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1.
[MIME-Mitosis instead of meiosis and its application in crop apomixis].
Hou, Y, Gong, G, Peng, Z, Dong, Q, Luo, A, Hong, Q
Sheng wu gong cheng xue bao = Chinese journal of biotechnology. 2020;(4):612-621
Abstract
Apomixis has been widely concerned because of its great potential in heterosis fixation. Artificial apomixis is an important direction of current apomixis research. Mitosis instead of Meiosis (MIME) produces diploid gametes that is identical with the maternal genetic composition and is a key step in the artificial creation of apomixes. This paper reviews the occurrence of MIME and its application in crop apomixis and the problems encountered, in an aim to provide reference for expanding the application of MIME in crop apomixis.
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2.
Plant Synthetic Metabolic Engineering for Enhancing Crop Nutritional Quality.
Zhu, Q, Wang, B, Tan, J, Liu, T, Li, L, Liu, YG
Plant communications. 2020;(1):100017
Abstract
Nutrient deficiencies in crops are a serious threat to human health, especially for populations in poor areas. To overcome this problem, the development of crops with nutrient-enhanced traits is imperative. Biofortification of crops to improve nutritional quality helps combat nutrient deficiencies by increasing the levels of specific nutrient components. Compared with agronomic practices and conventional plant breeding, plant metabolic engineering and synthetic biology strategies are more effective and accurate in synthesizing specific micronutrients, phytonutrients, and/or bioactive components in crops. In this review, we discuss recent progress in the field of plant synthetic metabolic engineering, specifically in terms of research strategies of multigene stacking tools and engineering complex metabolic pathways, with a focus on improving traits related to micronutrients, phytonutrients, and bioactive components. Advances and innovations in plant synthetic metabolic engineering would facilitate the development of nutrient-enriched crops to meet the nutritional needs of humans.
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3.
The influence of grafting on crops' photosynthetic performance.
Fullana-Pericàs, M, Conesa, MÀ, Pérez-Alfocea, F, Galmés, J
Plant science : an international journal of experimental plant biology. 2020;:110250
Abstract
In a near scenario of climate change where stress-derived limitations on crops' yield by affecting plant gas-exchange are expected, grafting may become a cheap and easy technique to improve crops photosynthetic performance and water-use efficiency. Inconsistent data of the effect of rootstocks over gas-exchange can be found in literature, being necessary an integrative analysis of the effect of grafting over photosynthetic parameters. With this aim, we present a compilation of the effect of graft on the net CO2 assimilation rate (AN) and other photosynthetic parameters across different species with agronomic interest. No differences were observed in any photosynthetic parameter between non-grafted and self-grafted plants under non-stress conditions. However, differences were found depending on the used rootstock, particularly for the intrinsic water-use efficiency (WUEi). We observed that variations in AN induced by rootstocks were related to changes in both diffusive and biochemical parameters. Under drought or salt stress, different photosynthetic performances were observed depending on the rootstock, although the high variability among studies promted to remarkable results. Overall, we observed that grafting can be a useful technique to improve plant photosynthetic performance, and therefore, crop yield and WUE, and that the rootstock selection for a target environment is determinant for the variations in photosynthesis.
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4.
Plant microbiota modified by plant domestication.
Martínez-Romero, E, Aguirre-Noyola, JL, Taco-Taype, N, Martínez-Romero, J, Zuñiga-Dávila, D
Systematic and applied microbiology. 2020;(5):126106
Abstract
Human life became largely dependent on agricultural products after distinct crop-domestication events occurred around 10,000 years ago in different geographical sites. Domestication selected suitable plants for human agricultural practices with unexpected consequences on plant microbiota, which has notable effects on plant growth and health. Among other traits, domestication has changed root architecture, exudation, or defense responses that could have modified plant microbiota. Here we present the comparison of reported data on the microbiota from widely consumed cereals and legumes and their ancestors showing that different bacteria were found in domesticated and wild plant microbiomes in some cases. Considering the large variability in plant microbiota, adequate sampling efforts and function-based approaches are needed to further support differences between the microbiota from wild and domesticated plants. The study of wild plant microbiomes could provide a valuable resource of unexploited beneficial bacteria for crops.
