Isolation and characteristics of eight novel polymorphic microsatellite loci from the genome of garlic (Allium sativum L.)

Here we characterized eight novel polymorphic SSR markers, developed from an enriched genomic library of garlic (Allium sativum L.). These SSRs produced a total of 64 alleles across 90 garlic accessions, with an average of 8 alleles per locus. Values for observed (H_O) and expected (H_E) heterozygosity ranged from 0.16 to 0.77 (mean = 0.44) and from 0.22 to 0.86 (mean = 0.65), respectively. Six loci deviated significantly (P < 0.05) from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (HWE). The averages of gene diversity and PIC values were 0.65 and 0.62, respectively. The mean genetic similarity coefficient was 0.4380, indicating that among garlic accessions existed wide genetic variation. Based on 64 alleles obtained by 8 SSRs, a phenogram was constructed to understand the relationships among the 90 accessions. These newly developed SSRs should prove very useful tools for genotypes identification, assessment of genetic diversity and population structure in garlic.     

Isolation and characterization of 28 polymorphic SSR loci from castor bean (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Ricinus communis</Emphasis> L.)

Castor bean (Ricinus communis) is cultivated for seed oil throughout tropical and subtropical regions but the understanding of its genetic variability is limited. Because applicable microsatellite markers are not sufficient, we isolated and characterized polymorphic simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci acquired from a microsatellite-enriched genomic DNA library of castor bean. Finally, 28 SSR loci revealed polymorphisms in a castor bean collection consisting of 72 accessions. A total of 73 alleles were detected, with an average of 3.18 alleles per locus, and the polymorphism information content (PIC) ranged from 0.03 to 0.47 (mean = 0.26). Values for observed (H_O) and expected (H_E) heterozygosity ranged from 0.00 to 0.19 (mean = 0.11) and from 0.04 to 0.54 (mean = 0.31), respectively. To understand genetic relationships within the castor bean collection, a dendrogram was constructed based on profiles of the 28 SSR loci. These newly developed SSRs will be useful tools for assessing genetic diversity and population structure in castor bean.     

Comparison of eating quality and seed storage protein among Korean rice landraces

Improving eating quality and nutrition is one of the most important objectives in rice breeding program. Palatability factors and seed protein patterns of 69 Korean rice landraces were compared in this study. Of seven palatability factors, setback viscosity (SBV) had the largest variance, ranging from -144 to 45. Water content (WC) had the lowest variance, ranging from 11.0 to 13.0. In correlation analysis, eating quality was positively correlated with all palatability factors except gelatinization temperature (GT). In principal component analyses (PCA), the first PC with Eigen value of 5.06 explained 42.2% of the total variance. Cool paste viscosity (CPV) was the variable that had the largest positive loading. The second PC with Eigen value of 2.09 explained an additional 17.4% of the total variance. SBV was a variable that had the highest negative loading. Peak viscosity (PKV) had positive variance between PC1 and PC2. The 69 Korean rice landraces were clustered into four groups based on physicochemical properties and palatability factors, with groups I and II showing higher EQ than other groups. SDS-PAGE analyses revealed five seed storage patterns in the 69 Korean rice landraces. Among them, 84% (58 landraces) had pattern I. These results indicate that it is possible to develop high palatability cultivars using Korean rice landraces. In addition, screening of landraces based on variation in seed storage protein profile using SDS-PAGE could be highly effective for the identification of valuable rice genetic resources.     

Selection and Molecular Characterization of Soybeans with High Oleic Acid from Plant Germplasm of Genebank

Journal of Crop Science and Biotechnology - Altering soybean fatty acid profiles to improve soybean oil quality has long been time goal of soybean researchers. Soybean oil with elevated oleic acid...     

