Genome-wide association study identified novel candidate loci affecting wood formation in Norway spruce

Norway spruce is a boreal forest tree species of significant ecological and economic importance. Hence there is a strong imperative to dissect the genetics underlying important wood quality traits in the species. We performed a functional genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 17 wood traits in Norway spruce using 178 101 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) generated from exome genotyping of 517 mother trees. The wood traits were defined using functional modelling of wood properties across annual growth rings. We applied a Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO-based) association mapping method using a functional multilocus mapping approach that utilizes latent traits, with a stability selection probability method as the hypothesis testing approach to determine a significant quantitative trait locus. The analysis provided 52 significant SNPs from 39 candidate genes, including genes previously implicated in wood formation and tree growth in spruce and other species. Our study represents a multilocus GWAS for complex wood traits in Norway spruce. The results advance our understanding of the genetics influencing wood traits and identifies candidate genes for future functional studies.Peer reviewe

Non-Archimedean Sequential Spaces And The Finest Locally Convex Topology With The Same Compactoid Sets

. For a non-Archimedean locally convex space (E; ø ), the finest locally convex topology having the same as ø convergent sequences and the finest locally convex topology having the same as ø compactoid sets are studied. Introduction For a locally convex space E over the field of either the real numbers or the complex numbers, Webb investigated in [13] the finest locally convex topology on E having the same convergent sequences as the original topology. Also, he studied the finest locally convex topology which has the same precompact sets. In this paper we look at analogous problems for non-Archimedean spaces. For a non-Archimedean locally convex space (E; ø ), we study the sequential locally convex topology ø s which is the finest locally convex topology with the same as ø convergent sequences. Passing from ø to ø s , we get that the category of nonArchimedean sequential locally convex spaces and continuous linear maps is a full coreflective subcategory of the category of all lo..

Environmental issues of aquaculture development

This article is addressing the issue of aquaculture generated pollution and the need to monitor and control this problem at the international level. The rapid global expansion of intensive aquaculture production creates conditions in which farmed fish can be constantly exposed to pathogens and the use of chemicals such as antibiotics, antifoulants, and disinfectants are regularly required. The global aquaculture growth and intensification of the production method were accompanied by the increased use of therapeutics and antibiotics which as in other agricultural sectors were embraced as the effective way of treating diseases and controlling pathogens and consequently some of the chemicals used in Aquaculture are extremely valuable and required for the welfare and the economic viability of the sector. Antifoulants and disinfectants can be released in the aquatic ecosystem. These chemicals are under scrutiny and some are banned for use in European countries. Depending on the methods of administering antibiotics and therapeutics as well as their elimination from the body, these compounds have played a role in the environmental pollution in different ways. The Aquaculture sector can thrive under conditions of water quality which ensures the optimal ecological parameters for the growing fish. Aquaculture is incompatible with environmental degradation, consequently, aquaculture stakeholders are obliged to protect the surrounding aquatic ecosystem in order to ensure the sustainability of the sector. In fact, although aquaculture has been blamed for generating aquatic pollution, the reverse is frequently observed for example when aquatic pollution from other sectors hinders aquaculture production and fisheries. © 2020, Egyptian Society for the Development of Fisheries and Human Health. All rights reserved

Probiotics have the potential to significantly mitigate the environmental impact of freshwater fish farms

Probiotics for freshwater fish farming can be administered as single or multiple mixtures. The expected benefits of probiotics include disease prophylaxis, improved growth, and feed conversion parameters, such as the feed conversion rate (FCR) and specific growth rate (SGR). In the current work, we review the impact of probiotics on freshwater finfish aquaculture. Data were gathered from articles published during the last decade that examined the effects of probiotics on fish growth, FCR, and water quality in freshwater fishponds/tanks. While the expected benefits of probiotics are significant, the reviewed data indicate a range in the level of effects, with an average reduction in ammonia of 50.7%, SGR increase of 17.1%, and FCR decrease of 10.7%. Despite the variability in the reported benefits, probiotics appear to offer a practical solution for sustainable freshwater aquaculture. Disease prophylaxis with probiotics can reduce the need for antibiotics and maintain gut health and feed conversion. Considering that fish feed and waste are two significant parameters of the aquaculture ecological footprint, it can be argued that probiotics can contribute to reducing the environmental impact of aquaculture. In this direction, it would be beneficial if more researchers incorporated water quality parameters in future aquaculture research and protocols to minimize aquaculture’s environmental impact. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

A novel approach towards skill-based search and services of open educational resources

Open educational resources (OER) have a high potential to address the growing need for training materials in management education and training. Today, a high number of OER in management are already available in a large number of repositories. However, users face barriers as they have to search repository by repository with different interfaces to retrieve the appropriate learning content. In addition, the use of search criteria related to skills, such as learning objectives and skill-levels is not generally supported. The European co-funded project OpenScout addresses these barriers by intelligently connecting leading European OER repositories and providing federated, skill-based search and retrieval web services. On top of this content federation the project supports users with easy-to-apply tools that will accelerate the (re-) use of open content

An Ultra-Dense Haploid Genetic Map for Evaluating the Highly Fragmented Genome Assembly of Norway Spruce (Picea abies)

Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) is a conifer species of substanital economic and ecological importance. In common with most conifers, the P. abies genome is very large (∼20 Gbp) and contains a high fraction of repetitive DNA. The current P. abies genome assembly (v1.0) covers approximately 60% of the total genome size but is highly fragmented, consisting of >10 million scaffolds. The genome annotation contains 66,632 gene models that are at least partially validated (www.congenie.org), however, the fragmented nature of the assembly means that there is currently little information available on how these genes are physically distributed over the 12 P. abies chromosomes. By creating an ultra-dense genetic linkage map, we anchored and ordered scaffolds into linkage groups, which complements the fine-scale information available in assembly contigs. Our ultra-dense haploid consensus genetic map consists of 21,056 markers derived from 14,336 scaffolds that contain 17,079 gene models (25.6% of the validated gene models) that we have anchored to the 12 linkage groups. We used data from three independent component maps, as well as comparisons with previously published Picea maps to evaluate the accuracy and marker ordering of the linkage groups. We demonstrate that approximately 3.8% of the anchored scaffolds and 1.6% of the gene models covered by the consensus map have likely assembly errors as they contain genetic markers that map to different regions within or between linkage groups. We further evaluate the utility of the genetic map for the conifer research community by using an independent data set of unrelated individuals to assess genome-wide variation in genetic diversity using the genomic regions anchored to linkage groups. The results show that our map is sufficiently dense to enable detailed evolutionary analyses across the P. abies genome

STIMCODE Participative developed recommendations for non-invasive brain stimulation in the European Union

Prioritizing mental health through accessible healthcare is crucial. Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) has the potential to significantly improve the treatment of mental diseases. In a participatory process involving various stakeholders, recommendations were developed for policy makers, health authorities, healthcare providers of NIBS, Industry, researchers in industry and academia and research funding agencies