Maintenance of UK bread baking quality: Trends in wheat quality traits over 50 years of breeding and potential for future application of genomic-assisted selection

Nick Fradgley Alison Bentley Keith Gardner Stéphanie M. Swarbreck (2023, [Artículo])

Sustainable Food Systems Genomic Prediction Genome-Wide Association Analysis CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA WHEAT BREEDING MARKER-ASSISTED SELECTION VARIETIES FOOD SYSTEMS QUALITY

Genome-wide association analyses of agronomic traits and Striga hermonthica resistance in pearl millet

Hussein Shimelis Chris Ojiewo Abhishek Rathore (2023, [Artículo])

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum [L.] R. Br.) is a nutrient-dense, relatively drought-tolerant cereal crop cultivated in dry regions worldwide. The crop is under-researched, and its grain yield is low (< 0.8 tons ha−1) and stagnant in the major production regions, including Burkina Faso. The low productivity of pearl millet is mainly attributable to a lack of improved varieties, Striga hermonthica [Sh] infestation, downy mildew infection, and recurrent heat and drought stress. Developing high-yielding and Striga-resistant pearl millet varieties that satisfy the farmers’ and market needs requires the identification of yield-promoting genes linked to economic traits to facilitate marker-assisted selection and gene pyramiding. The objective of this study was to undertake genome-wide association analyses of agronomic traits and Sh resistance among 150 pearl millet genotypes to identify genetic markers for marker-assisted breeding and trait introgression. The pearl millet genotypes were phenotyped in Sh hotspot fields and screen house conditions. Twenty-nine million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) initially generated from 345 pearl millet genotypes were filtered, and 256 K SNPs were selected and used in the present study. Phenotypic data were collected on days to flowering, plant height, number of tillers, panicle length, panicle weight, thousand-grain weight, grain weight, number of emerged Striga and area under the Striga number progress curve (ASNPC). Agronomic and Sh parameters were subjected to combined analysis of variance, while genome-wide association analysis was performed on phenotypic and SNPs data. Significant differences (P < 0.001) were detected among the assessed pearl millet genotypes for Sh parameters and agronomic traits. Further, there were significant genotype by Sh interaction for the number of Sh and ASNPC. Twenty-eight SNPs were significantly associated with a low number of emerged Sh located on chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7. Four SNPs were associated with days-to-50%-flowering on chromosomes 3, 5, 6, and 7, while five were associated with panicle length on chromosomes 2, 3, and 4. Seven SNPs were linked to thousand-grain weight on chromosomes 2, 3, and 6. The putative SNP markers associated with a low number of emerged Sh and agronomic traits in the assessed genotypes are valuable genomic resources for accelerated breeding and variety deployment of pearl millet with Sh resistance and farmer- and market-preferred agronomic traits.

High-Yielding Varieties Striga-Resistant Agronomic Parameters CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDIES STRIGA HERMONTHICA PEARL MILLET

Combination of linkage and association mapping with genomic prediction to infer QTL regions associated with gray leaf spot and northern corn leaf blight resistance in tropical maize

David Berger Yoseph Beyene Collins Juma Suresh L.M. Manje Gowda (2023, [Artículo])

Gray Leaf Spot Northern Corn Leaf Blight CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA MAIZE LEAF SPOTS QUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCI ASSOCIATION MAPPING GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDIES

Taxonomic versus ecological prey traits among arthropodophagous bats: implications for surveying trophic partitioning patterns

CINTYA ARACELI SEGURA TRUJILLO SERGIO TICUL ALVAREZ CASTAÑEDA SUSETTE SAMI CASTAÑEDA RICO Jesus Maldonado (2022, [Artículo])

"Species can coexist spatially and temporally by partitioning the niche space and forming complex assemblages made up of different species that share the prey resource. Chiroptera is the second most species-rich mammalian order and about 75% of bat species feed on arthropods, which makes these bats a good model group for studying complex trophic interactions. Next-generation parallel sequencing techniques allow a detailed analysis of arthropod resource partitioning patterns in bats. However, previous studies have not reached a consensus on the concordance between diet composition, habitat use, and segregation of trophic resources in bats. We analyzed diet composition in terms of taxonomy of the insect prey, and the prey characteristics. Feces of 16 bat species were examined in the Mexican Neotropics. We carried out a SIMPER (similarity percentage) test, nonmetric multidimensional scaling, and principal component analyses to identify general segregation patterns of trophic resources in relation to the habitat-use guild of bats and computed Pianka’s niche overlap index between species and Levin’s index to estimate the niche width of each species. Bats from the same locality tend to partition their diet, with a niche overlap ranging between 0.5 and 0.8. The highest values were found between species with different foraging behaviors. We suggest that future bat diet studies should incorporate the ecological and taxonomic information of arthropod prey to better understand the trophic interactions with bats."

"Aproximadamente el 75% de las especies de murciélagos se alimentan de artrópodos, algunas de estas especies pueden coexistir espacial y temporalmente al particionar el espacio del nicho. Los murciélagos forman ensamblajes complejos compuestos por diferentes especies que comparten su recurso trófico. Por tanto, los murciélagos pueden utilizarse como grupo modelo para estudiar interacciones tróficas complejas. Las técnicas de secuenciación masiva paralela del ADN permiten un análisis detallado de sus patrones de partición de recursos tróficos. Sin embargo, los estudios no han llegado a un consenso sobre la concordancia entre la composición de la dieta, el uso del hábitat y la partición de los recursos tróficos en los murciélagos. Analizamos la composición de la dieta en términos de taxonomía de los artrópodos presa y sus características ecológicas. Examinamos las heces de 16 especies de murciélagos a lo largo del Neotrópico Mexicano. Se utilizaron análisis de similitud porcentual (SIMPER), escalamiento multidimensional no métrico y análisis de componentes principales para identificar patrones generales de partición de recursos tróficos en relación con el gremio de uso de hábitat de los murciélagos. Calculamos el índice de superposición de nicho de Pianka entre especies y el índice de Levin para estimar la amplitud del nicho de cada especie. Encontramos que los murciélagos de la misma localidad tienden a diferenciar su dieta, con una superposición de nicho que varía entre 0.5 y 0.8. Los valores más altos se encontraron entre especies con diferentes hábitos de alimentación. Sugerimos que, en el futuro, los estudios de dieta de murciélagos consideren las características ecológicas de sus presas y utilicen la información taxonómica como clave para recuperar información sobre la biología de las presas y comprender la ecología de estas interacciones tróficas."

arthropods, bats, foraging ecology, next-generation sequencing, prey traits, resource partitioning, trophic ecology artrópodos, ecología trófca, murciélagos, partición de recursos, rasgos de presa, secuenciación de nueva generación BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA ANIMAL (ZOOLOGÍA) ECOLOGÍA ANIMAL ECOLOGÍA ANIMAL