Haploids can be induced in knockout mutants of OsPLA1,but not OsDMP3 or OsDMP6,in rice

Doubled haploid(DH)technology is an important tool in crop breeding because it can significantly accelerate the breeding process.ZmPLA1/MATL/NLD and ZmDMP are two key genes controlling haploid induction(HI)in maize,exhibiting a synergistic effect.However,it is unknown whether knock out of ZmDMP orthologs can stimulate HI in rice.In this study,a ZmPLA1 ortholog(OsPLA1)and two ZmDMP orthologs(OsDMP3 and OsDMP6)were identified in rice.All three genes encode plasma membrane-localized proteins and were highly expressed in mature anthers.Knockout of OsPLA1 in both Minghui 63 and Nipponbare resulted in reduced seed setting rate(SSR)and caused HI.The osdmp3,osdmp6 and the double mutant failed to trigger HI independently,nor increased the haploid induction rate(HIR)when combined with ospla1.Repeated pollinations operations of QX654A with the ospla1 mutant significantly improve SSR,while reducing HIR.RNA-seq profiling of mature ospla1 mutant anthers indicated that a large number of differentially expressed genes(DEGs)were enriched in redox homeostasis and lipid metabolic GO terms,plant hormone signal transduction,and MAPK signaling pathways.These findings provide important insights towards construction of an efficient DH breeding technology and study of the molecular mechanism of HI in rice.

Methods for Producing Maize(Zea mays L.) Haploids and Their Application in Maize Breeding

This article summarizes the research progress inthe breeding of maize haploids, including the production and identification of maize haploids, especially the methods to produce doubled haploids and the selection of basic materials, as well as the applications of the maize haploids in maize breeding. Finally, this article pro- poses several issues researchers should pay attention to, and the prospects of hap- Ioids in maize breeding.

Doubling Efficiency of Maize Haploids Treated with Different Methods

Haploid seedlings were inducted from different maize materials.At 2-3-leaf stage,maize haploids were treated with 0.06% colchicine and 2.0% dimethyl sulfoxide（DMSO） by dipping root,dripping heart leaf and acupuncturing growing point,respectively.The doubling rate and mortality rate in different treatments were analyzed by variance analysis and multiple comparisons.The result showed that growing point acupuncturing method exhibited the highest doubling efficiency with an average doubling rate of 23%,seed-setting rate of 21.4%,and mortality rate of 16.3%.Composed with other two chemical doubling methods,growing point acupuncturing method significantly improved the doubling rate of maize haploids with a lower application dose of colchicine.This study laid the foundation for industrial application of haploid breeding techniques.

Cytological Observation of Pollen Abortion of Lycium barbarum Haploids from Anther Culture

To reveal the sterility characteristics of Lycium barbarum haploids, cytological observations were made on the anthers of Ningqi No.1 and its haploids obtained from anther culture. The results showed that there were no significant differences in anther development between Ningqi No.1 and its haploids at the stage of pollen mother cell, and tetrads were formed successfully after the meiosis stage. The tetrads of Ningqi No.1 could release microspores. At the same time, the tapetal cells can provide nutrition for the development of the microspores, which eventually developed into mature pollen grains. Although the haploids could also release microspores at the tetrad stage, the tapetal cells degraded in advance, which made the released microspores unable to develop into mature pollen grains, resulting in pollen abortion of haploids.

In vitro Regeneration of First-generation Inbred Progenies of Cucurbita pepo L. Double Haploids

Using seeds of inbred progenies of Cucurbita pepo L. DH12-11409 double haplolds as experimental materials, the effects of different hormone combinations, explant types and seedling ages on adventitious bud regeneration and rooting of C. pepo L. were investigated. According to the results, inoculating cotyledonary nodes of yellow-green cotyledons from 5-d-old C. pepo L. double haploids to MS ＋ 30 g/L Suc ＋ 8 g/L Agar ＋ 2.0 mg/L 6-BA ＋ 0.1 mg/L NAA led to the best results with the induction frequency of 90.0% and differentiation coefficient of 8.5. MS medium with addition of 0.05 or 0.1 mg/L NAA led to the highest rooting rate. Regenerated seedlings with 5 - 6 true leaves exhibited the highest survival rate of 90.0%, which was the optimal period for domestication and transplanting of regenerated seedlings. This study laid a solid foundation for high-efficiency utilization of heterosis of C. pepo L.

