The identification of wheat genetic resources with high dietary fiber content

The quality properties of different variety mixtures and composite cross populations were studied with the aim of identifying genotypes with high dietary fiber content and to cultivate and examine the effect of these components on the end-use quality. Based on the results of a Europe-wide trial, we could detect two populations and variety mixtures which had significantly higher total (TOTAX) and water extractable arabinoxylan (WEAX) content, than most of the studied genotypes, with positive effect on the human health. These populations/mixtures are promising dietary fiber resources and suitable not only for organic but also for conventional farming, especially in Central Europe. The seeds of the best population (Mv Elit CCP) was multiplied to supply it for interested farmers in Hungary in the frame of the European trial on organic heterogeneous materials

Stability analysis of wheat lines with increased level of arabinoxylan

Plant breeders have long sought to develop lines that combine outstanding performance with high and stable quality in different environments. The high-arabinoxylan (AX) Chinese variety Yumai-34 was crossed with three Central European wheat varieties (Lupus, Mv-Mambo, Ukrainka) and 31 selected high-AX lines were compared for physical (hectolitre weight, thousand grain weight, flour yield), compositional (protein content, gluten content, pentosan) and processing quality traits (gluten index, Zeleny sedimentation, Farinograph parameters) in a three-year experiment (2013–2015) in the F7-F9 generations. The stability and heritability of different traits, including the relative effects of the genotype (G) and environment (E), were determined focusing on grain composition. The contents of total and water-soluble pentosans were significantly affected by G, E and G×E interactions, but the heritability of total (TOT)pentosan was significantly lower (0.341) than that of water-extractable (WE)-pentosan (0.825). The main component of the pentosans, the amount and composition (arabinose: xylose ratio) of the arabinoxylan (AX), was primarily determined by the environment and, accordingly, the broader heritability of these parameters were 0.516 and 0.772. However, genotype significantly affected the amount of water-soluble arabinoxylan and its composition and thus the heritability of these traits was also significant (0.840 and 0.721). The genotypes exhibiting higher stability of content of TOT-pentosan also showed more stable contents of WE-pentosan. There was a positive correlation between the stability of contents of WE-pentosan and WE-AX, while the stability of the WE-AX content and AX composition were also strongly correlated. Water absorption was strongly genetically determined with a heritability of 0.829 with the genotype determining 38.67% of the total variance. Many lines were grouped in the GGE biplot, indicating that they did not significantly differ stability

Energy utilization and growth performance of chickens fed novel wheat inbred lines selected for different pentosan levels with and without xylanase supplementation

Different F5 recombinant inbred lines from the cross Yumai 34 × Ukrainka were grown in replicated trials on a single site in one harvest year at Rothamsted Research. A total of 10 samples from those lines were harvested and used in a broiler experiment. Twenty nutritionally complete meal-form diets that had 630 g/kg of wheat with different amounts of pentosan, with and without exogenous xylanase supplementation, were used to compare broiler growth performance and determine apparent metabolizable energy corrected for N retention (AMEn). We examined the relationship between the nutritive value of the wheat samples and their chemical compositions and results of quality tests. The amounts of total and water soluble pentosans in wheat samples ranged from 36.7 to 48.0 g/kg DM, and 6.7 to 11.6 g/kg DM, respectively. The mean crude oil and protein contents of the wheat samples were 10.5 and 143.9 g/kg DM, respectively. The average determined value for the kinematic viscosity was 0.0018 mPa.s, and 2.1 mPa.s for the dynamic viscosity. The AMEn of the wheat-based diets had a maximum range of 0.47 MJ/kg DM within the ten wheat samples that were tested. Xylanase supplementation improved (P < 0.05) dietary AMEn, dry matter, and fat digestibility coefficients. There was a positive (P < 0.05) relationship between in vitro kinematic viscosity of the wheat samples and the total pentosan content. There was a negative relationship between the total pentosan content in the wheat and broiler growth performance. An increase by 10 g of pentosan per kg of wheat reduced (P < 0.001) daily feed intake and weight gain by 2.9 g and 3.5 g, respectively. The study shows that the feeding quality of wheat samples can be predicted by their total pentosan content. Supplementary xylanase improved energy and nutrient availability of all wheat samples that was independent of differences in pentosan content

Thyrotroph Embryonic Factor Regulates Light-Induced Transcription of Repair Genes in Zebrafish Embryonic Cells

Numerous responses are triggered by light in the cell. How the light signal is detected and transduced into a cellular response is still an enigma. Each zebrafish cell has the capacity to directly detect light, making this organism particularly suitable for the study of light dependent transcription. To gain insight into the light signalling mechanism we identified genes that are activated by light exposure at an early embryonic stage, when specialised light sensing organs have not yet formed. We screened over 14,900 genes using micro-array GeneChips, and identified 19 light-induced genes that function primarily in light signalling, stress response, and DNA repair. Here we reveal that PAR Response Elements are present in all promoters of the light-induced genes, and demonstrate a pivotal role for the PAR bZip transcription factor Thyrotroph embryonic factor (Tef) in regulating the majority of light-induced genes. We show that tefβ transcription is directly regulated by light while transcription of tefα is under circadian clock control at later stages of development. These data leads us to propose their involvement in light-induced UV tolerance in the zebrafish embryo