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5.
Molecular basis of strigolactone perception in root-parasitic plants: aiming to control its germination with strigolactone agonists/antagonists.
Miyakawa, T, Xu, Y, Tanokura, M
Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS. 2020;(6):1103-1113
Abstract
The genus Striga, also called "witchweed", is a member of the family Orobanchaceae, which is a major family of root-parasitic plants. Striga can lead to the formation of seed stocks in the soil and to explosive expansion with enormous seed production and stability once the crops they parasitize are cultivated. Understanding the molecular mechanism underlying the communication between Striga and their host plants through natural seed germination stimulants, "strigolactones (SLs)", is required to develop the technology for Striga control. This review outlines recent findings on the SL perception mechanism, which have been accumulated in Striga hermonthica by the similarity of the protein components that regulate SL signaling in nonparasitic model plants, including Arabidopsis and rice. HTL/KAI2 homologs were identified as SL receptors in the process of Striga seed germination. Recently, this molecular basis has further promoted the development of various types of SL agonists/antagonists as seed germination stimulants or inhibitors. Such chemical compounds are also useful to elucidate the dynamic behavior of SL receptors and the regulation of SL signaling.
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6.
Potato Virus Y Emergence and Evolution from the Andes of South America to Become a Major Destructive Pathogen of Potato and Other Solanaceous Crops Worldwide.
Torrance, L, Talianksy, ME
Viruses. 2020;(12)
Abstract
The potato was introduced to Europe from the Andes of South America in the 16th century, and today it is grown worldwide; it is a nutritious staple food eaten by millions and underpins food security in many countries. Unknowingly, potato virus Y (PVY) was also introduced through trade in infected potato tubers, and it has become the most important viral pathogen of potato. Phylogenetic analysis has revealed the spread and emergence of strains of PVY, including strains causing economically important diseases in tobacco, tomato and pepper, and that the virus continues to evolve with the relatively recent emergence of new damaging recombinant strains. High-throughput, next-generation sequencing platforms provide powerful tools for detection, identification and surveillance of new PVY strains. Aphid vectors of PVY are expected to increase in incidence and abundance in a warmer climate, which will increase the risk of virus spread. Wider deployment of crop cultivars carrying virus resistance will be an important means of defence against infection. New cutting-edge biotechnological tools such as CRISPR and SIGS offer a means for rapid engineering of resistance in established cultivars. We conclude that in future, human activities and ingenuity should be brought to bear to control PVY and the emergence of new strains in key crops by increased focus on host resistance and factors driving virus evolution and spread.
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7.
Evolution in crop improvement approaches and future prospects of molecular markers to CRISPR/Cas9 system.
Dheer, P, Rautela, I, Sharma, V, Dhiman, M, Sharma, A, Sharma, N, Sharma, MD
Gene. 2020;:144795
Abstract
The advent of genetic selection and genome modification method assure about a real novel reformation in biotechnology and genetic engineering. With the extensive capabilities of molecular markers of them being stable, cost-effective and easy to use, they ultimately become a potent tool for variety of applications such a gene targeting, selection, editing, functional genomics; mainly for the improvisation of commercially important crops. Three main benefits of molecular marker in the field of agriculture and crop improvement programmes first, reduction of the duration of breeding programmes, second, they allow creation of new genetic variation and genetic diversity of plants and third most promising benefit is help in production of engineered plant for disease resistance, or resistance from pathogen and herbicides. This review is anticipated to present an outline how the techniques have been evolved from the simple conventional applications of DNA based molecular markers to highly throughput CRISPR technology and geared the crop yield. Techniques like using Zinc Finger Nucleases (ZFNs), Transcription Activator-Like Effector Nucleases (TALENs) and Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR/Cas9) systems have revolutionised in the field of genome editing. These have been promptly accepted in both the research and commercial industry. On the whole, the widespread use of molecular markers with their types, their appliance in plant breeding along with the advances in genetic selection and genome editing together being a novel strategy to boost crop yield has been reviewed.
