Leaf senescence can impact crop production by either changing photosynthesis duration, or by modifying the nutrient remobiliza- tion efficiency and harvest index. The doubling of the grain yield in major cereals in th...Leaf senescence can impact crop production by either changing photosynthesis duration, or by modifying the nutrient remobiliza- tion efficiency and harvest index. The doubling of the grain yield in major cereals in the last 50 years was primarily achieved through the extension of photosynthesis duration and the increase in crop biomass partitioning, two things that are intrinsically coupled with leaf senescence. In this review, we consider the functionality of a leaf as a function of leaf age, and divide a leaf＇s life into three phases： the functionality increasing phase at the early growth stage, the full functionality phase, and the senescence and functionality decreasing phase. A genetic framework is proposed to describe gene actions at various checkpoints to regulate leaf development and senescence. Four categories of genes contribute to crop production： those which regulate （Ⅰ） the speed and transition of early leaf growth, （Ⅱ） photosynthesis rate, （Ⅲ） the onset and （Ⅳ） the progression of leaf senescence. Current advances in isolating and characterizing senescence regulatory genes are discussed in the leaf aging and crop production context. We argue that the breeding of crops with leaf senescence ideotypes should be an essential part of further crop genetic improvement.展开更多
Food security in cold and arid regions in the world is threatened by stressful and unpredictable environments.The sus-tainable and economically viable solution for increasing stability of food productivity in cold and...Food security in cold and arid regions in the world is threatened by stressful and unpredictable environments.The sus-tainable and economically viable solution for increasing stability of food productivity in cold and arid regions is genetic improvement of crops towards high resistance to abiotic stresses,mainly cold and drought resistance.It is often empha-sized that crop genetic improvement lies in exploiting the gene pools of the wild relatives of the crop plant.Wild barley,H.spontaneum,the progenitor of cultivated barley,is a selfing annual grass of predominantly Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian distribution that penetrates into desert environments where it maintains stable populations.Wild barley is also found in cold regions,such as in Tibet.The adaptation of wild barley to the arid region in Israel and Jordan,and the cold region in Tibet has accumulated rich genetic diversities for drought,salt,and cold resistances in wild barley,which is the genetic resource for barley and other crop improvement in arid and cold regions.These genetic diversities are revealed by allozymes,DNA-based molecular markers,and morphological and physiological traits of wild barley plants.Quantita-tive trait loci(QTLs) related to drought resistance were identified in wild barley via the QTL mapping approach.Drought resistance genes such as dehydrins,hsdr4,and eibi1 were identified in wild barley based on the candidate gene approach,gene differential expression approach,and molecular genetic approach,respectively.Genetics and genomics of wild bar-ley cold resistance have not been exploited yet,remaining a huge treasure for future crop improvement of cold resistance.Advanced backcross QTL analysis,the introgression libraries based on wild barley as donors,a QTL approach based on wide crosses using wild barley,and positional cloning of natural QTLs will play prevailing roles to help us understand the molecular control of cold and drought tolerance.Integration of QTL information into a breeding pipeline aimed at im-proving tolerance to cold and drought will be achieved within a multidisciplinary context.展开更多
Rehmannia glutinosa L.is one of the important medicinal crops in China.Continuous cropping obstacle severely restricts the yield and quality of R.glutinosa,but its molecular mechanism is still unclear.In this study,wi...Rehmannia glutinosa L.is one of the important medicinal crops in China.Continuous cropping obstacle severely restricts the yield and quality of R.glutinosa,but its molecular mechanism is still unclear.In this study,with widely-planted "Wen 85-5" as an experiment material,based on the digital gene expression profiling (DGE) data of previous five stress treatments (continuous cropping,phenolic acid,salt,drought and waterlogging) and the first cropping and continuous cropping treatments of R.glutinosa in five different periods (seedling period,elongation period,early expanding period,middle expanding period and later expanding period),80 candidate genes (|log 2 ratio|≥1,FDR <0.001) specifically responding to continuous cropping obstacle in R.glutinosa were screened.Functional analysis revealed that the differentially expressed genes were involved in the secretion and endocytosis of root cells,which may suggest that the recognition and absorption of allelopathic autotoxins by the roots of R.glutinosa is an important factor that restricts the development of roots in continuous cropping of R.glutinosa.In order to accurately lock genes specifically responding to continuous cropping obstacle in R.glutinosa,continuous cropping soil extract and ferulic acid and p-hydroxybenzonic acid were used to treat aseptic plantlets of R.glutinosa,respectively,and it was confirmed through qRT-PCR that the expression levels of some genes under phenolic acid treatment changed more severely than that under the continuous cropping soil extract treatment,and four key genes involved in the response of R.glutinosa to continuous cropping were finally locked.This study lays a foundation for further exploration of the molecular mechanism of continuous cropping obstacle.展开更多
Developing transgenics that express high levels of Cry1Ac protein, and at the same time, are phenotypically normal, has not been an easy task to achieve. It has been routinely observed that most of the transgenic plan...Developing transgenics that express high levels of Cry1Ac protein, and at the same time, are phenotypically normal, has not been an easy task to achieve. It has been routinely observed that most of the transgenic plants that survive, show no or extremely low levels of Cry1Ac protein. However, all of these plants do express the selectable marker, nptII gene. In the present study, we record an interesting observation of how one of the genes (cry1Ac) on a single T-DNA fragment is selectively silenced, keeping the expression of the other gene (nptII) intact. Further, this silenced state is inherited.展开更多
