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Bread wheat is a major crop that has long been the focus of basic and breeding research. Assembly of its genome has been difficult because of its large size and allohexaploid nature (AABBDD genome). Following the first reported assembly of the genome of the experimental strain Chinese Spring (CS), the 10+ Wheat Genomes Project was launched to produce multiple assemblies of worldwide modern cultivars. The only Asian cultivar in the project is Norin 61, a representative Japanese cultivar adapted to grow across a broad latitudinal range, mostly characterized by a wet climate and a short growing season. Here, we characterize the key aspects of its chromosome-scale genome assembly spanning 15 Gb with a raw scaffold N50 of 22 Mb. Analysis of the repetitive elements identified chromosomal regions unique to Norin 61 that encompass a tandem array of the pathogenesis-related 13 family. We report novel copy-number variations in the B homeolog of the florigen gene FT1/VRN3 , pseudogenization of its D homeolog and the association of its A homeologous alleles with the spring/winter growth habit. Furthermore, the Norin 61 genome carries typical East Asian functional variants different from CS, ranging from a single nucleotide to multi-Mb scale. Examples of such variation are the Fhb1 locus, which confers Fusarium head-blight resistance, Ppd-D1a , which confers early flowering, Glu-D1f for Asian noodle quality and Rht-D1b , which introduced semi-dwarfism during the green revolution. The adoption of Norin 61 as a reference assembly for functional and evolutionary studies will enable comprehensive characterization of the underexploited Asian bread wheat diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fusarium Head Blight is a disease of cereal crops that causes severe yield losses and mycotoxin contamination of grain. The main causal pathogen, Fusarium graminearum, produces the trichothecene toxins deoxynivalenol or nivalenol as virulence factors. Nivalenol-producing isolates are most prevalent in Asia but co-exist with deoxynivalenol producers in lower frequency in North America and Europe. Previous studies identified a barley UDP-glucosyltransferase, HvUGT13248, that efficiently detoxifies deoxynivalenol, and when expressed in transgenic wheat results in high levels of type II resistance against deoxynivalenol-producing F. graminearum. Here we show that HvUGT13248 is also capable of converting nivalenol into the non-toxic nivalenol-3-O-β-d-glucoside. We describe the enzymatic preparation of a nivalenol-glucoside standard and its use in development of an analytical method to detect the nivalenol-glucoside conjugate. Recombinant Escherichia coli expressing HvUGT13248 glycosylates nivalenol more efficiently than deoxynivalenol. Overexpression in yeast, Arabidopsis thaliana, and wheat leads to increased nivalenol resistance. Increased ability to convert nivalenol to nivalenol-glucoside was observed in transgenic wheat, which also exhibits type II resistance to a nivalenol-producing F. graminearum strain. Our results demonstrate the HvUGT13248 can act to detoxify deoxynivalenol and nivalenol and provide resistance to deoxynivalenol- and nivalenol-producing Fusarium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tillers are vegetative branches that develop from axillary buds located in the leaf axils at the base of many grasses. Genetic manipulation of tillering is a major objective in breeding for improved cereal yields and competition with weeds. Despite this, very little is known about the molecular genetic bases of tiller development in important Triticeae crops such as barley (Hordeum vulgare) and wheat (Triticum aestivum). Recessive mutations at the barley Uniculme4 (Cul4) locus cause reduced tillering, deregulation of the number of axillary buds in an axil, and alterations in leaf proximal-distal patterning. We isolated the Cul4 gene by positional cloning and showed that it encodes a BROAD-COMPLEX, TRAMTRACK, BRIC-À-BRAC-ankyrin protein closely related to Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) BLADE-ON-PETIOLE1 (BOP1) and BOP2. Morphological, histological, and in situ RNA expression analyses indicate that Cul4 acts at axil and leaf boundary regions to control axillary bud differentiation as well as the development of the ligule, which separates the distal blade and proximal sheath of the leaf. As, to our knowledge, the first functionally characterized BOP gene in monocots, Cul4 suggests the partial conservation of BOP gene function between dicots and monocots, while phylogenetic analyses highlight distinct evolutionary patterns in the two lineages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic variation is crucial for successful barley improvement. Genomic technologies are improving dramatically and are providing access to the genetic diversity within this important crop species. Diverse collections of barley germplasm are being assembled and mined via genome-wide association studies and the