Genetic Variation of HvCBF Genes and Their Association with Salinity Tolerance in Tibetan Annual Wild Barley

The evaluation of both the genetic variation and the identification of salinity tolerant accessions of Tibetan annual wild barley (hereafter referred to as Tibetan barley) (Hordeum vulgare L. ssp. Spontaneum and H. vulgare L. ssp. agriocrithum) are essential for discovering and exploiting novel alleles involved in salinity tolerance. In this study, we examined tissue dry biomass and the Na+ and K+ contents of 188 Tibetan barley accessions in response to salt stress. We investigated the genetic variation of transcription factors HvCBF1, HvCBF3 and HvCBF4 within these accessions, conducting association analysis between these three genes and the respective genotypic salt tolerance. Salt stress significantly reduced shoot and root dry weight by 27.6% to 73.1% in the Tibetan barley lines. HvCBF1, HvCBF3 and HvCBF4 showed diverse sequence variation in amplicon as evident by the identification of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 3, 8 and 13 haplotypes, respectively. Furthermore, the decay of Linkage disequilibrium (LD) of chromosome 5 was 8.9 cM (r2<0.1). Marker bpb-4891 and haplotype 13 (Ps 610) of the HvCBF4 gene were significantly (P<0.05) and highly significantly (P<0.001) associated with salt tolerance. However, HvCBF1 and HvCBF3 genes were not associated with salinity tolerance. The accessions from haplotype 13 of the HvCBF4 gene showed high salinity tolerance, maintaining significantly lower Na+/K+ ratios and higher dry weight. It is thus proposed that these Tibetan barley accessions could be of value for enhancing salinity tolerance in cultivated barley

Association of HvLDI with limit dextrinase activity and malt quality in barley

Limit dextrinase (LD) is a unique de-branching enzyme involved in starch mobilization of barley grains during malting, and closely related to malt quality. Genotypic variation of LD activity is controlled by genetic factors and also affected by environmental conditions. Correlation analysis between LD activity and four malt quality parameters showed that LD activity was positively correlated with diastatic power, Kolbach index and the quality of malt extract, while negatively correlated with viscosity. The structure-based association analysis demonstrated that HvLDI, a gene encoding limit dextrinase inhibitor, was a major determinant of LD activity and malt quality. The single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with LD activity could be used in early generation selection for barley breeding

Data_Sheet_1_Triglyceride-glucose index and the incidence of stroke: A meta-analysis of cohort studies.ZIP

BackgroundInsulin resistance (IR) is involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. As a new indicator, the triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index has greater operability for the evaluation of insulin resistance. Previous studies have shown inconsistent results in evaluating the association between the TyG index and stroke incidence in people without stroke at baseline. Therefore, this study aimed to systematically assess this association through a meta-analysis.MethodsCohort studies with the multivariate-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) association between the TyG index and stroke were obtained by searching the PubMed, Cochrane Library, and EMBASE databases before 16 December 2021. We pooled the adjusted HR along with 95% CI using a random-effects model. The primary outcome was stroke including ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. We conducted subgroup analyses stratified by study design, ethnicity, characteristics of participants, weight of studies, and length of follow-up duration. Review Manager 5.3 and Stata 17 were used to perform the meta-analysis.ResultsEight cohort studies with 5,804,215 participants were included. The results showed that participants with the highest TyG index category at baseline compared to those with the lowest TyG index category were independently associated with a higher risk of stroke (HR: 1.26, 95% CI: 1.24–1.29, I2 = 0%, P 2 = 0%, P 0.05). No significant heterogeneity was observed among the included cohort studies.ConclusionA higher TyG index may be independently associated with a higher risk of stroke in individuals without stroke at baseline. The aforementioned findings need to be verified by a large-scale prospective cohort study to further clarify the underlying pathophysiological mechanism between the TyG index and stroke.</p