QTL identification and candidate gene identification for monoterpene content in grape (Vitis vinifera L.) berries

Great progress has been made during the last decade in clarifying the molecular details of aroma accumulation in grape berries. However, the multigene complex controlling monoterpene accumulation in grape is not well understood. To shed light on this issue, the grapes of 149 F1 progenies from the cross 87-1 (Vitis vinifera L.) × 9-22 (Vitis vinifera L.) were characterized at the mature stage for three representative free monoterpenes during five growing seasons. A total of 202, 184 and 255 polymorphic SSR (simple sequence repeat) markers were contracted on the maternal 87-1, paternal 9-22 and consensus genetic maps, respectively. On the consensus map, we confirmed a major QTL (quantitative trait locus) for free linalool, nerol and α-terpineol content on linkage group (LG) 5, and a stable QTL for free linalool and α-terpineol was detected on LG 10. In addition, two new stable QTLs for free monoterpene (linalool, nerol and α-terpineol) contents were identified on LG 11 and LG 18 that explained up to 42.5 % of the total variance. Eleven promising candidate genes related to pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR)-containing proteins, seed maturation protein, RING finger protein, and AP2/ERF transcription factors might be potentially involved in monoterpene accumulation. The stable QTLs and candidate genes identified in this study provide new insights into free monoterpene accumulation in grape

Design of temperature insurance index and risk zonation for single-season rice in response to high-temperature and low-temperature damage: a case study of Jiangsu Province, China.

Disaster insurance is an important tool for achieving sustainable development in modern agriculture. However, in China, the design of such insurance indexes is far from sufficient. In this paper, the single-season rice in Jiangsu Province of China is taken as an example to design the high-temperature damage index in summer and the low-temperature damage index in autumn to constructtheformulacalculatingtheweatheroutputandsingle-seasonriceyieldreduction. Thedaily highest, lowest and average temperatures between 1999 and 2015 are selected as main variables for the temperature disaster index to quantitatively analyze the relationship between the temperature indexandtheyieldreductionrateofthesingle-seasonrice. Thetemperaturedisasterindexcanbeput into the relevant model to obtain the yield reduction rate of the year and determine whether to pay the indemnity. Then, the burn analysis is used to determine the insurance premium rate for all cities in Jiangsu Province under four-level deductibles, and the insurance premium rate can be used for the risk division of the Province. The research provides some insights for the design of agricultural weather insurance products, and the empirical results provide a reference for the design of similar single-season rice temperature index insurance products

Study on simulation mechanics and fatigue performance of steel bridge deck rigid flexible composite pavement

Aiming at the fatigue cracking of steel bridge deck pavement and the shortage of river sand resources, a sea sand RPC pavement scheme was proposed. Taking Quanhe steel box girder bridge as the research background, the simulation model was established by using ANSYS finite element software, and the mechanical simulation analysis of the steel bridge deck sea sand RPC-asphalt pavement composite structure was carried out to determine the most unfavorable load position. A three-point fatigue test was carried out to study the fatigue performance of the structure specimen, and a comparative analysis was made with the river sand RPCasphalt surface composite pavement structure. The results show that the maximum tensile stress and strain of RPC-asphalt pavement appear in the upper middle span of U-shaped stiffener of steel box girder, which are 0.5241MPa and 98.2με, respectively, and the surface of the pavement in this area is prone to crack. The RPC-asphalt surface composite pavement structure has not been damaged after 2 million times of fatigue tests, and has not been damaged after 1 million times of fatigue loading after secondary loading, which indicates that it has better fatigue performance

Natural disasters, economic growth and sustainable development in China: an empirical study using provincial panel data

Using a newly developed integrated indicator system with entropy weighting, we analyzed the panel data of 577 recorded disasters in 30 provinces of China from 1985–2011 to identify their links with the subsequent economic growth. Meteorological disasters promote economic growth through human capital instead of physical capital. Geological disasters did not trigger local economic growth from 1999–2011. Generally, natural disasters overall had no significant impact on economic growth from 1985–1998. Thus, human capital reinvestment should be the aim in managing recoveries, and it should be used to regenerate the local economy based on long-term sustainable development

Is temperature-index derivative suitable for China?

In this paper, we assessed the suitability of temperature derivatives for China through modeling. We assumed that if the physical dynamics of temperature of some cities are identical, then the same types of temperature derivatives can be used in these cities. Nearly twenty years temperature data of forty-seven cities with traded temperature derivatives on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group (CME) and seven Chinese cities were collected and analyzed in a two-step approach. Firstly, the AR-EGARCH model capturing the shock asymmetry of the volatility of temperature is used to simulate the dynamics of temperature of the cities. Secondly, the temperature of the cities are classified through cluster analysis based on model parameters from the AR-EGARCH model. The results showed that the fitting effect of the AR-EGARCH model is very good, and only a few cities did not display the shock asymmetry. The model for Nanjing fitted well into one of the categories of the cities in the CME; but the other six Chinese cities belong to new categories, which are different from the cities in the CME. We concluded that HDD and CAT in Europe and CAT∗ in Japan can be used directly in Nanjing, but the existing temperature derivatives in CME were unsuitable for the other six Chinese cities. Recommendations for the establishment of weather derivatives market in China have been proposed

