Assessment of genes controlling Area Under Disease Progress Curve (AUDPC) for stripe rust (P. striiformis f. sp. Tritici) in two wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) crosses

Genetic effects on controlling stripe rust resistance were determined in two wheat crosses, Bakhtawar-92 x Frontana (cross 1) and Inqilab-91 x Fakhre Sarhad (cross 2) using Area under Disease Progress Curve (AUDPC) as a measure of stripe rust resistance.Генетические эффекты контроля устойчивости к желтой ржавчине злаков были определены в двух скрещиваниях пшеницы Bakhtawar-92 x Frontana (скрещивание 1) и Inquilab-91 x Fakhre-Sarhad (скрещивание 2) с использованием Area Under Disease Progress Curve (AUDPC) для измерения устойчивости.Генетичні ефекти контролю стійкості до жовтої іржі злаків були визначені в двох схрещуваннях пшениці Bakhtawar-92 x Frontana (схрещування 1) и Inquilab-91 x Fakhre-Sarhad (схрещування 2) з використанням Area Under Disease Progress Curve (AUDPC) для вимірювання стійкості

Heterosis for Seed Yield and Yield Components in Mungbean (Vigna radiata (L) Wilczek)

Heterosis over mid, better and top parent values for yield and yield components were determined in a half diallel cross involving six diverse mungbean genotypes. The extent of heterosis varied bi-directionally according to crosses and characters, with the maximum for seed yield per plant and harvest index in the hybrids VC 1560D x ML-5 and 6601 x VC 1560D, respectively. The hybrids with maximum heterotic effect were 6601 x ML-5 for pods per plant, VC 3902A x ML-5 for seeds per pod, 6601 x ML-5 for branches per plant and pod clusters per plant, 6601 x VC 1560D for pods per cluster, and VC 3902A x ML-5 for biological yield. The hybrids involving ML-5, VC 1560D and VC 3902A as one of the parents gave superior yield and yield components than those others. The hybrids VC 1560D x ML-5 and 6601 x VC 1560D which produced high heterotic effects for seed yield could be a good source for developing high yielding mungbean varieties

Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia in infants with <it>G6PD c.563C > T</it><it>Variant</it>

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is a strong correlation between glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency and neonatal hyperbilirubinemia with a rare but potential threat of devastating acute bilirubin encephalopathy. G6PD deficiency was observed in 4–14% of hospitalized icteric neonates in Pakistan. <it>G6PD c.563C > T</it> is the most frequently reported variant in this population. The present study was aimed at evaluating the time to onset of hyperbilirubinemia and the postnatal bilirubin trajectory in infants having <it>G6PD c.563C > T.</it></p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This was a case–control study conducted at The Aga Khan University, Pakistan during the year 2008. We studied 216 icteric male neonates who were re-admitted for phototherapy during the study period. No selection was exercised. Medical records showed that 32 were G6PD deficient while 184 were G6PD normal. Each infant was studied for birth weight, gestational age, age at the time of presentation, presence of cephalhematoma, sepsis and neurological signs, peak bilirubin level, age at peak bilirubin level, days of hospitalization, whether phototherapy or exchange blood transfusion was initiated, and the outcome. During hospital stay, each baby was tested for complete blood count, reticulocyte count, ABO and Rh blood type, direct antiglobulin test and quantitative G6PD estimation [by kinetic determination of G6PDH]. <it>G6PDgenotype</it> was analyzed in 32 deficient infants through PCR-RFLP analysis and gene sequencing.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>G6PD variants c.563C > T</it> and <it>c.131 C > G</it> were observed in 21 (65%) and three (9%) of the 32 G6PD deficient infants, respectively. DNA of eight (25%) newborns remained uncharacterized. In contrast to G6PD normal neonates, infants with <it>c.563C > T</it> variant had significantly lower enzyme activity (mean ± 1SD; 0.3 ± 0.2 U/gHb vs. 14.0 ± 4.5 U/gHb, <it>p</it> < 0.001) experienced higher peak levels of total serum bilirubin (mean ± 1SD; 16.8 ± 5.4 mg/dl vs. 13.8 ± 4.6 mg/dl, <it>p =</it> 0.008) which peaked earlier after birth (mean ± 1SD 2.9 ± 1.6 vs. 4.3 ± 2.3 days, <it>p =</it> 0.007). No statistically significant difference was observed in mean weight, age at presentation, hemoglobin, reticulocyte count, TSH level, hospital stay or in the frequency of initiation of phototherapy or blood exchange between the two groups.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We concluded that infants with <it>G6PD c.563C > T</it> variant developed jaundice earlier than infants with normal G6PD enzyme levels. Compared to G6PD normal infants, <it>G6PD c.563C > T</it> carrying infants had significantly low G6PD activity.</p

