Molecular characterisation of the oldest domesticated Turkish einkorn wheat landraces with simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers

Einkorn (Triticum monococcum L. ssp. monococcum) is an ancient diploid wheat species with many useful traits and used as a wheat gene discovery model. In this research, a total of 41 diploid and tetraploid wheat accessions were tested using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. A total of 33 genotypes of T. monococcum along with four genotypes each of tetraploid wheat (T. dicoccon and T. durum) were used as plant material. The analysis utilized 10 polymorphic markers, including a total number of 41 alleles with an average frequency of 4.1 alleles per locus during exploration of the level of genetic variations. Various diversity analyses, which are the effective number of alleles (Ne), gene diversity (h), Polymorphic Information Content (PIC), and Shannon's information index (I), were performed for 10 'A' genome wheat SSR markers. The results showed a narrow variation in einkorn genotypes, supported by Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA), with 66% maximum variation in all genotypes. The structure analysis divided the whole germplasm into two populations. A dendrogram was constructed to determine the genetic similarities using the unpaired group method with arithmetic averages (UPGMA), which separated tetraploid wheat from other genotypes/accessions. Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA) co-supported the clustering of UPGMA and structure by differentiating the diploid and tetraploid wheat. These findings will help understand the genetic relationships among these wheat accessions and their use in breeding programs in the future works

Genetic diversity, population structure and marker- trait association for 100-seed weight in international safflower panel using silicodart marker information

Safflower is an important oilseed crop mainly grown in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world. The aim of this study was to explore phenotypic and genetic diversity, population structure, and marker-trait association for 100-seed weight in 94 safflower accessions originating from 26 countries using silicoDArT markers. Analysis of variance revealed statistically significant genotypic effects (p < 0.01), while Turkey samples resulted in higher 100-seed weight compared to Pakistan samples. A Constellation plot divided the studied germplasm into two populations on the basis of their 100-seed weight. Various mean genetic diversity parameters including observed number of alleles (1.99), effective number of alleles (1.54), Shannon’s information index (0.48), expected heterozygosity (0.32), and unbiased expected heterozygosity (0.32) for the entire population exhibited sufficient genetic diversity using 12232 silicoDArT markers. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed that most of the variations (91%) in world safflower panel are due to differences within country groups. A model-based structure grouped the 94 safflower accessions into populations A, B, C and an admixture population upon membership coefficient

Common bean as a potential crop for future food security: an overview of past, current and future contributions in genomics, transcriptomics, transgenics and proteomics

Common bean is an important legume crop having high quality protein, micronutrients, vitamins and antioxidants, which makes it a “grain of hope” for poor communities. Hence, a good number of breeding activities have been performed on the improvement of various key traits for years. However, recent advancements in molecular markers, sequencing technologies and the completion of the common bean genome sequence have opened numerous opportunities for fine mapping and gene characterization. The availability of these tools together with investigations of quantitative trait loci (QTL) and candidate genes for key traits such as morpho-agronomic, iron and zinc contents, cooking and quality traits, antioxidant activity, biotic and abiotic stresses pave the way to the development of new strategies for common bean genetic improvement. As a food source, it can contribute to the reduction of food scarcity worldwide in the coming years. Therefore, it is very important to take synergic efforts to integrate common bean genetic and genomic resources in breeding activities to ensure food security and contribute significantly to improved livelihoods in developing countries. Moreover, Kompetitive allele specific PCR (KASP) and CRISPR-Cas9 should be used to develop climate resilience common bean varieties. Here, we provide an overview of the evolution of common bean research by highlighting the past and recent advances in genomics, transgenics, transcriptomics and proteomics and also critically discuss the future prospects for further genetic improvement and better expansion of this crop

Application Potentials of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria and Fungi as an Alternative to Conventional Weed Control Methods

Weeds are the plants usually grown on unwanted places and are notorious for causing interruptions in agricultural settings. Remarkable yield losses have been reported in fields infested with weeds worldwide. So far, these weeds cause about 34% of losses to yields of major agricultural crops and pose threats to economic condition of the farmers. Conventionally, weed control was achieved by the use of chemical herbicides and traditional agronomic practices. But these methods are no more sustainable as the magnitude of threats imposed by these conventionally outdated methods such as chemical herbicides is greater than the benefits achieved and their continuous use has disturbed biodiversity and weed ecology along with herbicide resistance in some weeds. Herbicide residues are held responsible for human health hazards as well. Therefore the future of weed control is to rely on alternative approaches which may be biological agents such as bacteria and fungi. This chapter highlights the potentials of using bacterial and fungal biocontrol agents against weeds in farmer fields. Moreover, detailed review on merits and demerits of conventional weed control methods is discussed in this chapter

