Exceptionally high genetic variance of the doubled haploid(DH)population of poplar

Doubled haploid(DH)plants have been widely used for breeding and biological research in crops.Pop ulus spp.have been used as model woody plant species for biological research.However,the induction of DH poplar plants is onerous,and limited biological or breeding work has been carried out on DH individuals or populations.In this study,we provide an effective protocol for poplar haploid induction based on an anther culture method.A total of 96 whole DH plant lines were obtained using an F1hybrid of Populus simonii×P.nigra as a donor tree.The phenotypes of the DH population showed exceptionally high variance when compared to those of half-sib progeny of the donor tree.Each DH line displayed distinct features compared to those of the other DH lines or the donor tree.Additionally,some excellent homozygous lines have the potential to be model plants in genetic and breeding studies.

Estimated Genetic Variance Explained by Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms of Different Minor Allele Frequencies for Carcass Traits in Japanese Black Cattle

Japanese Black cattle are a beef breed and well known to excel in carcass quality, but the details of genetic architectures for carcass traits in beef breeds including this breed are still poorly understood. The objective of this study was to estimate the degree of additive genetic variance explained by single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker groups with different levels of minor allele frequency (MAF) for marbling score and carcass weight in Japanese Black cattle. Phenotypic data on 872 fattened steers with the genotype information about 40,000 autosomal SNPs were analyzed using two different statistical models: one considering only SNPs selected based on MAF (model 1) and the other also considering all remaining SNPs as the different term (model 2). All available SNPs were classified into 10 groups based on their MAFs. For both traits, the estimated proportions of additive genetic variance explained by SNPs selected based on their MAFs using model 1 were always higher than the estimated ones using model 2. For carcass weight, relatively high values of the proportion of the additive genetic variance were estimated when using SNPs with MAFs which were in the ranges of 0.20 to 0.25 and 0.25 to 0.30, which may be partly due to the three previously-reported quantitative trait loci candidate regions. The results could have provided some information on the genetic architecture for the carcass traits in Japanese Black cattle, although its validity may be limited, mainly due to the sample size and the use of simpler statistical models in this study.

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.

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.

Spatial analysis increases efficiency of progeny testing of Chinese fir

We used spatial, global trend and post-blocking analysis to examine the effectiveness of a progeny trial in a tree breeding program for Chinese fir （Cunninghamia lanceolata （Lamb.） Hook） on a hilly site with an environmental gradient from hill top to bottom. Diameter at breast height （DBH） and tree height data had significant spatial auto-correlations among rows and columns. Adding a firstorder separable autoregressive term more effectively modelled the spatial variation than did the incomplete block （IB） model used for the experimental design. The spatial model also accounted for effects of experimental design factors and greatly reduced residual variances. The spatial analysis rel- ative to the IB analysis improved estimation of genetic parameters with the residual variance reduced 13 and 19% for DBH and tree height, respectively; heritability increased 35 and 51% for DBH and tree height, respectively; and genetic gain improved 3-5%. Fitting global trend and postblocking did not improve the analyses under IB model. The use of a spatial model or combined with a design model is recommended for forest genetic trials, particularly with global trend and local spatial variation of hilly sites.