Phytochemical distribution and antioxidant activities of Korean adzuki bean (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Vigna angularis</Emphasis>) landraces

Total polyphenol content (TPC), total phenolic acid content (TPA), and total flavonoid content (TFC) in 209 Korean adzuki bean landraces were determined by colorimetric methods. Antioxidant effects were evaluated with the DPPH, ABTS, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), reducing power (RP), and SOD assays. TPC, TPA, and TFC in the 209 Korean adzuki bean landraces ranged from 1.1 to 11.7 mg gallic acid equivalents/g, 0.37 to 5.03 mg caffeic acid equivalents/g, and 0.17 to 0.91 mg quercetin equivalents/g, respectively. Antioxidant activities as assessed by the DPPH, ABTS, FRAP, PR, and SOD assays showed wide variation, ranging from 12.2 to 86.3 (IC₅₀), 0.85 to 5.25 mg ascorbic acid equivalents (ASC)/g, 0.41 to 5.44 mg ASC/g, 0.54 to 1.83 mg ASC/g, and 60.4 to 142.8 (IC₅₀), respectively. Using the relative antioxidant capacity index (RACI), we found that the IT189394 had the highest antioxidant activity. In clustering analysis, 209 Korean adzuki bean landraces were classified into three clusters. Among them, cluster I contained 22 landraces with higher antioxidant activities, TPC, TFC, and TPA and smaller seed sizes than the other clusters. We anticipate that these results will provide useful information for the development of adzuki bean-based functional foods.     

Cross-amplification of SSR markers developed from Allium sativum to other Allium species

For genetic analysis of the genus Allium, which is composed of diverse species, we acquired 50 transferable and polymorphic microsatellite markers from A. sativum and tested them for transferability in five Allium species. Among the 50 simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci, the dinucleotide motif was the most prevalent, with a ratio of 50% (25/50), and (GT)n was more frequent than (GA)n within the dinucleotide motif. The average number of amplified alleles ranged from 1.452 to 1.910 and the accessions of A. tuberosum had a maximum of 4.8 alleles per accession with the GB-AS-104 SSR marker. Whereas A. porrum belonging to the Allium section revealed 73.0% transferability, A. altaicum and A. fistulosum appertaining to different sections showed low transferability, with a ratio of 47.6% and 48.0%, respectively. The phylogenetic results for these SSR markers did not deviate from previous classifications of the genus Allium. As the rate of successful amplification of SSR markers generally correlates with genetic distance, these SSR markers are potentially useful in the analysis of genetic relationships between or within Allium species.     

Analysis of population structure and genetic diversity in balloon flower (Platycodon grandiflorum (Jacq.) A. DC.) germplasm using Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) markers

Balloon flower (Platycodon grandiflorum A. DC) is widely distributed in South Korea and there are some local landraces that are cultivated as a vegetable crop or medicinal plant. Making use of the gene resources of wild-type and landraces is a way to increase the genetic diversity of the cultivars. However, few tools or information are available on an efficient identification system for maintaining and management of these landraces. To improve the genetic resources for balloon flower, 22 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers, also known as microsatellite markers, were evaluated in a collection of 42 balloon flower landraces, 34 of which were from Korea and eight from China. All microsatellite markers produced the 107 alleles ranging from 2 to 10 with a mean of 4.864 alleles per each locus (N_A). The values of observed heterozygosity (H_O) and expected heterozygosity (H_E) ranged from 0.00 to 0.667 (mean of 0.285) and from 0.024 to 0.741 (mean of 0.416), respectively. An average value of polymorphic information contents (PIC) were 0.382 with a range of 0.023 to 0.703. Results of population structure and phylogenetic and principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) indicated that P. grandiflorum germplasm formed two largely distinct clusters according to their origins and the genetic differentiation. There was a high level of genotypic diversity at broad geographic regions between Korea and China, but the low genetic differentiation was found within the collections from Korea. The results of the genetic diversity will be useful for the selection of the parents for developing balloon flower breeding and the multi-locus SSR markers developed herein will be a valuable resource for germplasm assessments, evaluation of genetic diversity, and population genetic studies of balloon flower.