Experimental evolution of reduced sex ratio adjustment under local mate competition

Theory predicts that local mate competition (LMC) favors the evolution of female-biased sex ratios. Empirical support of this prediction is indirect and comes from comparative studies or from studies showing that individuals can adjust their offspring sex ratio in response to varying LMC intensities. Replicate lines from a population of the spider mite Tetranychus urticae were selected under three LMC intensities for up to 54 generations. Within each selection regime, the final sex ratio matched theoretical predictions. Furthermore, the ability of individuals to adjust their offspring sex ratio diminished in females evolving under strict LMC, but not in females evolving under relaxed LMC levels. These results provide direct experimental evidence for the evolutionary process by which LMC modifies sex-allocation strategies and suggest that evolution under strict and constant LMC may lead to a loss of phenotypic plasticity.     

Reciprocal recurrent selection applied to Coffea canephora Pierre

Summary Genetic parameters were estimated in trials planted in connection with a reciprocal recurrent selection programme applied to Coffea canephora in Côte d'Ivoire. Narrow sense heritability values, estimated from a breakdown of the analysis of variance, were high for architectural characters (0.22 to 0.78) and medium for tree vigour (0.13 to 0.40) and for bean weight (0.15 to 0.28). Calculated heritability values for the first two harvests were high (h²>0.7), but much lower for the following harvests (less than 0.2). Heritability estimates by parent-offspring regressions gave variable results, though they were often similar to those obtained by variance analysis, especially for bean weight. Phenotypic and genetic correlations between tree vigour traits and productivity were high. Bean weight was not correlated with vigour or production. Canopy diameter of 4 year-old trees was closely correlated with cumulated productivity from 2 to 5 years in the absence of development competition between trees, but the correlation was low if trees were in competition with each other. The consequences of the results for the choice of characters to be selected among intergroup hybrids or the parents of both populations are discussed.     

Genetic diversity of wild coffee (Coffea arabica L.) using molecular markers

Genetic diversity was studied using RAPD markers among119 coffee (Coffea arabica L.) individuals representing 88 accessions derived from spontaneous and subspontaneous trees in Ethiopia, the primary centre of species diversity, six cultivars grown locally in Ethiopia, and two accessions derived from the genetic populations Typica and Bourbon, spread in the 18^th century, which gave rise to the most currently grown cultivars. Twenty-nine polymorphic fragments were used to calculate a similarity index and construct dendrograms. The Ethiopian material was separated from the Typica- and Bourbon-derived accessions and classified in four groups: one with most of the collected material from southwestern Ethiopia and three from southern and southeastern Ethiopia. Almost all detected diversity was found in the southwestern group while the southern and southeastern groups presented only 59% of identified markers. The genetic distances were low between the southwestern group and the southern and southeastern groups, and between the southwestern group and the Typica- and Bourbon-derived accessions. The cultivated coffee derived from the genetic populations Typica and Bourbon appeared little differentiated from wild coffee growing in the southwest. The results supported the hypothesis that southwestern Ethiopian coffee trees could have been introduced recently in the south and southeast. A separate analysis of the 80accessions classified in the southwestern group allowed identifying particular spontaneous- and subspontaneous-derived accessions and redundancies in the collected material from southwestern Ethiopia. RAPD markers did not detect any within-collection polymorphism except for two trees that were identified as off-types in the CATIE field genebank. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Isozyme diversity within African Manihot germplasm

Summary Isozyme diversity is described among a collection of 365 Manihot esculenta cultivars plus 109 accessions from wild relatives (M. glaziovii and spontaneous hybrids) from Africa. The study is based on 17 polymorphic loci. A natural hybrid swarm is detected between the two species. Although they were recently introduced, M. esculenta and M. glaziovii show high levels of polymorphism: heterozygosity estimates are 0.225 and 0.252 respectively. For the wild species, diversity is structured at the unilocus level, and the multilocus approach reveals a geographical pattern. The organization of the diversity is not so clear for the cultivated cassava, but a multilocus approach, based on both common and rare alleles, led us to identify different groups of clones with many intermediate genotypes between them. Elements of the secondary diversification process of Manihot in Ivory Coast are discussed.     

Combining Ability of Doubled Haploids in Coffea canephora P.

Fifty-five doubled haploids (DH) of Coffea canephora were crossed with either heterozygous genotypes or DH in order to study their combining ability. Three agronomic trials were established. Marked hybrid vigour was observed for all characters analyzed including yield. Large differences were evident among top-crosses involving different DH produced from the same parental clone reflecting the high level of heterozygosity of clones. Factorial mating design analysis indicated that all genetic variance was attributable to additive effects in estimates of yield as well as plant height and leaf characteristics. The general combining ability variance component was also predominant for stem girth and susceptibility to leaf rust, although effects due to interaction were detected. Some hybrid combinations had yield comparable to standard clonal varieties. The implications of such results for breeding of Coffea canephora are discussed. Particularly, the development of F₁ hybrid varieties is envisaged.     

