Further characterization of diabetes mellitus and body weight loss in males of the congenic mouse strain DDD.Cg-Ay

The A^y allele at the agouti locus causes obesity and promotes linear growth in mice. However, body weight gain stops between 16 and 17 weeks after birth, and then, body weight decreases gradually in DDD.Cg-A^y male mice. Body weight loss is a consequence of diabetes mellitus, which is genetically controlled mainly by a quantitative trait locus (QTL) on chromosome 4. This study aimed to further characterize diabetes mellitus and body weight loss in DDD.Cg-A^y males. The number of β-cells was markedly reduced, and plasma insulin levels were very low in the DDD.Cg-A^y males. Using a backcross progeny of DDD × (B6 × DDD.Cg-A^y) F₁-A^y, we identified one significant QTL for plasma insulin levels on distal chromosome 4, which was coincidental with QTL for hyperglycemia and lower body weight. The DDD allele was associated with decreased plasma insulin levels. When the DDD.Cg-A^y males were housed under three different housing conditions [group housing (4 or 5 DDD.Cg-A^y and DDD males), individual housing (single DDD.Cg-A^y male) and single male housing with females (single DDD.Cg-A^y male with DDD.Cg-A^y or DDD females)], diabetes mellitus and body weight loss were most severely expressed in individually housed mice. Thus, the severity of diabetes and body weight loss in the DDD.Cg-A^y males was strongly influenced by the housing conditions. These results demonstrate that both genetic and nongenetic environmental factors are involved in the development of diabetes mellitus and body weight loss in the DDD.Cg-A^y males.     

Expression and inheritance of isozymes in Brassica species and in their interspecific hybrids

Abstract

Gene expression was analysed by means of isozyme electrophoresis for three diploid species Brassica rapa (genome AA), B. nigra (BB), and B. oleracea/ B. oleracea var. alboglabra (CC), three amphidiploids B. juncea (AABB), B. napus (AACC) and B. carinata (BBCC), and in 15 interspecific hybrids from crosses within and between the diploids and the amphidiploids. Five enzyme systems were assessed: glucosephosphate isomerase, leucine aminopeptidase, phosphoglucomutase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase and malate dehydrogenase. Alleles descending from the diploid species were found both in natural and artificially produced amphidiploids. No effect of reciprocal crosses was observed. i.e., the Brassica isozymes were under nuclear gene control. Mendelian segregation in the F₂ generation from crossing two resynthesized B. napus was observed for the loci glucosephosphate isomerase-2 and phosphoglucomutase-3. Genome-specific alleles were identified for several loci. No alteration in the allelic expression of isozymes was found when assembling all three Brassica genomes in the trigenomic interspecific hybrids. Moreover, trigenomic hybrids were capable of disclosing a silent allele of leucine aminopeptidase from B. carinata, and thus in this study the capability of isozyme analysis for detecting hidden variation was demonstrated.     

Effect of marker‐data editing on the accuracy of genomic prediction

Genomic selection is a method to predict breeding values using genome‐wide single‐nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. High‐quality marker data are necessary for genomic selection. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of marker‐editing criteria on the accuracy of genomic predictions in the Nordic Holstein and Jersey populations. Data included 4429 Holstein and 1071 Jersey bulls. In total, 48 222 SNP for Holstein and 44 305 SNP for Jersey were polymorphic. The SNP data were edited based on (i) minor allele frequencies (MAF) with thresholds of no limit, 0.001, 0.01, 0.02, 0.05 and 0.10, (ii) deviations from Hardy–Weinberg proportions (HWP) with thresholds of no limit, chi‐squared p‐values of 0.001, 0.02, 0.05 and 0.10, and (iii) GenCall (GC) scores with thresholds of 0.15, 0.55, 0.60, 0.65 and 0.70. The marker data sets edited with different criteria were used for genomic prediction of protein yield, fertility and mastitis using a Bayesian variable selection and a GBLUP model. De‐regressed EBV were used as response variables. The result showed little difference between prediction accuracies based on marker data sets edited with MAF and deviation from HWP. However, accuracy decreased with more stringent thresholds of GC score. According to the results of this study, it would be appropriate to edit data with restriction of MAF being between 0.01 and 0.02, a p‐value of deviation from HWP being 0.05, and keeping all individual SNP genotypes having a GC score over 0.15.     

