Population genomics and haplotype analysis in bread wheat identify a gene regulating glume pubescence

Glume hairiness or pubescence is an important morphological trait with high heritability to distinguish/characterize wheat and is related to the resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Hg1 (formerly named Hg) on chromosome arm 1AS controlled glume hairiness in wheat. Its genetic analysis and mapping have been widely studied, yet more useful and accurate information for fine mapping of Hg1 and identification of its candidate gene is lacking. The cloning of this gene has not yet been reported for the large complex wheat genome. Here, we performed a GWAS between SNP markers and glume pubescence (Gp) in a wheat population with 352 lines and further demonstrated the gene expression and haplotype analysis approach for isolating the Hg1 gene. One gene, TraesCSU02G143200 (TaELD1-1A), encoding glycosyltransferase-like ELD1/KOBITO 1, was identified as the most promising candidate gene of Hg1. The gene annotation, expression pattern, function SNP variation, haplotype analysis, and co-expression analysis in floral organ (spike) development indicated that it is likely to be involved in the regulation of glume pubescence. Our study demonstrates the importance of high-quality reference genomes and annotation information, as well as bioinformatics analysis, for gene cloning in wheat

The CCCH zinc finger family of soybean (Glycine max L.): genome-wide identification, expression, domestication, GWAS and haplotype analysis

Background The CCCH zinc finger (zf_CCCH) is a unique subfamily featured one or more zinc finger motif(s) comprising of three Cys and one His residues. The zf_CCCH family have been reported involving in various processes of plant development and adaptation. Results In this study, the zf_CCCH genes were identified via a genome-wide search and were systematically analyzed. 116 Gmzf_CCCHs were obtained and classified into seventeen subfamilies. Gene duplication and expansion analysis showed that tandem and segmental duplications contributed to the expansion of the Gmzf_CCCH gene family, and that segmental duplication play the main role. The expression patterns of Gmzf_CCCH genes were tissue-specific. Eleven domesticated genes were detected involved in the regulation of seed oil and protein synthesis as well as growth and development of soybean through GWAS and haplotype analysis for Gmzf_CCCH genes among the 164 of 302 soybeans resequencing data. Among which, 8 genes play an important role in the synthesis of seed oil or fatty acid, and the frequency of their elite haplotypes changes significantly among wild, landrace and improved cultivars, indicating that they have been strongly selected in the process of soybean domestication. Conclusions This study provides a scientific foundation for the comprehensive understanding, future cloning and functional studies of Gmzf_CCCH genes in soybean, meanwhile, it was also helpful for the improvement of soybean with high oil content

Induced Growth of Asymmetric Nanocantilever Arrays on Polar Surfaces

©2003 The American Physical Society. The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.185502DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.185502We report that the Zn-terminated ZnO (0001) polar surface is chemically active and the oxygenterminated (0001) polar surface is inert in the growth of nanocantilever arrays. Longer and wider "comblike" nanocantilever arrays are grown from the (0001)-Zn surface, which is suggested to be a self-catalyzed process due to the enrichment of Zn at the growth front. The chemically inactive (0001)-O surface typically does not initiate any growth, but controlling experimental conditions could lead to the growth of shorter and narrower nanocantilevers from the intersections between (0001)-O with (0110) surfaces

Compression-extension transition of continental crust in a subduction zone: A parametric numerical modeling study with implications on Mesozoic-Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Cathaysia Block

The Cathaysia Block is located in southeastern part of South China, which situates in the west Pacific subduction zone. It is thought to have undergone a compression-extension transition of the continental crust during Mesozoic-Cenozoic during the subduction of Pacific Plate beneath Eurasia-Pacific Plate, resulting in extensive magmatism, extensional basins and reactivation of fault systems. Although some mechanisms such as the trench roll-back have been generally proposed for the compression-extension transition, the timing and progress of the transition under a convergence setting remain ambiguous due to lack of suit- able geological records and overprinting by later tectonic events. In this study, a numerical thermo-dynamical program was employed to evaluate how variable slab angles, thermal gradients of the lithospheres and convergence velocities would give rise to the change of crustal stress in a convergent subduction zone. Model results show that higher slab dip angle, lower convergence velocity and higher lithospheric thermal gradient facilitate the sub- duction process. The modeling results reveal the continental crust stress is dominated by horizontal compression during the early stage of the subduction, which could revert to a hori- zontal extension in the back-arc region, combing with the roll-back of the subducting slab and development of mantle upwelling. The parameters facilitating the subduction process also favor the compression-extension transition in the upper plate of the subduction zone. Such results corroborate the geology of the Cathaysia Block: the initiation of the extensional regime in the Cathaysia Block occurring was probably triggered by roll-back of the slowly subducting slab.published_or_final_versio

Minijet deformation and charge-independent angular correlations on momentum subspace (η,ϕ) in Au-Au collisions at √sNN=130 GeV

Measurements of two-particle correlations on angular difference variables η_1−η_2 (pseudorapidity) and ϕ1−ϕ2 (azimuth) are presented for all primary charged hadrons with transverse momentum 0.15≤p_t≤2 GeV/c and |η|≤1.3 from Au-Au collisions at √sNN=130 GeV. Large-amplitude correlations are observed over a broad range in relative angles where distinct structures appear on the same-side and away-side (i.e., relative azimuth less than π/2 or greater than π/2). The principal correlation structures include that associated with elliptic flow plus a strong, same-side peak. It is hypothesized that the latter results from correlated hadrons associated with semi-hard parton scattering in the early stage of the heavy-ion collision which produces a jet-like correlation peak at small relative angles. The width of the jet-like peak on η_1−η_2 increases by a factor 2.3 from peripheral to central collisions, suggesting strong coupling of semi-hard scattered partons to a longitudinally-expanding medium. The new methods of jet analysis introduced here provide access to scattered partons at low transverse momentum well below the kinematic range where perturbative quantum chromodynamics and standard fragmentation models are applicable