98 research outputs found
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Seed storage proteins of faba bean (Vicia faba L): current status and prospects for genetic improvement
Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is one of the foremost candidate crops for simultaneously increasing both sustainability and global supply of plant protein. On a dry matter basis, its seeds contain about 29% protein of which more than 80% consists of globulin storage proteins (vicilin and legumin). However, to achieve optimum utilization of this crop for human and animal nutrition, both protein content and quality have to be improved. Though initial investigations on the heritability of these traits indicated the possibility for genetic improvement, little has been achieved so far, partly due to the lack of genetic information coupled with the complex relationship between protein content and grain yield. This review reports on the current knowledge on Vicia faba seed storage proteins, their structure, composition, and genetic control, and highlights key areas for further improvement of the content and composition of Vicia faba seed storage proteins on the basis of recent advances in Vicia faba genome knowledge and genetic tools
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Genetic variation at flowering time loci in wild and cultivated barley
The worldwide spread of barley cultivation required adaptation to agricultural environments far distant from those found in its centre of domestication. An important component of this adaptation is the timing of flowering, achieved predominantly in response to day length and temperature. Here, we use a collection of cultivars, landraces and wild barley accessions to investigate the origins and distribution of allelic diversity at four major flowering time loci, mutations at which have been under selection during the spread of barley cultivation into Europe. Our findings suggest that while mutant alleles at the PPD-H1 and PPD-H2 photoperiod loci occurred pre-domestication, the mutant vernalization non-responsive alleles utilized in landraces and cultivars at the VRN-H1 and VRN-H2 loci occurred post-domestication. The transition from wild to cultivated barley is associated with a doubling in the number of observed multi-locus flowering-time haplotypes, suggesting that the resulting phenotypic variation has aided adaptation to cultivation in the diverse ecogeographic locations encountered. Despite the importance of early-flowering alleles during the domestication of barley in Europe, we show that novel VRN alleles associated with early flowering in wild barley have been lost in domesticates, highlighting the potential of wild germplasm as a source of novel allelic variation for agronomic traits
The FLASHES Survey I: Integral Field Spectroscopy of the CGM around 48 QSOs
We present the pilot study component of the Fluorescent Lyman-Alpha
Structures in High-z Environments (FLASHES) Survey; the largest integral-field
spectroscopy survey to date of the circumgalactic medium at . We
observed 48 quasar fields between 2015 and 2018 with the Palomar Cosmic Web
Imager (Matuszewski et al. 2010). Extended HI Lyman- emission
is discovered around 42/48 of the observed quasars, ranging in projected,
flux-weighted radius from 21-71 proper kiloparsecs (pkpc), with 26 nebulae
exceeding in effective diameter. The circularly averaged
surface brightness radial profile peaks at a maximum of
( adjusted for
cosmological dimming) and luminosities range from
to
. The emission appears to have a highly
eccentric morphology and a maximum covering factor of ( for giant
nebulae). On average, the nebular spectra are red-shifted with respect to both
the systemic redshift and Ly peak of the quasar spectrum. The
integrated spectra of the nebulae mostly have single or double-peaked line
shapes with global dispersions ranging from to
, though the individual (Gaussian) components of lines
with complex shapes mostly appear to have dispersions
, and the flux-weighted velocity centroids of the lines
vary by thousands of with respect to the systemic QSO
redshifts. Finally, the root-mean-square velocities of the nebulae are found to
be consistent with gravitational motions expected in dark matter halos of mass
. We compare these results to existing
surveys at both higher and lower redshift
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Molecular and phenotypic characterization of the alternative seasonal growth habit and flowering time in barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. vulgare L.)
