Admixture Analysis Using Genotyping-by-Sequencing Reveals Genetic Relatedness and Parental Lineage Distribution in Highbush Blueberry Genotypes and Cross Derivatives

Blueberries (Vaccinium section Cyanococcus) are perennial shrubs widely cultivated for their edible fruits. In this study, we performed admixture and genetic relatedness analysis of northern highbush (NHB, primarily V. corymbosum) and southern highbush (SHB, V. corymbosum introgressed with V. darrowii, V. virgatum, or V. tenellum) blueberry genotypes, and progenies of the BNJ16-5 cross (V. corymbosum × V. darrowii). Using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS), we generated more than 334 million reads (75 bp). The GBS reads were aligned to the V. corymbosum cv. Draper v1.0 reference genome sequence, and ~2.8 million reads were successfully mapped. From the alignments, we identified 2,244,039 single-nucleotide polymorphisms, which were used for principal component, haplotype, and admixture analysis. Principal component analysis revealed three main groups: (1) NHB cultivars, (2) SHB cultivars, and (3) BNJ16-5 progenies. The overall fixation index (FST) and nucleotide diversity for NHB and SHB cultivars indicated wide genetic differentiation, and haplotype analysis revealed that SHB cultivars are more genetically diverse than NHB cultivars. The admixture analysis identified a mixture of various lineages of parental genomic introgression. This study demonstrated the effectiveness of GBS-derived single-nucleotide polymorphism markers in genetic and admixture analyses to reveal genetic relatedness and to examine parental lineages in blueberry, which may be useful for future breeding plans.

Admixture Analysis Using Genotyping-by-Sequencing Reveals Genetic Relatedness and Parental Lineage Distribution in Highbush Blueberry Genotypes and Cross Derivatives

Blueberries (Vaccinium section Cyanococcus) are perennial shrubs widely cultivated for their edible fruits. In this study, we used admixture and genetic relatedness analysis of northern highbush (NHB, V. corymbosum) and southern highbush (SHB, V. darrowii) blueberry genotypes and F2 progenies of the V. corymbosum × V. darrowii cross. Using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS), we generated ~3.34 billion reads (75 bp). The GBS reads were aligned to the Vaccinium corymbosum cv. Draper v1.0 reference genome sequence, and ~2.8 million reads were successfully mapped. From the alignments, we identified 2,244,039 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which were used for principal component, haplotype, and admixture analysis. PCA formed three main groups: 1) NHB cultivars, 2) SHB cultivars, and 3) BNJ16-5 progenies. The overall fixation index (FST) and nucleotide diversity for NHB and SHB, indicated wide genetic differentiation, and haplotype analysis revealed that SHB cultivars are more genetically diverse than NHB cultivars. The admixture analysis identified a mix of various lineages of parental genomic introgression. This study demonstrated the effectiveness of GBS-derived SNP markers in genetic and admixture analyses to reveal genetic relatedness and to examine parental lineages in blueberry, which may be useful for future breeding plans.

Role of Lanc like G protein-coupled receptor-2with BOP and BTB/POZ in Stress Tolerance and High Yielding trait of Pigeonpea

Pigeonpea is drought resilient crop; relatively more drought tolerant than other legume crops. Through detailed evaluation and multi-location trials of cross derivatives, we identified 65 better performing pigeonpea lines. Among these lines, high yielding and stress-tolerant accessions were identified. From our earlier MYB network and flowering genes networks, we could identify tightly linked co-expressinggenes for yield traits. Semi-quantitative expression analyses showed that the defending type drought stress tolerance contributing LAN C like protein GCL-2 is expressed in providing disease resistance and myb linked BTB/POZ genes contribute for high yielding of pigeonpea. BOP is a member of BTB group of plant protein. We found differential up-regulation of these genes in drought-tolerant high yielding pigeonpea lines earlier reported by our team. Whereas in another report we explained the myb linked expression of BTB/POZ genes. These genes selected from our earlier network analyses were identified, PCR amplified, sequenced and structure validated for its functional domain. Using the gene sequence, we predicted and validated the protein structure of Lan C. The current study extends our earlier findings that these genes are directly taking part in stress tolerance and high yielding traits.

The Effect of Nonmonetary Factors on the Demand for Insurance and Self-Insurance

The article considers the impact of nonmonetary factors (health) on insurance and self-insurance (against material damage) decisions. Using a two-argument utility function, we prove that the health deterioration leads to increased demand for insurance if the decision-maker is cross-prudent in health and if wealth and health are complements. Those conditions are equivalent to positivity of second and third order degree cross-derivatives of the utility function. Second part of the article considers analogous effect of health deterioration on self-insurance. In this case the result depends additionally on effectivity of self-insurance as a function of the state of the world.