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This pilot study explores the potential of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for predicting sunflower seed protein content, focusing on both crushed and husked samples to address agricultural sustainability concerns. Sunflower seeds are renowned for their richness in both oil and protein content. The important role of sunflower seeds in the food and feed industries underscores the importance of using precise analytical tools to determine their composition. In essence, the nature of the hull of sunflower seeds, which skews the interaction between the seed and light, necessitates a sophisticated analysis. This study analyzes 326 samples using a near-infrared spectrometer to develop robust partial least squares (PLS) models. High accuracy is achieved in predicting total protein for crushed samples (r²c = 0.97, RMSEC 0.54%, RPDc 6; r²p = 0.78, RMSEP 1.24%, RPDp 2.1). Extending the scope to husked samples, promising results emerge for crude protein prediction (r²c = 0.93, RMSEC 0.86%, RPDc 3.9; r²cv = 0.83, RMSECV 1.39%, RPDcv 2.4). Additionally, this study delves into protein fractions (globulin, albumin, and glutelin) in crushed seeds, adding depth to the analysis. In conclusion, NIR spectroscopy proves valuable for rapid prescreening in breeding, especially when working with hulled grains, offering non-destructive efficiency and predictive accuracy in agricultural analysis. The novel exploration of protein fractions in sunflower seeds further enhances this study's importance, providing a valuable contribution to the field and underscoring the practical applications of NIR spectroscopy in sustainable agriculture. In conclusion, the opacity of sunflower seed hulls poses challenges in infrared spectroscopy, limiting light penetration and accuracy. Dehulled seeds are preferred for reliable results, overcoming hull-related limitations. Although grinding provides the advantages of uniformity and reproducibility for near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, the preference for dehulled grains persists. The practical need for accurate analysis in agriculture and breeding drives the choice of spectroscopy on dehulled seeds, allowing for replanting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes how RNA expression data of 173 genes were produced on 384 sunflower hybrids grown in field conditions. Sunflower hybrids were selected to represent genetic diversity within cultivated sunflower. The RNA was extracted from mature leaves at one time seven days after anthesis. These data allow to differentiate the different genotype behaviours and constitute a valuable resource to the community to study the adaptation of crops to field conditions and the molecular basis of heterosis. It is available on data.inra.fr repository.

Adult chimpanzees produce a unique vocal signal, the pant-grunt, when encountering higher-ranking group members. The behaviour is typically directed to a specific receiver and has thus been interpreted as a "greeting" signal. The alpha male obtains a large share of these calls, followed by the other adult males of the group. In this study, we describe the development of pant-grunting behaviour from the first grunt-like calls of newborn babies to the fully developed pant-grunts in adults. Although babies produce grunts from very early on, they are not directed to others until about 2 months of age. Subsequently, socially directed grunting steadily increases in frequency to peak around 7 months of age, but then decreases again to reach a nadir in older infants and juveniles, while the specificity in use increases. During adolescence, grunt production increases again with grunts given most frequently to socially relevant individuals. As young chimpanzees are closely affiliated to their mothers for the first decade of their lives, we also compared the grunting patterns of mothers and their offspring, which revealed some influences in pant-grunt production. In conclusion, the acquisition of pant-grunting behaviour in chimpanzees is a long-lasting process with distinct developmental phases in which social influences by the mother and other group members are likely to play a role.