Barley can be classified into three major agronomic types, based on its seasonal growth habit (SGH): spring, winter and alternative. Winter varieties require exposure to vernalization to promote subsequent flowering and are autumn-sown. Spring varieties proceed to flowering in the absence of vernalization and are sown in the spring. The ‘alternative’ (also known as ‘facultative’) SGH is only loosely defined and can be sown in autumn or spring. Here, we investigate the molecular genetic basis of alternative barley. Analysis of the major barley vernalization (VRN-H1, VRN-H2) and photoperiod (PPD-H1, PPD-H2) response genes in a collection of 386 varieties found alternative SGH to be characterized by specific allelic combinations. Spring varieties possessed spring loci at one or both of the vernalization response loci, combined with long-day non-responsive ppd-H1 alleles and wild-type alleles at the short-day photoperiod response locus, PPD-H2. Winter varieties possessed winter alleles at both vernalization loci, in combination with the mutant ppd-H2 allele conferring delayed flowering under short-day photoperiods. In contrast, all alternative varieties investigated possessed a single spring allele (either at VRN-H1 or at VRN-H2) combined with mutant ppd-H2 alleles. This allelic combination is found only in alternative types and is diagnostic for alternative SGH in the collection studied. Analysis of flowering time under controlled environment found alternative varieties flowered later than spring control lines, with the difference most pronounced under short-day photoperiods. This work provides genetic characterization of the alternative SGH phenotype, allowing precise manipulation of SGH and flowering time within breeding programmes, and provides the molecular tools for classification of all three SGH categories within national variety registration processes
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Evaluation of Claviceps purpurea isolates on wheat reveals complex virulence and host susceptibility relationships
Ergot of cereals, caused by Claviceps purpurea, results in yield loss and downgrading of infested grain because of toxic alkaloids in the sclerotia. Resistant wheat genotypes are known, but their effectiveness against different C. purpurea isolates over geographic regions
has not been studied. The objective of this study was to examine the pathogenic variability among isolates of C. purpurea on wheat lines differing in resistance. Under controlled environmental conditions, 41 single spore isolates of C. purpurea were obtained from Canadian
and UK collections and inoculated onto a set of wheat genotypes composed of durum wheat lines ‘Melita’, ‘Kyle’ and 9260B-173A, and hexaploid spring wheat lines ‘Cadillac’, ‘Vista’, ‘Kenya Farmer’, ‘Lee’ and HY630. Honeydew production and weight of sclerotia produced
per spike were assessed. There were significant differences among the wheat genotypes for overall reactions to the pathogen isolates, and among pathogen isolates for geographic origin and host origin. Twenty virulence phenotypes were identified using the honeydew
production data, and 23 virulence phenotypes identified using the sclerotial weight data from the 41 isolates. The existence of different virulence phenotypes indicates that variability in virulence exists in populations of C. purpurea, and knowledge of virulence phenotypes is necessary to effectively breed for resistant commercial lines
Enabling effective operational decision making on a Combined Heat and Power System using the 5C architecture
The use of Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) to optimise industrial energy systems is an approach which has the potential to positively impact on manufacturing sector energy efficiency. The need to obtain data to facilitate the implementation of a CPS in an industrial energy system is however a complex task which is often implemented in a non-standardised way. The use of the 5C CPS architecture has the potential to standardise this approach. This paper describes a case study where data from a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system located in a large manufacturing company was fused with grid electricity and gas models as well as a maintenance cost model using the 5C architecture with a view to making effective decisions on its cost efficient operation. A control change implemented based on the cognitive analysis enabled via the 5C architecture implementation has resulted in energy cost savings of over €7400 over a four-month period, with energy cost savings of over €150,000 projected once the 5C architecture is extended into the production environment
Keck/Palomar Cosmic Web Imagers (KCWI/PCWI) Reveal an Enormous Ly Nebula in an Extremely Overdense QSO Pair Field at
Enormous Ly nebulae (ELANe) represent the extrema of Ly
nebulosities. They have detected extents of kpc in Ly and
Ly luminosities erg s. The ELAN population is an
ideal laboratory to study the interactions between galaxies and the
intergalactic/circumgalactic medium (IGM/CGM) given their brightness and sizes.
The current sample size of ELANe is still very small, and the few
ELANe discovered to date are all associated with local overdensities of active
galactic nuclei (AGNs). Inspired by these results, we have initiated a survey
of ELANe associated with QSO pairs using the Palomar and Keck Cosmic Web
Imagers (PCWI/KCWI). In this letter, we present our first result: the discovery
of ELAN0101+0201 associated with a QSO pair at . Our PCWI discovery
data shows that, above a 2- surface brightness of
\sbunit, the end-to-end size of ELAN0101+0201 is kpc. We have
conducted follow-up observations using KCWI, resolving multiple Ly
emitting sources within the rectangular field-of-view of
projected kpc, and obtaining their emission line profiles at high
signal-to-noise ratios. Combining both KCWI and PCWI, our observations confirm
that ELAN0101+0201 resides in an extremely overdense environment. Our
observations further support that a large amount of cool (K) gas
could exist in massive halos (MM) at .
Future observations on a larger sample of similar systems will provide
statistics of how cool gas is distributed in massive overdensities at
high-redshift and strongly constrain the evolution of the intracluster medium
(ICM).Comment: Submitted to Astrophysical Journal Letter, 9 pages, 4 figures,
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