影响水稻株高和剑叶宽主效QTL对人工选择的响应

 利用粳稻Lemont导入籼稻特青背景构建的高代回交导入系和重组自交系群体,在北京和海南两地检测影响株高和剑叶宽的稳定表达的主效QTL,分析这些主效QTL在导入系和重组自交系群体的不同选择强度（5%、10%和20%）的极端群体中的等位基因偏离,研究不同性状的主效QTL对不同选择强度的响应及不同遗传结构群体对主效QTL人工选择响应的影响。结果表明,导入系的选择群体中所有主效QTL等位基因的偏离方向都使得供体等位基因频率增加,等位基因产生偏离的性状选择方向及供体等位基因的偏离方向与基因的加性效应方向完全一致,而重组自交系的选择群体中主效QTL等位基因的偏离既有供体等位基因增加的,也有等位基因降低的,两种群体中不同性状的主效QTL等位基因偏离与选择强度密切相关。通过比较不同群体结构的主效QTL定位及对选择响应的异同,发现一些假阳性QTL和在随机作图群体中漏检的QTL,强调作图群体QTL定位结果验证的重要性。鉴于不同群体、不同性状和不同主效QTL的选择响应特点,对不同主效QTL在基于常规表型选择和分子标记辅助选择回交育种中的利用价值及注意事项进行了探讨。     

Effect of the Rht-D1 dwarfing locus on Fusarium head blight rating in three segregating populations of winter wheat

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is one of the major fungal diseases in wheat throughout the world. To control FHB severity, breeding genetically resistant varieties is thought to be the most promising strategy. In wheat breeding programmes, short cultivars predominantly carrying the Norin 10 derived semi-dwarfing allele Rht-D1b ( Rht2 ) are preferred worldwide because of higher achievable grain yields and lower risk of lodging. This study was conducted to determine the influence of different alleles at the Rht-D1 locus on FHB reaction. Three winter wheat populations were produced by crossing rather susceptible varieties 'Biscay', 'Pirat' and 'Rubens' carrying mutant-type allele Rht-D1b with the more resistant varieties 'Apache', 'Romanus' and 'History' containing the Rht-D1a wild-type allele ( rht2 ). The 190, 216 and 103 progeny of the F₄-derived populations were assayed for the presence of Rht-D1a or Rht-D1b , plant height, and mean FHB rating after spray inoculation at flowering time with a highly aggressive isolate of Fusarium culmorum . Comparably, high mean FHB severities ranging from 28% to 49% for all population × environment combinations were achieved, with significant genotypic variation for FHB rating and plant height within all populations. Both traits were negatively correlated with r ranging from −0.48 to −0.61 in the complete populations. However, within the subpopulations homozygous for one or other height allele these correlations decreased considerably. The Rht-D1b semi-dwarfing allele resulted in 7–18% shorter plants, depending on the population, but a considerably increased FHB reaction of 22–53%. Nevertheless, significant genotypic variance for FHB resistance remained in all tested Rht-D1b subpopulations indicating that selection for moderately FHB resistant genotypes within agronomically beneficial Rht-D1b genotypes is still feasible.     

Differential expressions among five Waxy alleles and their effects on the eating and cooking qualities in specialty rice cultivars

Eating and cooking qualities(ECQs) of rice are important attributes due to its major influence on consumer acceptability. To better understand the molecular mechanism of the variation in ECQs, we investigated and compared the expressions among different alleles of the Waxy(Wx) gene and its effect on ECQs in specialty rice cultivars. The results showed that the accumulation of amylose was positively and significantly correlated to the level of mature Wx m RNA and granule-bound starch synthase I(GBSS I) in developing rice grain at 12 days after flowering. The amount of GBSS I and its activity together are the main factors controlling amylose synthesis. Differences in ECQs among five Wx allele types were investigated in samples from 15 rice varieties. The apparent amylose content(AAC) and gel consistency(GC) were similar in each type of Wx allele. The AAC followed the order, Wxa typeWxin typeWxb typeWxmq typewx. Contrary to this, the GC showed an opposite trend compared to AAC. There was a wide variation in rapid visco analyzer(RVA) profile among five Wx allele types, while varieties sharing a specified Wx allele had basically the similar RVA profile, although there was a slight difference in some RVA parameters, peak, hot paste and cool paste viscosities.     

