Characterization and PCR-based Typing of Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria from Peppers and Tomatoes in Serbia

During the last two decades bacterial strains associated with necrotic leaf spots of pepper and tomato fruit spots were collected in Serbia. Twenty-eight strains isolated from pepper and six from tomato were characterized. A study of their physiological and pathological characteristics, and fatty acid composition analysis revealed that all of the strains belong to Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria. Being non-amylolytic and non-pectolytic, pathogenic on pepper but not on tomato, containing lower amounts of fatty acid 15 : 0 ante–iso, the pepper strains were designated as members of the A group of X. campestris pv. vesicatoria. However, the tomato strains hydrolyzed starch and pectate, caused compatible reactions on tomato but not on pepper, had higher percent of 15 : 0 ante–iso fatty acid, and were classified into B phenotypic group and identified as X. vesicatoria. PCR primers were developed which amplified conserved DNA regions related to the hrp genes of different strains of X. campestris pv. vesicatoria associated with pepper and tomato. Restriction analysis of the PCR product resulted in different patterns and enabled grouping of the strains into four groups. When xanthomonads isolated from pepper and tomato in Serbia were analyzed, they clustered into two groups corresponding to the grouping based on their physiological and pathological characteristics. According to the reaction of pepper and tomato differential varieties, the strains from pepper belong to races P7 and P8 and tomato strains belong to the race T2. All strains were sensitive to copper and streptomycin. Advantages and disadvantages of various bacterial spot management practices are discussed.     

北川白山羊基因组与表型性状相关的多态性RAPD标记

北川白山羊是在特定生态条件下未经系统繁育而形成的优良地方山羊品种,在生长发育、繁殖和抗逆等性状方面具有突出优势。通过对122只北川白山羊个体基因组的扩增,结果从80条RAPD引物中选出12条多态引物,北川白山羊群体平均遗传相似率和遗传多样性指数分别为0.859 8±0.077 6和0.919 8,表明北川白山羊品种具有一定的遗传分化和较丰富的遗传多样性。在12条多态性引物中,SBS06同时对体质量（P=0.028）、体高（P=0.017）和体长（P=0.037）具有显著影响,SBS02对体质量（P=0.033）和体高（P=0.034）具有显著效应,所以推断影响体质量和体高性状的QTL基因座可能与RAPD标记SBS06和SBS02相连锁,可以应用于北川白山羊体质量和体高性状的标记辅助选择以及相应主效基因的进一步研究。     

Major ascaroside pheromone component asc-C5 influences reproductive plasticity among isolates of the invasive species pinewood nematode

Pheromones are communication chemicals and regulatory signals used by animals and represent unique tools for organisms to mediate behaviors and make “decisions” to maximize their fitness. Phenotypic plasticity refers to the innate capacity of a species to tolerate a greater breadth of environmental conditions across which it adapts to improve its survival, reproduction, and fitness. The pinewood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, an invasive nematode species, was accidentally introduced from North America into Japan, China, and Europe; however, few studies have investigated its pheromones and phenotypic plasticity as a natural model. Here, we demonstrated a novel phenomenon, in which nematodes under the condition of pheromone presence triggered increased reproduction in invasive strains (JP1, JP2, CN1, CN2, EU1, and EU2), while it simultaneously decreased reproduction in native strains (US1 and US2). The bidirectional effect on fecundity, mediated by presence/absence of pheromones, is henceforth termed pheromone-regulative reproductive plasticity (PRRP). We further found that synthetic ascaroside asc-C5 (ascr#9), the major pheromone component, plays a leading role in PRRP and identified 2 candidate receptor genes, Bxydaf-38 and Bxysrd-10, involved in perceiving asc-C5. These results suggest that plasticity of reproductive responses to pheromones in pinewood nematode may increase its fitness in novel environments following introduction. This opens up a new perspective for invasion biology and presents a novel strategy of invasion, suggesting that pheromones, in addition to their traditional roles in chemical signaling, can influence the reproductive phenotype among native and invasive isolates. In addition, this novel mechanism could broadly explain, through comparative studies of native and invasive populations of animals, a potential underlying factor behind of the success of other biological invasions.     

Molecular prevalence,risk factors assessment and haemato-biochemical alterations in hepatozoonosis in dogs from Punjab,India

Hepatozoonosis caused by Hepatozoon canis is an important tick-borne disease of dogs in tropical and sub-tropical regions throughout the world. In the present study evaluation of blood samples collected from 225 dogs presented at Small Animal Clinics, GADVASU, Ludhiana, Punjab (India) was done for the presence of H. canis by PCR based assay targeting a portion of 18S rRNA gene. Of the total samples subjected to PCR, an amplicon of 666 bp was detected in 13.78% samples whereas, routine blood smear examination revealed gamonts in 5.78% samples. Furthermore, prevalence of H. canis infection was found to be significantly associated with season, being highest in summer and lowest in winter while other risk factors e.g. age, sex and breed showed non-significant association. In terms of various clinico-pathological parameters, significant drop in haemoglobin, total red blood cell count, packed cell volume and lymphocytes were recorded in positive cases whereas the total white blood cell count was non-significantly increased. The haematological alterations in the positive cases were lymphopenia, anaemia, thrombocytopenia, relative neutrophilia, neutrophilic leucocytosis, eosinophilia, monocytosis and lymphocytosis while the biochemical profile revealed hypoproteinemia and increased levels of blood urea nitrogen and creatinine (in positive cases) pointing towards renal failure.     

