Pod indehiscence is a domestication and aridity resilience trait in common bean.

Plant domestication has strongly modified crop morphology and development. Nevertheless, many crops continue to display atavistic characteristics that were advantageous to their wild ancestors but are deleterious under cultivation, such as pod dehiscence (PD). Here, we provide the first comprehensive assessment of the inheritance of PD in the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), a major domesticated grain legume. Using three methods to evaluate the PD phenotype, we identified multiple, unlinked genetic regions controlling PD in a biparental population and two diversity panels. Subsequently, we assessed patterns of orthology among these loci and those controlling the trait in other species. Our results show that different genes were selected in each domestication and ecogeographic race. A chromosome Pv03 dirigent-like gene, involved in lignin biosynthesis, showed a base-pair substitution that is associated with decreased PD. This haplotype may underlie the expansion of Mesoamerican domesticates into northern Mexico, where arid conditions promote PD. The rise in frequency of the decreased-PD haplotype may be a consequence of the markedly different fitness landscape imposed by domestication. Environmental dependency and genetic redundancy can explain the maintenance of atavistic traits under domestication

Removal of micropollutants and nutrients in household wastewater using organic and inorganic sorbents

The efficiency of five organic and five inorganic sorbents in removing 19 organic micropollutants (MPs), phosphorus, nitrogen, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) was tested in a two-week column experiment using household wastewater spiked with pharmaceuticals (n = 6), biocides/pesticides (n = 4), organophosphates (n = 3), a fragrance, a UV-stablizer, a food additive, a rubber additive, a plasticizer and a surfactant. Two types of granular activated carbon (GAC), two types of lignite, a pine bark product, and five mineral-based sorbents were tested. All the organic sorbents except pine bark achieved better removal efficiencies of DOC (on average, 70 +/- 27%) and MPs (93 +/- 11%) than the inorganic materials (DOC: 44 +/- 7% and MPs: 66 +/- 38%). However, the organic sorbents (i.e. GAC and xyloid lignite) removed less phosphorus (46 +/- 18%), while sorbents with a high calcium or iron content (i.e. Polonite (R) and lignite) generally removed phosphorus more efficiently (93 +/- 3%). Ammonium- nitrogen was well removed by sorbents with a pH between 7 and 9, with an average removal of 87%, whereas lignite (pH 4) showed the lowest removal efficiency (50%). Some MPs were well removed by all sorbents (>= 97%) including biocides (hexachlorobenzene, triclosan and terbutryn), organophosphates (tributylphosphate, tris-(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate and triphenylphosphate) and one fragrance (galaxolide). The pesticide 2,6-dichlorobenzamide and the pharmaceutical diclofenac were poorly removed by the pine bark and inorganic sorbents (on average, 4%), while organic sorbents achieved high removal of these chemicals (87%)