Medium effects on micropropagation and genetic stability of Citrullus lanatus oleaginous type

To regenerate adventitious shoots from the cotyledon proximal parts of Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. and Nakai ssp. mucosospermus (Fursa) oleaginous type, different concentrations of MS mineral elements, sucrose, 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) and agar were tested. Shoot induction proved to depend on the interaction between levels of sucrose, BAP and MS mineral elements in the medium. The medium containing 3/2 strength of MS mineral elements, 35 g/l sucrose and 1 mg/l BAP solidified with 6 g/l agar allowed the production of numerous shoots without a callus phase. After 3 weeks of culture, 76.7% of the cotyledon proximal parts induced shoots with an average of 12.26 shoots per explant and a mean shoot length of 17.13 mm. The induced shoots were directly rooted and thus complete plants ready for acclimatization were obtained using a two steps procedure. Depending on the genotype, the shoot induction from cotyledon proximal parts ranged from 54% to 96%. Rooted plantlets were acclimatized and transferred to field, where they grew well, developed flowers and fruits like seeded plants. The assessment of the genetic stability of the in-vitro-regenerated plantlets by means of an Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) analysis with the combination of 5 primers revealed no differences between regenerated plantlets and mother plants.

AFLP Analysis of Genetic Stability of Sugarcane Tissue Culture Clones

[Objectives] This study was conducted to better understand the variation law of sugarcane clones during tissue culture process,and to provide a reference for rapid propagation and detection of healthy sugarcane seedlings.[Methods] The genetic stability of tissue culture clones of three sugarcane varieties was analyzed using the AFLP molecular marker technique.[Results]The average number of polymorphic loci was 19. 58 for each primer pair,and the percentage of polymorphic loci was 41. 74%. Compared with the donor varieties,all tissue culture materials were mutated. There were 3-16 missing bands,with an average of 5. 2 bands,and there were 0-17 increased bands,with an average of 3. 3 bands. The total number of missing and increased bands was 4-33,with an average of 8. 5. The band difference rates were in the range of 0. 009 4%-0. 077 6%,with an average of 0. 020 6%. The genetic similarity coefficients between materials ranged from 0. 685 6 to 0. 998 2,with an average of 0. 818 4. The three sugarcane varieties and their tissue culture clones were clustered into three groups.[Conclusions] Although variations occur in tissue culture,the variations are not too obvious,and the genetic stability is relatively high. It is recommended to minimize the number of subculture generations and cultivation time to reduce the occurrence of variation during tissue culture for rapid propagation of sugarcane seedlings.

Genetic and agronomic traits stability of marker-free transgenic wheat plants generated from Agrobacterium-mediated co-transformation in T2 and T3 generations

Genetically modified wheat has not been commercially utilized in agriculture largely due to regulatory hurdles associated with traditional transformation methods. Development of marker-free transgenic wheat plants will help to facilitate biosafety evaluation and the eventual environmental release of transgenic wheat varieties. In this study, the marker-free transgenic wheat plants previously obtained by Agrobacterium-mediated co-transformation of double T-DNAs vector were identified by fluorescence in situ hybridization(FISH) in the T1 generation, and their genetic stability and agronomic traits were analyzed in T2 and T3 generations. FISH analysis indicated that the transgene often integrated into a position at the distal region of wheat chromosomes. Furthermore, we show that the GUS transgene was stably inherited in the marker-free transgenic plants in T1 to T3 generations. No significant differences in agronomic traits or grain characteristics were observed in T3 generation, with the exception of a small variation in spike length and grains per spike in a few lines. The selection marker of bar gene was not found in the transgenic plants through T1 to T3 generations. The results from this investigation lay a solid foundation for the potential application of the marker-free transgenic wheat plants achieved through the co-transformation of double T-DNAs vector by Agrobacterium in agriculture after biosafty evaluation.

Development and Assessment of Two Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza(HPAI) H5N6 Candidate Vaccine Viruses for Pandemic Preparedness

Objective In China, 24 cases of human infection with highly pathogenic avian influenza(HPAI) H5 N6 virus have been confirmed since the first confirmed case in 2014. Therefore, we developed and assessed two H5 N6 candidate vaccine viruses(CVVs).Methods In accordance with the World Health Organization(WHO) recommendations, we constructed two reassortant viruses using reverse genetics(RG) technology to match the two different epidemic H5 N6 viruses. We performed complete genome sequencing to determine the genetic stability. We assessed the growth ability of the studied viruses in MDCK cells and conducted a hemagglutination inhibition assay to analyze their antigenicity. Pathogenicity attenuation was also evaluated in vitro and in vivo.Results The results showed that no mutations occurred in hemagglutinin or neuraminidase, and both CVVs retained their original antigenicity. The replication capacity of the two CVVs reached a level similar to that of A/Puerto Rico/8/34 in MDCK cells. The two CVVs showed low pathogenicity in vitro and in vivo, which are in line with the WHO requirements for CVVs.Conclusion We obtained two genetically stable CVVs of HPAI H5N6 with high growth characteristics,which may aid in our preparedness for a potential H5N6 pandemic.

Vital Parameters Assessments of Starvation Tolerance of in vitro Populus alba Culture

Populus alba is a large woody deciduous plant.The plant has been introduced to shooting,then multiplication of rooting on Murashige and Skoog(MS)medium.This work was designed to estimate the effect of two factors(low levels of 1-Naphthaleneacetic acid NAA and sucrose)on P.alba response resulting in 6 treatments compared to the control,with twelve measured responses.There was a significant difference in some measurements in morphology,like plantlets fresh-weight,shoot-,root-length,and leaf number.In the physiological measurements,there were significant differences in all the measured parameters.The low concentrations of sucrose and media composition/power(MS grams/L)led to starvation in plants;however,these conditions led to enhancement in some morphological and physiological parameters to overcome the starvation effect,compared to the control.The RAPD-PCR molecular marker(four decamers)was used to evaluate the new individuals’genetic variation(instability),resulting in a total polymorphism percentage of 50.83%.It was formerly known that the plantlets were identical to each other and to the mother plant.In this study,however,the use of distinct media power,hormonal and sucrose levels resulted in molecular variation reflected in P.alba’s morphological and physiological responses.

Integration and inheritance stability of foreign Bt toxin gene in the bivalent insect-resistant transgenic cotton plants

Genetic and expressional stability of Bt toxin gene is crucial for the breeding of insect-resistant transgenic cotton varieties and their commercialization. Genomic Southern blot analysis of R3, R4 and R5 generations of bivalent transgenic insect-resistant cotton plants was done in order to determine the integration, the copy number and the inheritance stability of Bt toxin gene in the transgenic cotton plants. The results indicated that there was a 4.7 kb positive band in the Southern blot when the genomic DNA of the bivalent transgenic insect-resistant cotton plants and the positive control (the plasmid) were digested with HindⅢ respectively. This result proved that the Bt toxin gene had been integrated into the genome of the cotton in full length. There is only one XhoⅠ restriction site in the Bt toxin gene. Southern blot analysis indicated that many copies of Bt toxin gene had been integrated into the genome of the cotton when the genomic DNA of transgenic plants was digested with XhoⅠ. Among them, there were four copies (about 17.7, 8, 5.5 and 4.7 kb in size) existing in all the tested plants of R3, R4 and R5 generations. The preliminary conclusion was that there were more than four copies of Bt toxin gene integrated into the genome of the cotton, among them, more than one copy can express and inherit steadily. This result provides a scientific basis for the breeding of the bivalent insect-resis- tant transgenic cotton plants and its commercialization.