Time for a paradigm shift in the use of plant genetic resources

Genome ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-194
Author(s):  
François Belzile ◽  
Amina Abed ◽  
Davoud Torkamaneh

For all major crops, sizeable genebanks are maintained across the world and serve as repositories of genetic diversity and key sources of novel traits used in breeding. Although molecular markers have been used to characterize diversity in a broad sense, the most common approach to exploring these resources has been through phenotypic characterization of subsets of these large collections. With the advent of affordable large-scale genotyping technologies and the increasing body of candidate genes for traits of interest, we argue here that it is time for a paradigm shift in the way that we explore and exploit these considerable and highly useful resources. By combining dense genotypic information in and around candidate genes, it is possible to classify accessions based on their haplotype, something approximating the actual alleles at these genes of interest.

Author(s):  
Lok Man ◽  
William P. Klare ◽  
Ashleigh L. Dale ◽  
Joel A. Cain ◽  
Stuart J. Cordwell

Despite being considered the simplest form of life, bacteria remain enigmatic, particularly in light of pathogenesis and evolving antimicrobial resistance. After three decades of genomics, we remain some way from understanding these organisms, and a substantial proportion of genes remain functionally unknown. Methodological advances, principally mass spectrometry (MS), are paving the way for parallel analysis of the proteome, metabolome and lipidome. Each provides a global, complementary assay, in addition to genomics, and the ability to better comprehend how pathogens respond to changes in their internal (e.g. mutation) and external environments consistent with infection-like conditions. Such responses include accessing necessary nutrients for survival in a hostile environment where co-colonizing bacteria and normal flora are acclimated to the prevailing conditions. Multi-omics can be harnessed across temporal and spatial (sub-cellular) dimensions to understand adaptation at the molecular level. Gene deletion libraries, in conjunction with large-scale approaches and evolving bioinformatics integration, will greatly facilitate next-generation vaccines and antimicrobial interventions by highlighting novel targets and pathogen-specific pathways. MS is also central in phenotypic characterization of surface biomolecules such as lipid A, as well as aiding in the determination of protein interactions and complexes. There is increasing evidence that bacteria are capable of widespread post-translational modification, including phosphorylation, glycosylation and acetylation; with each contributing to virulence. This review focuses on the bacterial genotype to phenotype transition and surveys the recent literature showing how the genome can be validated at the proteome, metabolome and lipidome levels to provide an integrated view of organism response to host conditions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. 147-154
Author(s):  
Anjali Uniyal ◽  
Akhilesh Kumar ◽  
Sweta Upadhyay ◽  
Vijay Kumar ◽  
Sanjay Gupta

The Rheum species are important medicinal plants that are facing extinction due to their unplanned development and overexploitation by pharmaceutical industries. DNA polymorphisms are not prone to environmental modifications, thus they are widely used for the identification and characterization of plants. The use of different molecular markers has enabled the researchers for the valuation of genetic variability and diversity in its natural zone of distribution. The conventional approach may take several years to yield this information. For the estimation of molecular and genetic variations in geographical zone of distribution, various molecular markers technique are available like RAPD (Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA), RFLP (Restriction fragment length polymorphism), ISSR (Inter-Simple Sequence Repeats), SSR and AFLP. The uses of different molecular markers for the study of genetic diversity have been discussed in the review.


Agronomy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Acuña ◽  
Rivas ◽  
Brambilla ◽  
Cerrillo ◽  
Frusso ◽  
...  

The genetic diversity of 14 Japanese plum (Prunus salicina Lindl) landraces adapted to an ecosystem of alternating flooding and dry conditions was characterized using neutral simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Twelve SSRs located in six chromosomes of the Prunus persica reference genome resulted to be polymorphic, thus allowing identification of all the evaluated landraces. Differentiation between individuals was moderate to high (average shared allele distance (DAS) = 0.64), whereas the genetic diversity was high (average indices polymorphism information content (PIC) = 0.62, observed heterozygosity (Ho) = 0.51, unbiased expected heterozygosity (uHe) = 0.70). Clustering and genetic structure approaches grouped all individuals into two major groups that correlated with flesh color. This finding suggests that the intuitive breeding practices of growers tended to select plum trees according to specific phenotypic traits. These neutral markers were adequate for population genetic studies and cultivar identification. Furthermore, we assessed the SSR flanking genome regions (25 kb) in silico to search for candidate genes related to stress resistance or associated with other agronomic traits of interest. Interestingly, at least 26 of the 118 detected genes seem to be related to fruit quality, plant development, and stress resistance. This study suggests that the molecular characterization of specific landraces of Japanese plum that have been adapted to extreme agroecosystems is a useful approach to localize candidate genes which are potentially interesting for breeding.