Study on simulation mechanics and fatigue performance of steel bridge deck rigid flexible composite pavement

Aiming at the fatigue cracking of steel bridge deck pavement and the shortage of river sand resources, a sea sand RPC pavement scheme was proposed. Taking Quanhe steel box girder bridge as the research background, the simulation model was established by using ANSYS finite element software, and the mechanical simulation analysis of the steel bridge deck sea sand RPC-asphalt pavement composite structure was carried out to determine the most unfavorable load position. A three-point fatigue test was carried out to study the fatigue performance of the structure specimen, and a comparative analysis was made with the river sand RPCasphalt surface composite pavement structure. The results show that the maximum tensile stress and strain of RPC-asphalt pavement appear in the upper middle span of U-shaped stiffener of steel box girder, which are 0.5241MPa and 98.2με, respectively, and the surface of the pavement in this area is prone to crack. The RPC-asphalt surface composite pavement structure has not been damaged after 2 million times of fatigue tests, and has not been damaged after 1 million times of fatigue loading after secondary loading, which indicates that it has better fatigue performance

Transcriptome analysis of table grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) identified a gene network module associated with berry firmness.

Berry firmness is one of the main selection criteria for table grape breeding. However, the underlying genetic determinants and mechanisms involved in gene expression during berry development are still poorly understood. In this study, eighteen libraries sampled from Vitis vinifera L. cv. 'Red Globe' and 'Muscat Hamburg' at three developmental stages (preveraison, veraison and maturation) were analyzed by RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq). The firmness of 'Red Globe' was significantly higher than that of 'Muscat Hamburg' at the three developmental stages. In total, a set of 4,559 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) was identified between 'Red Globe' and 'Muscat Hamburg' in the preveraison (2,259), veraison (2030) and maturation stages (2682), including 302 transcription factors (TFs). Weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA) showed that 23 TFs were predicted to be highly correlated with fruit firmness and propectin content. In addition, the differential expression of the PE, PL, PG, β-GAL, GATL, WAK, XTH and EXP genes might be the reason for the differences in firmness between 'Red Globe' and 'Muscat Hamburg'. The results will provide new information for analysis of grape berry firmness and softening

Construction of a highly saturated Genetic Map for Vitis by Next-generation Restriction Site-associated DNA Sequencing

Abstract Background High-saturate molecular linkage maps are an important tool in studies on plant molecular biology and assisted breeding. Development of a large set of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) via next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based methods, restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq), and the generation of a highly saturated genetic map help improve fine mapping of quantitative trait loci (QTL). Results We generated a highly saturated genetic map to identify significant traits in two elite grape cultivars and 176 F1 plants. In total, 1,426,967 high-quality restriction site-associated DNA tags were detected; 51,365, 23,683, and 70,061 markers were assessed in 19 linkage groups (LGs) for the maternal, paternal, and integrated maps, respectively. Our map was highly saturated in terms of marker density and average “Gap ≤ 5 cM” percentage. Conclusions In this study, RAD-seq of 176 F1 plants and their parents yielded 8,481,484 SNPs and 1,646,131 InDel markers, of which 65,229 and 4832, respectively, were used to construct a highly saturated genetic map for grapevine. This map is expected to facilitate genetic studies on grapevine, including an evaluation of grapevine and deciphering the genetic basis of economically and agronomically important traits. Our findings provide basic essential genetic data the grapevine genetic research community, which will lead to improvements in grapevine breeding

High-density genetic linkage-map construction of hawthorn and QTL mapping for important fruit traits.

Few reports exist on QTL mapping of the important economic traits of hawthorn. We hybridized the cultivars 'Shandongdamianqiu' (female parent) and 'Xinbinruanzi' (male parent), and 130 F1 individuals and the two parents were used for RAD-seq, SNP development, and high-density linkage map construction. Three genetic maps were obtained, one for each of the parents and an integrated one. In these three maps, 17 linkage groups were constructed. The female and male parent maps contained 2657 and 4088 SNP markers, respectively, and had genetic distances of 2689.65 and 2558.41 cM, respectively, whereas the integrated map was 2470.02 cM, and contained 6,384 SNP markers. QTL mapping based on six agronomic traits, namely fruit transverse diameter, vertical diameter, single fruit weight, pericarp brittleness, pericarp puncture hardness, and average sarcocarp firmness were conducted, and 25 QTLs were detected in seven linkage groups. Explained phenotypic variation rate ranged from 17.7% to 35%. This genetic map contains the largest number of molecular markers ever obtained from hawthorn and will provide an important future reference for fine QTL mapping of economic traits and molecular assisted selection of hawthorn