Resequencing the Vrs1 gene in Spanish barley landraces revealed reversion of six-rowed to two-rowed spike

Six-rowed spike 1 (Vrs1) is a gene of major importance for barley breeding and germplasm management as it is the main gene determining spike row-type (2-rowed vs. 6-rowed). This is a widely used DUS trait, and has been often associated to phenotypic traits beyond spike type. Comprehensive re-sequencing Vrs1 revealed three two-rowed alleles (Vrs1.b2; Vrs1.b3; Vrs1.t1) and four six-rowed (vrs1.a1; vrs1.a2; vrs1.a3; vrs1.a4) in the natural population. However, the current knowledge about Vrs1 alleles and its distribution among Spanish barley subpopulations is still underexploited. We analyzed the gene in a panel of 215 genotypes, made of Spanish landraces and European cultivars. Among 143 six-rowed accessions, 57 had the vrs1.a1 allele, 83 were vrs1.a2, and three showed the vrs1.a3 allele. Vrs1.b3 was found in most two-rowed accessions, and a new allele was observed in 7 out of 50 two-rowed Spanish landraces. This allele, named Vrs1.b5, contains a ‘T’ insertion in exon 2, originally proposed as the causal mutation giving rise to the six-row vrs1.a2 allele, but has an additional upstream deletion that results in the change of 15 amino acids and a potentially functional protein. We conclude that eight Vrs1 alleles (Vrs1.b2, Vrs1.b3, Vrs1.b5, Vrs1.t1, vrs1.a1, vrs1.a2, vrs1.a3, vrs1.a4) discriminate two and six-rowed barleys. The markers described will be useful for DUS identification, plant breeders, and other crop scientists.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness grants AGL2010-21929, AGL2013-48756-R, RFP2012-00015-00-00, RTA2012-00033-C03-02, and EUI2009-04075 (national code for Plant-KBBE project ExpResBar). CPC was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness grant no. BES-2011-045905 (linked to project AGL2010-21929). TK and SS were supported by a research fund by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries of Japan (Genomics for Agricultural Innovation grants no. TRS1002). SS was supported by a Grant-in-Aid from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Postdoctoral Fellow for Research Abroad and a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) (no. 16 K18635)

Candidate genes underlying QTL for flowering time and their interactions in a wide spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cross

Response to vernalization and photoperiod are the main determinants controlling the time to flowering in temperate cereals. While the individual genes that determine a plant's response to these environmental signals are well characterized, the combinatorial effect on flowering time of allelic variants for multiple genes remains unresolved. This study investigated the genetic control of flowering-time in a biparental population of spring barley, derived from a wide cross between a late-flowering European and an early-flowering North-American cultivar. While the major flowering time genes are not segregating in the Beka × Logan cross, large variation in flowering was observed. We identified five QTL, with both parents found to contribute early alleles. The catalog of QTL discovered aligns with several candidate genes affecting flowering time in barley. The combination of particular alleles at HvCEN, HvELF3 and HvFT1 in Logan are responsible for the earliness of this cultivar. Interestingly, earliness for flowering could be further enhanced, with Beka found to contribute three early alleles, including a QTL co-locating with a HvFD-like gene, suggesting that there are diverse aspects of the flowering-time pathway that have been manipulated in these two cultivars. Epistatic interactions between flowering-time QTL or candidate genes were observed in field data and confirmed under controlled conditions. The results of this study link photoperiod-dependent flowering-time genes with earliness per se genes into a single model, thus providing a unique framework that can be used by geneticists and breeders to optimize flowering time in barley.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grant numbers AGL2010-21929 and AGL2013-48756-R), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, the Agencia Estatal de Investigación, and the European Regional Development Fund (grant number AGL2016–80967-R), and Government of Aragon (Research Group A08_20R)

Fat accretion measurements strengthen the relationship between feed conversion efficiency and Nitrogen isotopic discrimination while rumen microbial genes contribute little

