Assessment of Agro-Morphological Variability in a Durum Wheat Collection Maintained in the Moroccan Gene Bank

Durum wheat is one of the most important cereal crops in Morocco. The development of high-yielding varieties of durum wheat is one of the major goals of breeding programs in Morocco. Crop genetic diversity should play an essential role in this context. The objective of this study was to assess the genetic variation among 280 durum wheat accessions conserved at the Moroccan Gene Bank by using twelve agro-morphological characters. All accessions are planted in field conditions and arranged in augmented design. The results showed a large variability among the durum wheat accessions. Analysis of variance demonstrated significant to highly significant differentiation between the accessions for the most traits. The number of plants at the emergence stage, the biomass of the plant at the flowering stage, the chlorophyll content, and the number of spikes showed high genetic advance coupled with high heritability (broad sense). Moreover, highly significant coefficients of correlation were revealed between agro-morphological characters offering the possibility of direct or indirect selection. The first two axes of the principal component analysis explained 45% of the total variation and showed that Moroccan landraces and North American cultivars shared similar morphological characters. However, Moroccan cultivars have shown better agronomic characters. This important agro-morphological variation should be utilized as a gene pool in durum wheat improvement to develop novel varieties with high productivity and the best quality.

Genetic diversity of Malus Mill. in the collection plantings of the Experimental pomology station named after L. P. Symyrenko

Gene pool of apple trees of the Experimental Station of Pomology named after L. P. Symyrenko IS of NAAS of Ukraine is supported in the “field gene bank” and has more than 1260 samples. The main task that gene banks solve is to preserve the genetic diversity of plants for present and future generations of people. As a result of attracting new samples to the collection and studying the imported introduced material, the selected sources of economically valuable traits are transferred for further inclusion in the selection programs of other research institutions. The genetic potential of apple productivity and resistance to biotic and abiotic environmental factors is far from exhausted.

Genome-Wide Association Study for Powdery Mildew and Rusts Adult Plant Resistance in European Spring Barley from Polish Gene Bank

Rusts and powdery mildew are diseases that have a major effect on yield loss in barley. Adult Plant Resistance (APR) is a post-seedling resistance mechanism and its expression is influenced by many factors, including host susceptibility and weather conditions, as well as the timing and severity of disease outbreaks. There are two mechanisms associated with APR: non-hypersensitive and minor gene APR. In this study, 431 European barley accessions were evaluated phenotypically over 2 years (2018–2019) under field conditions, scoring APR to powdery mildew (PM), barley brown rust (BBR), and stem rust (SR), and genotypically using DArTseq. Accessions were grouped into sub-collections by cultivation period (group A—cultivated prior 1985, B—cultivated after 1985, and C—Polish landraces) and by European country of origin or European region. GWAS was conducted for PM, BBR, and SR, and scored at the heading (HA) and milky-waxy (MW) seed stages in 2019 and maximum scores across all replicates were obtained 2018–2019. Disease severity was sufficient to differentiate the collection according to cultivation time and country of origin and to determine SNPs. Overall, the GWAS analysis identified 73 marker–trait associations (MTAs) with these traits. For PM resistance, we identified five MTAs at both the HA stage and when considering the maximal disease score across both growth stages and both years. One marker (3432490-28-T/C) was shared between these two traits; it is located on chromosome 4H. For BBR resistance, six MTAs at HA and one MTA at the MW stage in 2019 and seven MTAs, when considering the maximal disease score across both growth stages and both years, were identified. Of the 48 markers identified as being associated with SR resistance, 12 were on chromosome 7H, 1 was in the telomeric region of the short arm, and 7 were in the telomeric region of the long arm. Rpg1 has previously been mapped to 7HS. The results of this study will be used to create a Polish Gene Bank platform for precise breeding programs. The resistant genotypes and MTA markers will serve as a valuable resource for breeding for PM, BBR, and SR resistance in barley.

Diversity And Population Structure of Nordic Potato Cultivars and Breeding Clones Grown Under Long Daylength in Europe

The genetic diversity and population structure of breeding germplasm is central knowledge for crop improvement. To gain insight into the genetic potential of the germplasm used for potato breeding in a Nordic breeding program as well as the collections from the Nordic genebank (NordGen), 133 potato genotypes were genotyped using the Infinium Illumina 20K SNP array. After SNP filtering, 11 610 polymorphic SNPs were included in the analysis. In addition, data from three important breeding traits – percent dry matter and uniformity of tuber shape and eye – were scored to measure the variation be-tween groups. The genetic diversity among the genotypes was estimated using principal coordinate analysis based on the genetic distance between individuals, as well as by using the software STRUC-TURE. Both methods suggest that the collected breeding material and the germplasm from the gene-bank are closely related, with a low degree of population structure between the groups. The phenotypic distribution among the genotypes revealed significant differences, especially between farmer’s cultivars and released cultivars and breeding clones. The percent heterozygosity was similar between the groups, with a mean average of 58–60%. Overall, the breeding germplasm and the collection of genotypes from the Nordic gene bank seems to be closely related with similar genetic background. This gains insight that the genetic potential of available Nordic potato breeding germplasm is low, and for genetic hybridi-zation purposes, genotypes from outside the Nordic region should be employed.

