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[Objectives] This study aimed to investigate the effect of one 291 bp short interspersed repeated sequence (SINE ) insertion mutation in vertebrae development associated (VRTN) gene on the lib number, carcass and meat quality traits of Dume pigs, so as to lay a foundation for the implementation of marker assisted breeding of rib number of Duroc. [Method] The rib number, carcass and meat quality traits of 48 Duroc pigs were measured according to the standard method, and genotypes of SINE insertion mutation in VRTN were detected by PCR The association between the three genotypes and rib count, carcass and meat quality traits were analyzed. There were three genotypes for the SINE insertion mutation in Duroc pigs, insertion genotype (ins/ins), hetemzygotic genotype (ins/ -) and deletion genotype (- /-). The frequency of ins/ ins was the highest (0. 5217), followed by ins/ - (0. 3696), and the frequency of - I - was the lowest (0. 1087). Duroc pigs with - / - and ins/ - had 14 and lS libs, respectively, while the averaged number of lib of Duroc pigs with ins/ins was 15. 82. The number of ribs of Duroc pigs with ins/ins was 1. 82 higher than those with - I -, and the difference among the three genotypes was significant (P < 0. 01). In addition, carcass length, lean meat rate and teat number of Dume pigs with ins/ ins increased by 4. OS cm, 3. 3 per centages, and 2. 26 teat, respectively, than those of pigs with - I - . The difference between the two genotypes for these traits were significant at the levels of P < 0. 05 or P < 0. 01. Meanwhile, the carcass length, lean meat rate, teat number of Duroc pigs with ins/ ins all increased compared to those of Duroc pigs wit h ins/ -, but the difference between the two genotypes did not reach significant level. The eye area of Duroc pigs wit h ins/ins, ins/ - and - I - were 45. 38, 49. 03, and 50. 02 cm², respectively, and the SINE insertion mutation had a tendency to decrease the eye area, but the difference among the three genotypes did not reach significant level. The SINE Insertion mutations had no effect on slaughter rate, intramuscular fat, and tenderness. [Conclusion] The SINE insertion of VRTN have a multiple effects on economical traits of Duroc pigs, and its breeding values are mostly positive. This study determines the genetic effect of VRTN on Duroc, and provides important reference for the application of this marker in molecular marker selection of pigs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid rice has contributed significantly to the world food security. Breeding of elite high-yield, strong-resistant broad-spectrum restorer line is an important strategy for hybrid rice in commercial breeding programs. Here, we developed three elite brown planthopper (BPH)-resistant wide-spectrum restorer lines by pyramiding big-panicle gene Gn8.1, BPH-resistant genes Bph6 and Bph9, fertility restorer genes Rf3, Rf4, Rf5, and Rf6 through molecular marker assisted selection. Resistance analysis revealed that the newly developed restorer lines showed stronger BPH-resistance than any of the single-gene donor parent Luoyang-6 and Luoyang-9. Moreover, the three new restorer lines had broad spectrum recovery capabilities for Honglian CMS, Wild abortive CMS and two-line GMS sterile lines, and higher grain yields than that of the recurrent parent 9,311 under nature field conditions. Importantly, the hybrid crosses also showed good performance for grain yield and BPH-resistance. Thus, the development of elite BPH-resistant wide-spectrum restorer lines has a promising future for breeding of broad spectrum BPH-resistant high-yield varieties.

Abstract: Variation in substitution rates among evolutionary lineages (among-lineage rate variation or ALRV) has been reported to negatively affect the estimation of phylogenies. When the substitution processes underlying ALRV are modeled inadequately, non-sister taxa with similar substitution rates are estimated incorrectly as sister species due to long-branch attraction. Recent advances in modeling site-specific rate variation (heterotachy) have reduced the impacts of ALRV on phylogeny estimation in several empirical and simulated datasets. However, the addition of parameters to the substitution model reduces power to estimate each parameter correctly, which can also lead to incorrect phylogeny estimation. A potential solution to this problem is to identify the levels of ALRV that negatively impact phylogeny estimation such that molecular markers with non-deleterious levels of ALRV can be identified. To this end, we used analyses of empirical and simulated gene datasets to evaluate whether levels of ALRV identified in a mitochondrial genomic dataset for salamanders negatively impacted phylogeny estimation. We simulated data with and without ALRV, holding all other evolutionary parameters constant, and compared the phylogenetic performance of both simulated and empirical datasets. Overall, we found limited, positive effects of ALRV on phylogeny estimation in this dataset, the majority of which resulted from an increase in substitution rate on short branches. We conclude that ALRV does not always negatively impact phylogeny estimation. Therefore, ALRV can likely be disregarded as a criterion for marker selection in comparable phylogenetic studies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Hybrid rice has contributed significantly to the world food security. Breeding of elite high-yield, strong-resistant broad-spectrum restorer line is an important strategy for hybrid rice in commercial breeding programs. Here, we developed three elite brown planthopper (BPH)-resistant wide-spectrum restorer lines by pyramiding big-panicle gene Gn8.1 , BPH-resistant genes Bph6 and Bph9 , fertility restorer genes Rf3, Rf4, Rf5 , and Rf6 through molecular marker assisted selection. Resistance analysis revealed that the newly developed restorer lines showed stronger BPH-resistance than any of the single-gene donor parent Luoyang-6 and Luoyang-9. Moreover, the three new restorer lines had broad spectrum recovery capabilities for Honglian CMS, Wild abortive CMS and two-line GMS sterile lines, and higher grain yields than that of the recurrent parent 9,311 under nature field conditions. Importantly, the hybrid crosses also showed good performance for grain yield and BPH-resistance. Thus, the development of elite BPH-resistant wide-spectrum restorer lines has a promising future for breeding of broad spectrum BPH-resistant high-yield varieties.