Developmental Genetic Analysis of Brown Rice Weight Under Different Environmental Conditions in indica Rice

Analysis of genetic main effects and genotype x environment (GE) interaction effects for brown rice weight (BRW) at four different filling stages in indica lice (Oryza sativa L.) was conducted for two-year experimental data by using developmental genetic models and corresponding statistical approaches for quantitative traits of seeds in cereal crops. It was indicated that the genetic main effects and their GE interaction effects of triploid endosperm, cytoplasmic and diploid maternal plant genes were important for BRW at different filling stages of rice, especially for endosperm or maternal additive main effects and their additive interaction effects. Because of the higher additive effects and additive interaction effects for BRW at different filling stages, the better improving effects for this trait could be expected by selection in rice breeding. The results of conditional genetic variance components showed that the new expression of quantitative genes in endosperm and maternal plant for BRW was mostly found at all different filling stages of rice. The gene expression, however, was most active at the early filling stages especially for the first (1-7 d) and the second filling stages (8-14 d after flowering). The phenomena that some genes were spasmodically expressible among filling stages of rice were detected for some genetic effects especially for net cytoplasmic main effects or its interaction effects and net dominance main effects. Predicted genetic effects at different filling stages of rice showed that some parents such as V20 and Zuo 5 were better than others for improving the BRW.

Developmental Genetics Analysis for Plant Height in indica Hybrid Rice Across Environments

The developmental genetics of plant height was analyzed from two groups of three-line indica hybrid rice at two environmental conditions based on the NCII design, using the additive-dominant developmental genetics models and the statistic methods. The results showed that the rice genotypes and environmental conditions could both affect plant height, and the effects of environment on plant height decreased gradually with plant development. Additive and dominant effects both governed the performance of plant height at all developmental stages. However, the degrees of effect varied among the rice genotypes. Moreover, the interaction between environments and genotypes also affected plant height. The genetic effects differed at most developmental stages. Furthermore, the expressJon of additive effect was more active than that of dominant effect. Conditional interaction effects with environment also influenced plant height during genetic development, especially at the eady stage. Mid-parent heterosis （HMP） increased gradually with the developmental stage of plant height, and maximized at the latest stage, whereas the heterosis over the better parent （HBP） showed small differences among the genotypes, and kept stable at the later stage, with positive numeric value. At most developmental stages, conditional HMP was positively significant, while conditional HBP was negatively significant. All above results suggest that HMP and HBP have some new expressions in all developmental periods and the levels and directions are quite different.

Developmental quantitative genetic analysis of body weights and morphological traits in the turbot, Scophthalmus maximus

In order to elucidate the genetic mechanism of growth traits in turbot during ontogeny, developmental genetic analysis of the body weights, total lengths, standard lengths and body heights of turbots was conducted by mixed genetic models with additive-dominance effects, based on complete diallel crosses with four different strains of Scophthalmus maximus from Denmark, Norway, Britain, and France. Unconditional genetic analysis revealed that the unconditional additive effects for the four traits were more significant than unconditional dominance effects, meanwhile, the alternative expressions were also observed between the additive and dominant effects for body weights, total lengths and standard lengths. Conditional analysis showed that the developmental periods with active gene expression for body weights, total lengths, standard lengths and body heights were 15–18, 15 and 21–24, 15 and 24, and 21 and 27 months of age, respectively. The proportions of unconditional/conditional variances indicated that the narrow-sense heritabilities of body weights, total lengths and standard lengths were all increased systematically. The accumulative effects of genes controlling the four quantitative traits were mainly additive effects, suggesting that the selection is more efficient for the genetic improvement of turbots. The conditional genetic procedure is a useful tool to understand the expression of genes controlling developmental quantitative traits at a specific developmental period（t-1→t） during ontogeny. It is also important to determine the appropriate developmental period（t-1→t） for trait measurement in developmental quantitative genetic analysis in fish.

Studies on the Developmental Genetics of Tiller Number in Three-line Indica Hybrid Rice

Following NCI design, the developmental genetic behavior of tiller number (TN) in three-line indica hybrid rice was studied using additive-dominance developmental genetic models and the corresponding statistical methods. The results showed that dominance effects were predominant for TN. The expression of those additive effects were affected by environment and genotype interaction, but the expression of dominance effects were not affected. Heterosis was the strongest in the middle developmental periods of TN. Additive effects and dominance effects were selectively expressed throughout in the entire tillering developmental stage. Analysis of genetic correlation between TN at different stages and the productive panicles indicated that a close correlation appeared earlier in the populations with higher heterosis than in those with less heterosis. Utilization of heterosis at the middle tillering stage might enhance the final biomass but reduce the percentage of productive panicles.

