Rapid Generation Advance in Chickpea for Accelerated Breeding Gain in Ethiopia: : What Speed Breeding Imply?

አህፅሮት  ሽምብራ በሀገራችን በተለያዩ ስነ-ምህዳራትና የአዘማመር ስርዓት ውስጥ የሚመረት ሰብል ነው፡፡ የሰብሉ የመድረሻ ተለያይነት በዓለም ላይ ከ80 አስከ 180 ቀናት ይደርሳል፡፡ እያደገ ያለውን ህዝብና የተለያዩ ፍላጎቶችን ለመመለስ የሰብል ማሻሻያ ስርዓቱ ጊዜን በቆጠበ ሁኔታ መከወን የሚያስችሉ ዘዴዎችን መጠቀሙ አንዱ የችግሩ መፍቻ መንገድ ነው፡፡ በዚህ ጥናት ላይ የሰብሉን ማሻሻያ ለማፍጠን እንዴት በርካታ ትውልዶቸን በአንድ ዓመት ማግኘት እንደሚቻል ቀርቧል፡፡ አስር የሚሆኑ ምርት ላይ ያሉ የሽምብራ ዝርያዎችን ከሌሎች ዘጠኝ በዘመናዊ ላብራቶሪ ልየታ ድርቅን የሚቋቋም ባህሪ ያላቸውን ቤተሰቦቸ በማዳቀል ሂደት ወደ 46 ግንኙነቶችን መፍጠር የተቻለበትንና ትውልዶችን ማፍጠንንና ማግኘትን በትኩረት ተከናውኗል፡፡ ዓላማውም ድርቅን የሚቋቋሙና ምርታማ ትውልዶችን ፍተሻ ማድረግ ሲሆን ይህንንም ባጭር ጊዜ ውስጥ ለመከወን አዲስ የነጠላ ዘር ትውልድ ማሻገሪያ ስርዓትን ከቀድሞ ደራሽ እምቡጦች ጋር በማቀናጀት አራት ትውልዶችን በዓመት ማግኘት የተቻለበትን ሁኔታ ማረጋገጥ ተችሏል፡፡ ይህ ትውልዶችን የማስኬድ ሁኔታ በአንድ አመት ጊዜ ውስጥ በወረርና የደብረዘይት ማእከላት የሙከራ ማሳዎችን በመጠቀም የተሰራ ጥናት ሲሆን በውጤቱም ቀድሞ ደራሽ እምቡጦችን ለማግኘት ከ80-85 ቀናት ብቻ የፈጀ ነበር፡፡ ትውልዶቹ የመካከለኛ መድረሻ ጊዜ ያለው ውስጥ የሚመደቡ ሲሆን በዚህ ስሌት የዝርያ መልቀቂያ ጊዜውን ከተለመደው 10-12 ዓመታት 50 በመቶ በመቀነስ የአማራጭ ቴክኖሎጂ አቅርቦትና ምርታማነት እንዲሁም አዋጭነት ላይ ከፍተኛ አስተዋፅዖ ያለው ውጤት አመላክቷል፡፡ ይህ ቴክኒክ በቶሎ የመድረሻ ዕድሜ ያላቸው ላይ ተፅዕኖው አስከ ስድስት ትውልድ በዓመት ማስገኘት እንደሚያስችል የተሰላ ሲሆን በቀላሉ የሚለመድ፣ በጥቂት የመዋዕለ ነዋይ፣ ፋሲሊቲና ክህሎት በትሮፒካል ንፍቀ-ክበብ ውስጥ አገልግሎት ላይ ሊውል የሚችልና ቴክኖሎጂ ለቀቃን ብሎም መተካካትን የሚያፋጥን፤ በዚህም ረገድ የምርታማነት እመርታን የሚያስገኝ የተሻሻለ ዘዴ እንደሆነ መገንዘብ ተችሏል፡፡ Abstract Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is grown in a wide range of environments and cropping systems and its maturity ranges from 80 to 180 days. Time-saving breeding is key to responding to the dynamics of demands and environmental changes. The study employed the Single Seed Descent (SSD) technique in advancing the generation, supported by the independent observation of chickpea seed germination and seedling establishment in the seed lab. The filial generation nursery was derived from 46 initial crosses with the aim of enhancing drought and yield response of otherwise commercial 10 cultivars. Between 5 December 2017 and 20 December 2018 we were able to obtain four rounds of working chickpea seeds (F2-F5) using two research locations. The average time required to obtain early matured pods varied from 80 to 85 days. Harvesting four generations in an annual cycle enables a saving of at least 50% time in variety release, which has the potential to double the rate of genetic gain and variety replacement. As long as measures are taken to reduce risk associated with extreme weather events or animal damage, this low-cost rapid cycling approach could be adapted for large-scale breeding programs to fast track the development of more productive varieties

A Prospective Study of Causes of Illness and Death in Preterm Infants in Ethiopia: The SIP Study Protocol