Advances in Doubling Methods of Haploids by in vivo Induction in Maize

Haploid breeding can shorten the breeding process and improve the breeding efficiency. Currently, in vivo haploid induction technology has been com- monly used in maize （ Zea mays L. ）. This paper briefly introduced in vivo haploid induction technologies, summarized doubling methods of maize haploids and described the significance and application of maize haploids, which provided the basis for further development of haploid breeding in maize.

Regenerating Plants from Cryopreserved Adventitious Buds of Haploids in Rice

A large number of adventitious buds were induced from in vitro cultured young inflorescences of haploids of rice.Having been subcultured on solidified subculture media at 26 ℃ for 7 days ,the adventitious buds were loaded into 1.8 mL plastic cryotubes with cryoprotectant and kept on ice for 45 60 min.After cooled at a rate of 1.0℃/min down to -40℃,the samples were kept in liquid nitrogen.The adventitious buds which have been cryopreserved for about 30 days were thawed rapidly in 38 40℃water and then plated on solidified MS medium containing 3 % sucrose,0.5 mg/L NAA and 2.0 mg/L kinetin.After plated, 23% 32 % of adventitious buds resumed growth and 15% 22 % regenerated plantlets.The results of this work indicated that the adventitious buds derived from in vitro cultured young inflorescences is a critical factor for the success and subculturing adventitious buds on MS medium containing 3% sucrose and 4% sorbitol or 20% potato extract is essential to the procedure.The effective cryoprotectant is 10 % DMSO(dimethyl sulfoximide)+0.5 mol/L sorbitol.

Elite,transformable haploid inducers in maize

The introduction of alleles into commercial crop breeding pipelines is both time consuming and costly.Two technologies that are disrupting traditional breeding processes are doubled haploid(DH)breeding and genome editing(GE).Recently,these techniques were combined into a GE trait delivery system called HI-Edit(Haploid Inducer-Edit).In HI-Edit,the pollen of a haploid inducer line is reprogrammed to deliver GE traits to any variety,obviating recurrent selection.For HI-Edit to operate at scale,an efficient transformable HI line is needed,but most maize varieties are recalcitrant to transformation,and haploid inducers are especially difficult to transform given their aberrant reproductive behaviors.Leveraging marker assisted selection and a three-tiered testing scheme,we report the development of new Iodent and Stiff Stalk maize germplasm that are transformable,have high haploid induction rates,and exhibit a robust,genetically-dominant anthocyanin native trait that may be used for rapid haploid identification.We show that transformation of these elite‘‘HI-Edit”lines is enhanced using the BABYBOOM and WUSCHEL morphogenetic factors.Finally,we evaluate the HI-Edit performance of one of the lines against both Stiff Stalk and non-Stiff Stalk testers.The strategy and results of this study should facilitate the development of commercially scalable HI-Edit systems in diverse crops.

Patterns of DNA cytosine methylation between haploids and corresponding diploids in rice

