Evaluation of Novel Gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii Bolus ex. Hooker F.) Hybrids for Flower Quality Traits under Polyhouse Condition

The present study was carried out to evaluate the performance of two gerbera hybrids IIHR15-7 and IIHR16-8 along with their parents and a commercial check, for flower quality traits under polyhouse condition in completely randomized block design, during 2016-17 to 2018-19. The hybrids IIHR15-7 and IIHR16-8 had been developed through the half-sib method of breeding with IIHR9 and Arka Ashwa, respectively, as parents. Data for three years were pooled and analyzed statistically. In both hybrids IIHR15-7 and IIHR16-8, all the quantitative traits were found to be on par with the respective commercial checks. They had novel flower colour (as per RHS Colour Chart) i.e. NN155A, White Group for IIHR 15-7 and 65A Red Purple Group for IIHR16-8, with semi-double and double forms of flowers, respectively. These hybrids are suitable for cut-flower and flower arrangement purposes. Further, these hybrids will be useful for developing new gerbera hybrids with novel traits

Rapid plant regeneration from Gerbera jamesonii Bolus callus cultures

A high frequency shoot organogenesis and plant establishment protocol has been developed for Gerbera jamesonii from ex vitro leaf derived callus. The optimal callus was developed on Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal medium supplemented with 0.4 mg L–1 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP), 4.0 mg L–1 -naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and 3% (w/v) sucrose. Two callus types differing in their structures and growth rates were observed. A friable and non-chlorophyllous callus with high growth rate appeared at the cut surfaces of the explant, and a compact chlorophyllous callus. The rate of shoot bud regeneration was positively correlated with the concentration of growth regulators in the nutrient media. The explants were highly responsive (83.3%) in a medium containing 2 mg L–1 NAAand 1 mg L–1 BAP after 3 weeks of callus transfer to a medium. Regenerated plantlets were transferred to soil where they grew normally with a survival rate of 95%. This protocol offers rapid build up of selected clones and opens up prospects for using biotechnological approaches for gerbera improvement

A Guide to in silico Identification of miRNAs and their Targets

MicroRNAs (miRNA) are non-coding RNA molecules that play a critical role in gene regulation including translational repression in animals and mRNA cleavage in plants. MicroRNAs control various cellular, metabolic and physiological processes in living organisms. In this paper, we provide an overview on the significance of miRNA, nomenclature, their biogenesis and the pipelines for prediction of miRNA and their targets. These tools are important for identification of conserved miRNAs in crops where miRNAs have not been previously discovered. The newlyidentified miRNAs and their targets play an important role in understanding regulation of growth, development and gene silencing in various life forms

Molecular Exploration of Guava (Psidium guajava L.) Genome Using SSR and RAPD Markers: A Step towards Establishing Linkage Map

In the present study, molecular evaluation of two guava mapping populations (MP), MPI comprising 94 F1 progenies and MPII comprising 46 F1 progenies, was carried out using simple sequence repeat (SSR) and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. A pseudo-test cross strategy was implemented where 'Kamsari' X 'Purple Local' and 'Purple Local' X 'Allahabad Safeda' were crossed, and, these showed variation in fruit quality traits such as seedstrength (hardness/softness), fruit weight, TSS and pulp color. A set of 30 RAPD markers was used for genotyping MPI while a set of 55 SSR markers was used for genotyping MPII. In case of MPI, 30 RAPD markers generated 214 scorable markers, of which 80 markers were specific to 'Kamsari', 14 markers to 'Purple Local' and the remaining 120 were intercross markers. As for MPII, 55 polymorphic SSR markers resulted in generation of 207 alleles (with a maximum of 4 alleles and a minimum of 3 alleles per locus), of which 108 alleles were specific to 'Purple Local' while 99 were specific to 'Allahabad Safeda'. Genotypic data thus generated can be further exploited for constructing genetic linkage maps and mapping complex QTLs governing fruit quality traits in guava.

Evaluation of Novel Gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii Bolus ex. Hooker F.) Hybrids for Flower Quality Traits under Naturally-Ventilated Polyhouse

The present study was carried out to evaluate performance of two gerbera hybrids IIHR 3-34 and IIHR 8-45 along with their parents and check, for flower quality traits under naturally-ventilated polyhouse in Randomized Block Design, in the years 2014-15 and 2015-16. Both the hybrids had been developed through the half-sib method of breeding with IIHR-3 and IIHR-1, respectively, as parents. Data for the two years were pooled and analyzed statistically. Significant differences were observed in the quality traits studied. In the case of both hybrids IIHR 3-34 and IIHR 8-45, most of the quantitative traits were found to be on par with the check variety, Elite. They had novel flower colour (68D as per RHS Colour Chart), Red Purple Group (IIHR 3-34) and 50A Red Group (IIHR 8-45), with double type of flowers. These are suitable for cut-flower and flower arrangement purposes. These hybrids will prove useful for developing more gerbera hybrids with novel traits

Genetic divergence in Chrysanthemum (Dendranthema x grandiflora Tzvelev) based on morphological traits

