Oat production in North Dakota

A-89

Susceptibility of commercial oat cultivars to \u3ci\u3eCryptolestes pusillus\u3c/i\u3e and \u3ci\u3eOryzaephilus surinamensis\u3c/i\u3e

Susceptibility to two storage insect pests [(Cryptolestes pusillus (Schonherr) and Oryzaephilus surinamensis (L.)] of eight commercial oat cultivars from the United States was determined in laboratory studies. Duration of insect development was shorter and number of progeny produced was greater on cracked than on whole oats. Simulations based on data from the study showed that insect populations would reach the threshold level for treatment in 2–3 months of storage at 30°C on cracked oats. Insect population development was slowest on the hulless cultivar Paul when the oat kernels were cracked. Simulations also indicated that all cultivars of whole oats tested could be stored for at least 1 yr at 30°C without reaching the threshold for treatment when infested with these two species of insects, and insect populations would decrease over time on the cultivars Don, Jerry, Milton, NewDak, Otana, and Valley. Analyses of oat grain quality characteristics, including kernel weight, groat hardness, and groat composition, provided little insight into the mechanism of observed differences in insect development among cultivars. Hardness of the kernels (as indicated by % broken groats after dehulling) may be related to near immunity to these two species of insects in whole Otana. Steaming whole oats to inactivate hydrolytic enzymes in the trichomes of the pericarp did not increase susceptibility to these two species of insects, suggesting that enzymes in the trichomes were not responsible for insect population development being slower on whole oats than on cracked oats. Although we were unable to identify the factors that determined relative susceptibility in this study, the results will be useful for selecting commercial oat cultivars for planting that will be less susceptible to insect pests in storage and suggest that the economics of cleaning oats before storage to reduce insect population growth should be investigated

Susceptibility of commercial oat cultivars to \u3ci\u3eCryptolestes pusillus\u3c/i\u3e and \u3ci\u3eOryzaephilus surinamensis\u3c/i\u3e

Susceptibility to two storage insect pests [(Cryptolestes pusillus (Schonherr) and Oryzaephilus surinamensis (L.)] of eight commercial oat cultivars from the United States was determined in laboratory studies. Duration of insect development was shorter and number of progeny produced was greater on cracked than on whole oats. Simulations based on data from the study showed that insect populations would reach the threshold level for treatment in 2–3 months of storage at 30°C on cracked oats. Insect population development was slowest on the hulless cultivar Paul when the oat kernels were cracked. Simulations also indicated that all cultivars of whole oats tested could be stored for at least 1 yr at 30°C without reaching the threshold for treatment when infested with these two species of insects, and insect populations would decrease over time on the cultivars Don, Jerry, Milton, NewDak, Otana, and Valley. Analyses of oat grain quality characteristics, including kernel weight, groat hardness, and groat composition, provided little insight into the mechanism of observed differences in insect development among cultivars. Hardness of the kernels (as indicated by % broken groats after dehulling) may be related to near immunity to these two species of insects in whole Otana. Steaming whole oats to inactivate hydrolytic enzymes in the trichomes of the pericarp did not increase susceptibility to these two species of insects, suggesting that enzymes in the trichomes were not responsible for insect population development being slower on whole oats than on cracked oats. Although we were unable to identify the factors that determined relative susceptibility in this study, the results will be useful for selecting commercial oat cultivars for planting that will be less susceptible to insect pests in storage and suggest that the economics of cleaning oats before storage to reduce insect population growth should be investigated

Genetic Characterization and Linkage Disequilibrium Estimation of a Global Maize Collection Using SNP Markers

A newly developed maize Illumina GoldenGate Assay with 1536 SNPs from 582 loci was used to genotype a highly diverse global maize collection of 632 inbred lines from temperate, tropical, and subtropical public breeding programs. A total of 1229 informative SNPs and 1749 haplotypes within 327 loci was used to estimate the genetic diversity, population structure, and familial relatedness. Population structure identified tropical and temperate subgroups, and complex familial relationships were identified within the global collection. Linkage disequilibrium (LD) was measured overall and within chromosomes, allelic frequency groups, subgroups related by geographic origin, and subgroups of different sample sizes. The LD decay distance differed among chromosomes and ranged between 1 to 10 kb. The LD distance increased with the increase of minor allelic frequency (MAF), and with smaller sample sizes, encouraging caution when using too few lines in a study. The LD decay distance was much higher in temperate than in tropical and subtropical lines, because tropical and subtropical lines are more diverse and contain more rare alleles than temperate lines. A core set of inbreds was defined based on haplotypes, and 60 lines capture 90% of the haplotype diversity of the entire panel. The defined core sets and the entire collection can be used widely for different research targets

