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Not AvailableInherently low genetic yield potential and susceptibility to biotic and abiotic stresses contribute to low productivity in sesame. Development of stress resistant varieties coupled with high yield is the viable option to raise the genetic yield ceiling. 35 sesame germplasm accessions obtained from diverse agro-climatic regions of India were screened both under natural field and greenhouse conditions to identify disease reaction to the pathogen Fusarium oxysporum spp. sesami. Pathogen was isolated from infected plants and identified fungus inoculum was used to confirm disease reaction. All the accessions displayed some percent infection rate and none could be described as immune. Accessions NSKMS 260, NSKMS-267, NSKMS-261 and TMV-3 were found to be resistant with infection rates of 13.1, 14.6, 15.1 and 15.7% respectively. Accessions RT-54, TMV-4, and NSKMS-115 were found to be moderately resistant. Rest others were found to be moderately susceptible or susceptible or highly susceptible with infection percent ranging from 44.7% to 94.11%. Of all the susceptible ones, TKG-22 and VRISV-1 showed severe infection percent of about 94.1 and 92.3 respectively. Though all the accessions studied were categorized into various classes based on percent disease infection, statistically there is no significant difference in majority of the accessions except NSKMS accessions 260, 261 and 267 and TMV-3. The accessions identified in the present study may be considered in crop improvement programmes involved in developing wilt resistant varieties, however further efforts need to be concentrated on identifying highly resistant genotypes with the inclusion of vast germplasm in screening procedures.Not Availabl

De Novo Sequencing and Hybrid Assembly of the Biofuel Crop <i>Jatropha curcas</i> L.: Identification of Quantitative Trait Loci for Geminivirus Resistance

Jatropha curcas is an important perennial, drought tolerant plant that has been identified as a potential biodiesel crop. We report here the hybrid de novo genome assembly of J. curcas generated using Illumina and PacBio sequencing technologies, and identification of quantitative loci for Jatropha Mosaic Virus (JMV) resistance. In this study, we generated scaffolds of 265.7 Mbp in length, which correspond to 84.8% of the gene space, using Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs (BUSCO) analysis. Additionally, 96.4% of predicted protein-coding genes were captured in RNA sequencing data, which reconfirms the accuracy of the assembled genome. The genome was utilized to identify 12,103 dinucleotide simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers, which were exploited in genetic diversity analysis to identify genetically distinct lines. A total of 207 polymorphic SSR markers were employed to construct a genetic linkage map for JMV resistance, using an interspecific F2 mapping population involving susceptible J. curcas and resistant Jatropha integerrima as parents. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis led to the identification of three minor QTLs for JMV resistance, and the same has been validated in an alternate F2 mapping population. These validated QTLs were utilized in marker-assisted breeding for JMV resistance. Comparative genomics of oil-producing genes across selected oil producing species revealed 27 conserved genes and 2986 orthologous protein clusters in Jatropha. This reference genome assembly gives an insight into the understanding of the complex genetic structure of Jatropha, and serves as source for the development of agronomically improved virus-resistant and oil-producing lines