Optimizing aphid biocontrol with the predator Aphidoletes aphidimyza,based on biology and ecology

Aphidoletes aphidimyza is one of the most important predators used in the augmentative biological control of aphids, key pests of many crops worldwide. Adult females are very efficient in locating aphid infestations over a relatively long range, up to 45 m, and deposit eggs near or within aphid colonies. The predatory larvae are aphid generalists preying on several agriculturally important aphid species. The successful use of this biocontrol agent in agricultural systems depends on several biotic and abiotic factors. Among biotic factors, aphid species, plant structure, interspecific competition and intraguild predation may significantly impact the predator´s population dynamics. Key abiotic conditions include day lengths (above a critical threshold to prevent diapause), availability of mating sites in the crop, temperature (above 15 °C to enable egg laying), air relative humidity (above 70%) and availability of pupation sites. Although several successes have been reported in open field crops with naturally occurring or released populations, commercial releases are primarily used in protected crops. Optimized emergence boxes combining provisioning of food sources for the adults, integration with the technological advances that occurred in the greenhouse environment lately, insights into the nutritional ecology in open field crops and exploration of the genetic variability are proposed as future directions to improve adoption and efficacy of A. aphidimyza in crop protection. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry     

Isolation and Characterization of GhLEA3 Gene from Upland Cotton and Its Expression in Response to Low Temperature Stress

[Objective] Based on the analysis of cotton GhLEA3 gene structure and its expression model in chilling stress, we investigated the resistance function of GhLEA3 in response to cold stress. [Method] We cloned GhLEA3 from upland cotton by homologous sequence cloning way. We analyzed the properties of the GhLEA3, and constructed phylogenetic tree by bioinformatics analysis. We constructed the transient expression vector 35S∷GhLEA3-GFP by In-Fusion connection technology and studied the subcellular localization of GhLEA3. The expression of GhLEA3 gene in leaves of TM-1 at three-leaf stage under low temperature stress treatments (4 ℃, 24 h) was performed. Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated floral dipping method was used to transform the gene with expression vector 35S∷GhLEA3-GFP into Arabidopsis thaliana wild type. Low temperature germination experiment at 4 ℃ was conducted to verify germination ability of the transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana T₃ seed. The transgenic Arabidopsis seedlings were treated at 4 ℃(low temperature), and all the leaves were taken to measure their electrical conductivity. [Result] The coding sequence of GhLEA3 gene is 1 218 bp, which encodes 405 amino acids. GhLEA3 protein includes 4 functional domains of PF02987. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the similarity of amino acid sequences between upland cotton GhLEA3 and Arabidopsis thaliana AtLEA3 was 52.6%. GhLEA3 might be mainly localized in vacuoles and small vesicles. GhLEA3 was up-regulated in leaves after low temperature treatment. The germination rate of transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana of T₃ generation at low temperature was significantly higher than that of wild type, and its electrical conductivity of leaves after low temperature treatment was significantly lower than that of wild type. [Conclusion] GhLEA3 belonged to the member of LEA3 family. Phylogenetic analysis showed that GhLEA3 had the closest relationship with AtLEA3. GhLEA3 was induced by low temperature stress and may play an important role in improving cold resistance.     

Marker‐assisted introgression of rare allele of β‐carotene hydroxylase (crtRB1) gene into elite quality protein maize inbred for combining high lysine,tryptophan and provitamin A in maize

Vitamin A deficiency in humans is a widespread health problem. Quality protein maize (QPM) is a popular food rich in lysine and tryptophan, but poor in provitamin A (proA). Here, we report the improvement of an elite QPM inbred, HKI1128Q for proA using marker‐assisted introgression of crtRB1‐favourable allele. HKI1128 was one of the parental lines of three popular hybrids in India and was converted to QPM in our earlier programme. Severe segregation distortion for crtRB1 was observed in BC₁F₁, BC₂F₁ and BC₂F₂. Background selection by 100 SSRs revealed mean recovery of 91.07% recurrent parent genome varying from 88.78% to 93.88%. Across years, introgressed progenies possessed higher mean β‐carotene (BC: 9.22 µg/g), β‐cryptoxanthin (BCX: 3.05 µg/g) and provitamin A (proA: 10.75 µg/g) compared to HKI1128Q (BC: 2.26 µg/g, BCX: 2.26 µg/g and proA: 3.38 µg/g). High concentration of essential amino acids, viz. lysine (mean: 0.303%) and tryptophan (0.080%) in endosperm, was also retained. Multi‐year evaluation showed that introgressed progenies possessed similar grain yield (1,759–1,879 kg/ha) with HKI1128Q (1,778 kg/ha). Introgressed progenies with higher lysine, tryptophan and proA hold immense potential as donors and parents in developing biofortified hybrids.     