Projected Changes in Climate Extremes Using CMIP6 Simulations Over SREX Regions

This paper presents projected changes in extreme temperature and precipitation events by using Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6) data for mid-century (2036–2065) and end-century (2070–2099) periods with respect to the reference period (1985–2014). Four indices namely, Annual maximum of maximum temperature (TXx), Extreme heat wave days frequency (HWFI), Annual maximum consecutive 5-day precipitation (RX5day), and Consecutive Dry Days (CDD) were investigated under four socioeconomic scenarios (SSP1-2.6; SSP2-4.5; SSP3-7.0; SSP5-8.5) over the entire globe and its 26 Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate ChangeAdaptation (SREX) regions. The projections show an increase in intensity and frequency of hot temperature and precipitation extremes over land. The intensity of the hottest days (as measured by TXx) is projected to increase more in extratropical regions than in the tropics, while the frequency of extremely hot days (as measured by HWFI) is projected to increase more in the tropics. Drought frequency (as measured by CDD) is projected to increase more over Brazil, the Mediterranean, South Africa, and Australia. Meanwhile, the Asian monsoon regions (i.e., South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia) become more prone to extreme flash flooding events later in the twenty-first century as shown by the higher RX5day index projections. The projected changes in extremes reveal large spatial variability within each SREX region. The spatial variability of the studied extreme events increases with increasing greenhouse gas concentration (GHG) and is higher at the end of the twenty-first century. The projected change in the extremes and the pattern of their spatial variability is minimum under the low-emission scenario SSP1-2.6. Our results indicate that an increased concentration of GHG leads to substantial increases in the extremes and their intensities. Hence, limiting ­CO2 emissions could substantially limit the risks associated with increases in extreme events in the twenty-first century

Preliminary study on phosphate solubilizing Bacillus subtilis strain Q3 and Paenibacillus sp. strain Q6 for improving cotton growth under alkaline conditions

Background Low phosphorus availability limits crop production in alkaline calcareous soils in semi-arid regions including Pakistan. Phosphate solubilizing bacteria may improve crop growth on alkaline calcareous soils due to their ability to enhance P availability. Methods Twenty rhizobacterial isolates (Q1–Q20) were isolated from rhizosphere of cotton and characterized for their growth promoting attributes in vitro. The selected phosphate solubilizing isolates were further screened for their ability to improve cotton growth under axenic conditions (jar trial). The phosphorus solubilization capacities of selected strains were quantified and these strains were identified through 16S rDNA sequencing. Results Isolates Q2, Q3, Q6, Q7, Q8, Q13 and Q14 were able to solubilize phosphate from insoluble sources. Most of these isolates also possessed other traits including catalase activity and ammonia production. The growth promotion assay showed that Q3 was significantly better than most of the other isolates followed by Q6. Maximum root colonization (4.34 × 106 cfu g−1) was observed in case of isolate Q6 followed by Q3. The phosphorus solubilization capacities of these strains were quantified, showing a maximum phosphorus solubilization by Q3 (optical density 2.605 ± 0.06) followed by the Q6 strain. The strain Q3 was identified as Bacillus subtilis (accession # KX788864) and Q6 as Paenibacillus sp. (accession # KX788865) through 16S rDNA sequencing. Discussion The bacterial isolates varied in their abilities for different growth promoting traits. The selected PGPR Bacillus subtilis strain Q3 and Paenibacillus sp. strain Q6 have multifarious growth promoting traits including ability to grow at higher EC and pH levels, and phosphorus solubilizing ability. These strains can efficiently colonize cotton roots under salt affected soils and help plants in phosphorus nutrition. It is concluded that both strains are potential candidates for promoting cotton growth under alkaline conditions, however further investigation is required to determine their potential for field application

Progress on the national action plan of Pakistan on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) : a narrative review and the implications

Introduction: The emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a threat to public health. In 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) introduced a global action plan to tackle AMR in the World Health Assembly. Pakistan’s national action plan (NAP) for AMR was released in May 2017 by the Ministry of National Health Services. Based on the NAP, strategies have been initiated on a national and provincial scale in Pakistan. Areas covered: This narrative review of the five components of the Pakistan NAP has been undertaken to discuss some of the challenges in implementation of the NAP for AMR in Pakistan including different opinions and views of key stakeholders, combined with suggestions on potential ways to reduce the burden of the AMR. Expert opinion: Going forward, healthcare authorities should focus on screening and monitoring of all the objectives of the NAP by establishing proper policies as well as promoting antimicrobial stewardship interventions and Infection prevention and control (IPC) practices. Overall, the comprehensive strengthening of the healthcare system is required to adequately implement the NAP, tackle continued inappropriate antimicrobial use and high AMR rates in Pakistan