identified variation can be linked to the barley sequence assembly. Introgression of favorable alleles via marker-assisted selection is now faster and more efficient due to the availability of single nucleotide polymorphism platforms. High-throughput genotyping is also making genomic selection an essential tool in modern barley breeding. Contemporary plant breeders now benefit from publicly available user-friendly databases providing genotypic and phenotypic information on large numbers of barley accessions. These resources facilitate access to allelic variation. In this review we explore how the most recent genomics and molecular breeding advances are changing breeding practices. The Coordinated Agricultural Projects (CAPs), Barley CAP and Triticeae CAP coupled with international collaborations, are discussed in detail as examples of a collaborative approach to exploit diverse germplasm resources for barley improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is an important cereal crop and a model species for Triticeae genomics. To lay the foundation for hierarchical map-based sequencing, a genome-wide physical map of its large and complex 5.1 billion-bp genome was constructed by high-information content fingerprinting of almost 600,000 bacterial artificial chromosomes representing 14-fold haploid genome coverage. The resultant physical map comprises 9,265 contigs with a cumulative size of 4.9 Gb representing 96% of the physical length of the barley genome. The reliability of the map was verified through extensive genetic marker information and the analysis of topological networks of clone overlaps. A minimum tiling path of 66,772 minimally overlapping clones was defined that will serve as a template for hierarchical clone-by-clone map-based shotgun sequencing. We integrated whole-genome shotgun sequence data from the individuals of two mapping populations with published bacterial artificial chromosome survey sequence information to genetically anchor the physical map. This novel approach in combination with the comprehensive whole-genome shotgun sequence data sets allowed us to independently validate and improve a previously reported physical and genetic framework. The resources developed in this study will underpin fine-mapping and cloning of agronomically important genes and the assembly of a draft genome sequence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused by Fusarium graminearum, is a devastating disease of small grain cereal crops. FHB causes yield reductions and contamination of grain with trichothecene mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol (DON). DON inhibits protein synthesis in eukaryotic cells and acts as a virulence factor during fungal pathogenesis, therefore resistance to DON is considered an important component of resistance against FHB. One mechanism of resistance to DON is conversion of DON to DON-3-O-glucoside (D3G). Previous studies showed that expression of the UDP-glucosyltransferase genes HvUGT13248 from barley and AtUGt73C5 (DOGT1) from Arabidopsis thaliana conferred DON resistance to yeast. Over-expression of AtUGt73C5 in Arabidopsis led to increased DON resistance of seedlings but also to dwarfing of transgenic plants due to the formation of brassinosteroid-glucosides. The objectives of this study were to develop transgenic Arabidopsis expressing HvUGT13248, to test for phenotypic changes in growth habit, and the response to DON. Transgenic lines that constitutively expressed the epitope-tagged HvUGT13248 protein exhibited increased resistance to DON in a seed germination assay and converted DON to D3G to a higher extent than the untransformed wild-type. By contrast to the over-expression of DOGT1 in Arabidopsis, which conjugated the brassinosteriod castasterone with a glucoside group resulting in a dwarf phenotype, expression of the barley HvUGT13248 gene did not lead to drastic morphological changes. Consistent with this observation, no castasterone-glucoside formation was detectable in yeast expressing the barley HvUGT13248 gene. This barley UGT is therefore a promising candidate for transgenic approaches aiming to increase DON and Fusarium resistance of crop plants without undesired collateral effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The maize (Zea mays) shoot apical meristem (SAM) arises early in embryogenesis and functions during stem cell maintenance and organogenesis to generate all the aboveground organs of the plant. Despite its integral role in maize shoot development, little is known about the molecular mechanisms of SAM initiation. Laser microdissection of apical domains from developing maize embryos and seedlings was combined with RNA sequencing for transcriptomic analyses of SAM ontogeny. Molecular markers of key events during maize embryogenesis are described, and comprehensive transcriptional data from six stages in maize shoot development are generated. Transcriptomic profiling before and after SAM initiation indicates that organogenesis precedes stem cell maintenance in