Genome-Wide Association Studies Reveal New Genetic Targets for Five Panicle Traits of International Rice Varieties

Narrow genetic background is a key limiting factor in breeding stable high-yielding rice. The introduction and utilization of international rice core germplasm is an important way to increase the genetic diversity of domestic rice varieties. We conducted a genome-wide association study on 5 panicle traits of 315 rice accessions introduced from the international rice micro-core germplasm bank. Based on the tests from Yangzhou of China and Arkansas of American, environment exhibited a significant impacts on panicle length and primary branch number, while grain length, grain width and grain length/width ratio were insensitive to environment changes. We discovered a total of 7, 5, 10, 8 and 6 chromosomal regions or single nucleotide polymorphism marker loci that were significantly associated with primary branch number, panicle length, grain length, grain width and grain length/width ratio, respectively. Among them, eleven regions were associated with grain shape and one region associated with primary branch number, showing the good consistence in two different environments. Significant linear correlation was discovered between the average trait value and the number of favorable alleles carried by the varieties in all associated loci. Among the associated loci, varieties in aromatic and tropical japonica sub-groups possessed most favorable alleles, while those in temperate japonica sub-group contained the least. The domestic varieties mainly harbored unfavorable alleles in six of the associated loci being detected. On the contrary, 15 varieties from 11 different countries harbored more favorable alleles(as many as 30 or more) than the others. Remarkably, all these 15 varieties belonged to the tropical japonica sub-group. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that varieties in the tropical japonica sub-group had high potentials for breeding stable high-yielding rice. Based on this discovery, we proposed a new approach for improving the panicle traits of domestic rice by using tropical japonica varieties.     

牛趋化因子受体基因1第2外显子的单核苷酸多态性分析

采用DNA测序、巢氏PCR和CRS-PCR方法对中国荷斯坦牛、鲁西黄牛、渤海黑牛的趋化因子受体基因1(CXCR1)的单核苷酸多态性(SNPs)进行研究,在第2外显子上发现了4个SNPs,分别为291 bp(C/T)、333 bp(C/T)、337 bp(A/G)和365 bp(C/T),这4个位点在中国荷斯坦牛、鲁西黄牛、渤海黑牛群体中均达到中度多态(0.25PIC0.5),优势等位基因分别为C、C、A、C,等位基因频率分别为0.82/0.67/0.65、0.80/0.74/0.71、0.70/0.65/0.82、0.56/0.58/0.56。经χ2适合性检验,渤海黑牛所有位点全部达到Hardy-Weinberg平衡状态;荷斯坦牛在突变位点291 bp(C/T)、333 bp(C/T)和337 bp(A/G)达到Hardy-Weinberg平衡状态;鲁西黄牛仅在365 bp(C/T)位点达到Hardy-Weinberg平衡状态。     

微卫星DNA技术用于中国对虾家系构建中的系谱认证

用6个微卫星标记对中国对虾（Fenneropenaeus chinensis）的5个家系进行系谱鉴别和遗传多样性研究。6个微卫星位点中有5个位点是多态的，并在所有家系中都显示了高度的遗传差异。5个家系中，5个多态微卫星位点共发现了30个等位基因，每个位点的等位基因数在5～8之间。实验中共发现了4个家系特异性等位基因：2^#家系及4^#家系各1个，5^#家系2个。根据已知亲本及子代基因型，可推断出5个家系中全部亲本的基因型，据此鉴别各家系。在EN0033位点，可将5#家系与其他4个家系相区别；在RS0859位点，可将3^#和4^#家系与其他3个家系相区分。因此，EN0033和RS0859标记可用于鉴别5^#、3^#和4^#家系的家系特异性标记。研究表明，用5个微卫星标记，且最少用2对微卫星标记即可鉴别5个中国对虾家系。