Acquisition of a Distributed Computation and Immersive Visualization Environment for Complex Systems - Scientific Applications on Arrays of Multiprocessors (SCAAMP)

NSF Award ID: CDA-9601632 9/15/1996-8/31/199

Hepatocyte expressed chemerin-156 does not protect from experimental non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a rapidly growing liver disease. The chemoattractant chemerin is abundant in hepatocytes, and hepatocyte expressed prochemerin protected from NASH. Prochemerin is inactive and different active isoforms have been described. Here, the effect of hepatocyte expressed muChem-156, a highly active murine chemerin isoform, was studied in the methionine-choline deficient dietary model of NASH. Mice overexpressing muChem-156 had higher hepatic chemerin protein. Serum chemerin levels and the capability of serum to activate the chemerin receptors was unchanged showing that the liver did not release active chemerin. Notably, activation of the chemerin receptors by hepatic vein blood did not increase in parallel to total chemerin protein in patients with liver cirrhosis. In experimental NASH, muChem-156 had no effect on liver lipids. Accordingly, overexpression of active chemerin in hepatocytes or treatment of hepatocytes with recombinant chemerin did not affect cellular triglyceride and cholesterol levels. Importantly, overexpression of muChem-156 in the murine liver did not change the hepatic expression of inflammatory and profibrotic genes. The downstream targets of chemerin such as p38 kinase were neither activated in the liver of muChem-156 producing mice nor in HepG2, Huh7 and Hepa1-6 cells overexpressing this isoform. Recombinant chemerin had no effect on global gene expression of primary human hepatocytes and hepatic stellate cells within 24 h of incubation. Phosphorylation of p38 kinase was, however, increased upon short-time incubation of HepG2 cells with chemerin. These findings show that muChem-156 overexpression in hepatocytes does not protect from liver steatosis and inflammation

The chemerin knockout rat reveals chemerin dependence in female, but not male, experimental hypertension

Measures of the adipokine chemerin are elevated in multiple cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension, but little mechanistic work has been done to implicate chemerin as being causative in such diseases. The chemerin knockout (KO) rat was created to test the hypothesis that removal of chemerin would reduce pressure in the normal and hypertensive state. Western analyses confirmed loss of chemerin in the plasma and tissues of the KO vs. wild‐type (WT) rats. Chemerin concentration in plasma and tissues was lower in WT females than in WT males, as determined by Western analysis. Conscious male and female KO rats had modest differences in baseline measures vs. the WT that included systolic, diastolic, mean arterial and pulse pressures, and heart rate, all measured telemetrically. The mineralocorticoid deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA) and salt water, combined with uninephrectomy as a hypertensive stimulus, elevated mean and systolic blood pressures of the male KO higher than the male WT. By contrast, all pressures in the female KO were lower than their WT throughout DOCA‐salt treatment. These results revealed an unexpected sex difference in chemerin expression and the ability of chemerin to modify blood pressure in response to a hypertensive challenge.—Watts, S. W., Darios, E. S., Mullick, A. E., Garver, H., Saunders, T. L., Hughes, E. D., Filipiak, W. E., Zeidler, M. G., McMullen, N., Sinal, C. J., Kumar, R. K., Ferland, D. J., Fink, G. D. The chemerin knockout rat reveals chemerin dependence in female, but not male, experimental hypertension. FASEB J. 32, 6596–6614 (2018). www.fasebj.orgPeer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154357/1/fsb2fj201800479.pd

Generating a taxonomy for genetic conditions relevant to reproductive planning

As genome or exome sequencing (hereafter genome-scale sequencing) becomes more integrated into standard care, carrier testing is an important possible application. Carrier testing using genome-scale sequencing can identify a large number of conditions, but choosing which conditions/genes to evaluate as well as which results to disclose can be complicated. Carrier testing generally occurs in the context of reproductive decision-making and involves patient values in a way that other types of genetic testing may not. The Kaiser Permanente Clinical Sequencing Exploratory Research program is conducting a randomized clinical trial of preconception carrier testing that allows participants to select their preferences for results from among broad descriptive categories rather than selecting individual conditions. This paper describes 1) the criteria developed by the research team, the return of results committee (RORC), and stakeholders for defining the categories; 2) the process of refining the categories based on input from patient focus groups and validation through a patient survey; and, 3) how the RORC then assigned specific gene-condition pairs to taxonomy categories being piloted in the trial. The development of four categories (serious, moderate/mild, unpredictable, late onset) for sharing results allows patients to select results based on their values without separately deciding their interest in knowing their carrier status for hundreds of conditions. A fifth category, lifespan limiting, was always shared. The lessons learned may be applicable in other results disclosure situations, such as incidental findings