Genetic variation at flowering time loci in wild and cultivated barley

The worldwide spread of barley cultivation required adaptation to agricultural environments far distant from those found in its centre of domestication. An important component of this adaptation is the timing of flowering, achieved predominantly in response to day length and temperature. Here, we use a collection of cultivars, landraces and wild barley accessions to investigate the origins and distribution of allelic diversity at four major flowering time loci, mutations at which have been under selection during the spread of barley cultivation into Europe. Our findings suggest that while mutant alleles at the PPD-H1 and PPD-H2 photoperiod loci occurred pre-domestication, the mutant vernalization non-responsive alleles utilized in landraces and cultivars at the VRN-H1 and VRN-H2 loci occurred post-domestication. The transition from wild to cultivated barley is associated with a doubling in the number of observed multi-locus flowering-time haplotypes, suggesting that the resulting phenotypic variation has aided adaptation to cultivation in the diverse ecogeographic locations encountered. Despite the importance of early-flowering alleles during the domestication of barley in Europe, we show that novel VRN alleles associated with early flowering in wild barley have been lost in domesticates, highlighting the potential of wild germplasm as a source of novel allelic variation for agronomic traits

Response of Spiking Neurons to Correlated Inputs

The effect of a temporally correlated afferent current on the firing rate of a leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) neuron is studied. This current is characterized in terms of rates, auto and cross-correlations, and correlation time scale $\tau_c$ of excitatory and inhibitory inputs. The output rate $\nu_{out}$ is calculated in the Fokker-Planck (FP) formalism in the limit of both small and large $\tau_c$ compared to the membrane time constant $\tau$ of the neuron. By simulations we check the analytical results, provide an interpolation valid for all $\tau_c$ and study the neuron's response to rapid changes in the correlation magnitude.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

An early Little Ice Age brackish water invasion along the south coast of the Caspian Sea (sediment of Langarud wetland) and its wider impacts on environment and people

Caspian Sea level has undergone significant changes through time with major impacts not only on the surrounding coasts, but also offshore. This study reports a brackish water invasion on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea constructed from a multi-proxy analysis of sediment retrieved from the Langarud wetland. The ground surface level of wetland is >6 m higher than the current Caspian Sea level (at -27.41 m in 2014) and located >11 km far from the coast. A sequence covering the last millennium was dated by three radiocarbon dates. The results from this new study suggest that Caspian Sea level rose up to at least -21.44 m (i.e. >6 m above the present water level) during the early Little Ice Age. Although previous studies in the southern coast of the Caspian Sea have detected a high-stand during the Little Ice Age period, this study presents the first evidence that this high-stand reached so far inland and at such a high altitude. Moreover, it confirms one of the very few earlier estimates of a high-stand at -21 m for the second half of the 14th century. The effects of this large-scale brackish water invasion on soil properties would have caused severe disruption to regional agriculture, thereby destabilizing local dynasties and facilitating a rapid Turko-Mongol expansion of Tamerlane’s armies from the east.N Ghasemi (INIOAS), V Jahani (Gilan Province Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organisation) and A Naqinezhad (University of Mazandaran), INQUA QuickLakeH project (no. 1227) and to the European project Marie Curie, CLIMSEAS-PIRSES-GA-2009-24751

The relation between daily food intake and growth of the Pacific mangrove prawn Palaemon debilis Dana and its Atlantic relative Palaemon elegans Rathke, both from the Gulf of Elat

The behaviour and distribution of Palaemon debilis Dana was studied in mangrove lagoons along the east coast of Sinai. Food intake and growth of this prawn were measured in the laboratory and compared with the related Atlantic species Palaemon elegans Rathke, occuring in a saltwater fishpond at Elat. Daily food intake was similar in both species and correlated with their metabolic weight. By feeding groups of prawns different rations of prawnmeat during fourteen days the daily maintenance ration was estimated as approximately 14 percent of the metabolic dry weight while the net food conversion was estimated as 0.4. The role of Palaemon debilis in the mangrove toodweb is discussed

Rachis brittleness in a hybrid–parent barley (Hordeum vulgare) breeding germplasm with different combinations at the non‐brittle rachis genes