Eighteen pairs of diploid-haploid twin-seedlings were identified and screened out fromspecial rice SARII-628 population. Five pairs of themwere selected and randomly designated as A, B, C, Dand E. Simple sequence repeats (SSR) analysisshowed that there was no difference among 310 siteswhich indicated that there was no base mutation onDNA primary structure. DNA methylation plays animportant role in gene expression regulation duringgrowth and development stages in eukaryotes. Amodified AFLP technique (methylation-sensitiveAFLP, MSAP) was employed to detect the DNA me-thylation patterns in the 5′-CCGG sites of the fivepairs of twin-seedlings. Although no methylationmutation was detected among the five diploids,forty-three methylation mutation sites were foundfrom the corresponding haploids. The MSAP ratios,which were the ratios of MSAP sites to the total am-plified sites, in five haploids were 18.79%, 19.35%,18.49%, 18.45% and 18.75%, respectively. And cor-responding full methylation levels (5′-CmCGG indouble strands) of those haploids were 10.58%,11.3%, 10.11%, 10.09% and 10.34%, respectively.Both MSAP and full methylation levels in the fivehaploids were higher than that of their correspondingdiploids, which suggested that hypermethylation oc-curred in some 5′-CCGG sites. Five types of MASPpatterns among the five pairs of twin-seedlings weredetected as follows: (1) no changes, methylation lev-els were the same in both haploids and diploids; (2) demethylation, diploid was methylated but no me-thylation in the same site in haploid; (3) hypermethy-lation, the methylation level in haploid was higher than those in diploid; (4) hypomethylation, methyla-tion in haploid was lower than those in diploid; (5) undecided pattern, change trend of methylation lev-els in haploids was not decided. The bands of 18 sites were reclaimed, then sequenced and searched on website to determine the sites of those sequences on rice chromosomes. The result showed that the methylation mutation involved the whole rice genome and 12 pairs of chromosomes. The mutation was site-related and there were different mutation sites for different haploids. Compared to diploids, the higher methylation level in haploids might be a readjusting reaction to the decrease in ploidy for the sake of sur-vival.

The microarray analysis for gene expression in haploids and diploids derived from twin-seedling rice

In this study, microarray technique was employed to analyze the gene expression at the RNA level between haploids and corresponding diploids derived from a rice twin-seedling line SARII-628. Differ- ent degrees of expression variations were observed in the plant after haploidization. The main results are as follows: (1) after haploidization, the ratio of the sensitive loci was 2.47% of the total loci designed on chip. Those loci were randomly distributed on the 12 pairs of rice chromosomes and the activated loci were more than the silenced ones. (2) Gene clusters on chromosome were observed for 33 se- quences. (3) GoPipe function classification for 575 sensitive loci revealed an involvement in the bio- logical process, cell component and molecular function. (4) RT-PCR generally validated the result from microarray with a coincidence rate of 83.78%. And for the randomly-selected activated or silenced loci in chip analysis, the coincidence rate was up to 91.86%.

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.

Generation of a human haploid neural stem cell line for genome-wide genetic screening

BACKGROUND Haploid embryonic stem cells(haESCs)have been established in many species.Differentiated haploid cell line types in mammals are lacking due to spontaneous diploidization during differentiation that compromises lineage-specific screens.AIM To derive human haploid neural stem cells(haNSCs)to carry out lineage-specific screens.METHODS Human haNSCs were differentiated from human extended haESCs with the help of Y27632(ROCK signaling pathway inhibitor)and a series of cytokines to reduce diploidization.Neuronal differentiation of haNSCs was performed to examine their neural differentiation potency.Global gene expression analysis was conducted to compare haNSCs with diploid NSCs and haESCs.Fluorescence activated cell sorting was performed to assess the diploidization rate of extended haESCs and haNSCs.Genetic manipulation and screening were utilized to evaluate the significance of human haNSCs as genetic screening tools.RESULTS Human haESCs in extended pluripotent culture medium showed more compact and smaller colonies,a higher efficiency in neural differentiation,a higher cell survival ratio and higher stability in haploidy maintenance.These characteristics effectively facilitated the derivation of human haNSCs.These human haNSCs can be generated by differentiation and maintain haploidy and multipotency to neurons and glia in the long term in vitro.After PiggyBac transfection,there were multiple insertion sites in the human haNSCs’genome,and the insertion sites were evenly spread across all chromosomes.In addition,after the cells were treated with manganese,we were able to generate a list of manganese-induced toxicity genes,demonstrating their utility as genetic screening tools.CONCLUSION This is the first report of a generated human haploid somatic cell line with a complete genome,proliferative ability and neural differentiation potential that provides cell resources for recessive inheritance and drug targeted screening.

