Investigation and genetic mapping of a Glomerella leaf spot resistance locus in apple

Apple Glomerella leaf spot (GLS) is a severe fungal disease that damages apple leaves during the summer in China. Breeding new apple varieties that are resistant to the disease is considered the best way of controlling GLS. Fine mapping and tightly linked marker are critically essential for the preselection of resistant seedlings. In this study, a population of 207 F₁ individuals derived from a cross between ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Fuji’ was used to construct a fine simple sequence repeat (SSR)‐based genetic linkage map. The position of R_gls, a locus responsible for resistance to GLS, was identified on apple linkage group (LG) 15 using SSR markers CH05g05 and CH01d08, which was adapted from a published set of 300 SSR markers that were developed using the bulked segregant analysis (BSA) method. These two SSR markers flanked the gene, and its recombination rate was 8.7% and 23.2%, respectively. A total of 276 newly developed SSR markers around the target region and designed from the genome apple assembly contig of LG15 were screened. Only nine of these were determined to be linked to the R_gls locus. Thus, a total of 11 SSR markers were in linkage with R_gls, and mapped at distances ranging from 0.5 to 33.8 cM. The closest marker to the R_gls locus was S0405127, which showed a genetic distance of approximately 0.5 cM. The first mapping of the gene R_gls was constructed, and the locations of the 11 effective primers in the ‘Golden Delicious’ apple genome sequence were anchored. This result facilitates better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the trait of resistance to GLS and could be used in improving the breeding efficiency of GLS‐resistant apple varieties.     

Mapping and validation of the quantitative trait loci for leaf stay‐green‐associated parameters in maize

Functional stay‐green is generally regarded as a desirable trait of varieties in major crops including maize. In this study, we used an F_3:4 recombinant inbred line population with 165 lines from a cross between a stay‐green inbred line (Zheng58) and a model inbred line (B73) using 211 polymorphic simple sequence repeat markers to map quantitative trait loci for three stay‐green‐associated parameters, chlorophyll content, photosystem II photochemical efficiency and stay‐green area, at maturity stage, detected a total of 23 quantitative trait loci (QTL) on nine chromosomes. Single QTL explained 3.7–13.5% of the phenotypic variance. Additionally, we validated some important stay‐green QTL using a heterogeneous inbred family approach and found that the stay‐green‐associated parameters were significantly correlated with the plant yield. This study may contribute to a better insight into the regulatory mechanism behind leaf stay‐green in maize and a novel development of elite maize varieties with delayed leaf senescence through molecular marker‐assisted selection.     

小麦茎秆断裂强度相关性状QTL的连锁和关联分析

小麦茎秆断裂强度与倒伏特性关系密切,并对产量有很大影响。本研究旨在解析茎秆断裂强度的遗传机制,开发与该性状紧密连锁/关联的分子标记。利用山农01-35′藁城9411重组自交系(RIL)群体(含173个F8:9株系)和由205个品种(系)构成的自然群体,借助90 k小麦SNP基因芯片、DArT芯片及传统分子标记技术,在2个环境中对两群体的茎秆断裂强度相关性状进行连锁分析和全基因组关联分析。利用已构建的高密度连锁图谱,在4B染色体的TDURUM_CONTIG63670_287–IACX557和EX_C101685–RAC875_C27536等区段上,检测到9个控制小麦茎秆断裂强度、株高、茎秆第2节间充实度、茎秆第2节壁厚相关性状的加性QTL,可解释表型变异9.40%~36.30%。同时,利用包含24 355个SNP位点的复合遗传图谱,在自然群体中检测到37个与茎秆断裂强度相关性状(P0.0001)的标记,分别位于1A、1B、2B、2D、3A、3B、4A、4B、5A、5B、5D、6B、7A、7B和7D染色体,可解释表型变异7.76%~36.36%。在4B染色体上,以连锁分析检测到控制茎秆断裂强度的RAC875_C27536与关联分析检测到的Tdurum_contig4974_355标记,在复合遗传图谱上的距离为6.7 cM,说明该区段存在控制小麦茎秆断裂强度的重要基因。     