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8.
Reconstruction of Networks with Direct and Indirect Genetic Effects.
Kruijer, W, Behrouzi, P, Bustos-Korts, D, Rodríguez-Álvarez, MX, Mahmoudi, SM, Yandell, B, Wit, E, van Eeuwijk, FA
Genetics. 2020;(4):781-807
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Abstract
Genetic variance of a phenotypic trait can originate from direct genetic effects, or from indirect effects, i.e., through genetic effects on other traits, affecting the trait of interest. This distinction is often of great importance, for example, when trying to improve crop yield and simultaneously control plant height. As suggested by Sewall Wright, assessing contributions of direct and indirect effects requires knowledge of (1) the presence or absence of direct genetic effects on each trait, and (2) the functional relationships between the traits. Because experimental validation of such relationships is often unfeasible, it is increasingly common to reconstruct them using causal inference methods. However, most current methods require all genetic variance to be explained by a small number of quantitative trait loci (QTL) with fixed effects. Only a few authors have considered the "missing heritability" case, where contributions of many undetectable QTL are modeled with random effects. Usually, these are treated as nuisance terms that need to be eliminated by taking residuals from a multi-trait mixed model (MTM). But fitting such an MTM is challenging, and it is impossible to infer the presence of direct genetic effects. Here, we propose an alternative strategy, where genetic effects are formally included in the graph. This has important advantages: (1) genetic effects can be directly incorporated in causal inference, implemented via our PCgen algorithm, which can analyze many more traits; and (2) we can test the existence of direct genetic effects, and improve the orientation of edges between traits. Finally, we show that reconstruction is much more accurate if individual plant or plot data are used, instead of genotypic means. We have implemented the PCgen-algorithm in the R-package pcgen.
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Understanding the Composition, Biosynthesis, Accumulation and Transport of Flavonoids in Crops for the Promotion of Crops as Healthy Sources of Flavonoids for Human Consumption.
Ku, YS, Ng, MS, Cheng, SS, Lo, AW, Xiao, Z, Shin, TS, Chung, G, Lam, HM
Nutrients. 2020;(6)
Abstract
Flavonoids are a class of polyphenolic compounds that naturally occur in plants. Sub-groups of flavonoids include flavone, flavonol, flavanone, flavanonol, anthocyanidin, flavanol and isoflavone. The various modifications on flavonoid molecules further increase the diversity of flavonoids. Certain crops are famous for being enriched in specific flavonoids. For example, anthocyanins, which give rise to a purplish color, are the characteristic compounds in berries; flavanols are enriched in teas; and isoflavones are uniquely found in several legumes. It is widely accepted that the antioxidative properties of flavonoids are beneficial for human health. In this review, we summarize the classification of the different sub-groups of flavonoids based on their molecular structures. The health benefits of flavonoids are addressed from the perspective of their molecular structures. The flavonoid biosynthesis pathways are compared among different crops to highlight the mechanisms that lead to the differential accumulation of different sub-groups of flavonoids. In addition, the mechanisms and genes involved in the transport and accumulation of flavonoids in crops are discussed. We hope the understanding of flavonoid accumulation in crops will guide the proper balance in their consumption to improve human health.
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10.
Prospects of next generation sequencing in lentil breeding.
Kumar, J, Sen Gupta, D
Molecular biology reports. 2020;(11):9043-9053
Abstract
Lentil is an important food legume crop that has large and complex genome. During past years, considerable attention has been given on the use of next generation sequencing for enriching the genomic resources including identification of SSR and SNP markers, development of unigenes, transcripts, and identification of candidate genes for biotic and abiotic stresses, analysis of genetic diversity and identification of genes/ QTLs for agronomically important traits. However, in other crops including pulses, next generation sequencing has revolutionized the genomic research and helped in genomic assisted breeding rapidly and cost effectively. The present review discuss current status and future prospects of the use NGS based breeding in lentil.