Towards F1 Hybrid Seed Potato Breeding

Compared to other major food crops, progress in potato yield as the result of breeding efforts is very slow. Genetic gains cannot be fixed in potato due to obligatory out-breeding. Overcoming inbreeding depression using diploid self-compatible clones should enable to replace the current method of out-breeding and clonal propagation into an F1 hybrid system with true seeds. This idea is not new, but has long been considered unrealistic. Severe inbreeding depression and self-incompatibility in diploid germplasm have hitherto blocked the development of inbred lines. Back-crossing with a homozygous progenitor with the Sli gene which inhibits gametophytic self-incompatibility gave self-compatible offspring from elite material from our diploid breeding programme. We demonstrate that homozygous fixation of donor alleles is possible, with simultaneous improvement of tuber shape and tuber size grading of the recipient inbred line. These results provide proof of principle for F1 hybrid potato breeding. The technical and economic perspectives are unprecedented as these will enable the development of new products with combinations of useful traits for all stakeholders in the potato chain. In addition, the hybrid’s seeds are produced by crossings, rendering the production and voluminous transport of potato seed tubers redundant as it can be replaced by direct sowing or the use of healthy mini-tubers, raised in greenhouses

Auxiliary particle theory of threshold singularities in photoemission and X-ray absorption spectra: Test of a conserving T-matrix approximation

We calculate the exponents of the threshold singularities in the photoemission spectrum of a deep core hole and its X-ray absorption spectrum in the framework of a systematic many-body theory of slave bosons and pseudofermions (for the empty and occupied core level). In this representation, photoemission and X-ray absorption can be understood on the same footing; no distinction between orthogonality catastrophe and excitonic effects is necessary. We apply the conserving slave particle T-matrix approximation (CTMA), recently developed to describe both Fermi and non-Fermi liquid behavior systems with strong local correlations, to the X-ray problem as a test case. The numerical results for both photoemission and X-ray absorption are found to be in agreement with the exact infrared powerlaw behavior in the weak as well as in the strong coupling regions. We point out a close relation of the CTMA with the parquet equation approach of Nozi{\`e}res et al.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, published versio

Morphological evolution of the Kwinte Bank central depression before and after the cessation of aggregate extraction

Analyses of the records of ships registers and Electronic Monitoring Systems, of the trailer suction hopper dredgers, operating on the Belgian Continental Shelf, reveal that since the beginning of extraction in 1976, 75% of the total extracted volume originates from only one sandbank, the Kwinte Bank. At present, two morphologically-distinguished depressions are observed along the two most dredged areas of this sandbank: one in the central; and one in the northern part of the bank. In order to limit the impact of sand extraction on the bathymetry, the central depression of the Kwinte Bank was closed for exploitation, in February 2003. An understanding of the morphological evolution of this central depression is based upon data obtained: (a) from November 1999, until the closure for extraction in February 2003; and (b) on the subsequent post-dredging evolution, until June 2005. During this 5-year period, a total of 17 surveys were carried out with a multibeam echosounder over the area of the central depression (KBMA) and over a reference zone on an adjacent non-exploited sandbank. The resulting time-series of bathymetrical digital terrain models, together with backscatter strength maps, permit a detailed comparison of the bathy-morphological and sedimentary evolution of both of the monitored areas. Since the commencement of multibeam monitoring in 1999, an overall deepening (by 0.5m) of the entire KBMA monitoring zone is observed, until the cessation of dredging, in February 2003. Subsequently, the deepening slowed down and the variation in sediment volumes became similar to that of the adjacent non-exploited sandbank. From this, marine aggregate extraction appears to have only a local impact

Quantum shock waves in the Heisenberg XY model

We show the existence of quantum states of the Heisenberg XY chain which closely follow the motion of the corresponding semi-classical ones, and whose evolution resemble the propagation of a shock wave in a fluid. These states are exact solutions of the Schroedinger equation of the XY model and their classical counterpart are simply domain walls or soliton-like solutions.Comment: 15 pages,6 figure