Search

The article discusses the cricketer Ravi Shastri becoming the head coach of the Indian cricket team and also the role of another cricketer Virat Kohli in cricket in India. It talks about the selection of Shastri by the three members of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) including Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman with the other contender being Virender Sehwag.

Jute is an important crop of the Indian subcontinent and comprises tossa jute (Corchorus olitorius) and white jute (C. capsularis). The yield and fiber quality of this crop remained stagnant for many years and could not be improved through conventional plant breeding. Also, no effort has been made to develop molecular markers on a scale required for marker‐assisted selection (MAS) to supplement conventional plant breeding. As a first step toward deploying MAS for jute improvement, 2469 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were developed in tossa jute (JRO 524) using four SSR‐enriched genomic libraries. A random subset of 100 SSRs (25 SSRs from each library) was used to detect polymorphism between the parental genotypes of each of the two recombinant inbred line (RIL) mapping populations. The RILs are being developed from JRO 524 × PPO4 (for fiber fineness) and JRC 321 × CMU 010 (for lignin content) crosses to prepare molecular maps and conduct quantitative trait loci (QTL) analyses. Both SSR length polymorphism and ± polymorphism (null alleles, i.e., presence and absence of specific SSR) were detected; 50 SSRs detected polymorphism between the two genotypes of tossa jute, whereas 45 SSRs detected polymorphism between the two genotypes of white jute. This SSR allelic polymorphism in jute is higher than that reported in other crops and is adequate for construction of genetic maps for QTL analysis. The large‐scale SSRs will also prove useful in studying genetic diversity, population structure, and association mapping.

Abstract: Rice is an excellent system for plant genomics as it represents a modest size genome of 430 Mb. It feeds more than half the population of the world. Draft sequences of the rice genome, derived by whole-genome shotgun approach at relatively low coverage (4-6 X), were published and the International Rice Genome Sequencing Project (IRGSP) declared high quality (> 10 X), genetically anchored, phase 2 level sequence in 2002. In addition, phase 3 level finished sequence of chromosomes 1, 4 and 10 (out of 12 chromosomes of rice) has already been reported by scientists from IRGSP consortium. Various estimates of genes in rice place the number at >50,000. Already, over 28,000 full-length cDNAs have been sequenced, most of which map to genetically anchored genome sequence. Such information is very useful in revealing novel features of macroand micro-level synteny of rice genome with other cereals. Microarray analysis is unraveling the identity of rice genes expressing in temporal and spatial manner and should help target candidate genes useful for improving traits of agronomic importance. Simultaneously, functional analysis of rice genome has been initiated by marker-based characterization of useful genes and employing functional knock-outs created by mutation or gene tagging. Integration of this enormous information is expected to catalyze tremendous activity on basic and applied aspects of rice genomics.

Herein, we report cloning and analysis of promoters of GLABRA2(AaGL2) homolog and a MIXTA-Like(AaMIXTA-Like1) gene from Artemisia annua. The upstream regulatory regions of AaGL2and AaMIXTA-Like1showed the presence of several crucial cis-acting elements. Arabidopsis and A. annuaseedlings were transiently transfected with the promoter-GUSconstructs using a robust agro-infiltration method. Both AaGL2and AaMIXTA-Like1promoters showed GUS expression preferentially in Arabidopsis single-celled trichomes and glandular as well as T-shaped trichomes of A. annua. Transgenic Arabidopsis harboring constructs in which AaGL2or AaMIXTA-Like1promoters would control GFP expression, showed fluorescence emanating specifically from trichome cells. Our study provides a fast and efficient method to study trichome-specific expression, and 2 promoters that have potential for targeted metabolic engineering in plants.