maize; analyses of the first three lateral organs elaborated from maize embryos provides insight into their homology and to the identity of the single maize cotyledon. Compared with the newly initiated SAM , the mature SAM is enriched for transcripts that function in transcriptional regulation, hormonal signaling, and transport. Comparisons of shoot meristems initiating juvenile leaves, adult leaves, and husk leaves illustrate differences in phase-specific (juvenile versus adult) and meristem-specific (SAM versus lateral meristem) transcript accumulation during maize shoot development. This study provides insight into the molecular genetics of SAM initiation and function in maize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding genome and chromosome evolution is important for understanding genetic inheritance and evolution. Universal events comprising DNA replication, transcription, repair, mobile genetic element transposition, chromosome rearrangements, mitosis, and meiosis underlie inheritance and variation of living organisms. Although the genome of a species as a whole is important, chromosomes are the basic units subjected to genetic events that coin evolution to a large extent. Now many complete genome sequences are available, we can address evolution and variation of individual chromosomes across species. For example, “How are the repeat and nonrepeat proportions of genetic codes distributed among different chromosomes in a multichromosome species?” “Is there a general rule behind the intuitive observation that chromosome lengths tend to be similar in a species, and if so, can we generalize any findings in chromosome content and size across different taxonomic groups?” Here, we show that chromosomes within a species do not show dramatic fluctuation in their content of mobile genetic elements as the proliferation of these elements increases from unicellular eukaryotes to vertebrates. Furthermore, we demonstrate that, notwithstanding the remarkable plasticity, there is an upper limit to chromosome-size variation in diploid eukaryotes with linear chromosomes. Strikingly, variation in chromosome size for 886 chromosomes in 68 eukaryotic genomes (including 22 human autosomes) can be viably captured by a single model, which predicts that the vast majority of the chromosomes in a species are expected to have a base pair length between 0.4035 and 1.8626 times the average chromosome length. This conserved boundary of chromosome-size variation, which prevails across a wide taxonomic range with few exceptions, indicates that cellular, molecular, and evolutionary mechanisms, possibly together, confine the chromosome lengths around a species-specific average chromosome length. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping is useful for assessing genetic variation in germplasm collections, genetic map development and detection of alien chromosome substitutions. In this study, a diversity analysis using 1,301 SNPs on a set of 37 barley accessions was conducted. This analysis showed a high polymorphism rate between the malting barley cultivar ‘Haruna Nijo’ and the food barley cultivar ‘Akashinriki’. Haruna Nijo and Akashinriki are donors of the barley expressed sequence tag (EST) collections. A doubled haploid (DH) population derived from the cross between Haruna Nijo and Akashinriki was genotyped with 1,448 SNPs. Of these 1,448 SNPs, 734 were polymorphic and distributed on barley linkage groups (chromosomes) as follows: 1H (86), 2H (125), 3H (120), 4H (100), 5H (127), 6H (88) and 7H (88). By using cMAP, we integrated the SNP markers across high-density maps. The SNPs were also used to genotype 98 BC3F4 recombinant chromosome substitution lines (RCSLs) developed from the same cross (Haruna Nijo/Akashinriki). These data were used to create graphical genotypes for each line and thus estimate the location, extent and total number of introgressions from Akashinriki in the Haruna Nijo background. The 35 selected RCSLs sample most of the Akashinriki food barley genome, with only a few missing segments. These resources bring new alleles into the malting barley gene pool from food barley. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mutagenized populations have become indispensable resources for introducing variation and studying gene function in plant genomics research. In this study, fast neutron (FN) radiation was used to induce deletion mutations in the soybean (Glycine max) genome. Approximately 120,000 soybean seeds were exposed to FN radiation doses of up to 32 Gray units to develop over 23,000 independent M2 lines. Here, we demonstrate the utility of this population for phenotypic screening and associated genomic characterization of striking and agronomically important traits. Plant variation was cataloged for seed composition, maturity, morphology, pigmentation, and nodulation traits. Mutants that showed significant increases or decreases in seed protein and oil content across multiple generations and environments were identified. The application of comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) to lesion-induced mutants for deletion mapping was validated on a midoleate x-ray mutant, M23, with a known FAD2-1A (for fatty acid desaturase) gene deletion. Using CGH, a subset of mutants was characterized, revealing deletion regions and candidate genes associated with phenotypes of interest. Exome resequencing and sequencing of PCR products confirmed FN-induced deletions detected by CGH. Beyond characterization of soybean FN mutants, this study demonstrates the utility of CGH, exome sequence capture, and next-generation sequencing approaches for analyses of mutant plant genomes. We present this FN mutant soybean population as a valuable public resource for future genetic screens and functional genomics research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fusarium head blight (FHB; scab), primarily caused by Fusarium graminearum, is a devastating disease of wheat worldwide. FHB causes yield reductions and contamination of grains with trichothecene mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol (DON). The genetic variation in existing wheat germplasm pools for FHB resistance is low and may not provide sufficient resistance to develop cultivars through traditional breeding approaches. Thus, genetic engineering provides an additional approach to enhance FHB resistance. The objectives of this study were to develop transgenic wheat expressing a barley class II chitinase and to test the transgenic lines against F. graminearum infection under greenhouse and field conditions. A barley class II chitinase gene was introduced into the spring wheat cultivar, Bobwhite, by biolistic bombardment. Seven transgenic lines were identified that expressed the chitinase transgene and exhibited enhanced Type II resistance in the greenhouse evaluations. These seven transgenic lines were tested under field conditions for percentage FHB severity, percentage visually scabby kernels (VSK), and DON accumulation. Two lines (C8 and C17) that exhibited high chitinase protein levels also showed reduced FHB severity and VSK compared to Bobwhite. One of the lines (C8) also exhibited reduced DON concentration compared with Bobwhite. These results showed that transgenic wheat expressing a barley class II chitinase exhibited enhanced resistance against F. graminearum in greenhouse and field conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In recent years, access to complete genomic sequences, coupled with rapidly accumulating data related to RNA and protein expression patterns, has made it possible to determine comprehensively how genes contribute to complex phenotypes. However, for major crop plants, publicly available, standard platforms for parallel expression analysis have been limited. We report the conception and design of the new publicly available, 22K Barleyl GeneChip probe array, a model for plants without a fully sequenced genome. Array content was derived from worldwide contribution of 350,000 high-quality ESTs from 84 cDNA libraries, in addition to 1,145 barley (Hordeum vulgare) gene sequences from the National Center for Biotechnology Information nonredundant database. Conserved sequences expressed in seedlings of wheat (Triticum aestivum), oat (Avena strigosa), rice (Oryza sativa), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), and maize (Zea mays) were identified that will be valuable in the design of arrays across grasses. To enhance the usability of the data, BarleyBase, a MIAME-compliant, MySQL relational database, serves as a public repository for raw and normalized expression data from the Barleyl GeneChip probe array. Interconnecting links with PlantGDB and Gramene allow BarleyBase users to perform gene predictions using the 21,439 non-redundant Barleyl exemplar sequences or cross-species comparison at the genome level, respectively. We expect that this first generation array will accelerate hypothesis generation and gene discovery in disease defense pathways, responses to abiotic stresses, development, and evolutionary diversity in monocot plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study in which a genetic mosaic analysis was conducted on the Liguleless3-O (Lg3-O) phenotype in the maize plant, to determine the site of Lg3 gene action. Stock generated by combination of Mutator (Mu) suppressible Lg3-Or211 and a1-mum2 alleles in Mu-active background; Somatic loss of Mu activity resulting in anthocyanin-marked clonal sectors expressing Lg3 in leaf.

