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Cytomixis has been described in many plant species, but not in Thinopyrum . The present study reports spontaneous cytomixis during microsporogenesis in Thinopyrum intermedium (2n = 42), Thinopyrum ponticum (2n = 70), and their F 1 hybrids with wheat. Cytomixis frequently occurred in early prophase I but very rarely in meiosis II. The type of cytomixis that occurred most often was where chromatins migrate from one nucleus into an adjacent cel1. Migration from one nucleus into two or more cells or from two or more nuclei into one cel1 was also observed. After a donor cell transferred chromatin to a recipient cell, the recipient cell would sometimes pass the chromatin on to another cell. Migration did not necessarily occur between cells in the same stage. Cytomixis in Th. ponticum and its hybrids with wheat was more complex than that in Th. intermedium . The possible causes, cytological consequences and genetic significance of cytomixis are discussed.
Thioacetamide (TAA) is a potent hepatotoxicant in acute and chronic hepatic injury. The study examined the protective effect of sesame oil against TAA-induced hepatic injury in rats. Hepatic injury was induced by intraperitoneal injection of 100 mg/kg of TAA for 24 h. Triple doses of sesame oil (1, 2, or 4 mL/kg) was given orally 0, 6, and 12 h after TAA treatment. TAA significantly increased serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels. Sesame oil decreased serum AST and ALT levels and significantly inhibited hepatic lipid peroxidation and nitric oxide levels compared with TAA-alone group. Further, sesame oil significantly inhibited TAA-induced hepatic neutrophil activation marker myeloperoxidase activity. However, sesame oil did not affect hepatic tumor necrosis factor, IL-1β and IL-10 generation in TAA-treated group. In conclusion, sesame oil protects against TAA-induced hepatic injury and oxidative stress via the inhibition of neutrophil activation. However, inflammatory cytokines may not be involved in sesame-oil-associated hepatic protection against TAA in rats.
Wavelets are relatively new mathematical tools that have proven to be quite useful for analyzing time series and spatial data. We provide a basic introduction to wavelet analysis which concentrates on their interpretation in the context of analyzing time series. We illustrate the use of wavelet analysis on time series related to vegetation coverage in the Arctic region.
Wheat kernel morphology is a very important trait for wheat yield improvement. This is the first report of association analysis of kernel morphology traits in wheat breeding lines. In Qinghai, China, the research described here involved genome-wide association analysis in breeding lines derived from synthetic hexaploid wheat with a mixed linear model to identify the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) related to kernel morphology. The 8033 effective Diversity Array Technology (DArT) markers produced a genetic map of 5901.84 cM with an average density of 1.36 markers/cM. Population structure analysis classified 507 breeding lines into three groups by Bayesian structure analysis using unlinked markers. Linkage disequilibrium decay was observed with a map coverage of 2.78 cM. Marker-trait association analysis showed that 15 DArT markers for kernel morphology were detected, located on nine chromosomes, and explained 2.6%–4.0% of the phenotypic variation of kernel area (KA), kernel width (KW), kernel length (KL) and thousand-kernel weight (TKW). The marker 1139297 was related to both the KL and KA traits. Only six DArT markers were close to known QTLs. The parent SHW-L1 carried eight favored alleles, while other seven favored alleles were derived from elite common wheat cultivars. These QTLs, identified in elite breeding lines, should help us understand the kernel morphology trait better, and to provide germplasm for breeding new wheat cultivars for Qinghai Province or other regions.
Although significant progress has been made on Agrobacterium -mediated wheat transformation, the current methodologies use immature embryos as recipient tissues, a process which is labor intensive, time consuming and expensive. In this study, we have managed to develop an Agrobacterium -based transformation scheme using explants derived from mature embryos. Based on transient expression of β -glucuronidase (GUS) marker, mature embryo halves prepared from freshly imbibed seeds were generally most susceptible to Agrobacterium -mediated T-DNA transfer. According to the results of callus induction and shoot production, Yumai 66 and Lunxuan 208 showed higher selection and regeneration efficiency than Bobwhite. In line with this finding, fertile T 0 transgenic plants were most readily obtained for both spring and winter wheat when mature embryo halves were used for co-inoculation by Agrobacterium cells. The presence of the antibiotic selection marker ( nptII , encoding neomycin phosphotransferase II) in the T 0 plants was revealed by both genomic PCR amplification and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Additional analysis showed that the transgene was stably inherited from the two different generations and segregated normally among the T 1 progenies. Further development along this line will raise the efficiency of wheat transformation and increase the use of this approach in the molecular breeding of wheat crop.
