Effect of Long-Term in Vitro Sub-culturing on Quality Degeneration of Sweet Potato Varieties： Morpho- Anatomic Assessment and Simple Sequence Repeats Analysis

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of long-term in vitro sub-culturing on the varietal degeneration of three sweet potato varieties, namely, Monate, Mokone and Ndou which were sub-cultured for 32, 23 and 12 generations, respectively. Each generation was cultured in a media which is made from 4.43 g/L Murashige and Skoog （MS）, 30 g/L sucrose and 2 g/L gelrite, respectively, and grown under 16 h light and 8 h dark photoperiod for 30 d. For each generation, 45 plantlets were acclimatized for two months in a glasshouse. Data on in vitro growth performance and 11 morphological characteristics during acclimatization were recorded. Early root and shoot formation was observed after the 27th and 21st sub-cultured generations of Monate and Mokone, respectively. During acclimatization, plantlets from the same variety showed differences in morphological traits such as leaf colour, abaxial leaf pigmentation, vine pigmentation, petiole pigmentation, leaf wrinkling and flowering. However, the rate of these morphological differences is random and irrespective to increase in sub-culturing. Therefore, to understand the genetic base of these morphological variability, two plantlets from each variety were subjected to genetic analysis by using five simple sequence repeat （SSR） primers （IB-242, IB-318, IB-255F, 1B-248 and IB-255）. Although SSR loci IB-255F and IB-318 could distinguish between the three varieties, there were no allelic polymorphisms detected in plantlets from the same varieties. Therefore, long-term sub-culturing do not leads to quality degeneration in the three sweet potato varieties.     

Potential use of a Yersinia ruckeri O1 auxotrophic aroA mutant as a live attenuated vaccine

The aroA gene of Yersinia ruckeri, which encodes 5-enolpyruvylshikimate 3-phosphate synthase, was insertionally inactivated with a DNA fragment containing a kanamycin resistance determinant and reintroduced by allelic exchange into the chromosome of Y. ruckeri 21102 O1 by means of the suicide vector pIVET8. The Y. ruckeri aroA::Kan(r) mutant was highly attenuated when inoculated intraperitoneally into rainbow trout, with a 50% lethal dose of >5 x 10(7) CFU. The mutants were not recoverable from the internal organs 48 h post-inoculation or later. The vaccination of rainbow trout with the AroA mutant as a live vaccine conferred significant protection (relative percentage survival = 90%) against the pathogenic wild-type strain of Y. ruckeri.     

Spatial configuration becomes more important with increasing habitat loss: a simulation study of environmentally-transmitted parasites

Context

Landscape changes can be an important modifier of disease. Habitat fragmentation commonly results in reduced connectivity in host populations and increased use of the remaining habitat. For environmentally transmitted parasites, this presents a possible trade-off between transmission potential at the local and global level.

Objectives

We quantify the effects of fragmentation on the transmission of an environmentally transmitted parasite, teasing apart the relative effects of habitat composition and configuration on both host movement behaviour and subsequent infection patterns.

Methods

We use a spatially-explicit epidemiological model to simulate the effects of habitat fragmentation, using, as an example, whipworm (Trichuris sp.) within a red colobus monkey population (Procolobus rufomitratus).

Results

We found that habitat fragmentation did not always lead to a trade-off between population connectivity and concentration of habitat use in host movement behaviour or in final population infection patterns. However, our simulation results suggest the spatial configuration of the remaining habitat became increasingly influential on behavioural and infection outcomes as habitat was removed. Additionally, we found common fragmentation metrics provided little ability to explain variation in propagation of infections.

Conclusions

Our results suggest an interaction between habitat configuration and composition should be considered when assessing disease related impacts of habitat fragmentation on environmentally transmitted parasites, especially in cases where habitat loss is high (≥?30%). We also propose that spatially-explicit simulations that capture a host’s response to fragmentation could aid in the development of novel landscape metrics targeted towards specific host-parasite-landscape systems.

     

Perspectives of molecular marker assisted breeding for earliness in tomato

In a tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) breeding programme aimed at earliness, a breeding line, designated IVT-KT₁, was developed by several rounds of crossing and selection. Among its ancestors were the two wild relatives L. pimpinellifolium and L. parviflorum. The breeding line flowered and set fruit one to four weeks earlier than old and modern cultivars. To identify QTLs for earliness, an F₂ population was obtained by crossing IVT-KT₁ with the late true breeding cultivar Premier. In winter and early spring, 690 plants of this F₂ population were evaluated for earliness of which 292 were selected for RFLP analysis. Only limited parts of the genomes of IVT-KT₁ and Premier were polymorphic and these polymorphisms were likely due to introgression from the ancestor wild species. By using the interval mapping method on the combined data of the greenhouse evaluations and RFLP analyses, three loci were identified that were associated with earliness. One was mainly associated with flowering time, another with fruitset time and a third one with ripening time. Two of these loci were also associated with fruit weight. F₃ progenies selected for earliness on the basis of the QTL-data did confirm the F₂ results. Two major earliness genes explained a difference in earliness of more than three weeks. The association with reduced fruit weight seemed to be due to pleiotropic effects rather than to linked genes. Consequently, the gain in earliness will cause a reduction in fruit weight that may not be acceptable for breeding applications.