High-density molecular characterization and association mapping in Ethiopian durum wheat landraces reveals high diversity and potential for wheat breeding

Durum wheat (Triticum turgidum subsp. durum) is a key crop worldwide, and yet, its improvement and adaptation to emerging environmental threats is made difficult by the limited amount of allelic variation included in its elite pool. New allelic diversity may provide novel loci to international crop breeding through quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping in unexplored material. Here, we report the extensive molecular and phenotypic characterization of hundreds of Ethiopian durum wheat landraces and several Ethiopian improved lines. We test 81 587 markers scoring 30 155 single nucleotide polymorphisms and use them to survey the diversity, structure, and genome-specific variation in the panel. We show the uniqueness of Ethiopian germplasm using a siding collection of Mediterranean durum wheat accessions. We phenotype the Ethiopian panel for ten agronomic traits in two highly diversified Ethiopian environments for two consecutive years and use this information to conduct a genome-wide association study. We identify several loci underpinning agronomic traits of interest, both confirming loci already reported and describing new promising genomic regions. These loci may be efficiently targeted with molecular markers already available to conduct marker-assisted selection in Ethiopian and international wheat. We show that Ethiopian durum wheat represents an important and mostly unexplored source of durum wheat diversity. The panel analysed in this study allows the accumulation of QTL mapping experiments, providing the initial step for a quantitative, methodical exploitation of untapped diversity in producing a better wheat

High-density lipoproteins and immune response: A review

High-density lipoproteins (HDLs) are heterogeneous lipoproteins that modify their composition and functionality depending on physiological or pathological conditions. The main roles of HDL are cholesterol efflux, and anti-inflammatory and antioxidant functions. These functions can be compromised under pathological conditions. HDLs play a role in the immune system as anti-inflammatory molecules but when inflammation occurs, HDLs change their composition and carry pro-inflammatory cargo. Hence, many molecular intermediates that influence inflammatory microenvironments and cell signaling pathways can modulate HDLs structural modification and function. This review provides a comprehensive assessment of the importance of HDL composition and anti-inflammatory function in the onset and progression of atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases. On the other hand, immune cell activation during progression of atheroma plaque formation can be influenced by HDLs through HDL-derived cholesterol depletion from lipid rafts and through HDL interaction with HDL receptors expressed on T and B lymphocytes. Cholesterol efflux is mediated by HDL receptors located in lipid rafts in peripheral cells, which undergo membrane structural modifications, and interferes with subsequent molecules interactions or intracellular signaling cascades. Regarding antigen-presentation cells such as macrophages or dendritic cells, HDL function may then modulate lymphocytes activation in immune response. Our review also contributes to the understanding of the effects exerted by HDLs in signal transduction associated to our immune cell population during chronic diseases progression.Junta de Andalucía US-126345

High density matter

The microscopic composition and properties of matter at super-saturation densities have been the subject of intense investigation for decades. The scarcity of experimental and observational data has lead to the necessary reliance on theoretical models. However, there remains great uncertainty in these models, which, of necessity, have to go beyond the over-simple assumption that high density matter consists only of nucleons and leptons. Heavy strange baryons, mesons and quark matter in different forms and phases have to be included to fulfil basic requirements of fundamental laws of physics. In this review the latest developments in construction of the Equation of State (EoS) of high-density matter at zero and finite temperature assuming different composition of the matter are surveyed. Critical comparison of model EoS with available observational data on neutron stars, including gravitational masses, radii and cooling patterns is presented. The effect of changing rotational frequency on the composition of neutron stars during their lifetime is demonstrated. Compatibility of EoS of high-density, low temperature compact objects and low density, high temperature matter created in heavy-ion collisions is discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, Invited talk at Nuclei in Cosmos 2012, accepted for publication on PoS. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1201.0950 by other author