利用基因拆分技术培育耐草甘膦转基因水稻的研究

耐除草剂转基因水稻基因飘流可能产生的环境安全问题是人们关注的焦点之一,并已成为耐除草剂转基因水稻能否在我国生产上发挥效益的限制因素。基因拆分技术能够有效地控制转基因目标性状飘流,为培育耐除草剂转基因水稻提供新的途径和思路。本研究将耐除草剂基因G2-aroA拆分成N端(EPSPSn,1～295aa)和C端(EPSPSc,296～435aa),分别与SspDnaE蛋白内含肽的N端(Intein-N)和C端(Intein-C)连接形成融合基因EPSPSn-In与Ic-EPSPSc,并分别通过农杆菌介导法转入受体材料中花11。Southern杂交证明转基因水稻En-12和Ec-22中外源基因为单拷贝插入。侧翼序列分析证明转基因水稻En-12和Ec-22中外源基因分别插入第2和第6染色体。利用四引物法筛选出转基因水稻En-12和Ec-22的纯合系,并通过有性杂交获得同时含有EPSPSn-In与Ic-EPSPSc的转基因水稻En×Ec。草甘膦抗性分析发现,单独含有1个基因片段的转基因水稻En-12和Ec-22不具有耐受草甘膦特性,而同时含有2个基因片段的转基因水稻En×Ec具有耐受草甘膦的特性,说明拆分后的2个蛋白片段在intein的介导下重新组装成完整有功能蛋白,并赋予转基因水稻耐受草甘膦的特性。转基因水稻En×Ec与含有完整G2-aroA转基因水稻G2-6相比,其耐受草甘膦的能力有所下降,但能够满足生产需求。本研究结果为利用基因拆分技术培育转基因耐草甘膦水稻提供了科学依据,同时也为利用基因工程手段培育转基因杂交稻提供了新的技术平台。     

辣椒新品种天椒16 号的选育

天椒16 号是以45-2-1-1-1-1 为母本，以76-1-1-1-1-1 为父本配制而成的辣椒一代杂种。中熟，始花节位为第 10～12 节。果实羊角形，青熟果深绿色，果面皱，果长25.56 cm，果径5.83 cm，单果质量103.8 g，辣味淡，具有良好的商 品性。每667 m² 产量可达5 000 kg 以上，田间对辣椒病毒病、疫病、炭疽病和白粉病的抗性强于对照陇椒2 号。适宜在甘 肃省进行保护地和露地栽培。     

不同发育阶段干旱胁迫对玉米株高、果穗性状及产量的影响

摘要：为研究同一品种不同发育阶段干旱胁迫对玉米植株高度、果穗性状以及产量的影响程度，设置全生育期供水充足、大田自然干旱、拔节期控水、抽雄期控水、拔节期控水-复水、抽雄期控水-复水6种处理的对比试验，用对比分析的方法比较不同处理下玉米的株高、果穗性状以及产量之间的差异。结果表明：干旱胁迫使玉米植株矮小，果穗长减小7.88%~54.55%，果穗粗减小14.58%~52.08%，秃尖长度增大66.67%~258.33%，百粒重减小0.99%~41.36%，单株产量减少15.03%~94.41%，最终导致减产23.57%~90.03%。不同发育阶段干旱胁迫对产量的影响差异显著，全生育期干旱最为严重，几乎无产量，拔节期次之，抽雄期干旱胁迫影响最小，复水后由于部分补偿了前期干旱胁迫所减少的生物量，果穗性状、百粒重均有好转，减产幅度减轻。