Parasitology ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 125 (7) ◽  
pp. S51-S59 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. CURTIS ◽  
R. E. SORENSEN ◽  
D. J. MINCHELLA

Blood flukes in the genus Schistosoma are important human parasites in tropical regions. A substantial amount of genetic diversity has been described in populations of these parasites using molecular markers. We first consider the extent of genetic variation found in Schistosoma mansoni and some factors that may be contributing to this variation. Recently, though, attempts have been made to analyze not only the genetic diversity but how that diversity is partitioned within natural populations of schistosomes. Studies with non-allelic molecular markers (e.g. RAPDs and mtVNTRs) have indicated that schistosome populations exhibit varying levels of gene flow among component subpopulations. The recent characterization of microsatellite markers for S. mansoni provided an opportunity to study schistosome population structure within a population of schistosomes from a single Brazilian village using allelic markers. Whereas the detection of population structure depends strongly on the type of analysis with a mitochondrial marker, analyses with a set of seven microsatellite loci consistently revealed moderate genetic differentiation when village boroughs were used to define parasite subpopulations and greater subdivision when human hosts defined subpopulations. Finally, we discuss the implications that such strong population structure might have on schistosome epidemiology.


2013 ◽  
Vol 62 (1-6) ◽  
pp. 124-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong-Yu Niu ◽  
Wan-Hui Ye ◽  
Zheng-Feng Wang ◽  
Ying Chen ◽  
Hong-Lin Cao ◽  
...  

Abstract Schima superba is a common dominant tree species in evergreen broad-leaved forest in subtropical China. Despite its multiple usages in wood industry, reforestation and traditional Chinese medicine, its genetic diversity is poorly studied. To help studying its genetic diversity and structure in the future, after microsatellite enrichment and screening, we identified 16 microsatellites in S. superba. These markers showed polymorphism in three populations. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 3 to 32 with a mean of 14. Within populations, the observed and unbiased expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.048 to 0.926 and from 0.048 to 0.949, respectively. The newly developed 16 microsatellites will be useful for investigating the genetic diversity and structure from large scale patterns to fine-scale structures in this species.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manoj K Bandaru ◽  
Anastasia Emmanouilidou ◽  
Petter Ranefall ◽  
Benedikt von der Heyde ◽  
Eugenia Mazzaferro ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundHundreds of loci have been robustly associated with circulating lipids, atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease; but for most loci the causal genes and mechanisms remain uncharacterized.MethodsWe developed a semi-automated experimental pipeline for systematic, quantitative, large-scale characterization of mechanisms, drugs and genes associated with dyslipidemia and atherosclerosis in a zebrafish model system. We validated our pipeline using a dietary (n>2000), drug treatment (n>1000), and genetic intervention (n=384), and used it to characterize three candidate genes in a GWAS-identified pleiotropic locus on chr 19p13.11 (n>500).ResultsOur results show that five days of overfeeding and cholesterol supplementation had independent pro-atherogenic effects, which could be diminished by concomitant treatment with atorvastatin and ezetimibe. CRISPR-Cas9-induced mutations in orthologues of proof-of-concept genes resulted in higher LDL cholesterol levels (apoea), and more early stage atherosclerosis (apobb.1). Finally, our pipeline helped identify putative causal genes for circulating lipids and early-stage atherosclerosis (LPAR2andGATAD2A).ConclusionsIn summary, our pipeline facilitates systematic,in vivocharacterization of drugs and candidate genes to increase our understanding of disease etiology, and can likely help identify novel targets for therapeutic intervention.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 102
Author(s):  
Cindy S. Barrera ◽  
Katrina Cornish

Large volumes of agricultural and food processing residues are generated daily around the world. Despite the various potential uses reported for this biomass, most are still treated as waste that requires disposal and negatively impacts the environmental footprint of the primary production process. Increasing attention has been paid toward the use of these residues as alternative fillers for rubber and other large-scale commodity polymers to reduce dependence on petroleum. Nevertheless, characterization of these alternative fillers is required to define compatibility with the specific polymer, identify filler limitations, understand the properties of the resulting composites, and modify the materials to enable the engineering of composites to exploit all the potential advantages of these residue-derived fillers.


Author(s):  
J. Halász ◽  
V. Hoffman ◽  
Z. Szabó ◽  
J. Nyéki ◽  
T. Szabó ◽  
...  

Quince (Cydonia oblongaMill.) is a minor fruit crop, which is primarily used for marmalade, jam and sauce.Very few quince cultivars are known all over the world and in many cases similar names are used for presumably different cultivars. The aim of the present study was to evaluate and characterize the genetic diversity of 36 quince cultivars and selections with SSR markers. Seven out of 8 SSR markers designed from apple sequences could successfully yield amplification also in quince cultivars. Number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 3 alleles. These allele numbers are quite low when compared to apple. It is supposed to be the consequence of a genetic bottleneck. In spite of the low allele number per locus, the 36 quince cultivars formed 30 different genotypes. The ratio of homozygosity was low, which might be coupled with the self-(in)compatibility phenotype of quinces. SSR markers proved unable to differentiate putatively closely related cultivars (e.g. ‘Bereczki’ and ‘Bereczki bôtermő’). In general, the level of polymorphism among the tested quince genotypes was much restricted due to the low allele number detected. However, it must be considered that the number of analysed SSR loci is not enough high to estimate the overall heterozygosity of the quince genome. Further experiments are needed and the SSR markers proved to be a reliable and useful tool for such analyses.


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