Genetic investigation of plant architecture, yield, and diversity in winged bean (psophocarpus tetragonolobus (L.) DC.) for breeding programmes

Winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) is an underutilised leguminous crop, cultivated mainly in hot and humid countries in Asia and the pacific area. It is traditionally grown as vegetable, for its green pods and tuberous roots, and also as a pulse crop, for its grain, with all edible parts reported to be rich in protein, vitamins, minerals, and fibre. Its plant architecture is composed of long, intertwining stems and lateral branches, which grow indeterminately and impact on final yield as well as farming practices. Yet, this aspect has remained poorly understood. Efforts in winged bean improvement programme also remain constrained by the lack of molecular tools, for example to carry out genetic dissection of the traits of interest, and genetic analysis of germplasm. Controlled crosses were therefore performed between different genotypes of winged bean in order to investigate morphological traits contributing to its plant architecture, and investigate their effect and interaction with yield components, for pod productivity. After initial assessment of parental and F1 individuals, a parental combination (M3 × FP15) was chosen in order to establish a segregating population and to carry out phenotypic analyses. These revealed how stem length could be predominantly under control of internode length (rs= .80; p< .01), while the average length of lateral branches could impact more on the final number of pods per plant (rs= .44; p< .001) than the branch number per plant alone (rs= .38; p< .001). Together, the results shed light on key morphological traits and their potential interaction with yield components. Along with crosses and field assessment, molecular markers were developed. First, a set of 18 genic-Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) markers was validated, and used to initially evaluate the diversity among crossed genotypes, their heterozygosity, and to validate the obtained hybrids. A second set of markers consisted of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs), developed through a genotyping-by-sequencing method on 91 accessions, including parental genotypes, and on the analysed F2 population. The SNPs across the genotyped biparental F2 population have allowed the construction of the first genetic linkage map in winged bean. Nine linkage groups (LG), seemingly corresponding to the 9 chromosomes in winged bean (2n= 2x= 18), were obtained with an average of 199 SNPs per LG. High segregation distortion was revealed by analysing the segregation patterns of the markers, leading first towards the development of a framework map without distorted marker. A complete map was then constructed by re-introducing distorted markers, resulting in a map with a total length of 1171.6cM, with 395 spaced SNPs (3.1cM/SNP) and an overall 34% of segregation distortion. QTL analysis was carried out to dissect measured traits, by combining recorded F2 phenotypic data and the genetic information from the genetic linkage map. Through Interval Mapping (IM), 5 segregating QTLs and 8 putative QTLs were found across 9 traits, all explaining more than 10% of observed phenotypic variance. These included markers linked to genomic regions underlying traits such as stem length, branch number per plant, length of branch, and dry pod length. Using a total of 5891 SNPs discovered across 91 accessions allowed us to perform a preliminary genetic diversity analysis of winged bean germplasm, collected from public and private sources. Genetic distance analyses showed potential agreement between genetic and geographic structure, in contrast with previous studies. The average 7.3% of observed heterozygosity could support the idea of winged bean as a predominantly inbreeding species, although within populations were still found relatively high levels of diversity. Overall fixation index (Fst) and pairwise population comparisons revealed moderate significant differentiation between analysed population groups, although South American and African accessions could have been derived from South East Asian and Papua New Guinea stocks. Overall, the phenotypic analysis provides new insight for the design of winged bean ideotypes with reduced vegetative growth and improved pod productivity, while the QTL analysis gives the first potential markers linked to important traits that could be considered breeding targets. Together, this information provides the initial basis for altering winged bean plant architecture and supporting breeding programmes for the improvement of this crop

Autonomous Raman Amplifiers in Software-Defined Optical Transport Networks

Within a context of software-defined optical transport networks (SD-OTN), this work addresses specifically the management of Raman amplification, aiming to introduce and experimentally validate a system able to autonomously control this feature in-situ. In particular, given the required amplification constraints, an ad-hoc software module has been developed in order to optimize Raman pump power levels. Then, relying on this software, the architecture of an embedded controller to install on board the Raman card has been defined to handle Raman pumps. The use of a conceived probing procedure allows to self-adapt each Raman amplifier to the installed fiber, allowing it to autonomously operate at the working point required by the control plane. Relying on the system telemetry, the proposed architecture controls the Raman pumps in order to achieve the required amplification constraints in terms of average gain and tilt. The entire proposal is validated through a set of experimental measurements that proofs both the achievement of the required gain target and the importance of the probing phase procedure in making the Raman amplifier autonomous and self-adaptable