Relationship between rice heading sensitivity and male-sterile sensitivity to photoperiod in view of developmental genetics

We studied the relationship between the head-ing sensitivity and the male-sterile sensitivityin photoperiod-sensitive genie males-sterile rice(PGMSR)and conventional rice.Materialsused in this study were 7001S,a late maturingPGMS japonica strain derived from Nongken58S; Akihikari and Youmang-zaojing(YMZJ),two early maturing conventional Japonica rice;and CPSLO-17,a Wide compatible convention-al indica rice.The heading date and seed-set-ting rate of Fand Fof three cross combina-tions between PGMSR and conventional riceswere examined in phytotron which was adjust-ed at 25±1℃ with day-length of 14.5 h(LD)and 12 h(SD).The segregation ratio of fertile:sterile in Funder LD was in accordance

Developmental Analysis of Genetic Behavior of Brown Rice Width in indica-japonica Hybrids

The developmental genetic behaviors of brown rice width （BRW） have been studied in indica-japonica hybrid rice （Oryza sativa L.）, in which seven indica male sterile lines and five japonica restorer lines were applied, by using the developmental genetic models and corresponding statistical approaches for quantitative traits of triploid in cereal crops. The BRW of indica-japonica hybrid rice was co-determined by gene expression of tdploid endosperm, cytoplasm, diploid maternal plant and their genotype × environmental interaction effects. Unconditional analysis showed that the endosperm additive and matemal additive effects were predominant for the development of BRW from early- to late-stage of the grain development, but the endosperm dominant effect together with matemal effect and cytoplasmic effect became the major factor determing the BRW at the ripening stage. Moreover, conditional analysis found that there were new onset and offset of gene expression at different developmental stages of BRW in indica-japonica hybrid rice. Maternal and cytoplasm general heritabilities and their interaction heritabilities were more important compared to other components of heritability for BRW at all the five developmental stages.

Genetic and Environmental Effects on the Bone Development of the Hand and Wrist in Chinese Young Twins

We assessed genetic and environmental effectson bone development of the hand and wrist, andon key anthropometric measures in Chinese youngtwins. In total, 139 monozygotic and 95 dizygotictwin pairs aged from 5 to 18 years were recruited.The twin correlations of total hand and wrist scoresfor monozygotic （MZ） and dizygotic （DZ） twins were0.71 and 0.36, respectively. Bivariate modelanalysis showed moderate genetic correlations onlyfor total skeletal maturity vs. weight and totalskeletal maturity vs. waist circumference （r, 0.51and 0.46, respectively）. Our findings demonstratedthat genetic factors played important roles in bonedevelopment of the hand and wrist in Chineseyoung twins, and that these genetic effects mightbe distinct from those influencing anthropometricmeasures.

Identification of genomic regions determining flower and pod numbers development in soybean (Glycine max L.)

Flower and pod numbers per plant are important agronomic traits underlying soybean yield. So far quantitative trait loci （QTL） de- tected for flower and pod-related traits have mainly focused on the final stage, and might therefore have ignored genetic effects expressed during a specific developmental stage. Here, dynamic expressions of QTL for flower and pod numbers were identified using 152 recom- binant inbred lines （RILs） and a linkage map of 306 markers. Wide genetic variation was found among RILs; 17 unconditional and 18 conditional QTL were detected for the two traits at different developmental stages over two years. Some QTL were detected only at one stage and others across two or more stages, indicating that soybean flower and pod numbers development may be governed by time-dependent gene expression. Three main QTL （qfn-Chrl8-2, qfn-Chr20-1, and qfn-Chr19） were detected for flower number, and two main QTL （qpn-Chrll and qpn-Chr20） were detected for pod number. The phenotypic variation explained by them ranged from 6.1% to 34.7%. The markers linked to these QTL could be used in marker-assisted selection for increasing soybean flower and pod numbers, with the ultimate aim of increasing soybean yield. Comparison of the QTL regions for flower and pod numbers traits with the related genes reported previously showed that seven and four related genes were located in the QTL regions of qfn-Chr11 and qfn-Chr19, respectively. These results provide a basis for free mapping and cloning of flower and pod development-related genes.

Ray Wu,Cornell's acclaimed pioneer of genetic engineering and developer of insect-resistant rice

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Ray J. Wu, Cornell University professor of molecular biology and genetics, who was widely recog-nized as one of the fathers of genetic engineering and who developed and sought to feed the world with a higher yield-ing rice that resists insects and drought, died of cardiac arrest in Ithaca, Feb. 10.

Efficient genetic manipulation in the developing brain of tree shrew using in utero electroporation and virus infection

Tree shrews（also named banxrings）,the small mammals native to Southeast Asia,are featured by moderate size,easy breeding,high reproductivity and close genetic background to primates（Xu et al.,2012;Xiao et al.,2017）.Tiee shrews possess both conserved and unique features compared to primates,and thus will become a suitable animal model with modest cost-effciency（Yao,2017）.