基于堆叠沙漏网络的单分蘖水稻植株骨架提取

针对水稻栽培和遗传育种研究中单分蘖性状高通量无损提取的实际需求,该研究提出了一种基于沙漏网络模型的单分蘖水稻关键点预测和骨架提取方法。首先,对原始图像进行批量裁剪、gamma校正和锐化卷积等预处理,获取单色背景下的水稻单分蘖图像数据集;设计水稻单分蘖各器官关键点数据标注策略,构建监督数据集。然后,构建堆叠沙漏网络架构实现叶片数固定和不固定的水稻关键点检测,引入沙漏结构整合图像的多尺度特征,结合中间监督机制整合不同沙漏模块信息。叶片数一致的情况,模型预测准确率最高可达96.48%;叶片数不一致的情况,预测准确率达到82.09%。最后,根据预测关键点及其对应的语义信息连接形成植株骨架,选取茎秆长、叶片长、穗长、叶片-茎秆夹角和茎节点位置5个表型参数对生成骨架模型的实际意义进行评估,其均方根误差依次为5.82 cm、3.09 cm、1.71 cm、3.22°和2.04 cm,证明了该方法能较好地识别水稻单分蘖关键点,为水稻骨架提取提供了一种新思路,有助于加快水稻育种速度。     

Phenotypic variations of wheat cultivars from the North China Plain in response to cadmium stress and associated single nucleotide polymorphisms identified by a genome-wide association study

Understanding the genetic mechanisms for cadmium(Cd) uptake and translocation in common wheat(Triticum aestivum) is of significance in food Cd contamination control. In this study, a diverse panel of 132 wheat cultivars was collected from the North China Plain. The cultivars were evaluated in terms of their phenotypic variations in response to Cd stress and subjected to a genome-wide association study(GWAS) to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs) associated with the phenotypic variatio...     

基于Random Forest的水稻细菌性条斑病识别方法研究

为了快速、准确、有效地识别发病早期的细菌性条斑病,提出基于随机森林(Random forest,RF)算法的水稻细菌性条斑病识别方法,利用光谱成像技术获取该病害的高光谱数据,通过多元散射校正减少和消除噪声及基线漂移对光谱数据的不利影响。利用随机森林特征重要性指标,选取逻辑回归(LR)、朴素贝叶斯(NB)、决策树(DT)、支持向量分类机(SVC)、k最近邻(KNN)和梯度提升决策树(Gradient boosting decision tree,GBDT)算法进行对比试验。同时筛选出12个位于450~664 nm范围内对识别模型有重要影响的光谱波段,并与全波段进行分类结果比较。试验结果表明:RF算法的分类准确率为95.24%,与试验选取的其他算法相比,效果最优,比NB准确率提高了20.97个百分点;与全波段分类结果相比,利用RF算法基于12个波长的识别,波长数减少了98.05%,识别精确率为94.66%,召回率为99.55%,F1值为97.04%,准确率为94.32%。虽然精确率减少了2.97个百分点、准确率减少了0.85个百分点,但召回率增加了4.4个百分点、F1值增加了0.67个百分点,模型精度满足要求。     

基于结构光三维点云的棉花幼苗叶片性状解析方法

针对传统的棉花叶片表型测量方法主观、低效,对复杂性状如卷叶程度、黄叶占比等很难量化的问题,提出一种基于结构光三维成像的棉花幼苗叶片性状解析方法。首先,采用结构光扫描仪获取棉花幼苗的三维点云数据;然后,利用直通滤波、超体聚类、条件欧氏距离算法,实现叶片点云的识别与分割;最后,基于分割的叶片点云,采用三角面片化、随机采样一致性、Lab颜色分割等处理,实现叶片面积、周长、生长角度、卷曲度、黄叶占比等参数的快速、准确、无损提取。对40株棉花幼苗进行三维结构光成像试验,结果表明,3D叶片面积、周长测量的平均绝对误差分别为2. 59%、2. 85%,具有较高的测量精度,还证明叶片卷曲度和黄叶占比能显著区分病叶和正常叶。     

干旱胁迫下‘宁玉’草莓生长发育及相关基因表达特点

为分析基因诊断草莓在干旱逆境条件下生长状态的可行性,以‘宁玉’草莓为试材,调查了不同干旱胁迫条件下的生长特点以及与生长素合成、脱落酸合成、花果发育、色素合成相关的10个基因的表达情况。研究结果表明:在不同干旱条件下草莓均可完成从营养生长到生殖生长的生命周期,所选基因也都行使并完成了其调控功能。与对照植株相比,在轻度和中度干旱胁迫(50%~65%土壤持水量)条件下,草莓植株的物候期较对照(80%土壤持水量)提早,而在严重干旱胁迫(35%土壤含水量时)条件下延缓,随着干旱胁迫条件的加重,草莓植株、叶片、果实明显变小,果实着色加深。每个基因在不同干旱条件下表达水平的变化趋势基本一致,且都与相应的物候期以及生长发育时间长短的变化情况相一致,但所选基因在几种干旱条件下其表达开始的早晚、表达水平的高低以及表达相应程度持续时间的长短存在不同。在轻度和中度干旱条件下,这些基因的表达时间提早,但持续时间较短,表达水平高于对照;而在重度干旱条件下,这些基因的表达开始的时间较对照延缓,表达水平较低但持续时间拉长。上述研究结果表明,利用基因的表达信息可以提前推断草莓植株在不同干旱条件下的生长发育状态,了解干旱胁迫对草莓生长发育的影响以及为是否需要提早采取管理措施等提供重要依据。