Research and Breeding Application Progress of the Technique of Producing Double Haploid of Wheat by Wide Hybridization between Wheat and Maize

The technique of producing doublehaploid of wheat by distant hybridization between wheat and maize has characterized with better inducing effect, shorter in- ducing period, easy operation, and so on. At present, it is the most efficient and has great potential of application in breeding of wheat. This article reviewed princi- ple and production process of the technique, research situation of the three key in- dicators of the technology（embryo rate, seedling rate and success rate of doubling）in recent years, and application of the technology in breeding, genetics, germplasm improvement of wheat. At last, both the achievements and the direction of further improvement and development of the technology in our program were discussed.

Study on High-Eefficient Breeding Technology Platform of Dwarf Male-Sterile Wheat

[Purpose] The paper is to discuss the high-efficient breeding technology platform of dwarf male-sterile wheat.[Method] Conclusion was made upon the development of the creation and application of dwarf male-sterile wheat,and the conception of introducing haploid breeding technology into the technological system of high-efficient breeding of dwarf male-sterile wheat was proposed.[Result] Dwarf male-sterile wheat not only retains the properties of total male abortion of Taigu Genetic Sterile Wheat,steady sterility,and high hybrid rate after open pollination,but also has the characteristic of high dwarfing ability of Aibian No.1,becoming a comparatively ideal population modification means.At present,the application of dwarf male-sterile wheat mainly includes germplasm resources platform of population modification by using dwarf male-sterile wheat,technology platform of constructing new high-efficient breeding system by using dwarf male-sterile wheat,and production platform of using dwarf male-sterile wheat to breed new varieties.Through the introduction of haploid breeding into the already established wheat high-efficient breeding system,a new system of high-efficient biological breeding technology of dwarf male-sterile wheat was constructed theoretically.[Conclusion] The study provides references to the further study and application of dwarf male-sterile wheat.

Study on Haploid Induction in Different Maize Genotypes

This study aimed to investigate the induction effect on different genotypes of maize of haploid inducers RWS, Stock6, CAU Inducer and hybridization-derived breeding lines. The results showed that 2005 had the highest induction rate （2.85%） when using inducer Stock6 as male parent material; haploid induction rates were significantly different among different genotypes of maize when using RWS, Stock6, CAU Inducer and their crossbreeding materials as the male parents; inducers 2061, 2062, 2058 and 2059 led to relatively high induction rates, which could be emphatically utilized. Furthermore, during the screening of induction materials, different female parent materials should be selected based on the breeding objective.

Development of high-oil maize haploid inducer with a novel phenotyping strategy

Doubled haploid(DH) technology is important in modern maize breeding. Haploid inducers determine the efficiency of both haploid induction and identification. It has taken decades to improve the efficiency,haploid induction rate(HIR), from the ~2% of the ancestor haploid inducer, stock6, to the ~10% of modern haploid inducers. Improvement of kernel oil content(KOC) would further enhance haploid identification efficiency. Using molecular marker-assisted selection, in combine with the number of haploids per ear as phenotypic criterion, we developed a new high-oil haploid inducer line, CHOI4, with a mean HIR of 15.8%and mean KOC of 11%. High KOC of CHOI4 can achieve a mean accuracy greater than 90% in identification of haploids of different backgrounds, with reduced false discovery rates and false negative rates in comparison with the previous high-oil haploid inducer line, CHOI3. Comparison of phenotypic selection strategies suggested that the number of haploids per ear can be used as a phenotyping criterion during haploid inducer line development. CHOI4 could further increase the efficiency of large-scale DH breeding programs with lower cost.

