Inheritance of sethoxydim resistance in foxtail millet, Setaria italica (L.) Beauv.

Interspecific hybridization between foxtail millet cultivars (Setaria italica) and a green foxtail (S. viridis) resistant to the herbicide sethoxydim were undertaken to breed foxtail millet for improved herbicide resistance. Parents, reciprocal F₁ hybrids, F₂ selfed derived populations and BC₁ backcross progeny were produced and analysed for mortality and fresh weight over a range of dosages. All resistant progeny were 700 times more resistant than susceptible cultivars and was symptom free under current field dosages. Segregations of resistant and susceptible progeny (3:1 in F₂ and 1:1 in BC₁) were not dependent upon dosage. Heterozygous individuals displayed the same magnitude of resistance as homozygous plants at twelve times the recommended field dosage. Results suggested that sethoxydim resistance in foxtail millet was controlled by a single, completely dominant, nuclear gene. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Inheritance and relationships of important agronomic traits in almond

The inheritance of 16 important agronomic traits and its relationship were studied for four years in a population of 167 almond [P. dulcis (Mill.) D.A. Webb] seedlings obtained from a cross between the French selection ‘R1000’ (‘Tardy Nonpareil’ × ‘Tuono’) and the Spanish cultivar ‘Desmayo Largueta’. For some traits (blooming and leafing date) descendants segregated between the value of both progenitors, meanwhile for others the mean of the offspring was lower (bloom density, productivity and ripening date) or higher (in-shell/kernel ratio and double kernels). As expected, kernel bitterness and self-incompatibility behaved as monogenic traits. Some important correlations between traits were detected. The implications of the transmission and the correlation of these traits in the breeding programmes are discussed.     

Risks of decline and extinction of the endangered Amsterdam albatross and the projected impact of long-line fisheries

The Amsterdam albatross (Diomedea amsterdamensis) is one of the rarest bird species of world avifauna, consisting of a single population in the upland plateau of Amsterdam Island (SE Indian Ocean). All breeding birds of the population are today banded and a monitoring program involving mark-recapture procedures has been carried out continuously over the past 16 years. We present the first estimate of risk of decline for the Amsterdam albatross using a stochastic matrix population model, and evaluate the extent to which the measurement errors in demographic estimates may affect the baseline conservation assessment. We also estimate the potential effect that resumption of long-line fisheries in the vicinity of Amsterdam Island (one the alleged causes for its low numbers in the recent past) may have on the persistence of this population. Our results indicate that, in the absence of any impact of long-line fisheries, the Amsterdam albatross is unlikely to experience a decline larger than 20% of the current population abundance over the next 50 years. Our results point out the difficulty to assess with certainty the extinction risk of small populations despite the availability of long term data on their demography. They suggest that a very cautious approach should be taken for the preservation of small populations of long-lived species that cannot sustain any level of incidental by-catch. Any new long-line fishery resuming in the foraging range of the Amsterdam albatross, but especially close to Amsterdam Island, may rapidly put this species at risk of extinction.     

A class of potent antimalarials and their specific accumulation in infected erythrocytes

During asexual development within erythrocytes, malaria parasites synthesize considerable amounts of membrane. This activity provides an attractive target for chemotherapy because it is absent from mature erythrocytes. We found that compounds that inhibit phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis de novo from choline were potent antimalarial drugs. The lead compound, G25, potently inhibited in vitro growth of the human malaria parasites Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax and was 1000-fold less toxic to mammalian cell lines. A radioactive derivative specifically accumulated in infected erythrocytes to levels several hundredfold higher than in the surrounding medium, and very low dose G25 therapy completely cured monkeys infected with P. falciparum and P. cynomolgi.     

稻瘟菌株CH63和TH16杂交后代毒性变异及其无毒基因组成

 报道了两个稻瘟菌株CH63和TH16的杂交后代在36个水稻品种上的致病性分离、遗传分析以及无毒基因组成的分析结果。78个子囊孢子菌株中呈现显著的致病性分离，共出现71种致病类型，在不同品种上分别出现1∶1、1∶3、3∶1、1∶7、1∶15和15∶1等的无毒性/毒性分离，表明供试菌株对不同品种的无毒性/毒性是一个或多个基因控制的。遗传学分析结果表明，亲本菌株对不同品种的无毒性/毒性控制存在多种类型。菌株CH63对品种K 59(Pi-t)、中98－18、特特普、T 641、C 102 TTP(Pi-4)、C 101 TTP 6、E No.11、农虎6号、C 101 PKT(Pi-4a)、C 105 TTP-1(Pi-4)、中156 和中98－19分别持有1个无毒基因；对品种1461选、6392选、麻谷泰引1号、Lemont、宫崎7号、Vandana、长香稻、青珍8号和珍优3号分别持有2个无毒基因；对于品种草笛（Pi-k）、品种20中－1 、C 104 LAC(Pi-1)、C 103 TTP(Pi-1+1b)、K 3(Pi-kh)、梅雨明 (Pi-km)和东农363分别持有2个以上无毒基因；亲本菌株对于品种四丰43、珍龙13、C101LAC和20中－2分别持有2个无毒基因，关东51、欧244持有2个以上的无毒基因，但因亲本菌株对品种的致病型一致，难以判断控制菌株对品种非亲和性的基因来源。