Genetic Variation Assessed with Microsatellites in Mass Selection Lines of the Pacific Oyster (Crassostrea gigas) in China

Abstract Four successive mass selection lines of the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, selected for faster growth in breeding pro- grams in China were examined at ten polymorphic microsatellite loci to assess the level of allelic diversity and estimate the effective population size. These data were compared with those of their base population. The results showed that the genetic variation of the four generations were maintained at high levels with an average allelic richness of 18.8-20.6, and a mean expected heterozygosity of 0.902-0.921. They were not reduced compared with those of their base population. Estimated effective population sizes based on temporal variances in microsatellite frequencies were smaller to that of sex ratio-corrected broodstock count estimates. Using a rela- tively large number ofbroodstock and keeping an equal sex ratio in the broodstock each generation may have contributed to retaining the original genetic diversity and maintaining relatively large effective population size. The results obtained in this study showed that the genetic variation was not affected greatly by mass selection progress and high genetic variation still existed in the mass selection lines, suggesting that there is still potential for increasing the gains in future generations of C. gigas. The present study provided im- portant information for future genetic improvement by selective breeding, and for the design of suitable management guidelines for genetic breeding of C. gigas.

Genetic Diversity of Maize Populations Developed by Two Kinds of Recurrent Selection Methods Investigated with SSR Markers

Two cycles of biparental mass selection （MS） and one cycle of half-sib-S3 family combining selection （HS-S3） for yield were carried out in 2 synthetic maize populations P4C0 and P5C0 synchronously. The genetic diversity of 8 maize populations, including both the basic populations and their developed populations, were evaluated by 30 SSR primers. On the 30 SSR loci, a total of 184 alleles had been detected in these populations. At each locus, the number of alleles varied from 2 to 14, with an average of 6.13. The number and ratio of polymorphic loci in both the basic populations were higher than those of their developed populations, respectively. There was nearly no difference after MS but decreased after HS-S3 in both the basic populations in the mean gene heterozygosity. The mean genetic distance changed slightly after MS but decreased in a bigger degree after HS-S3 in both the basic populations. Analyses on the distribution of genetic distances showed that the ranges of the genetic distance were wider after MS and most of the genetic distances in populations developed by HS-S3 were smaller than those in both the basic populations. The number of genotypes increased after MS but decreased after HS-S3 in both the basic populations. The genetic diversity of intra-population was much more than genetic diversity of inter-population in both the basic populations. All these indexes demonstrated that the genetic diversity of populations after MS was similar to their basic populations, and the genetic diversity was maintained during MS, whereas the genetic diversity of populations decreased after HS-S3. This result indicated that heterogeneity between some of the individuals in the developed populations increased after MS, whereas the populations become more homozygotic after HS-S3.

Response to Selection for Fast Growth in the Second Generation of Pacific Oyster (Crassostrea gigas)

Mass selection for fast growth was conducted in three Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) stocks from China, Japan and Korea using previously established lines (CS1, JS1, and KS1). To determine whether continuous progress can be achieved by selection for growth, the progeny of three second-generation Pacific oyster lines was selected for shell height and evaluated via a 400-day farming experiment. When harvested at the end of the experiment, the selected crosses of CS2, JS2, and KS2 lines grew by 9.2%, 10.2% and 9.6% larger than the control crosses, respectively. During grow-out stage, the genetic gain of three selected lines was (10.2 ± 1.4)%, (10.4 ± 0.3)%, and (8.4 ± 1.6)%, respectively; and the corresponding realized heritability was 0.457 ± 0.143, 0.312 ± 0.071 and 0.332 ± 0.009, respectively. These results indicated that the selection for fast growth achieved steady progress in the second generation of oyster. Our work provides supportive evidence for the continuity of the Pacific oyster selective breeding program.

Growth performance of the clam, Meretrix meretrix, breeding-selection populations cultured in different conditions

A breeding-selection program for the clam, Meretrix meretrix, was conducted since 2004. Two of the selec- tion populations were generated with the shell color pattern as an additional selection criterion and named as SP （purple stripes） population and SB （black dots） population. The third-generation SP and SB popula- tions （08G3SP and 08G3SB, respectively） were cultured at two commercial clam farms and a nursery pond and their shell lengths were compared. 08G3SB clams had significantly larger sizes than 08G3SP clams at commercial clam farms （p 〈 0.05）, yet 08G3SB individuals were significantly smaller than 08G3SP individ- uals at the nursery pond （p 〈 0.05）. Then, we examined the growth of the fourth-generation SP and SB populations （10G4SP and 10G4SB, respectively） at a commercial farm, and found that the shell lengths of the 10G4SB clams increased at a significantly higher growth rate than the 10G4SP clams （p 〈 0.05） from May to September, when the water temperature was between 24.2-27.5℃, while 10G4SB lost the growth advantage in the other months. These results indicated that SP and SB populations responded differently to environmental factors, so it is beneficial for the clam farmers to select a suitable population according to the culture environment. Furthermore, a diallel mating of the SB and SP populations was designed to investigate whether their hybrid population would show heterosis. However, the heterosis was not shown in this study, which might result from the slight genetic divergence between SB and SP populations.