Endogenous reference genes (ERGs) provide vital information regarding genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The successful detection of ERGs can identity GMOs and the source of genes, verify stability and reliability...Endogenous reference genes (ERGs) provide vital information regarding genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The successful detection of ERGs can identity GMOs and the source of genes, verify stability and reliability of the detection system, and calculate the level of genetically modified (GM) ingredients in mixtures. The reported ERGs in rice include sucrose-phosphate synthase (SPS), phospholipase D (PLD), RBE4 and rice root-specific GOS9 genes. Based on the characteristics of ERGs, a new ERG gene, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC), was selected, and further compared with the four existing genes. A total of 18 rice varieties and 29 non-rice crops were used to verify the interspecies specificity, intraspecies consistency, sensitivity, stability and reliability of these five ERGs using qualitative and quantitative PCR. Qualitative detection indicated that SPS and PEPC displayed sufficient specificity, and the detection sensitivity was 0.05% and 0.005%, respectively. Although the specificity of both RBE4 and GOS9 were adequate, the amplicons were small and easily confused with primer dimers. Non-specific amplification of the PLD gene was present in maize and potato. Real-time quantitative PCR detection indicated that PLD, SPS and PEPC displayed good specificity, with R2 of the standard curve greater than 0.98, while the amplification efficiency ranged between 90% and 110%. Both the detection sensitivities of PLD and PEPC were five copies and that of SPS was ten copies. RBE4 showed typical amplification in maize, beet and Arabidopsis, while GOS9 was found in maize, tobacco and oats. PEPC exhibited excellent detection sensitivity and species specificity, which made it a potentially useful application in GM-rice supervision and administration. Additionally, SPS and PLD are also suitable for GM-rice detection. This study effectively established a foundation for GMO detection, which not only provides vital technical support for GMO identification, but also is of great significance for enhancing the comparability of detection results, and the standardization of ERG testing in GM-rice.展开更多
基金supported in part by a grant to H.C.Jing from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.30970252)
文摘Leaf senescence can impact crop production by either changing photosynthesis duration, or by modifying the nutrient remobiliza- tion efficiency and harvest index. The doubling of the grain yield in major cereals in the last 50 years was primarily achieved through the extension of photosynthesis duration and the increase in crop biomass partitioning, two things that are intrinsically coupled with leaf senescence. In this review, we consider the functionality of a leaf as a function of leaf age, and divide a leaf＇s life into three phases： the functionality increasing phase at the early growth stage, the full functionality phase, and the senescence and functionality decreasing phase. A genetic framework is proposed to describe gene actions at various checkpoints to regulate leaf development and senescence. Four categories of genes contribute to crop production： those which regulate （Ⅰ） the speed and transition of early leaf growth, （Ⅱ） photosynthesis rate, （Ⅲ） the onset and （Ⅳ） the progression of leaf senescence. Current advances in isolating and characterizing senescence regulatory genes are discussed in the leaf aging and crop production context. We argue that the breeding of crops with leaf senescence ideotypes should be an essential part of further crop genetic improvement.
基金supported by One Hundred Talents Project of The Chinese Academy of Sciences (O827751001)the Israel Discount Bank Chair of Evolutionary Biology
文摘Food security in cold and arid regions in the world is threatened by stressful and unpredictable environments.The sus-tainable and economically viable solution for increasing stability of food productivity in cold and arid regions is genetic improvement of crops towards high resistance to abiotic stresses,mainly cold and drought resistance.It is often empha-sized that crop genetic improvement lies in exploiting the gene pools of the wild relatives of the crop plant.Wild barley,H.spontaneum,the progenitor of cultivated barley,is a selfing annual grass of predominantly Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian distribution that penetrates into desert environments where it maintains stable populations.Wild barley is also found in cold regions,such as in Tibet.The adaptation of wild barley to the arid region in Israel and Jordan,and the cold region in Tibet has accumulated rich genetic diversities for drought,salt,and cold resistances in wild barley,which is the genetic resource for barley and other crop improvement in arid and cold regions.These genetic diversities are revealed by allozymes,DNA-based molecular markers,and morphological and physiological traits of wild barley plants.Quantita-tive trait loci(QTLs) related to drought resistance were identified in wild barley via the QTL mapping approach.Drought resistance genes such as dehydrins,hsdr4,and eibi1 were identified in wild barley based on the candidate gene approach,gene differential expression approach,and molecular genetic approach,respectively.Genetics and genomics of wild bar-ley cold resistance have not been exploited yet,remaining a huge treasure for future crop improvement of cold resistance.Advanced backcross QTL analysis,the introgression libraries based on wild barley as donors,a QTL approach based on wide crosses using wild barley,and positional cloning of natural QTLs will play prevailing roles to help us understand the molecular control of cold and drought tolerance.Integration of QTL information into a breeding pipeline aimed at im-proving tolerance to cold and drought will be achieved within a multidisciplinary context.
