What types of powdery mildew can infect wheat-barley introgression lines?

Peer reviewe

Exome sequences and multi-environment field trials elucidate the genetic basis of adaptation in barley

Broadening the genetic base of crops is crucial for developing varieties to respond to global agricultural challenges such as climate change. Here, we analysed a diverse panel of 371 domesticated lines of the model crop of barley to explore the genetics of crop adaptation. We first collected exome sequence data and phenotypes of key life history traits from contrasting multi-environment common garden trials. Then we applied refined statistical methods, including based on exomic haplotype states, for genotype-by-environment (G 7E) modelling. Sub-populations defined from exomic profiles were coincident with barley's biology, geography and history, and explained a high proportion of trial phenotypic variance. Clear G 7E interactions indicated adaptation profiles that varied for landraces and cultivars. Exploration of circadian clock-related genes, associated with the environmentally-adaptive days to heading trait (crucial for the crop's spread from the Fertile Crescent), illustrated complexities in G 7E effect directions, and the importance of latitudinally-based genic context in the expression of large effect alleles. Our analysis supports a gene-level scientific understanding of crop adaption and leads to practical opportunities for crop improvement, allowing the prioritisation of genomic regions and particular sets of lines for breeding efforts seeking to cope with climate change and other stresses

Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults

Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities(.)(1,2) This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity(3-6). Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean BMI segregated by place of residence (a rural or urban area) from 1985 to 2017. We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55% of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017-and more than 80% in some low- and middle-income regions-was due to increases in BMI in rural areas. This large contribution stems from the fact that, with the exception of women in sub-Saharan Africa, BMI is increasing at the same rate or faster in rural areas than in cities in low- and middle-income regions. These trends have in turn resulted in a closing-and in some countries reversal-of the gap in BMI between urban and rural areas in low- and middle-income countries, especially for women. In high-income and industrialized countries, we noted a persistently higher rural BMI, especially for women. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to rural nutrition that enhances financial and physical access to healthy foods, to avoid replacing the rural undernutrition disadvantage in poor countries with a more general malnutrition disadvantage that entails excessive consumption of low-quality calories.Peer reviewe

Simultaneous visualization of different genomes (J, JSt and St) in a Thinopyrum intermedium × Thinopyrum ponticum synthetic hybrid (Poaceae) and in its parental species by multicolour genomic in situ hybridization (mcGISH)

Multicolour genomic in situ hybridization (mcGISH) using total genomic DNA probes from Thinopyrum bessarabicum (Săvulescu & Rayss, 1923) Á. Löve, 1984 (genome Jb or Eb, 2n = 14), and Pseudoroegneria spicata (Pursh, 1814) Á. Löve, 1980 (genome St, 2n = 14) was used to characterize the mitotic metaphase chromosomes of a synthetic hybrid of Thinopyrum intermedium (Host, 1805) Barkworth & D.R. Dewey, 1985 and Thinopyrum ponticum (Podpěra, 1902) Z.-W. Liu et R.-C.Wang, 1993 named „Agropyron glael” and produced by N.V. Tsitsin in the former Soviet Union. The mcGISH pattern of this synthetic hybrid was compared to its parental wheatgrass species. Hexaploid Th. intermedium contained 19 J, 9 JSt and 14 St chromosomes. The three analysed Th. ponticum accessions had different chromosome compositions: 43 J + 27 JSt (PI531737), 40 J + 30 JSt (VIR-44486) and 38 J + 32 JSt (D-3494). The synthetic hybrid carried 18 J, 28 JSt and 8 St chromosomes, including one pair of J-St translocation and/or decreased fluorescent intensity, resulting in unique hybridization patterns. Wheat line Mv9kr1 was crossed with the Thinopyrum intermedium × Thinopyrum ponticum synthetic hybrid in Hungary in order to transfer its advantageous agronomic traits (leaf rust and yellow rust resistance) into wheat. The chromosome composition of a wheat/A.glael F1 hybrid was 21 wheat + 28 wheatgrass (11 J + 14 JSt+ 3 S). In the present study, mcGISH involving the simultaneous use of St and J genomic DNA as probes provided information about the type of Thinopyrum chromosomes in a Th. intermedium/Th. ponticum synthetic hybrid called A. glael

Rivaroxaban or aspirin for patent foramen ovale and embolic stroke of undetermined source: a prespecified subgroup analysis from the NAVIGATE ESUS trial

Background: Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is a contributor to embolic stroke of undetermined source (ESUS). Subgroup analyses from previous studies suggest that anticoagulation could reduce recurrent stroke compared with antiplatelet therapy. We hypothesised that anticoagulant treatment with rivaroxaban, an oral factor Xa inhibitor, would reduce the risk of recurrent ischaemic stroke compared with aspirin among patients with PFO enrolled in the NAVIGATE ESUS trial. Methods: NAVIGATE ESUS was a double-blinded, randomised, phase 3 trial done at 459 centres in 31 countries that assessed the efficacy and safety of rivaroxaban versus aspirin for secondary stroke prevention in patients with ESUS. For this prespecified subgroup analysis, cohorts with and without PFO were defined on the basis of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) and transoesophageal echocardiography (TOE). The primary efficacy outcome was time to recurrent ischaemic stroke between treatment groups. The primary safety outcome was major bleeding, according to the criteria of the International Society of Thrombosis and Haemostasis. The primary analyses were based on the intention-to-treat population. Additionally, we did a systematic review and random-effects meta-analysis of studies in which patients with cryptogenic stroke and PFO were randomly assigned to receive anticoagulant or antiplatelet therapy. Findings: Between Dec 23, 2014, and Sept 20, 2017, 7213 participants were enrolled and assigned to receive rivaroxaban (n=3609) or aspirin (n=3604). Patients were followed up for a mean of 11 months because of early trial termination. PFO was reported as present in 534 (7·4%) patients on the basis of either TTE or TOE. Patients with PFO assigned to receive aspirin had a recurrent ischaemic stroke rate of 4·8 events per 100 person-years compared with 2·6 events per 100 person-years in those treated with rivaroxaban. Among patients with known PFO, there was insufficient evidence to support a difference in risk of recurrent ischaemic stroke between rivaroxaban and aspirin (hazard ratio [HR] 0·54; 95% CI 0·22–1·36), and the risk was similar for those without known PFO (1·06; 0·84–1·33; pinteraction=0·18). The risks of major bleeding with rivaroxaban versus aspirin were similar in patients with PFO detected (HR 2·05; 95% CI 0·51–8·18) and in those without PFO detected (HR 2·82; 95% CI 1·69–4·70; pinteraction=0·68). The random-effects meta-analysis combined data from NAVIGATE ESUS with data from two previous trials (PICSS and CLOSE) and yielded a summary odds ratio of 0·48 (95% CI 0·24–0·96; p=0·04) for ischaemic stroke in favour of anticoagulation, without evidence of heterogeneity. Interpretation: Among patients with ESUS who have PFO, anticoagulation might reduce the risk of recurrent stroke by about half, although substantial imprecision remains. Dedicated trials of anticoagulation versus antiplatelet therapy or PFO closure, or both, are warranted. Funding: Bayer and Janssen