Comparison of Five Selection Procedures for Seed Coat and Hilum Color in Interspecific Crossing of Soybeans

Five selection procedures for seed coat and hilum color were studied with F4 progenies in two interspecific crossing of soybeans. The seed coat and hilum color indicated that pedigree, 5% and 10% mass selection method were equally successful, and were better than picking-pod and 25% mass selection in cross S17. However, no significant differences in seed coat and hilum color were found in cross G18.

Linkage Disequilibrium in Wild and Cultured Populations of Pacific Oyster(Crassostrea gigas)

Linkage disequilibrium(LD) can be applied for mapping the actual genes responsible for variation of economically important traits through association mapping.The feasibility and efficacy of association studies are strongly dependent on the extent of LD which determines the number and density of markers in the studied population,as well as the experimental design for an association analysis.In this study,we first characterized the extent of LD in a wild population and a cultured mass-selected line of Pacific oyster(Crassostrea gigas).A total of 88 wild and 96 cultured individuals were selected to assess the level of genome-wide LD with 53 microsatellites,respectively.For syntenic marker pairs,no significant association was observed in the wild population;however,three significant associations occurred in the cultured population,and the significant LD extended up to 12.7 c M,indicating that strong artificial selection is a key force for substantial increase of genome-wide LD in cultured population.The difference of LD between wild and cultured populations showed that association studies in Pacific oyster can be achieved with reasonable marker densities at a relatively low cost by choosing an association mapping population.Furthermore,the frequent occurrence of LD between non-syntenic loci and rare alleles encourages the joint application of linkage analysis and LD mapping when mapping genes in oyster.The information on the linkage disequilibrium in the cultured population is useful for future association mapping in oyster.

Direct hydride derivatization of methyl- and ethylmercury chlorides in aqueous solution with KBH_4

A convenient hydride derivatization procedure of methyl\|and ethylmercury chlorides to volatile hydrides was reported. In sealed vials methylmercury and ethylmercury compounds in acidic aqueous solutions were converted into their volatile forms by the reaction with potassium tetrahydroborate(KBH 4) and elvolved to the headspace of the vials. The gaseous analytes in the headspace were extracted and concentrated by solid phase microextraction(SPME) and injected into gas chromatography (GC) for separation and identified by mass selective detector(MS).

Genetic Analysis of Quantitative Signs of White Lupin (Lupinus albus L.) Genotypes

Genetic variability in the base population plays an important role in crop⁃breeding program.A comprehensive assessment on the quantitative signs of white lupin genotypes was performed to be included in the selection process.Two limits of the environment were applied,i.e.,dense and sparse sowing.Positive true heterosis was established in PI533704×Zuter and PI533704×Lucky801 crosses by using the traits of the weight of nodules and fresh root mass weight at both limits of the environment.In more favorable growing conditions,the number and weight of nodules,as well as fresh aboveground mass weight had greater influence on the inheritance of epistatic gene interactions.In the case of dense sowing,the dominant gene actions for the weight of seeds were found more significant.With a high coefficient of inheritance in both environments,the hybrids of PI533704×Zuter and Lucky801×PI533704 were characterized by number and weight of nodules,Zuter×PI533704 by fresh root and aboveground mass weight,and almost all hybrids by seed weight per plant.The assessment of the initial material makes it highly likely to speed up the process of creating new varieties of white lupin.

Pd/C modified with Sn catalyst for liquid-phase selective hydrogenation of maleic anhydride to gamma-butyrolactone

Pd catalysts suffered from poor selectivity and stability for liquid-phase hydrogenation of maleic anhydride（MA） to gamma-butyrolactone（GBL）.Thus,Pd/C catalysts modified with different Sn loadings were synthesized,and characterized by XRD,XPS,TEM and elemental mapping.The types of alloy phase and the amounts of the surface Pd-SnOx sites altered along with Sn/Pd mass ratios from 0-1.0synthesized in the process of preparation.The maximum reaction rate was 0.57 mol-GBL/（mol-Pd min）and selectivity was 95.94%when the Sn/Pd mass ratio was 0.6.It might be attributed to the formation of Pd2Sn alloy and less amounts of Pd-SnOx sites.

Size-dependent dissociation of small cobalt clusters on ultrathin NaCI films

Mass-selected anionic cobalt clusters of two different sizes （Co2 and Co13） were deposited onto ultrathin NaC1 films grown on an Au（111） substrate. Using scanning tunneling microscopy experiments and density functional theory simulations, we show that the deposited Co2 cluster dissociates and that the resulting Co atoms dope the NaCI surface by substituting Na ions. In contrast, the larger Co13 cluster does not dissociate and remains stable on top of the NaC1 film. The size- dependent fragmentation of clusters is an important aspect in the understanding of the chemical interaction between size-selected small aggregates of atoms and supporting surfaces.