胡萝卜根中主要类胡萝卜素含量相关QTL的精细定位

以白色的野生胡萝卜‘松滋野生’(Ws)和橘色的栽培胡萝卜品种‘Amsterdam’(Af)为亲本构建的回交重组自交系(BIL)为试材,基于低倍重测序技术开发SNP标记,构建了由1 976个Bin标记组成,包含29 435个SNP标记的遗传图谱。图谱总距离834.28 c M,平均图距0.42 c M。通过对胡萝卜肉质根中类胡萝卜素含量相关QTL分析,在连锁群LG04和LG08中检测到调控α–胡萝卜素、β–胡萝卜素、ζ–胡萝卜素、叶黄素、玉米黄质和总类胡萝卜素含量的主效QTL(M-QTL)2、2、3、2、2和2个,表型贡献率为11.47%~19.18%;另检测到调控α–胡萝卜素、β–胡萝卜素、ζ–胡萝卜素、玉米黄质和总类胡萝卜素含量的上位性QTL(E-QTL)1、1、2、1和1个,表型贡献率为2.50%~3.66%。在M-QTL显著区间内共检索到36个有功能注释的预测基因,其中Dck018297为ζ–胡萝卜素脱氢酶2基因,与调控β–胡萝卜素合成和总类胡萝卜素含量有关;Dck008006为乙烯响应因子2.2的同源基因,与调控α–胡萝卜素、ζ–胡萝卜素合成有关;Dck029898为转录因子b HLH135的同源基因,与调控玉米黄质合成有关。     

大豆籽粒蛋白质含量相关QTL定位研究进展

籽粒蛋白质含量是大豆品质性状改良的主要目标之一。笔者介绍了大豆遗传图谱的构建与基因组测序发展历程,从基于分离群体的连锁分析和基于自然群体的关联分析两方面阐述了大豆籽粒蛋白质含量QTL定位研究进展,进而讨论了大豆蛋白质含量MAS育种存在的问题,最后展望了大豆蛋白质含量分子遗传改良的研究趋势。以期为大豆高蛋白育种提供参考。     

Incorporating local ecological knowledge into urban riparian restoration in a mountainous region of Southwest China

Modern cities use straightened and concrete watercourses with simple greening for riparian zones, which has been criticised for insensitivity to natural system integrity and cultural identity. This increases the challenge to urban ecologists, landscape designers and managers to conceive innovative and effective design solutions that do not jeopardise hydraulic efficiency yet are culturally acceptable to local communities. This paper introduces the field of local ecological knowledge (LEK) as rich sources of inspiration and design solutions to meet this challenge. LEK refers to knowledge and practices of various local cultures about the relationship of living beings (including humans) with their environments. Wepropose a pragmatic framework that integrates LEK with modern landscape design. It includes steps: (1) investigate existing practices, skills andmeasures relating to LEK; (2) explore how and whereLEKcan inspire or integrate withdesign. Here we propose three aspects for integration in accordance with the nature of landscaping process: overall structure, component and maintenance.(3)evaluate and test the integration in terms of its acceptability by local communities. Taking the riparian revegetation project of Hanfeng Lake Urban Wetland Park (Chongqing Municipality) as an example, we illustrate the utility of this framework. 11 local common practices relating to LEK were identified. According to thethree aspects for integration, alternative design solutions were offered. The survey showed that LEK based designwas more highly valued than other conventional ways in terms of useracceptance. We conclude that LEK provides actionable ecologically sound and culturally desirablesolutions for urbanlandscape. We also recognise that LEK evolveswith changing environments and new harmonious and dynamic human-nature relationships arecontinually re-forming. The process of acquisition and application of LEK could encourage multidisciplinary and synthetic approaches to urban ecosystems. Such adaptability and interdisciplinary engagementare crucial totoday’schanging and complexurban environments.     

Disease risk perception and diversity of management strategies by farmers: The case of anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides on water yams (Dioscorea alata) in Guadeloupe

Disease perception and adequate management practices are two essential issues faced by farmers, especially in the current context of climate change which may potentially increase disease risk. We investigated the diversity of water yam cropping systems in Guadeloupe through interviews, how producers and international yam research scientists perceived anthracnose, and how this perception correlated with farmers’ risk management strategies. We found that disease perception by farmers is very close to perception by international yam experts, as both have the same perception of the hierarchy of factors translating into disease. Three different yam production strategies coexist at a local scale, where agronomic practices and socio-economic profiles are distinct and consistent with attitude toward anthracnose risk management. Six factors were perceived as decreasing the disease: associated crop species; crop rotation; staking; weeding; crop monitoring and varietal admixture. Yam producers raising crops more intensively were risk prone, while others usually sought practices to manage disease appearance and spread. Both cumulative risk and past anthracnose epidemic experiences translated into heavier reliance on chemicals. These results have practical implications for designing best yam crop management systems and control of yam anthracnose.