many aspects. Cancer-targeting gene virotherapy using oncolytic adenoviruses (OAds) armed with anticancer genes has shown efficacy and safety in clinical trials. Nowadays, both inhibitor of growth 4 (ING4), as a multimodal tumor suppressor gene, and tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), as a potent apoptosis-inducing gene, are experiencing a renaissance in cancer gene therapy. Herein we investigated the antitumor activity and safety of mono- and combined therapy with OAds armed with ING4 (Ad-ΔB/ING4) and TRAIL (Ad-ΔB/TRAIL) gene, respectively, on preclinical models of human HCC. OAd-mediated expression of ING4 or TRAIL transgene was confirmed. Ad-ΔB/TRAIL and/or Ad-ΔB/ING4 exhibited potent killing effect on human HCC cells (HuH7 and Hep3B) but not on normal liver cells. Most importantly, systemic therapy with Ad-ΔB/ING4 plus Ad-ΔB/TRAIL elicited more eradicative effect on an orthotopic mouse model of human HCC than their monotherapy, without causing obvious overlapping toxicity. Mechanistically, Ad-ΔB/ING4 and Ad-ΔB/TRAIL were remarkably cooperated to induce antitumor apoptosis and immune response, and to repress tumor angiogenesis. This is the first study showing that concomitant therapy with Ad-ΔB/ING4 and Ad-ΔB/TRAIL may provide a potential strategy for HCC therapy and merits further investigations to realize its possible clinical translation.

Evidence for ribosomal frameshifting and a novel overlapping gene in the genomes of insect-specific flaviviruses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Firth, Andrew E.; Blitvich, Bradley J.; Wills, Norma M.; Miller, Cathy L.; Atkins, John F.

2010-01-01

Flaviviruses have a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA genome of ∼11 kb, encoding a large polyprotein that is cleaved to produce ∼10 mature proteins. Cell fusing agent virus, Kamiti River virus, Culex flavivirus and several recently discovered flaviviruses have no known vertebrate host and apparently infect only insects. We present compelling bioinformatic evidence for a 253-295 codon overlapping gene (designated fifo) conserved throughout these insect-specific flaviviruses and immunofluorescent detection of its product. Fifo overlaps the NS2A/NS2B coding sequence in the - 1/+ 2 reading frame and is most likely expressed as a trans-frame fusion protein via ribosomal frameshifting at a conserved GGAUUUY slippery heptanucleotide with 3'-adjacent RNA secondary structure (which stimulates efficient frameshifting in vitro). The discovery bears striking parallels to the recently discovered ribosomal frameshifting site in the NS2A coding sequence of the Japanese encephalitis serogroup of flaviviruses and suggests that programmed ribosomal frameshifting may be more widespread in flaviviruses than currently realized.

Ozone Induced Premature Mortality and Crop Yield Loss in China

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Y.; Jiang, F.; Wang, H.

2017-12-01

Exposure to ambient ozone is a major risk factor for health impacts such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cause damage to plant and agricultural crops. But these impacts were usually evaluated separately in earlier studies. We apply Community Multi-scale Air Quality model to simulate the ambient O3 concentration at a resolution of 36 km×36 km across China. Then, we follow Global Burden of Diseases approach and AOT40 (i.e., above a threshold of 40 ppb) metric to estimate the premature mortalities and yield losses of major grain crops (i.e., winter wheat, rice and corn) across China due to surface ozone exposure, respectively. Our results show that ozone exposure leads to nearly 67,700 premature mortalities and 145 billion USD losses in 2014. The ozone induced yield losses of all crop production totaled 78 (49.9-112.6)million metric tons, worth 5.3 (3.4-7.6)billion USD, in China. The relative yield losses ranged from 8.5-14% for winter wheat, 3.9-15% for rice, and 2.2-5.5% for maize. We can see that the top four health affected provinces (Sichuan, Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu) are also ranking on the winter wheat and rice crop yield loss. Our results provide further evidence that surface ozone pollution is becoming urgent air pollution in China, and have important policy implications for China to alleviate the impacts of air pollution.

Effects of heterosis for yield and yield components obtained by crossing divergent alfalfa populations

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Katić Slobodan

2010-01-01

Full Text Available When breeding alfalfa for yield performance, it is necessary to use high-yielding parents obtained by different breeding methods. The assumption at the onset of this research was that crossing highest-yielding domestic cultivars with divergent populations from geographically distant breeding centers could result in the expression of heterotic effects in their hybrids contributing to increased alfalfa yield. The objective of this study was to determine yield and yield components and heterotic effects in hybrid progenies obtained by crossing the domestic cultivars NS Banat ZMS II and NS Mediana ZMS V with the cultivars Pella, Dolichi and Hyliki from Greece, UMSS 2001 from Bolivia and Jogeva 118 from Estonia in two series. The field trial planted in 2006, included 13 F1 hybrids and 6 of 7 initial parents in both series. Heterotic effects for yields of forage and hay were observed in 4 combinations (C NS Banat ZMS II x E Hyliki; C NS Banat ZMS II x E UMSS 2001; C NS Mediana ZMS V x E Hyliki; C NS Mediana ZMS V x E Dolichi. The populations that exhibited heterosis in a set of crossings are recommended for use as parent components for development of high-yielding synthetic alfalfa cultivars. .

Status of fission yield measurements

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