Search

Soybean provides protein, oil and multiple health-related compounds. Understanding the effects of structural variations (SVs) on economic traits in modern breeding is important for soybean improvement. Here we assembled the high-quality genome of modern cultivar Nongdadou2 (NDD2) and identified 25,814 SV–gene pairs compared to 29 reported genomes, with 13 NDD2-private SVs validated in 547 deep-resequencing (average = 18.05-fold) accessions, which advances our understanding of genomic variation biology. We found some insertions/deletions involved in seed protein and weight formation, an inversion related to adaptation to drought and a large intertranslocation implicated in a key divergence event in soybean. Of 749,714 SVs from 547 accessions, 6,013 were significantly associated with 22 yield-related and seed-quality-related traits determined in ten location × year environments. We uncovered 1,761 associated SVs that hit genes or regulatory regions, with 12 in GmMQTinfluencing oil and isoflavone contents. Our work provides resources and insights into SV roles in soybean improvement.

Buckwheat is one of the five main allergenic foods (eggs, milk, wheat, buckwheat, and peanuts). Oleosin is an important type of allergen in some allergic foods. However, although most diagnostic nut and seed extracts are defatted, some patients with food allergies may have false negative diagnostic results of oleosin in vitro. Recently, we found that the serum of buckwheat allergic patients responded strongly to an 18 kDa protein. Mass spectrometry analysis showed it is the oleosin protein family. We further purified and evaluated the allergenicity of this buckwheat oleosin-type allergen, which is involved in the formation of buckwheat oil bodies. The tartary buckwheat oleosin allergen was named Fag t 6, according to the WHO/IUIS Allergen Nomenclature Subcommittee criteria. The DNA sequence of tartary buckwheat oleosin was cloned. Dot blot and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) showed half of the 20 buckwheat allergic patients’ serum had strong reactivity with purified buckwheat Fag t 6. Circular dichroism experiment analysis of its thermal stability showed a Tm of 64.65 ± 0.65 °C. A buckwheat allergy showed possible cross-reaction with a wheat allergy. In summary, this study not only increases our understanding of buckwheat allergies and oil-soluble allergens in general, it may also be used to improve diagnostic tests for buckwheat allergies in the future.

Cadmium (Cd) and high molybdenum (Mo) are injurious to the body. Previous research has substantiated that Cd and Mo exposure caused testicular injury of ducks, but concrete mechanism is not fully clarified. To further survey the toxicity of co-exposure to Cd and Mo in testis, 40 healthy 8-day-old Shaoxing ducks (Anas platyrhyncha) were stochasticly distributed to four groups and raised with basic diet embracing Cd (4 mg/kg Cd) or Mo (100 mg/kg Mo) or both. At the 16th week, testis tissues were gathered. The characteristic ultrastructural changes related to apoptosis and ferroptosis were observed in Mo or Cd or both groups. Besides, Mo or Cd or both repressed nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2(Nrf2) pathway via decreasing Nrf2, Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1), Glutamate-cysteine ligase catalytic subunit (GCLC) and Glutamate-cysteine ligase modifier subunit (GCLM) mRNA expression of and Nrf2 protein expression, then stimulated apoptosis by elevating Bcl-2 antagonist/killer-1 (Bak-1), Bcl-2-associated X-protein (Bax), Cytochrome complex (Cyt-C), caspase-3 mRNA expression, cleaved-caspase-3 protein expression and apoptosis rate, as well as reducing B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) mRNA expression and ratio of Bcl-2 to Bax, and triggered ferroptosis by upregulating Acyl-CoA Synthetase Long Chain Family Member 4 (ACSL4), transferrin receptor (TFR1) and Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthase 2 (PTGS2) expression levels, and downregulating ferritin heavy chain 1 (FTH1), ferritin light chain 1 (FTL1), ferroportin 1 (FPN1), solute carrier family 7 member 11 (SCL7A11) and glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) expression levels. The most obvious changes of these indexes were observed in co-treated group. Altogether, the results announced that Mo or Cd or both evoked apoptosis and ferroptosis by inhibiting Nrf2 pathway in the testis of ducks, and co-exposure to Mo and Cd exacerbated these variations.