Hop production utilizes exclusively female plants, whereas male plants only serve to generate novel variation within breeding programs through crossing. Currently, hop lacks a rapid and accurate diagnostic marker to determine whether plants are male or female. Without a diagnostic marker, breeding programs may take 1–2 years to determine the sex of new seedlings. Previous research on sex-linked markers was restricted to specific populations or breeding programs and therefore had limited transferability or suffered from low scalability. A large collection of 765 hop genotypes with known sex phenotypes, genotyping-by-sequencing, and genome-wide association mapping revealed a highly significant marker on the sex chromosome (LOD score = 208.7) that predicted sex within our population with 96.2% accuracy. In this study, we developed a PCR allele competitive extension (PACE) assay for the diagnostic SNP and tested three quick DNA extraction methodologies for rapid, high-throughput genotyping. Additionally, the marker was validated in a separate population of 94 individuals from 15 families from the USDA-ARS hop breeding program in Prosser, WA with 96% accuracy. This diagnostic marker is located in a gene predicted to encode the basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor protein, a family of proteins that have been previously implicated in male sterility in a variety of plant species, which may indicate a role in determining hop sex. The marker is diagnostic, accurate, affordable, and highly scalable and has the potential to improve efficiency in hop breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wheat-barley chromosome addition lines are useful genetic resources for a variety of studies. In this study, transcript accumulation patterns in Betzes barley, Chinese Spring wheat, and Chinese Spring-Betzes chromosome addition lines were examined with the Barleyl Affymetrix GeneChip probe array. Of the 4014 transcripts detected ill Betzes but not in Chinese Spring, 365, 271,265, 323, 194, and 369 were detected ill wheat-barley disomic chromosome addition lines 2(2H), 3(3H), 4(4H), 7(5H), 6(6H), and 1(7H), respectively. Thus, 1787 barley transcripts were detected in a wheat genetic background and, by virtue of tile addition line in which they were detected, were physically mapped to barley chromosomes. We validated and extended our approach to physically map barley genes to the long and short arms of chromosome 6(6H). Our physical map data exhibited a high level of synteny with homologous sequences on the wheat and/or rice syntenous chromosomes, indicating that our barley physical maps are robust. Our results show that barley transcript detection in wheat-barley chromosome addition lines is an efficient approach for large-scale physical mapping of genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), lateral branches called tillers contribute to grain yield and define shoot architecture, but genetic control of tiller number and developmental rate are not well characterized. The primary objectives of this work were to examine relationships between tiller number and other agronomic and morphological traits and identify natural genetic variation associated with tiller number and rate, and related traits. We grew 768 lines from the USDA National Small Grain Collection in the field and collected data over two years for tiller number and rate, and agronomic and morphological traits. Our results confirmed that spike row-type and days to heading are correlated with tiller number, and as much as 28% of tiller number variance was associated with these traits. In addition, negative correlations between tiller number and leaf width and stem diameter were observed, indicating trade-offs between tiller development and other vegetative growth. Thirty-three quantitative trait loci (QTL) were associated with tiller number or rate. Of these, 40% overlapped QTL associated with days to heading and 22% overlapped QTL associated with spike row-type, further supporting that tiller development is associated with these traits. Some QTL associated with tiller number or rate, including the major QTL on chromosome 3H, were not associated with other traits, suggesting that some QTL may be directly related to rate of tiller development or axillary bud number. These results enhance our knowledge of the genetic control of tiller development in barley, which is important for optimizing tiller number and rate for yield improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. vulgare) is cultivated from the equator to the Arctic Circle. The wild progenitor species, Hordeum vulgare ssp. spontaneum, occupies a relatively narrow latitudinal range (~30 - 40° N) primarily at low elevation (, 1,500 m). Adaptation to the range of cultivation has occurred over ~8,000 years. The genetic basis of adaptation is amenable to study through environmental association. An advantage of environmental association in a well-characterized crop is that many loci that contribute to climatic adaptation and abiotic stress tolerance have already been identified. This provides the opportunity to determine if environmental association approaches effectively identify these loci of large effect. Using published genotyping from 7,864 SNPs in 803 barley landraces, we examined allele frequency differentiation across multiple partitions of the data and mixed model associations relative to bioclimatic variables. Using newly generated resequencing data from a subset of these landraces, we tested for linkage disequilibrium (LD) between SNPs queried in genotyping