Assessment of CMIP6 performance and projected temperature and precipitation changes over South America

We evaluate the performance of a large ensemble of Global Climate Models (GCMs) from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) over South America for a recent past reference period and examine their projections of twenty-first century precipitation and temperature changes. The future changes are computed for two time slices (2040–2059 and 2080–2099) relative to the reference period (1995–2014) under four Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs, SSP1–2.6, SSP2–4.5, SSP3–7.0 and SSP5–8.5). The CMIP6 GCMs successfully capture the main climate characteristics across South America. However, they exhibit varying skill in the spatiotemporal distribution of precipitation and temperature at the sub-regional scale, particularly over high latitudes and altitudes. Future precipitation exhibits a decrease over the east of the northern Andes in tropical South America and the southern Andes in Chile and Amazonia, and an increase over southeastern South America and the northern Andes—a result generally consistent with earlier CMIP (3 and 5) projections. However, most of these changes remain within the range of variability of the reference period. In contrast, temperature increases are robust in terms of magnitude even under the SSP1–2.6. Future changes mostly progress monotonically from the weakest to the strongest forcing scenario, and from the mid-century to late-century projection period. There is an increase in the seasonality of the intra-annual precipitation distribution, as the wetter part of the year contributes relatively more to the annual total. Furthermore, an increasingly heavy-tailed precipitation distribution and a rightward shifted temperature distribution provide strong indications of a more intense hydrological cycle as greenhouse gas emissions increase. The relative distance of an individual GCM from the ensemble mean does not substantially vary across different scenarios. We found no clear systematic linkage between model spread about the mean in the reference period and the magnitude of simulated sub-regional climate change in the future period. Overall, these results could be useful for regional climate change impact assessments across South America

A genome-wide association study in Europeans and South Asians identifies five new loci for coronary artery disease

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Effects of a high-dose 24-h infusion of tranexamic acid on death and thromboembolic events in patients with acute gastrointestinal bleeding (HALT-IT): an international randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background: Tranexamic acid reduces surgical bleeding and reduces death due to bleeding in patients with trauma. Meta-analyses of small trials show that tranexamic acid might decrease deaths from gastrointestinal bleeding. We aimed to assess the effects of tranexamic acid in patients with gastrointestinal bleeding. Methods: We did an international, multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled trial in 164 hospitals in 15 countries. Patients were enrolled if the responsible clinician was uncertain whether to use tranexamic acid, were aged above the minimum age considered an adult in their country (either aged 16 years and older or aged 18 years and older), and had significant (defined as at risk of bleeding to death) upper or lower gastrointestinal bleeding. Patients were randomly assigned by selection of a numbered treatment pack from a box containing eight packs that were identical apart from the pack number. Patients received either a loading dose of 1 g tranexamic acid, which was added to 100 mL infusion bag of 0·9% sodium chloride and infused by slow intravenous injection over 10 min, followed by a maintenance dose of 3 g tranexamic acid added to 1 L of any isotonic intravenous solution and infused at 125 mg/h for 24 h, or placebo (sodium chloride 0·9%). Patients, caregivers, and those assessing outcomes were masked to allocation. The primary outcome was death due to bleeding within 5 days of randomisation; analysis excluded patients who received neither dose of the allocated treatment and those for whom outcome data on death were unavailable. This trial was registered with Current Controlled Trials, ISRCTN11225767, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01658124. Findings: Between July 4, 2013, and June 21, 2019, we randomly allocated 12 009 patients to receive tranexamic acid (5994, 49·9%) or matching placebo (6015, 50·1%), of whom 11 952 (99·5%) received the first dose of the allocated treatment. Death due to bleeding within 5 days of randomisation occurred in 222 (4%) of 5956 patients in the tranexamic acid group and in 226 (4%) of 5981 patients in the placebo group (risk ratio [RR] 0·99, 95% CI 0·82–1·18). Arterial thromboembolic events (myocardial infarction or stroke) were similar in the tranexamic acid group and placebo group (42 [0·7%] of 5952 vs 46 [0·8%] of 5977; 0·92; 0·60 to 1·39). Venous thromboembolic events (deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism) were higher in tranexamic acid group than in the placebo group (48 [0·8%] of 5952 vs 26 [0·4%] of 5977; RR 1·85; 95% CI 1·15 to 2·98). Interpretation: We found that tranexamic acid did not reduce death from gastrointestinal bleeding. On the basis of our results, tranexamic acid should not be used for the treatment of gastrointestinal bleeding outside the context of a randomised trial