Evaluation of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) germplasm collections using RAPD markers

Summary Deterioration of cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., seed can adversely affect stands, seedling vigor, and subsequent performance of plants, but deterioration can be lessened by improved genetic resistance. This study was conducted to evaluate the relationship of physical and germination characteristics of cotton seed and to determine the inheritance of resistance to seed deterioration. Physical (weight, volume, density, and imbibition rate) and germination (germination of non-deteriorated seed and deteriorated seed) characteristics were determined for eight cotton genotypes. In addition, imbibition rate and the germination characteristics were determined for all possible F₁, including reciprocals, combinations of the eight genotypes. Variation among the parents for germination of deteriorated seed and imbibition rate were significantly, highly correlated (r=–0.97) and intrinsically related. Resistance to seed deterioration tended to increase as seed weight and volume decreased. Significant genetic effects were found for imbibition rate and germination of both non-deteriorated and deteriorated seed. However, general combining ability (GCA) accounted for only 21% of the variation in crosses sums of squares for germination of non-deteriorated seed. In contrast, GCA accounted for 90% of the variation for germination of deteriorated seed and imbibition rate. A breeding approach involving selection of early generation seed for ability to survive hot water treatment, then evaluating later generations for imbibition rate is suggested as a means to improve resistance to seed deterioration in cotton.     

Sensitivity to habitat fragmentation across European landscapes in three temperate forest herbs

Landscape Ecology - Evidence for effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on the viability of temperate forest herb populations in agricultural landscapes is so far based on population genetic...     

First chemical synthesis and in vitro characterization of the potential human metabolites 5-o-feruloylquinic acid 4'-sulfate and 4'-O-glucuronide

Feruloylquinic acids are a major class of biologically active phenolic antioxidants in coffee beans, but their metabolic fate is poorly understood. The present study investigated the phase II metabolism of feruloylquinic acids with selected human sulfotransferases (SULT1A1 and SULT1E1) and uridine 5'-diphosphoglucuronosyltransferases (UGT1A1 and UGT1A9). For unequivocal metabolite identification, the chemical synthesis of two potential human metabolites of 5-O-feruloylquinic acid, the 4'-sulfated and 4'-O-glucuronidated conjugates, has been performed for the first time. Following incubation with human SULT1A1 or SULT1E1, formation of 5-O-feruloylquinic acid 4'-O-sulfate was confirmed by matching its HPLC and MS data with those of the authentic standard. On the other hand, no glucuronide conjugates were detected after incubation with human uridine 5'-diphosphoglucuronosyltransferases. These results suggest that sulfation can take place on the ferulic acid moiety of feruloylquinic acids and may be a major metabolic pathway for feruloylquinic acids in humans.     

旋毛虫新生幼虫差减cDNA文库的构建及其步筛选

利用差减杂交（减法杂交，subtractive hybridization)技术，以旋毛虫新生幼虫（newborn larvae,NBL)的cDNA作为试验方（tester)，以肌幼虫＋成虫的cDNA作为驱动方（driver)，制备新生幼虫差减cDNA,利用T载体构建NBL差减cDNA文库，获克隆株90个，以试验方的差减cDNA第2次PCR产物＋未差减cDNA为试验方探针，以驱动方的差减cDNA第2次PCR产物＋未差减cDNA为驱动方探针，在NBL差减cDNA文库中初筛NBL的期特异性克隆，获初筛克隆24个。这些初筛斯异性克隆进一步用Southern blot确认鉴定，获直阳性期特异性克隆2个（NBL SSC1，NBL SSC2）.DNASIS以及Blaster的分析结果显示，这2个克隆为旋毛虫的2个新基因，其中NBL SSC1编码糖蛋白，NBL SSC2编码丝氨本蛋白酶，本试验为旋毛虫期特异性基困全长序列的调取，分析，鉴定以及强保护性抗原基因的筛选奠定了基础。     

A pmp genes-based PCR as a valuable tool for the diagnosis of avian chlamydiosis

In a previous study we described the use of a new set of PCR primers (CpsiA/CpsiB) specific of the conserved pmp-family genes of Chlamydophila abortus as an efficient tool for the detection of these bacteria in ruminants including also preliminary results on avian strains. In this work, the use of this set of primers was extended to representative strains of the six major avian serovars (serovars A-F) and to field isolates of C. psittaci. For all the studied representative strains, using purified genomic DNA as a template, CpsiA/CpsiB primers allowed, as observed for C. abortus, a minimal 10-fold PCR signal increase compared to the one observed with ompA specific primers. In comparison to primers targeting the 16S-23S rRNA intergenic spacer, similar or increased sensitivity was observed depending on the strain. All the field isolates were amplified with CpsiA/CpsiB primers. On clinical samples, our primers are the best among those tested for detection of C. psittaci by simple conventional PCR. RFLP experiments performed using PCR fragments amplified with the CpsiA/CpsiB primers gave promising results demonstrating that these primers may provide an interesting tool for molecular typing when the bacterium cannot be grown from pathological samples.