and SNPs in neighboring loci. Six loci previously reported to contribute to adaptive differences in flowering time and abiotic stress in barley and six loci previously identified in other plant species were identified in our analyses. In many cases, patterns of LD are consistent with the causative variant occurring in the immediate vicinity of the queried SNP. The identification of barley orthologs to well-characterized genes may provide a new understanding of the nature of adaptive variation and could permit a more targeted use of potentially adaptive variants in barley breeding and germplasm improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germplasm collections hold valuable allelic diversity for crop improvement and genetic mapping of complex traits. To gain access to the genetic diversity within the USDA National Small Grain Collection (NSGC), we developed the Barley Recombinant Inbred Diverse Germplasm Population (BRIDG6), a six-row spring barley multiparent population (MPP) with 88 cultivated accessions crossed to a common parent (Rasmusson). The parents were randomly selected from a core subset of the NSGC that represents the genetic diversity of landrace and breeding accessions. In total, we generated 6160 F5 recombinant inbred lines (RILs), with an average of 69 and a range of 37–168 RILs per family, that were genotyped with 7773 SNPs, with an average of 3889 SNPs segregating per family. We detected 23 quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with flowering time with five QTL found coincident with previously described flowering time genes. A major QTL was detected near the flowering time gene, HvPpd-H1 which affects photoperiod. Haplotype-based analysis of HvPpd-H1 identified private alleles to families of Asian origin conferring both positive and negative effects, providing the first observation of flowering time-related alleles private to Asian accessions. We evaluated several subsampling strategies to determine the effect of sample size on the power of QTL detection, and found that, for flowering time in barley, a sample size 50 families or 3000 individuals results in the highest power for QTL detection. This MPP will be useful for uncovering large and small effect QTL for traits of interest, and identifying and utilizing valuable alleles from the NSGC for barley improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stem rust was one of the most devastating diseases of barley in North America. Through the deployment of cultivars with the resistance gene Rpg1, losses to stem rust have been minimal over the past 70 yr. However, there exist both domestic (QCCJB) and foreign (TTKSK aka isolate Ug99) pathotypes with virulence for this important gene. To identify new sources of stem rust resistance for barley, we evaluated the Wild Barley Diversity Collection (WBDC) (314 ecogeographically diverse accessions of Hordeum vulgare subsp. spontaneum) for seedling resistance to four pathotypes (TTKSK, QCCJB, MCCFC, and HKHJC) of the wheat stem rust pathogen (Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici, Pgt) and one isolate (92-MN-90) of the rye stem rust pathogen (P. graminis f. sp. secalis, Pgs). Based on a coefficient of infection, the frequency of resistance in the WBDC was low ranging from 0.6% with HKHJC to 19.4% with 92-MN-90. None of the accessions was resistant to all five cultures of P. graminis. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted to map stem rust resistance loci using 50,842 single-nucleotide polymorphic markers generated by genotype-bysequencing and ordered using the new barley reference genome assembly. After proper accounting for genetic relatedness and structure among accessions, 45 quantitative trait loci were identified for resistance to P. graminis across all seven barley chromosomes. Three novel loci associated with resistance to TTKSK, QCCJB, MCCFC, and 92-MN-90 were identified on chromosomes 5H and 7H, and two novel loci associated with resistance to HKHJC were identified on chromosomes 1H and 3H. These novel alleles will enhance the diversity of resistance available for cultivated barley. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mutagenesis is a useful tool in many crop species to induce heritable genetic variability for trait improvement and gene discovery. In this study, forward screening of a soybean fast neutron (FN) mutant population identified an individual that produced seed with nearly twice the amount of sucrose (8.1% on dry matter basis) and less than half the amount of oil (8.5% on dry matter basis) as compared to wild type. Bulked segregant analysis (BSA), comparative genomic hybridization, and genome resequencing were used to associate the seed composition phenotype with a reciprocal translocation between chromosomes 8 and 13. In a backcross population, the translocation perfectly cosegregated with the seed composition phenotype and exhibited non-Mendelian segregation patterns. We hypothesize that the translocation is responsible for the altered seed composition by