Case Report: Genomic Characteristics of the First Known Case of SARS-CoV-2 Imported From Spain to Sichuan, China

The pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been basically under control in China since March 2020, but the import of domestic SARS-CoV-2 has begun to increase. This study reported the first case of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection imported from Spain into Sichuan Province, China, on March 11, 2020. The infected male had a body temperature of 37.5°C, normal blood oxygen saturation levels, and a computed tomography (CT) examination showed that his lungs had no shadows. However, a throat swab from the subject tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 using qPCR assay. In this study, we conducted transcriptome sequencing on respiratory throat swabs from the subject and found that the dominant SARS-CoV-2 sequence (Gene Bank ID: MW301121) was a spike protein D614G mutant strain, which is currently popular throughout world. We downloaded and analyzed SARS-CoV-2 sequences collected from cases in China and Spain for comparison and tracing purposes. After March 11, 2020, the Chinese domestic clade was naturally divided into the imported SARS-CoV-2 D614G mutant strain and evolutionarily-related similar sequences and that of sequences collected in the original Wuhan area. The sequence reported in this study was located on a small branch, far from the evolution of Wuhan sequences. As expected, the identified sequence was closely related to the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 D614G mutant strain circulating in Spain.

Ampelographic and molecular characterisation of grapevine varieties in the gene bank of the experimental vineyard ‘Radmilovac’ – Serbia

Characterisations of thirty grapevine varieties (Vitis vinifera L.) from the experimental vineyard ‘Radmilovac’ were conducted using a large number of OIV descriptors and eight highly polymorphic microsatellite loci. The ampelographic description contained 45 features. Molecular characterisation of selected microsatellite loci was performed using capillary electrophoresis fragment analysis. Dendrograms based on ampelographic and genetic data resulted in three groups of varieties. Qualitative ampelographic characteristics tended to manifest significant differences. The most common deviation among varieties within the group was in the characteristic OIV 051 (colouration of the upper side of a young leaf). Genetic characterisation of SSR markers through analyses of a large number of varieties contributes to better organisation of grapevine collections and simpler identification of varieties, as well as data exchange. When identifying the varieties, the results of the DNA analysis should be combined with the ampelographic descriptors, in order to select grapevine varieties with desirable viticultural and oenological traits. Integration of the obtained genetic data with the ampelographic data is of utmost importance for accurate identification of the varieties and offers a significant means for the preservation and use of the varieties.

Isolation and molecular identification of microorganisms isolated from soils contaminated with heavy metals in Mosul city

This research is concerned with organisms isolated from soils contaminated with heavy metals in industrial and residential areas in Mosul, the center of Nineveh Governorate, and the diagnosis of these organisms using molecular biology techniques. Samples were collected from four locations in the city between the industrial area and residential neighborhoods. Soil samples were analyzed, and dilutions were prepared, then the dilutions were grown on potato extract and dextrose (PDA) medium for the development of fungi and Nutrient agar for bacterial development. The dilutions were planted by the casting method by three replications, then the process of purifying the fungal and bacterial colonies was carried out using the traditional methods. To diagnose these pure colonies using PCR technique, colonies of fungi were grown on the medium of PDA, and bacteria were grown on the medium of nutritious broth. As a result, nine fungal species were diagnosed; two of them are new undiagnosed genera that have been registered in the gene bank, four of them contain genetic mutations, and three of them are known and previously diagnosed fungi. As for bacteria, two new strains were isolated and registered in the gene bank among the four diagnosed types. And some of these genera exhibited severe resistance to antibiotics, while others showed moderate resistance, in contrast to the control, which was very sensitive to antibiotics.

Implication of High Variance in Germplasm Characteristics

The beauty of conserving germplasm is the securement of genetic resources with numerous important traits, which could be utilized whenever they need to be incorporated into current cultivars. However, it would not be as useful as expected if proper information was not given to breeders and researchers. In this study, we demonstrated that there is a large variation, both among and within germplasm, using a low-cost image-based phenotyping method; this could be valuable for improving gene bank screening systems and for crop breeding. Using the image analyses of 507 accessions of buckwheat, we identified a wide range of variations per trait between germplasm accessions and within an accession. Since this implies a similarity with other important agronomic traits, we suggest that the variance of the presented traits should be checked and provided for better germplasm enhancement.

Canine and Feline Epididymal Semen—A Plentiful Source of Gametes

Canine and feline epididymal semen provide an additional source of gametes to preserve the genetics of valuable breeding dogs and tomcats, especially for those that fail to ejaculate, need castration as a therapy or die unexpectedly. Moreover, since it is quite common to perform castration of non-breeding dogs and cats, the development of a gene bank of epididymal semen collected after castration would greatly contribute to increase the genetic diversity in dogs and cats. Collection and cryopreservation of epididymal semen necessitates a full understanding of the function of the epididymis and of the characteristics of epididymal spermatozoa as opposed to ejaculated semen. During collection of epididymal semen, specific factors may have a negative effect on epididymal semen quality and freezability. Accordingly, the elimination of these triggers could enhance epididymal semen freezability and consequently positively influence post-thaw semen quality and outcome for different ARTs.