Background With nearly 15 million annual preterm births globally, preterm birth is the most common cause of neonatal death. Forty to 60 % of neonatal deaths are directly or indirectly associated with preterm mortality. As countries aim to meet the Sustainable Development Goals to reduce neonatal mortality, significant reductions in preterm mortality are needed. This study aims to identify the common causes of preterm illness and their contribution to preterm mortality in low-resource settings. This article will describe the methods used to undertake the study. Methods This is a prospective, multi-centre, descriptive clinical study. Socio-demographic, obstetric, and maternal factors, and clinical and laboratory findings will be documented. The major causes of preterm mortality will be identified using clinical, laboratory, imaging, and autopsy methods and use the national Ethiopian guidelines on management of preterm infants including required investigations to reach final diagnoses. The study will document the clinical and management protocols followed in these settings. The approach consists of clinical examinations and monitoring, laboratory investigations, and determination of primary and contributory causes of mortality through both clinical means and by post-mortem examinations. An independent panel of experts will validate the primary and contributory causes of mortality. To obtain the estimated sample size of 5000 preterm births, the study will be undertaken in five hospitals in three regions of Ethiopia, which are geographically distributed across the country. All preterm infants who are either born or transferred to these hospitals will be eligible for the study. Three methods (last menstrual period, physical examination using the New Ballard Score, and ultrasound) will be used to determine gestational age. All clinical procedures will be conducted per hospital protocol and informed consent will be taken from parents or caretakers prior to their participation in the study as well as for autopsy if the infant dies. Discussion This study will determine the major causes of death and illness among hospitalized preterm infants in a low-resource setting. The result will inform policy makers and implementers of areas that can be prioritized in order to contribute to a significant reduction in neonatal mortality

Polymerase delta-interacting protein 38 (PDIP38) modulates the stability and activity of the mitochondrial AAA+ protease CLPXP

Over a decade ago Polymerase δ interacting protein of 38 kDa (PDIP38) was proposed to play a role in DNA repair. Since this time, both the physiological function and subcellular location of PDIP38 has remained ambiguous and our present understanding of PDIP38 function has been hampered by a lack of detailed biochemical and structural studies. Here we show, that human PDIP38 is directed to the mitochondrion in a membrane potential dependent manner, where it resides in the matrix compartment, together with its partner protein CLPX. Our structural analysis revealed that PDIP38 is composed of two conserved domains separated by an α/β linker region. The N-terminal (YccV-like) domain of PDIP38 forms an SH3-like β-barrel, which interacts specifically with CLPX, via the adaptor docking loop within the N-terminal Zinc binding domain of CLPX. In contrast, the C-terminal (DUF525) domain forms an immunoglobin-like β-sandwich fold, which contains a highly conserved putative substrate binding pocket. Importantly, PDIP38 modulates the substrate specificity of CLPX and protects CLPX from LONM-mediated degradation, which stabilises the cellular levels of CLPX. Collectively, our findings shed new light on the mechanism and function of mitochondrial PDIP38, demonstrating that PDIP38 is a bona fide adaptor protein for the mitochondrial protease, CLPXP

Children with Moderate Acute Malnutrition with No Access to Supplementary Feeding Programmes Experience High Rates of Deterioration and No Improvement: Results from a Prospective Cohort Study in Rural Ethiopia

Background: Children with moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) have an increased risk of mortality, infections and impaired physical and cognitive development compared to well-nourished children. In parts of Ethiopia not considered chronically food insecure there are no supplementary feeding programmes (SFPs) for treating MAM. The short-term outcomes of children who have MAM in such areas are not currently described, and there remains an urgent need for evidence-based policy recommendations. Methods: We defined MAM as mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) of ≥11.0cm and <12.5cm with no bilateral pitting oedema to include Ethiopian government and World Health Organisation cut-offs. We prospectively surveyed 884 children aged 6–59 months living with MAM in a rural area of Ethiopia not eligible for a supplementary feeding programme. Weekly home visits were made for seven months (28 weeks), covering the end of peak malnutrition through to the post-harvest period (the most food secure window), collecting anthropometric, socio-demographic and food security data. Results: By the end of the study follow up, 32.5% (287/884) remained with MAM, 9.3% (82/884) experienced at least one episode of SAM (MUAC <11cm and/or bilateral pitting oedema), and 0.9% (8/884) died. Only 54.2% of the children recovered with no episode of SAM by the end of the study. Of those who developed SAM half still had MAM at the end of the follow up period. The median (interquartile range) time to recovery was 9 (4–15) weeks. Children with the lowest MUAC at enrolment had a significantly higher risk of remaining with MAM and a lower chance of recovering. Conclusions: Children with MAM during the post-harvest season in an area not eligible for SFP experience an extremely high incidence of SAM and a low recovery rate. Not having a targeted nutrition-specific intervention to address MAM in this context places children with MAM at excessive risk of adverse outcomes. Further preventive and curative approaches should urgently be considered

Genetic diversity in cultivated carioca common beans based on molecular marker analysis

A wide array of molecular markers has been used to investigate the genetic diversity among common bean species. However, the best combination of markers for studying such diversity among common bean cultivars has yet to be determined. Few reports have examined the genetic diversity of the carioca bean, commercially one of the most important common beans in Brazil. In this study, we examined the usefulness of two molecular marker systems (simple sequence repeats – SSRs and amplified fragment length polymorphisms – AFLPs) for assessing the genetic diversity of carioca beans. The amount of information provided by Roger’s modified genetic distance was used to analyze SSR data and Jaccards similarity coefficient was used for AFLP data. Seventy SSRs were polymorphic and 20 AFLP primer combinations produced 635 polymorphic bands. Molecular analysis showed that carioca genotypes were quite diverse. AFLPs revealed greater genetic differentiation and variation within the carioca genotypes (Gst = 98% and Fst = 0.83, respectively) than SSRs and provided better resolution for clustering the carioca genotypes. SSRs and AFLPs were both suitable for assessing the genetic diversity of Brazilian carioca genotypes since the number of markers used in each system provided a low coefficient of variation. However, fingerprint profiles were generated faster with AFLPs, making them a better choice for assessing genetic diversity in the carioca germplasm