disrupting a b-ketoacyl-[acyl carrier protein] synthase 1 (KASI) ortholog. KASI is a core fatty acid synthesis enzyme that is involved in the conversion of sucrose into oil in developing seeds. This finding may lead to new research directions for developing soybean cultivars with modified carbohydrate and oil seed composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to access alleles from unadapted germplasm collections is a long-standing problem for geneticists and breeders. Here we developed, characterized, and demonstrated the utility of a wild barley advanced backcross-nested association mapping (ABNAM) population. We developed this population by backcrossing 25 wild barley accessions to the six-rowed malting barley cultivar Rasmusson. The 25 wild barley parents were selected from the 318 accession Wild Barley Diversity Collection (WBDC) to maximize allelic diversity. The resulting 796 BC2F4:6 lines were genotyped with 384 SNP markers, and an additional 4022 SNPs and 263,531 sequence variants were imputed onto the population using 9K iSelect SNP genotypes and exome capture sequence of the parents, respectively. On average, 96% of each wild parent was introgressed into the Rasmusson background, and the population exhibited low population structure. While linkage disequilibrium (LD) decay (r² = 0.2) was lowest in the WBDC (0.36 cM), the AB-NAM (9.2 cM) exhibited more rapid LD decay than comparable advanced backcross (28.6 cM) and recombinant inbred line (32.3 cM) populations. Three qualitative traits: glossy spike, glossy sheath, and black hull color were mapped with high resolution to loci corresponding to known barley mutants for these traits. Additionally, a total of 10 QTL were identified for grain protein content. The combination of low LD, negligible population structure, and high diversity in an adapted background make the AB-NAM an important tool for highresolution gene mapping and discovery of novel allelic variation using wild barley germplasm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barley was introduced to North America _400 yr ago but adaptation to modern production environments is more recent. Comparisons of allele frequencies among growth habits and spike (inflorescence) types in North America indicate that significant genetic differentiation has accumulated in a relatively short evolutionary time span. Allele frequency differentiation is greatest among barley with two-row vs. six-row spikes, followed by spring vs. winter growth habit. Large changes in allele frequency among breeding programs suggest a major contribution of genetic drift and linked selection on genetic variation. Despite this, comparisons of 3613 modern North American cultivated barley breeding lines that differ for spike-type and growth habit permit the discovery of 142 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) outliers putatively linked to targets of selection. For example, SNPs within the Cbf4, Ppd-H1, and Vrn-H1 loci, which have previously been associated with agronomically adaptive phenotypes, are identified as outliers. Analysis of extended haplotype sharing identifies genomic regions shared within and among breeding populations, suggestive of a number of genomic regions subject to recent selection. Finally, we are able to identify recent bouts of gene flow between breeding populations that could point to the sharing of agronomically adaptive variation. These results are supported by pedigrees and breeders' understanding of germplasm sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fast neutron radiation has been used as a mutagen to develop extensive mutant collections. However, the genome-wide structural consequences of fast neutron radiation are not well understood. Here, we examine the genome-wide structural variants observed among 264 soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] plants sampled from a large fast neutron-mutagenized population.While deletion rates were similar to previous reports, surprisingly high rates of segmental duplication were also found throughout the genome. Duplication coverage extended across entire chromosomes and often prevailed at chromosome ends. High-throughput resequencing analysis of selected mutants resolved specific chromosomal events, including the rearrangement junctions for a large deletion, a tandem duplication, and a translocation. Genetic mapping associated a large deletion on chromosome 10 with a quantitative change in seed composition for one mutant. A tandem duplication event, located on chromosome 17 in a second mutant, was found to cosegregate with a short petiole mutant phenotype, and thus may serve as an example of a morphological change attributable to a DNA copy number gain. Overall, this study provides insight into the resilience of the soybean genome, the patterns of structural variation resulting from fast neutron mutagenesis, and the utility of fast neutron-irradiated mutants as a source of novel genetic losses and gains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]