Two dominant, closely linked and complementary genes, Btr1 and Btr2, control rachis brittleness in barley. Recessive mutations in any of these genes turn the fragile rachis (brittle) into a tough rachis phenotype (non‐brittle). The cross of parents with alternative mutations in the btr genes leads to a brittle F1 hybrid that presents grain retention problems. We evaluated rachis fragility through a mechanical test and under natural conditions, in F1 crosses with different compositions at the btr genes. Brittleness was significantly higher in Btr1btr1Btr2btr2 crosses compared to hybrids and inbred parents carrying one of the mutations (btr1btr1Btr2Btr2/Btr1Btr1btr2btr2). This fact could jeopardize the efficient harvest of hybrids bearing alternative mutations, reducing the choice of possible crosses for hybrid barley breeding and hindering the exploitation of potential heterotic patterns. Furthermore, non‐brittle hybrids showed higher brittleness than inbreds, suggesting the presence of other dominant factors affecting the trait. In conclusion, this work encourages a deeper study of the genetic control of the rachis brittleness trait and urges the consideration of rachis tenacity as a target for hybrid barley breeding.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness grants RFP2015 00006‐00‐00, and RTA2012‐00033‐C03‐02, and by the contract “Iberia region hybrid barley variety development and understanding effects of adaptation genes in hybrids,” between CSIC and Syngenta Crop Protection AG, which included funding for MFC PhD scholarship

Deletion of Mgr2p Affects the Gating Behavior of the TIM23 Complex

The TIM23 complex is a hub for translocation of preproteins into or across the mitochondrial inner membrane. This dual sorting mechanism is currently being investigated, and in yeast appears to be regulated by a recently discovered subunit, the Mgr2 protein. Deletion of Mgr2p has been found to delay protein translocation into the matrix and accumulation in the inner membrane. This result and other findings suggested that Mgr2p controls the lateral release of inner membrane proteins harboring a stop-transfer signal that follows an N-terminal amino acid signal. However, the mechanism of lateral release is unknown. Here, we used patch clamp electrophysiology to investigate the role of Mgr2p on the channel activity of TIM23. Deletion of Mgr2p decreased normal channel frequency and increased occurrence of a residual TIM23 activity. The residual channel lacked gating transitions but remained sensitive to synthetic import signal peptides. Similarly, a G145L mutation in Tim23p displaced Mgr2p from the import complex leading to gating impairment. These results suggest that Mgr2p regulates the gating behavior of the TIM23 channel.Peer reviewe

Electrical Characterization of Nanopolyaniline/Porous Silicon Heterojunction at High Temperatures

Nanopolyaniline/p-type porous silicon (NPANI/PSi) heterojunction films were chemically fabricated via in situ polymerization. The composition and morphology of the nanopolymer were confirmed using Fourier transform infrared, scanning electron microscopy, UV-visible, and transmission electron microscopy techniques. The results indicated that the polymerization took place throughout the porous layer. The I-V measurements, performed at different temperatures, enabled the calculation of ideality factor, barrier height, and series resistance of those films. The obtained ideality factor showed a nonideal diode behavior. The series resistance was found to decrease with increasing temperature

Domestication as innovation : the entanglement of techniques, technology and chance in the domestication of cereal crops

The origins of agriculture involved pathways of domestication in which human behaviours and plant genetic adaptations were entangled. These changes resulted in consequences that were unintended at the start of the process. This paper highlights some of the key innovations in human behaviours, such as soil preparation, harvesting and threshing, and how these were coupled with genetic ‘innovations’ within plant populations. We identify a number of ‘traps’ for early cultivators, including the needs for extra labour expenditure on crop-processing and soil fertility maintenance, but also linked gains in terms of potential crop yields. Compilations of quantitative data across a few different crops for the traits of nonshattering and seed size are discussed in terms of the apparently slow process of domestication, and parallels and differences between different regional pathways are identified. We highlight the need to bridge the gap between a Neolithic archaeobotanical focus on domestication and a focus of later periods on crop-processing activities and labour organization. In addition, archaeobotanical data provide a basis for rethinking previous assumptions about how plant genetic data should be related to the origins of agriculture and we contrast two alternative hypotheses: gradual evolution with low selection pressure versus metastable equilibrium that prolonged the persistence of ‘semi-domesticated’ populations. Our revised understanding of the innovations involved in plant domestication highlight the need for new approaches to collecting, modelling and integrating genetic data and archaeobotanical evidence

Resisting annihilation: relationships between functional trait dissimilarity, assemblage competitive power and allelopathy

Abstract Allelopathic species can alter biodiversity. Using simulated assemblages that are characterised by neutrality, lumpy coexistence and intransitivity, we explore relationships between within-assemblage competitive dissimilarities and resistance to allelopathic species. An emergent behaviour from our models is that assemblages are more resistant to allelopathy when members strongly compete exploitatively (high competitive power). We found that neutral assemblages were the most vulnerable to allelopathic species, followed by lumpy and then by intransitive assemblages. We find support for our modeling in real-world time-series data from eight lakes of varied morphometry and trophic state. Our analysis of this data shows that a lake's history of allelopathic phytoplankton species biovolume density and dominance is related to the number of species clusters occurring in the plankton assemblages of those lakes, an emergent trend similar to that of our modeling. We suggest that an assemblage's competitive power determines its allelopathy resistance