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Shennongjia mountain region is famous for its various kinds of species. Through one year's deep-going expedition in the area, lots of valuable plant species were collected, among them many are very useful and had not been used in landscape. Such as Arisaema lobatum var. variegatum nv. LuDiFei, Cremastra appendiculata var. fulva LuDiFei, Stylophorum lasiocarpum (Oliv.) Fedde, Sedum filipes Hems., Iris wilsonii C. H. Wright, Amaranthus caudatus L., Cotoneaster dammeri Schneid, Meconopsis quintupineria Regel., Lysimachia paridiformis Franch., Dysoma versipellis (Hance) M. Cheng, Adiantum pedatum L. and so on. Some genera are quite rich in this region, especially in Rosa, Sorbus, Cotoneaster, Lonicera, Impatiens, Aconitum, Gentiana, Adiantum etc. All these are marvelous material for direct appliance in garden and for breeding. There are many rare plants in the area, large communities of Davidia involucrata Baillon and Chimonanthus praecox (L.) Link were found during the expedition, and what interesting more is that various natural variations do exist in the communities. Detail description and evaluation were given to the important species, and some suggestions of protection and utilization were offered in the paper.
Acer truncatum seeds are an excellent source of beneficial natural compounds, including high levels of unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs), that promote health. Recently, A. truncatum has emerged as an oil crop. Therefore, the transcriptomes of A. truncatum seeds at 70, 85, 100, 115, 145, 180 days after flowering (DAF) were analyzed to gain a better understanding of the transcriptional and translational regulation of seed development and oil biosynthesis. A total of 28,438 genes were identified, and 3069/2636, 3288/3438, 1319/2750, and 5724/5815 upregulated/downregulated genes were identified when comparing different samples with 85 DAF seeds. Sixteen lipid metabolism pathways with 754 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, including 34 DEGs associated with UFA biosynthesis. A phylogenetic analysis revealed that six putative fatty acid desaturase (FAD) genes clustered into five FAD groups. A quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis indicated that the temporal expression patterns of oil biosynthesis genes and transcription factors were largely similar to the RNA sequencing results. The results of this study will enhance the current understanding of oil metabolism in A. truncatum seeds and allow new methods of improving oil quality and seed yield in the future.
Rust disease, incited by the fungus Uromyces vignae, adversely affects production and quality of asparagus bean and other types of cowpea in many parts of the world. Genetic resistance to the rust pathogen has been identified in a few accessions, but it is difficult to efficiently transfer the resistance to a broad range of asparagus bean cultivars using traditional breeding approaches. We determined that rust resistance was controlled by a single dominant gene designated Rr1 in the cross of a highly resistant cultivar ZN016 and highly susceptible cultivar Zhijiang 282. Bulked segregant analysis was applied to an F2 population derived from these parents, and an AFLP marker (E-AAG/M-CTG), 150 bp in size, was detected in the resistant bulk. The AFLP fragment was then converted to a SCAR marker, named ABRSAAG/CTG98, and the genetic distance between the marker and the Rr1 gene was estimated to be 5.4 cM. This SCAR marker could be used effectively for MAS of Rr1 in breeding programs to develop rust-resistant asparagus bean cultivars and potentially more widely to breed rust-resistant cultivars of other types of cowpea.
Pectins are synthesized and secreted to the cell wall as highly methyl-esterified polymers and demethyl-esterified by pectin methylesterases (PMEs), which are regulated by pectin methylesterase inhibitors (PMEIs). PMEs and PMEIs are involved in pectin degradation during fruit softening; however, the roles of the PME and PMEI gene families during fruit softening remain unclear. Here, 71 PME and 30 PMEI genes were identified in the peach (Prunus persica) genome and shown to be unevenly distributed on all eight chromosomes. The 71 PME genes comprised 36 Type-1 PMEs and 35 Type-2 PMEs. Transcriptome analysis showed that 11 PME and 15 PMEI genes were expressed during fruit ripening in melting flesh (MF) and stony-hard (SH) peaches. Three PME and five PMEI genes were expressed at higher levels in MF than in SH fruit and exhibited softening-associated expression patterns. Upstream regulatory cis elements of these genes related to hormone response, especially naphthaleneacetic acid and ethylene, were investigated. One PME (Prupe.7G192800) and two PMEIs (Prupe.1G114500 and Prupe.2G279800), and their promoters were identified as potential targets for future studies on the biochemical metabolism and regulation of fruit ripening. The comprehensive data generated in this study will improve our understanding of the PME and PMEI gene families in peach. However, further detailed investigation is necessary to elucidate the biochemical function and regulation mechanism of the PME and PMEI genes during peach fruit ripening.
The pathogenic fungus Colletotrichum musae infects developing green bananas (Musa spp. AAA group), but remains latent until the fruit ripens. The aim of this research was to determine whether the appearance of disease symptoms is regulated by chitinase gene expression following treatment of fruit with benzothiadiazole (BTH) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA), and with physical (heat) and chemical (H2O2 and Ca2+-related) treatments. In bananas inoculated with C. musae, BTH and MeJA lowered disease severity and stimulated higher gene expression compared with the untreated controls during ripening. However, in naturally infected bananas, BTH and MeJA treatments slightly reduced transcription of the chitinase gene in green bananas, but they prolonged gene expression in ripe bananas and significantly reduced disease severity. The combination of H2O2 and the NADPH oxidase inhibitor, diphenylene iodonium, down-regulated chitinase gene expression and compromised disease resistance compared with H2O2 alone. Heat treatment (HT) or the combination of HT followed by CaCl2 reduced disease, but only the latter significantly upregulated chitinase gene expression. The combination of HT and a calcium ionophore (A23187) resulted in different disease indicies and different levels of gene expression depending upon the order of application: HT followed by A23187 induced higher gene expression and lower disease. The results suggest that disease resistance of green bananas could be related to high and prolonged levels of chitinase gene expression, and chitinase could be involved in harvested banana's anthracnose resistance activated by different defense pathway signals, such as BTH, MeJA, H2O2, and Ca2+.
Cultivated peach (Prunus persica) is an important fruit species worldwide. The wild relatives in Prunus, such as P. mira, P. davidiana, P. kansuensis, P. ferganensis, and P. persica, are valuable for peach breeding, and early and accurate identification of parental and hybrid genotypes is critical. In this study, 20 representative accessions of peach germplasm from the National Germplasm Repository of Peach in China were used to select a set of 18 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers for accurate species discrimination. Eight unknown peach samples were successfully identified using the SSR panel and species genotype database. Interspecific hybrid genotypes of P. persica × P. davidiana, P. persica × P. kansuensis, and P. persica × P. ferganensis were also analyzed reliably. The markers were amenable to high-throughput fluorescent labeling and capillary electrophoresis (CE) analysis, allowing rapid and efficient species identification. The practical method described in this study will facilitate peach breeding and germplasm management.