Breeding tropical forages

Brazil has the largest commercial beef cattle herd and is the main beef exporter in the world. Cultivated pastures arethe basis for the Brazilian beef production, and occupy an area of 101.4 million hectares. However, very few forage cultivars arecommercially available, and the majority of these are of apomictic reproduction, thus genetically homogeneous. Tropical foragebreeding is at its infancy, but much investment and efforts have been applied in the last three decades and some new cultivars havebeen released. In this paper, origin of different species, modes of reproduction, breeding programs and targets are discussed andthe resulting new cultivars released are presented

All-sky search for gravitational-wave bursts in the second joint LIGO-Virgo run

We present results from a search for gravitational-wave bursts in the data collected by the LIGO and Virgo detectors between July 7, 2009 and October 20, 2010: data are analyzed when at least two of the three LIGO-Virgo detectors are in coincident operation, with a total observation time of 207 days. The analysis searches for transients of duration < 1 s over the frequency band 64-5000 Hz, without other assumptions on the signal waveform, polarization, direction or occurrence time. All identified events are consistent with the expected accidental background. We set frequentist upper limits on the rate of gravitational-wave bursts by combining this search with the previous LIGO-Virgo search on the data collected between November 2005 and October 2007. The upper limit on the rate of strong gravitational-wave bursts at the Earth is 1.3 events per year at 90% confidence. We also present upper limits on source rate density per year and Mpc^3 for sample populations of standard-candle sources. As in the previous joint run, typical sensitivities of the search in terms of the root-sum-squared strain amplitude for these waveforms lie in the range 5 10^-22 Hz^-1/2 to 1 10^-20 Hz^-1/2. The combination of the two joint runs entails the most sensitive all-sky search for generic gravitational-wave bursts and synthesizes the results achieved by the initial generation of interferometric detectors.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures: data for plots and archived public version at https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=70814&version=19, see also the public announcement at http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6BurstAllSky

Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci in tropical forage Stylosanthes capitata Vogel

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Stylosanthes capitata is an important tropical pasture legume. Knowledge of genetic diversity and structure of S. capitata populations is of great importance for the conservation and germplasm management of this species. Thus, eight microsatellite markers were developed from an S. capitata-enriched library. They were characterized in 20 accessions from the germplasm collection of the Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria (Embrapa). The observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.16 to 0.85 and from 0.40 to 0.85, respectively. These microsatellites are the first set of molecular markers from this species and will contribute towards studies of genetic diversity, conservation and breeding of S. capitata.91192194Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)FAPESP [2005/51010-0]FAPESP [2005/52211-9, 2006/52845-0

Mating systems in tropical forages: Stylosanthes capitata Vog. and Stylosanthes guianensis (Aubl.) Sw.

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Stylosanthes capitata and S. guianensis are important forage legumes for tropical areas. The only available estimates of S. capitata and S. guianensis outcrossing rates were based on morphological markers, and the genus is considered as being mainly self-pollinated. Here we describe an estimation of the outcrossing rate in S. capitata and S. guianensis using microsatellite markers. The outcrossing rates were estimated in S. capitata and S. guianensis open-pollinated populations of 20 progenies consisting of ten individuals each. The multi locus outcrossing rate for S. capitata was estimated using 10 polymorphic loci, whereas five microsatellites were used for S. guianensis. The multi locus outcrossing rates for S. capitata and S. guianensis were 31 and 26%, respectively, suggesting a mixed mating system with predominance of autogamy. Comparison of single locus and multi locus estimates of outcrossing rates indicated that little inbreeding other than selfing occurred. The estimated Wright's fixation index of the parental generation was lower than expected based on the multi locus outcrossing rate, possibly resulting from the use of some heterozygous breeding genotypes for the study. The data on the outcrossing rate described here are potentially useful for breeding programs and for maintenance of germplasm collections of these Stylosanthes species.1782185193Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)FAPESP [2005/51010-0, 2005/52211-9

Polymorphic microsatellite loci for Stylosanthes macrocephala Ferr. et Costa, a tropical forage legume

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Microsatellites were developed for Stylosanthes macrocephala, aiming at developing tools for studying the genetic diversity of this species. A total of 13 polymorphic microsatellite markers were isolated from a S. macrocephala enriched genomic library. The isolated microsatellites were characterized in 20 accessions of the S. macrocephala germplasm collection belonging to the Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria (Embrapa) Cerrados. The number of alleles per locus varied from 2 to 11, with an average of 4 alleles per locus. The observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0 to 0.25 and 0.05 to 0.90, respectively. Cross-amplification of the S. macrocephala polymorphic microsatellites was evaluated in three other Stylosanthes species. The microsatellites reported herein are the first set of microsatellite markers developed for S. macrocephala and are potentially useful for further studies on genetic diversity, conservation and breeding of this species.11481485Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)FAPESP [2005/51010-0, 2005/52211-9

Genetic diversity and population structure analysis of the tropical pasture grass Brachiaria humidicola based on microsatellites, cytogenetics, morphological traits, and geographical origin

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Brachiaria humidicola (Rendle) Schweick. is a warm-season grass commonly used as forage in the tropics. Accessions of this species were collected in eastern Africa and massively introduced into South America in the 1980s. Several of these accessions form a germplasm collection at the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation. However, apomixis, ploidy, and limited knowledge of the genetic basis of this germplasm collection have constrained breeding activities. The objectives of this work were to identify genetic variability in the Brazilian B. humidicola germplasm collection using microsatellite markers and to compare the results with information on the following: (1) collection sites of the accessions; (2) reproductive mode and ploidy levels; and (3) genetic diversity revealed by morphological traits. The evaluated germplasm population is highly structured into four major groups. The sole sexual accession did not group with any of the clusters. Genetic dissimilarities did not correlate with either geographic distances or genetic distances inferred from morphological descriptors. Additionally, the genetic structure identified in this collection did not correspond to differences in ploidy level. Alleles exclusive to either sexual or apomictic accessions were identified, suggesting that further evaluation of the association of these loci with apospory should be carried out.539698709Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) [02.05.2.10.00.02.01, 01.06.1.07.05.06.02]Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Foundation for Science and Technological Development of the State of Mato Grosso do Sul (FUNDECT) [41/100165/2004]Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) [02.05.2.10.00.02.01, 01.06.1.07.05.06.02]CNPq [482458/2007-0, 478262/2004-3, 307430/2007-3]FAPESP [2010/51010-0, 2007/57022-5, 2006/52953-8]Foundation for Science and Technological Development of the State of Mato Grosso do Sul (FUNDECT) [41/100165/2004