Associating with kin provides individual benefits but requires that these relationships be detectable. In humans, facial phenotype matching might help assess paternity; however, evidence for it is mixed. In chimpanzees, concealing visual cues of paternity may be beneficial due to their promiscuous mating system and the considerable risk of infanticide by males. On the other hand, detecting kin can also aid chimpanzees in avoiding inbreeding and in forming alliances that improve kin-mediated fitness. Although previous studies assessing relatedness based on facial resemblance in chimpanzees exist, they used images of captive populations in whom selection pressures and reproductive opportunities are controlled and only assessed maternity or paternity of adult offspring. In natural populations, the chances of infanticide are highest during early infancy, suggesting that young infants would benefit most from paternity concealment, whereas adults and subadults would benefit from the detection of all types of kin, including half-siblings. In our experiment, we conducted an online study with human participants, in which they had to assess the relatedness of chimpanzees based on facial similarity. To address previous methodological constraints, we used chimpanzee images across all ages, as well as maternal and paternal half-siblings. We found that kin status was detected above chance across all relatedness categories, with easier kin detection of father-offspring pairs, females, and older chimpanzees. Together, these findings support the existence of paternity confusion in infant chimpanzees and provide a possible mechanism for incest avoidance and kin-based social alliances in older individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans communicate with small children in unusual and highly conspicuous ways (child-directed communication (CDC)), which enhance social bonding and facilitate language acquisition. CDC-like inputs are also reported for some vocally learning animals, suggesting similar functions in facilitating communicative competence. However, adult great apes, our closest living relatives, rarely signal to their infants, implicating communication surrounding the infant as the main input for infant great apes and early humans. Given cross-cultural variation in the amount and structure of CDC, we suggest that child-surrounding communication (CSC) provides essential compensatory input when CDC is less prevalent—a paramount topic for future studies. Child-directed communication is considered essential for language acquisition, yet appears to be near-absent in some human cultures and in our closest-living relatives, the great apes. This Essay sheds light on the evolution of child-directed and child-surrounding communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the genetic basis of phenotypic plasticity is crucial for predicting and managing climate change effects on wild plants and crops. Here, we combined crop modelling and quantitative genetics to study the genetic control of oil yield plasticity for multiple abiotic stresses in sunflower. First, we developed stress indicators to characterize 14 environments for three abiotic stresses (cold, drought and nitrogen) using the SUNFLO crop model and phenotypic variations of three commercial varieties. The computed plant stress indicators better explain yield variation than descriptors at the climatic or crop levels. In those environments, we observed oil yield of 317 sunflower hybrids and regressed it with three selected stress indicators. The slopes of cold stress norm reaction were used as plasticity phenotypes in the following genome-wide association study. Among the 65 534 tested Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs), we identified nine quantitative trait loci controlling oil yield plasticity to cold stress. Associated single nucleotide polymorphisms are localized in genes previously shown to be involved in cold stress responses: oligopeptide transporters, lipid transfer protein, cystatin, alternative oxidase or root development. This novel approach opens new perspectives to identify genomic regions involved in genotype-by-environment interaction of a complex traits to multiple stresses in realistic natural or agronomical conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying the connections between molecular and physiological processes underlying the diversity of drought stress responses in plants is key for basic and applied science. Drought stress response involves a large number of molecular pathways and subsequent physiological processes. Therefore, it constitutes an archetypical systems biology model. We first inferred a gene-phenotype network exploiting differences in drought responses of eight sunflower (Helianthus annuus) genotypes to two drought stress scenarios. Large transcriptomic data were obtained with the sunflower Affymetrix microarray, comprising 32423 probesets, and were associated to nine morpho-physiological traits (integrated transpired water, leaf transpiration rate, osmotic potential, relative water content, leaf mass per area, carbon isotope discrimination, plant height, number of leaves and collar diameter) using sPLS regression. Overall, we could associate the expression patterns of 1263 probesets to six phenotypic traits and identify if correlations were due to treatment, genotype and/or their interaction. We also identified genes whose expression is affected at moderate and/or intense drought stress together with genes whose expression variation could explain phenotypic and drought tolerance variability among our genetic material. We then used the network model to study phenotypic changes in less tractable agronomical conditions, i.e. sunflower hybrids subjected to different watering regimes in field trials. Mapping this new dataset in the gene-phenotype network allowed us to identify genes whose expression was robustly affected by water deprivation in both controlled and field conditions. The enrichment in genes correlated to relative water content and osmotic potential provides evidence of the importance of these traits in agronomical conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]