Molecular markers are important tools that have been used to identify the short arm of rye chromosome 1R (1RS) which contains many useful genes introgressed into wheat background. Wheat expressed sequence tag (EST) sequences are valuable for developing molecular markers since ESTs are derived from gene transcripts and more likely to be conserved between wheat and its relative species. In the present study, 35 sequence-tagged site (STS) primers were designed based on EST sequences distributed on homology group 1 chromosomes of Triticum aestivum and used to screen specific markers for chromosome 1RS of Secale cereale . Two primer pairs different from the early studies, STS WE3 , which amplified a 1680-bp and a 1750-bp fragment, and STS WE126 , which produced a 850-bp fragment from rye genome, were proved to be specific to chromosome 1RS since the corresponding fragments were only amplified from 1R chromosome addition line and wheat-rye lines with chromosome 1RS, but not from wheat-rye 2R-7R chromosome addition lines and the other lines lacking chromosome 1RS. Eleven wheat-rye lines derived from ‘Xiaoyan 6’ and ‘German White’ were used to test the presence of specific markers for 1RS. The specific fragments of 1RS were amplified in 4 wheat-rye lines, but not in the other lines. The testing results using EST-STS markers of 1RS were consistent with those obtained from fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), suggesting that these markers specific to 1RS could be used in marker-assisted selection (MAS) for incorporating 1RS into wheat cultivars in breeding.
The present study was performed to investigate the effect of β-aminobutyric acid (BABA) treatment on defence activation in grape berries and to analyse its cellular mechanism. The results implied that BABA treatment at an effective concentration of 20 mM significantly inhibited gray mould rot caused by Botrytis cinerea in grape berries by inducing resistance. Accordingly, 20 mM BABA triggered a priming defence in grape suspension cells, since only the BABA-treated cells exhibited an accelerated ability for augmenting defence responses upon the pathogen inoculation. The primed cellular reactions were related to an early H2O2 burst, prompt accumulation of stilbene phytoalexins and activation of PR genes. Thus, we assume that 20 mM BABA can induce resistance to B. cinerea infection in intact grape berries perhaps via intercellular priming defence. Moreover, the BABA-induced priming defence is verified, because no negative effects on cell growth, anthocyanin synthesis, and quality impairment in either grape cells or intact berries were observed under low pathogenic pressure.
Growth and haemolytic activity of several pathogenic Vibrio species were compared in egg-fried-rice with different egg ratios. Egg-fried-rice preparations with rice-to-egg ratios of 4:1, 1:1, and 1:4 were inoculated with either Vibrio parahaemolyticus, V. cholerae, V. vulnificus, or V. alginolyticus and incubated for 24 h. Cell number, thermostable direct haemolysin (TDH) activity, and total haemolytic activity were determined. The cell number and total haemolytic activity increased in all Vibrio strains after 24 h, and these were most marked in egg-fried-rice with the highest egg content (1:4 (rice:egg) ratio; P<0.05). V. alginolyticus exhibited the maximal growth and V. parahaemolyticus the highest haemolytic activity, but only V. parahaemolyticus ATCC 33847, V. alginolyticus CAMT 21162, and V. alginolyticus HY 91101 showed TDH activity. Results suggest that lowering egg content in egg-fried-rice could reduce growth and virulence of Vibrio pathogens.
Shewanella putrefaciens supernatant was found to increase the virulence factors of Vibrio parahaemolyticus by efficiently degrading its acylhomoserine lactone (AHL). To further reveal the regulation mechanism and its key degrading enzyme, a potential AHL-degrading enzyme acylase (Aac) from S. putrefaciens was cloned, and the influences of temperature, pH, protein modifiers, and metals on Aac were tested. Aac was significantly influenced by temperature and pH, and exhibited the highest AHL-degrading activity at temperatures of 37 °C and pH of 8. Mg2+ and Fe2+ can further increase the AHL-degrading activity. 10 mM EDTA inhibited its activity possibly by chelating the co-factors (metals) required for Aac activity. Tryptophan and arginine were identified as key components for Aac activity that are critical to its AHL-degrading activity. This study provides useful information on Aac and for V. parahaemolyticus control.
Aegiolops kotschyi cytoplasmic male sterile system often results in part of haploid plants in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). To elucidate the origin of haploid, 235 wheat microsatellite (SSR) primers were randomly selected and screened for polymorphism between haploid (2n = 3x = 21 ABD) and its parents, male-sterile line YM21 (2n = 6x = 42 AABBDD) and male fertile restorer YM2 (2n = 6x = 42 AABBDD). About 200 SSR markers yielded clear bands from denatured PAGE, of which 180 markers have identifiable amplification patterns, and 20 markers (around 8%) resulted in different amplification products between the haploid and the restorer, YM2. There were no SSR markers that were found to be distinguishable between the haploid and the male sterile line YM21. In addition, different distribution of HMW-GS between endosperm and seedlings from the same seeds further confirmed that the haploid genomes were inherited from the maternal parent. After haploidization, 1.7% and 0.91% of total sites were up- and down-regulated exceeding twofold in the shoot and the root of haploid, respectively, and most of the differentially expressed loci were up/down-regulated about twofold. Out of the sensitive loci in haploid, 94 loci in the shoot, 72 loci in the root can be classified into three functional subdivisions: biological process, cellular component and molecular function, respectively.