The use of biomarkers for feed conversion efficiency (FCE), such as Nitrogen isotopic discrimination (ΔN), facilitates easier measurement and may be useful in breeding strategies. However, we need to better understand the relationship between FCE and ΔN, particularly the effects of differences in the composition of liveweight gain and rumen N metabolism. Alongside measurements of FCE and ΔN, we estimated changes in body composition and used dietary treatments with and without nitrates, and rumen metagenomics to explore these effects. Nitrate fed steers had reduced FCE and higher ΔN in plasma compared to steers offered non-nitrate containing diets. The negative relationship between FCE and ΔN was strengthened with the inclusion of fat depth change at the 3lumbar vertebrae, but not with average daily gain. We identified 1,700 microbial genes with a relative abundance >0.01% of which, 26 were associated with ΔN. These genes explained 69% of variation in ΔN and showed clustering in two distinct functional networks. However, there was no clear relationship between their relative abundances and ΔN, suggesting that rumen microbial genes contribute little to ΔN. Conversely, we show that changes in the composition of gain (fat accretion) provide additional strength to the relationship between FCE and ΔN

Plio-Pleistocene climatic change had a major impact on the assembly and disassembly processes of Iberian rodent communities

Comprehension of changes in community composition through multiple spatio-temporal scales is a prime challenge in ecology and palaeobiology. However, assembly, structuring and disassembly of biotic metacommunities in deep-time is insufficiently known. To address this, we used the extensively sampled Iberian Plio-Pleistocene fossil record of rodent faunas as our model system to explore how global climatic events may alter metacommunity structure. Through factor analysis, we found five sets of genera, called faunal components, which co-vary in proportional diversity over time. These faunal components had different spatio-temporal distributions throughout the Plio-Pleistocene, resulting in non-random changes in species assemblages, particularly in response to the development of the Pleistocene glaciations. Three successive metacommunities with distinctive taxonomic structures were identified as a consequence of the differential responses of their members to global climatic change: (1) Ruscinian subtropical faunas (5.3–3.4 Ma) dominated by a faunal component that can be considered as a Miocene legacy; (2) transition faunas during the Villafranchian–Biharian (3.4–0.8 Ma) with a mixture of different faunal components; and (3) final dominance of the temperate Toringian faunas (0.8–0.01 Ma) that would lead to the modern Iberian assemblage. The influence of the cooling global temperature drove the reorganisation of these rodent metacommunities. Selective extinction processes due to this large-scale environmental disturbance progressively eliminated the subtropical specialist species from the early Pliocene metacommunity. This disassembly process was accompanied by the organisation of a diversified metacommunity with an increased importance of biome generalist species, and finally followed by the assembly during the middle–late Pleistocene of a new set of species specialised in the novel environments developed as a consequence of the glaciations

Propuesta de la Sociedad Española de Farmacia Comunitaria sobre prácticas tuteladas

La asignatura Prácticas Tuteladas (PT) es obligatoria en el grado de Farmacia, siendo la de mayor carga lectiva, entre 24 y 30 ECTS. Su objetivo es completar la formación del alumno e iniciarlo en las actividades asistenciales desarrolladas en la farmacia comunitaria (FC) y/o en la farmacia de hospital. Una gran mayoría de estudiantes las realizan en la FC donde, por primera vez, entran en contacto real con la profesión. Sin embargo cada universidad establece de manera autónoma la forma en que se imparten la asignatura, existiendo una gran diversidad en el desarrollo de las PT entre las distintas facultades de Farmacia. La Sociedad Española de Farmacia Comunitaria (SEFAC) elabora este documento para contribuir a homogeneizar la docencia de esta asignatura y unificar criterios entre todas las partes implicadas: responsables académicos, profesores asociados y farmacéuticos tutores encargados de la formación de los estudiantes. En definitiva, para contribuir a mejorar su calidad docente. Se propone la creación de un Departamento específico de PT, actualmente inexistente, se abordan los criterios para acreditar farmacias y farmacéuticos tutores (FT), se revisan las funciones del profesor asociado (PA) y de los coordinadores académicos, los requisitos que deben cumplir los alumnos para cursar esta asignatura, las competencias y habilidades mínimas que necesitan adquirir y los contenidos del programa docente. También se abordan la evaluación del alumno por el FT así como la evaluación de los profesores, de la metodología docente y de las FC donde se realizan las estancias por los estudiantes