Local vs. Global Optimization for Optical Line System Control in Disaggregated Networks

Setting the operating point of optical amplifiers of optical line systems (OLS)s within transparent, disaggregated and reconfigurable networks is a crucial task that determines the optical transmission performance of the specific infrastructure. In this work, four optimization strategies for OLS control are compared through a simulation campaign, where a realistic physical layer is replicated using a machine-learning model derived from an experimental dataset on commercial devices for the Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA)s and a characterized set of fiber spans. In particular, two distinct objective functions are evaluated, both at the end of the line (global approach), and, in turn, at the end of each single span (local approach)

Autonomous Physical Layer Characterization in Cognitive Optical Line Systems

We develop a procedure to autonomously characterize the optical line system physical layer, span-by-span, using in-line OTDRs and OCMs. This procedure has been experimentally validated, showing a clear correlation between the experimental outcomes and emulations

Sugerencias para un adecuado ejercicio del derecho de preferencia

Uno de los aspectos más destacados que ofrece la regulación de los conjuntos inmobiliarios en el Código Civil y Comercial consiste en haber incorporado la posibilidad de pactar un derecho de preferencia con respecto a la enajenación de las Unidades Funcionales. En efecto, el articulo 2085 dispone: “Transmisión de unidades. El reglamento de propiedad horizontal puede prever limitaciones pero no impedir la libre transmisión y consiguiente adquisición de unidades funcionales dentro del conjunto inmobiliario, pudiendo establecer un derecho de preferencia en la adquisición a favor del consorcio de propietarios o del resto de propietarios de las unidades privativas”. Constituye un tema vinculado al derecho de admisión de nuevos miembros en los conjuntos inmobiliarios, como por ejemplo, clubes de campo, barrios cerrados, etc.Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Sociale

Gain profile characterization and modelling for an accurate EDFA abstraction and control

Relying on a two-measurement characterization phase, a gain profile model for dual-stage EDFAs is presented and validated in full spectral load condition. It precisely reproduces the EDFA dynamics varying the target gain and tilts parameters as shown experimentally on two commercial items from different vendors

Development and interaction between plant architecture and yield-related traits in winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (L.) DC.)

Winged bean (P. tetragonolobus (L.) DC.) is a leguminous crop that could contribute towards food security in tropical areas, but whose growth and development is still poorly understood. In order to develop improved individuals for increased green pod and seed productivity, we investigated the factors involved in winged bean plant architecture, development, and their link to a number of yield-related traits. An F2 population was generated from the cross between M3 and FP15 Malaysian accessions and assessed under field conditions in Malaysia. The results showed stem length to be mainly influenced by internode length (rs = .80; p \.01), while multiple genes could be controlling the number of branches, with an average number of branches in the offspring above the highest parent value. The average length of branches appeared to influence the most the finalnumber of pods per plant (rs = .44; p\ .001), while flowering showed potentially transgressive segregation towards earliness, without preventing the potential development of high pod-yielding individuals (rs = - 208; p = .056). Taken together, the results reported here shed light on the interaction between morphological, developmental, and yield-related traits, defining potential targets for developing crop ideotypes to direct breeding programmes for this underutilised crop

Development of gene‐based SSR markers in winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (L.) DC.) for diversity assessment

Winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) is an herbaceous multipurpose legume grown in hot and humid countries as a pulse, vegetable (leaves and pods), or root tuber crop depending on local consumption preferences. In addition to its different nutrient‐rich edible parts which could contribute to food and nutritional security, it is an efficient nitrogen fixer as a component of sustainable agricultural systems. Generating genetic resources and improved lines would help to accelerate the breeding improvement of this crop, as the lack of improved cultivars adapted to specific environments has been one of the limitations preventing wider use. A transcriptomic de novo assembly was constructed from four tissues: leaf, root, pod, and reproductive tissues from Malaysian accessions, comprising of 198,554 contigs with a N50 of 1462 bp. Of these, 138,958 (70.0%) could be annotated. Among 9682 genic simple sequence repeat (SSR) motifs identified (excluding monomer repeats), trinucleotide‐repeats were the most abundant (4855), followed by di‐nucleotide (4500) repeats. A total of 18 SSR markers targeting di‐ and tri‐nucleotide repeats have been validated as polymorphic markers based on an initial assessment of nine genotypes originated from five countries. A cluster analysis revealed provisional clusters among this limited, yet diverse selection of germplasm. The developed assembly and validated genic SSRs in this study provide a foundation for a better understanding of the plant breeding system for the genetic improvement of winged bean