To investigate the etiopathogenesis of fatty liver hemorrhagic syndrome (FLHS) and the protective effects of resveratrol (RSV) against FLHS in laying hens, 144 healthy 90-day-old laying hens were randomly divided into 4 groups including control (Con) group, high-energy low-protein (HELP) group, RSV group, and HELP + RSV group, each of which contained 36 hens with 3 replicates. Birds in the 4 groups were fed a basal diet, HELP diet, basal diet supplemented with 400 mg/kg RSV, and HELP diet supplemented with 400 mg/kg RSV. The histopathology of the ovary lesions on day 120, egg production, antioxidative function, and mRNA expression levels of inflammatory cytokines on days 40, 80, and 120 were determined. The lipid accumulation and hemorrhaging were more severe in the HELP group than those in the HELP + RSV group. The laying rate was markedly decreased in the HELP group compared with that in the Con and HELP + RSV groups. Furthermore, the malondialdehyde concentration was significantly increased (P < 0.05), while the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, and glutathione were significantly decreased (P < 0.05) in the HELP group compared with those in the Con and HELP + RSV groups. The mRNA levels of antioxidant genes (Nrf2, SOD-1, and HO-1) were markedly increased (P < 0.05) in the HELP + RSV group compared with those in the HELP group. In addition, the mRNA levels of inflammation-related genes (nuclear factor kappa B, tumor necrosis factor-α, IL-1β, and IL-6) were significantly increased (P < 0.05) in the HELP group compared with those in the Con and HELP + RSV groups. Collectively, these results indicate that oxidative stress and inflammation are involved in the occurrence and development of FLHS in the ovaries of laying hens, but RSV effectively attenuates oxidative stress and inflammation in hens with FLHS. Hence, RSV can be used as an effective feed additive to protect against FLHS.

To investigate Molybdenum (Mo) and Cadmium (Cd) co-induced the levels of autophagy-related genes via AMPK/mTOR signaling pathway in Shaoxing Duck (Anas platyrhyncha) kidney, 60 healthy 11-day-old ducks were randomly divided into 6 groups, which were treated with Mo or/and Cd at different doses on the basal diet for 120 d. Kidney samples were collected on day 120 to determine the mRNA expression levels of adenosine 5′-monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase α1 (AMPKα1), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), Beclin-1, autophagy-related gene-5 (Atg5), microtubule-associated protein light chain A (LC3A), microtubule-associated protein light chain B (LC3B), sequestosome-1, and Dynein by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Meanwhile, ultrastructural changes of the kidney were observed. The results indicated that the mTOR and P62 mRNA expression levels were significantly downregulated, but the Atg5 and Beclin-1 mRNA levels were remarkably upregulated in all treated groups compared to control group, and their changes were greater in joint groups. Additionally, compared to control group, the Dynein mRNA expression level was apparently downregulated in co-treated groups, the LC3B, LC3A, and AMPKα1 expression levels were dramatically upregulated in single treated groups and they were not obviously different in co-treated groups. Ultrastructural changes showed that Mo and Cd could markedly increase the number of autophagosomes. Taken together, it suggested that dietary Mo and Cd might induce autophagy via AMPK/mTOR signaling pathway in duck kidney, and it showed a possible synergistic relationship between the 2 elements.

Zeta (ζ)‐carotene desaturase (ZDS) is a key enzyme in the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway, which determines the yellow pigment (YP) content in wheat (Triticum aestivumL.) grains. In the present study, the full‐length DNA sequence of a ZDS gene on wheat chromosome 2DL, designated TaZds‐D1, was characterized. The TaZds‐D1gene has an open reading frame of 1707 bp, including 13 introns and 14 exons, and a deduced peptide containing 568 amino acid residues with a predicted molecular weight of 62.5 kDa. The TaZds‐D1gene was located on chromosome 2DL based on polymerase chain reaction amplifications of Chinese Spring nullisomic‐tetrasomic lines, Langdon–Chinese Spring D‐genome chromosome disomic substitution lines, and Rusty D‐genome chromosome disomic substitution lines as well as linkage analysis. Two allelic variants, TaZds‐D1aand TaZds‐D1b, were detected in Chinese wheat cultivars, and a functional marker, YP2D‐1, was developed based on the sequence polymorphism between TaZds‐D1aand TaZds‐D1b. A major quantitative trait locus, located at the TaZds‐D1region in the marker interval of YP2D‐1 and Xgwm157on chromosome 2DL, explained 18.4% of the phenotypic variance for YP content in a doubled haploid population derived from the cross Zhongyou 9507/CA 9632. This confirmed the association between allelic variation at the TaZds‐D1locus and YP content.