基金Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(31271674)Key Research Project of Colleges and Universities in Henan Province(17A180024)
文摘Rehmannia glutinosa L.is one of the important medicinal crops in China.Continuous cropping obstacle severely restricts the yield and quality of R.glutinosa,but its molecular mechanism is still unclear.In this study,with widely-planted "Wen 85-5" as an experiment material,based on the digital gene expression profiling (DGE) data of previous five stress treatments (continuous cropping,phenolic acid,salt,drought and waterlogging) and the first cropping and continuous cropping treatments of R.glutinosa in five different periods (seedling period,elongation period,early expanding period,middle expanding period and later expanding period),80 candidate genes (|log 2 ratio|≥1,FDR <0.001) specifically responding to continuous cropping obstacle in R.glutinosa were screened.Functional analysis revealed that the differentially expressed genes were involved in the secretion and endocytosis of root cells,which may suggest that the recognition and absorption of allelopathic autotoxins by the roots of R.glutinosa is an important factor that restricts the development of roots in continuous cropping of R.glutinosa.In order to accurately lock genes specifically responding to continuous cropping obstacle in R.glutinosa,continuous cropping soil extract and ferulic acid and p-hydroxybenzonic acid were used to treat aseptic plantlets of R.glutinosa,respectively,and it was confirmed through qRT-PCR that the expression levels of some genes under phenolic acid treatment changed more severely than that under the continuous cropping soil extract treatment,and four key genes involved in the response of R.glutinosa to continuous cropping were finally locked.This study lays a foundation for further exploration of the molecular mechanism of continuous cropping obstacle.
文摘Developing transgenics that express high levels of Cry1Ac protein, and at the same time, are phenotypically normal, has not been an easy task to achieve. It has been routinely observed that most of the transgenic plants that survive, show no or extremely low levels of Cry1Ac protein. However, all of these plants do express the selectable marker, nptII gene. In the present study, we record an interesting observation of how one of the genes (cry1Ac) on a single T-DNA fragment is selectively silenced, keeping the expression of the other gene (nptII) intact. Further, this silenced state is inherited.
文摘Endogenous reference genes (ERGs) provide vital information regarding genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The successful detection of ERGs can identity GMOs and the source of genes, verify stability and reliability of the detection system, and calculate the level of genetically modified (GM) ingredients in mixtures. The reported ERGs in rice include sucrose-phosphate synthase (SPS), phospholipase D (PLD), RBE4 and rice root-specific GOS9 genes. Based on the characteristics of ERGs, a new ERG gene, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC), was selected, and further compared with the four existing genes. A total of 18 rice varieties and 29 non-rice crops were used to verify the interspecies specificity, intraspecies consistency, sensitivity, stability and reliability of these five ERGs using qualitative and quantitative PCR. Qualitative detection indicated that SPS and PEPC displayed sufficient specificity, and the detection sensitivity was 0.05% and 0.005%, respectively. Although the specificity of both RBE4 and GOS9 were adequate, the amplicons were small and easily confused with primer dimers. Non-specific amplification of the PLD gene was present in maize and potato. Real-time quantitative PCR detection indicated that PLD, SPS and PEPC displayed good specificity, with R2 of the standard curve greater than 0.98, while the amplification efficiency ranged between 90% and 110%. Both the detection sensitivities of PLD and PEPC were five copies and that of SPS was ten copies. RBE4 showed typical amplification in maize, beet and Arabidopsis, while GOS9 was found in maize, tobacco and oats. PEPC exhibited excellent detection sensitivity and species specificity, which made it a potentially useful application in GM-rice supervision and administration. Additionally, SPS and PLD are also suitable for GM-rice detection. This study effectively established a foundation for GMO detection, which not only provides vital technical support for GMO identification, but also is of great significance for enhancing the comparability of detection results, and the standardization of ERG testing in GM-rice.
