The giant diploid faba genome unlocks variation in a global protein crop

Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).Increasing the proportion of locally produced plant protein in currently meat-rich diets could substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions and loss of biodiversity1. However, plant protein production is hampered by the lack of a cool-season legume equivalent to soybean in agronomic value2. Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) has a high yield potential and is well suited for cultivation in temperate regions, but genomic resources are scarce. Here, we report a high-quality chromosome-scale assembly of the faba bean genome and show that it has expanded to a massive 13 Gb in size through an imbalance between the rates of amplification and elimination of retrotransposons and satellite repeats. Genes and recombination events are evenly dispersed across chromosomes and the gene space is remarkably compact considering the genome size, although with substantial copy number variation driven by tandem duplication. Demonstrating practical application of the genome sequence, we develop a targeted genotyping assay and use high-resolution genome-wide association analysis to dissect the genetic basis of seed size and hilum colour. The resources presented constitute a genomics-based breeding platform for faba bean, enabling breeders and geneticists to accelerate the improvement of sustainable protein production across the Mediterranean, subtropical and northern temperate agroecological zones.Peer reviewe

Slope instability hazard evaluation and landslide sites monitoring in the western Flysch Carpathians (Czech Republic)

W lipcu 1997 roku obfite deszcze spowodowały ruchy zboczowe, zwłaszcza utworów fliszowych, w północno-wschodnich Czechach. Kompleksy mezozoiczne i trzeciorzędowe Zachodnich Karpat fliszowych charakteryzują się wysoczyznami i rzeźbą górską, głównie o charakterze erozyjnym i strukturalno-denudacyjnym. Obecnie jest realizowany projekt badawczy, podsumowujący dotychczasowe obserwacje, mający na celu ocenę wpływu morfologii i mechanizmów uruchamiających zjawiska osuwiskowe na obszarach modelowych. Każde lokalne osuwisko, poza oddziaływaniami przyrodniczymi, było także poddane działalności ludzkiej. Do badań wykorzystano kartografię geomorfologiczną, wiercenia rdzeniowe oraz badania geofizyczne. Wiek osuwisk określono na podstawie datowania metodą 14C oraz badaniami palinologicznymi, paleomagnetycznymi i archeologicznymi. W wyniku przeprowadzonych badań ustalono geometrię, mechanizmy oraz możliwy rozwój różnego typu osunięć zboczy. Rejestrację osuwisk prowadzono elektronicznie, duże tereny osuwiskowe dokładnie badano, a wyniki tych badań nanoszono na mapy w skali 1:10 000. Obszary te zostały sklasyfikowane w zależności od stopnia zagrożenia oraz intensywności występowania osuwisk. Mapy prezentujące warunki stabilności terenu stanowią podstawę do tworzenia map zagrożeń osuwiskami. Ocena stabilności terenu, morfologii, warunków geologicznych i hydrogeologicznych pozwala na wyznaczanie quasi-jednorodnych stref o określonym stopniu zagrożenia osuwiskami. Mapy takie wykorzystują władze administracyjne przy tworzeniu planów regionalnych i miejskich

On scaling of human body models

Human body is not an unique being, everyone is another from the point of view of anthropometry and mechanical characteristics which means that division of the human body population to categories like 5%-tile, 50%-tile and 95%-tile from the application point of view is not enough. On the other hand, the development of a particular human body model for all of us is not possible. That is why scaling and morphing algorithms has started to be developed. The current work describes the development of a tool for scaling of the human models. The idea is to have one (or couple of) standard model(s) as a base and to create other models based on these basic models. One has to choose adequate anthropometrical and biomechanical parameters that describe given group of humans to be scaled and morphed among

Selected phenotypic features of BR91, a unique spirochaetal strain isolated from the Culex pipiens mosquito

Growth temperature range, resistance to selective antibiotics, activities of 23 enzymes, protein fingerprints and fatty acids composition of the spirochaetal strain BR91, isolated from the Culex pipiens mosquito, were tested. The spirochaetes were grown in BSK-H Complete liquid medium. The optimal in vitro growth temperature of the strain was 33°C. Strain BR91 was sensitive to trimethoprim, nalidixic acid, 5-fluorouracil, and tolerated phosphomycin. The strain produced acid and alkaline phosphatase, esterase (C4), esterase-lipase (C8), leucine arylamidase, naphthol-AS-BI-phosphohydrolase and α-fucosidase. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) assay revealed several major proteins in the size range of 13-16kDa, 22-30kDa and 37-131kDa. Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) analysis showed that C14:0, C16:0, C18:1 ω9c and summed feature 5 (C18:2 ω6,9c and/or C18:0 anteiso) are major fatty acids. This study highlights certain phenotypic differences between strain BR91 and the Lyme disease spirochaete Borrelia burgdorferi, and supports the hypothesis that strain BR91 represents a unique taxonomical entity in a system of spirochaetal species. © 2013 Elsevier GmbH.Czech Republic [206/00/1234, 206/03/0726]; Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic [FRVS 544/2003]; Ministry of Health [MZO/ZA/00538]; FEMS Congress of European Microbiologists, Ljubljana, Slovenia; Operational Programme Education for Competitiveness [CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0183

Transformation of metallic boron into substitutional dopants in graphene on 6 H − SiC ( 0001 )

We investigate the development of the local bonding and chemical state of boron atoms during the growth of B-doped graphene on 6H−SiC(0001). Photoemission experiments reveal the presence of two chemical states, namely, boron in the uppermost SiC bilayers and boron substituted in both the graphene and buffer layer lattices. We demonstrate the participation of the dopant in the π electron system of graphene by the presence of the π∗ resonance in the near edge x-ray adsorption fine structure (NEXAFS) recorded at the B K-edge. The experimental findings are supported by NEXAFS simulations