Genetics of Fertility Restoration in Cytoplasmic Male Sterile Pepper

Pepper hybrid seeds production using male sterility could lower cost by reducing time and labour, and increase the genetic purity of the F1 seeds. To investigate the genetics of fertility restoration of the Peterson cytoplasmic sterility in pepper, a doubled haploid population of 115 pepper lines obtained from anther culture of the F1 hybrid between Yolo Wonder （sterility maintainer line） and Perennial （fertility restorer line） and the parental lines were test-crossed by 77013A （a strict cytoplasmic-genic male sterile line）. The fertility of the test-crossed lines was assessed in greenhouse and open field with the following three criteria： pollen index （PI, visual estimation of pollen amount per flower）, pollen number （PN, pollen counting under microscope）, and seed number （SN, the number of seeds per fruit in open pollination）. Correlations between the each couple of criteria within, as well as between the cultivation methods ranged from 0.55 to 0.84. Analysis of variance showed that the genotype （DH line） and environment were the significant sources of variation of the fertility. Narrow sense of heritance of fertility restoration ranged from 0.38 to 0.92, depending on the criteria and environment. The distribution of the progeny was continuous between the parental genotypes indicating the quantitative inheritance of fertility restoration. Inferred from segregation according to Snape et al.（1984）, the number of segregating genes was estimated to be that three to four genetic factors were involved in pollen traits （PI and PN） and five to eight genetic factors in seed production （SN）. The heredity analysis of the CMS will be helpful for understanding of the genetic mechanism of the fertility restoration and the exploitation of the CMS in hybrid seed production.

QTL for grain yield and yield parameters in winter wheat(Triticum aestivum L.)

Field trials with a set of 108 doubled haploid lines(DHs) derived from a cross between the Chinese winter wheat cvs.CA9613 and H1488 were run at Beijing(China).Phenotypic data were recorded for major agronomic yield traits,i.e.grain weight per ear,grain number per ear and thousand grain weight(Tgw) in two field trials at Beijing.Based on the phenotypic data and a genetic map comprising 168 SSR markers,an analysis of quantitative trait loci(QTL) was carried out for yield and yield parameters using the composite interval mapping(CIM) approach.A total of 14 QTL were detected for these traits across two environments.Four of these QTL located on chromosomes 1A and 2B,respectively,exhibited pleiotropic effects.Loci showing pleiotropic effects will be very useful for understanding the homeologous relationships of QTL and designing an appropriate marker-assisted selection programme by multi-trait selection in order to accumulate("pyramide") favorable alleles at different loci.

Genetic Analysis of Embryo Production Frequency in Wheat × Maize Cross

A DH population derived from C49S-87/01Y1-1069 was used to study the inheritance of wheat haploid embryo production frequency（EPF） in wheat × maize cross with the mixed major gene and polygene inheritance model of quantitative traits. The results showed that the EPF of wheat × maize cross was controlled by two dominant epistatic genes and polygene with gene effects of 1.95 for the first major gene, 6.69 for the second one and 2.80 for the polygene. The inheritability of major genes was as high as 72.09%, suggesting that the differences in EPF among wheat materials were mainly influenced by genotype. However, non-genetic factors were still important, especially for wheat materials with low EPF.

Developmental Dynamics of Wheat (<i>Triticum aestivum</i>L.) Microspores under Culture

Doubled haploid production via microspore culture is a technique known to accelerate crop breeding by shortening the breeding cycle through achieving homozygosity in one generation. Prior research observed that some embryogenic microspores aborted their development before reaching the embryoid stage. Such embryogenic abortion reduces embryoid yield, making microspore cultures less efficient. The present research aims at identifying stages during which microspore development is susceptible to embryogenic abortion. Information gained through delineation of the developmental dynamics of microspores in culture could be used to improve the efficiency of microspore culture. Embryogenic microspores were isolated from stress-treated wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) tillers and cultured in liquid medium. The development of embryogenic microspores was monitored over a 35 day period. At day 7, 10, 14, 21, 28, and 35, the developing microspores were counted and categorized into multicellular structures, pre-embryoids, immature embryoids and mature embryoids. The results showed that 44% - 62% of embryogenic microspores halted their development before the mature embryoid stage. Of these aborted embryogenic microspores, 21% - 33% terminated as multicellular structures, 16% - 19% arrested their development as pre-embryoids, and 7% - 10% halted development as immature embryoids. Identifying factors that are responsible for embryogenic abortion and finding remedy to the issue will help improve the efficiency of doubled haploid production.