Genetic diversity of thirty-one genotypes of Chrysanthemum were analysed for various growth and flowering related traits. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the genotypes for all the morphological traits studied. The clustering pattern based on Mahalanobis D2 statistics categorised genotypes into six distinct clusters. The largest cluster i.e. cluster III composed of eleven genotypes followed by cluster II with nine genotypes, cluster I having eight genotypes and cluster IV, V, and VI with one genotype each. The maximum inter-cluster distance was recorded between clusters IV and cluster V (376.87) followed by clusters IV and cluster VI (344.96) and, cluster II and cluster IV (196.81). The maximum intra-cluster distance was observed for cluster III (56.57), followed by cluster II (46.87) and cluster I (29.52). Among all the clusters, genotypes in cluster II recorded highest cluster mean values for number of branches per plant (7.15), number of leaves (119.72) and flowers (91.69) per plant. Among nine characters, number of flowers per plant contributed maximum to divergence (32.26%). Therefore, for chrysanthemum improvement, highly diverse genotypes can be used as parents for crossing to generate high variability

in Silico Microsatellite Development in Arum Lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica)

Microsatellites are an important class of molecular markers having wide application in genetic research. Development of microsatellites using conventional methods is laborious and expensive. Alternatively, in silicoapproach can be followed to detect simple sequence repeats (SSRs) from expressed sequence tags (ESTs) available in public biological databases. The in silico developed EST-SSRs have been found to be transferrable across species and genera. A study was undertaken to mine simple sequence repeats (SSRs) from the expressed sequence tags (ESTs) of arum lily, Zantedeschia aethiopica, belongs to the family Araceae. A total of 4283 ESTs of Zantedeschia aethiopica, downloaded from dbEST of NCBI, were pre-processed and subjected to clustering and assembly. In all, 1968 clusters (800 contigs and 1168 singletons) were obtained, resulting in 54 % reduction in ESTs. In addition, 1936 SSRs were obtained, which included 617 mono, 101 di-, 201 tri-, 80 tetra-, 23 penta- and 898 hexa-nucleotide repeats. The plant has an abundance of 0.70 SSRs/ kb. We designed 1091 primers for these SSRs. A few in silico designed SSR primers were tested for polymorphism in Anthurium, belonging to the Araceae family, resulting in 40% amplification success

Genetic Diversity Analysis and Barcoding in Tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa L.) Cultivars Using RAPD and ISSR Markers

Tuberose is one of the most important bulbous ornamentals grown commercially for loose as well as cut flowers. RAPD and ISSR markers used in the study revealed 53% and 73% polymorphism, respectively, among ten tuberose varieties. Polymorphic Information Content (PIC) and Resolving Power (RP) for RAPD varied from 0.35 - 0.46 and 0.8 - 3.6, respectively, and that for ISSR was 0.36 - 0.49 and 0.91 - 4.55, respectively. The dendrogram (UPGMA), based on Jaccards co-efficient as similarity index for RAPD and ISSR, grouped ten varieties into two major clusters, and, combined RAPD-ISSR cluster analysis formed three major clusters based on their genetic relatedness/variation. PCA revealed that the spatial arrangement of these 10 cultivars was congruent with dendrogram analysis. Mantel's test indicated very good correlation, with r = 0.86 for combination of ISSR and RAPD-ISSR. To facilitate identification of tuberose cultivars, a cultivar identification diagram (CID) was developed in which seven ISSR loci could differentiate all the ten cultivars used in the study. Barcodes were developed for five cultivars released by IIHR using 57 polymorphic loci generated by 11 ISSR primers. The size of these loci ranged from 252bp to 2.2kb. These barcodes can be used as a standard reference source for quick identification of cultivars

Controlled release nanoparticulate matter delivery system

A controlled release nanoparticulate matter delivery system includes a plurality of thermoresponsive modules containing a respective nanoparticulate matter. Each thermoresponsive module is selectively operable in at least one of a heating mode that releases the nanoparticulate matter and a cooling mode that inhibits release of the nanoparticulate matter. A control module is in electrical communication with the plurality of thermoresponsive modules. The control module is configured to determine a temperature of each thermoresponsive module and to select the at least one heating mode and cooling mode based on the temperature. The heating and cooling mode may be selected in response to a desired dosing profile and/or a biometric condition.Board of Regents, University of Texas Syste

Enrichment of Genetic Linkage Maps and Mapping QTLs Specific to Seed Strength-Hardness/Softness-In Guava (Psidium guajava L.)

The present research focuses mainly on molecular mining and morphological evaluation of guava genome within a full-sib population and, thereby, mapping of quantitative trait loci related to fruit quality traits, viz., seed strength (hardness/softness) and average fruit weight. Linkage maps were enriched for both parental lines, 'Kamsari' and 'Purple Local' using a set of 60 RAPD markers following the pseudo-testcross strategy on a panel of 94 progeny. A total of 480 scorable markers were identified, of which 131 were specific to 'kamsari' and 28 to 'Purple Local', segregating as test cross markers, and, 321 showing intercross pattern common to both. 'Kamsari' spanned a total length of 1959.1cM with average marker interval distance of 3.93cM, while 'Purple Local' spanned a length of 1537.9cM with average marker interval distance of 3.29cM, by forming 11 linkage groups. Estimated genome length observed was 93.02% and 92.77% in 'Kamsari' and 'Purple Local', respectively. Composite Interval Mapping (CIM) was computed at significance of 0.05 and LOD threshold greater than 3.0, which led to detection of one major QTL for the trait of average fruit weight, and, four QTLs for the trait of seed strength (hardness/softness). Of these, two were major and two minor QTLs. Our study provides molecular mapping information on marker-assisted selection for improvement of guava in a breeding program