Development and initial evaluation of diversity array technology for soybean and mungbean

Diversity Array Technology (DArT), a technique for quickly generating large numbers of molecular markers, was established for two legume crops, soybean (Glycine max) and mungbean (Vigna radiata). For each crop, two genomic complexity reduction methods, utilizing PstI/TaqI and PstI/BstNI restriction digests, were selected for DNA clonal library development and for the isolation in each case of 7,680 DArT clones from genomic representations of pooled DNA samples. While the PstI/BstNI method produced more polymorphic clones than PstI/TaqI for the soybean library, there was no significant difference between the two methods for the mungbean library. Polymorphism frequencies in mungbean were around twice those in soybean, reflecting greater diversity in the mungbean samples. Even so, there were still nearly 1,500 unique polymorphic clones identified for soybean. The DArT marker transferability from soybean to mungbean (13.6%) was nearly five times higher than that from mungbean to soybean (3.1%). The percentage of DArT marker transferability between mungbean and several other Vigna species ranged from 3.4 to 20.2%. The genetic similarities among 11 diverse Vigna spp. samples, evaluated using the DArT mungbean library, were consistent with published information on these taxa. The results indicated that for soybean and mungbean, the DArT technique is an effective tool for marker generation in terms of speed and the numbers of markers identified. The transferability of markers between soybean and mungbean indicated that DArT may be useful for comparative genomic studies, while the ability of the mungbean library to discriminate between related Vigna taxa suggested that DArT may also be useful for studies of genetic diversity

Breeding Progress and Future Challenges: Abiotic Stresses

Mungbean is a short-season tropical grain legume grown on some six million hectares each year. Though predominantly a crop of smallholder farmers and subsistence agriculture mungbean is increasingly seen as a high value crop for international markets with broad acre production under modern farming systems established in Australia, South America, West Asia and Africa. Key benefits of mungbean are its nutritional and monetary value. It provides a short duration, flexible disease break when fit into intensive wheat, rice and summer cereal rotations and its self-sufficiency for nitrogen. The short growing season of 55–100 days places a ceiling on productivity which is further impacted by the traditional low-input farming systems where mungbean is most frequently produced; global yield averages are 0.5 tonnes per hectare though 3 tonnes per hectare is considered achievable under favourable conditions. Increased reliability of mungbean in subsistence systems has been achieved by developing shorter duration, more determinate ideotypes and by the manipulation of sowing time. The strategy of reducing exposure to risk was very successful in transforming mungbean rather than identifying and breeding inherent resilience. The major abiotic stresses of mungbean presented here are drought, heat, waterlogging, low temperatures and salinity. Sources of tolerance identified for all of these stresses have been identified in the germplasm collections of cultivated mungbean as well as wild relatives. Future research efforts must combine known sources of genetic variation with the investigation into the biochemical and physiological processes in order to understand and breed for tolerance to abiotic stress in mungbean

Breeding Progress and Future Challenges: Biotic Stresses

Mungbean is a short-duration legume crop cultivated in South Asia, Southeast Asia and Australasia. Its cultivation is rapidly spreading to other parts of the world. Insect pests and diseases are the major constraints in increasing the productivity of mungbean crop. The important diseases in mungbean include mungbean yellow mosaic, anthracnose, powdery mildew, Cercospora leaf spot, dry root rot, halo blight, bacterial leaf spot and tan spot. The major insect-pests of mungbean are stem fly, thrips, aphids, whitefly, pod borers and bruchids. Development of host plant resistance to insect pests and diseases in mungbean by breeding for resistance is an alternative, economical and environment-friendly approach. Though breeding for resistance to insect pests and diseases has been extensively studied in mungbean, the success rate in stabilizing the resistance has been less due to the development of insect biotypes, new strains in pathogens and the environmental interactions. This chapter covers the insect and disease resistance sources in mungbean, resistant traits, the genetic basis of resistance and different breeding methods involved in breeding for insect and disease resistance