ALBERT

Description: The shoot apical meristem contains a pool of undifferentiated stem cells and controls initiation of all aerial plant organs. In maize ( Zea mays ), leaves are formed throughout vegetative development; on transition to floral development, the shoot meristem forms the tassel. Due to the regulated balance between stem cell maintenance and organogenesis, the structure and morphology of the shoot meristem are constrained during vegetative development. Previous work identified loci controlling meristem architecture in a recombinant inbred line population. The study presented here expanded on this by investigating shoot apical meristem morphology across a diverse set of maize inbred lines. Crosses of these lines to common parents showed varying phenotypic expression in the F1, with some form of heterosis occasionally observed. An investigation of meristematic growth throughout vegetative development in diverse lines linked the timing of reproductive transition to flowering time. Phenotypic correlations of meristem morphology with adult plant traits showed an association between the meristem and flowering time, leaf shape, and yield traits, revealing links between the control and architecture of undifferentiated and differentiated plant organs. Finally, quantitative trait loci mapping was utilized to map the genetic architecture of these meristem traits in two divergent populations. Control of meristem architecture was mainly population-specific, with 15 total unique loci mapped across the two populations with only one locus identified in both populations.

Description: 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.

Description: 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-by-sequencing 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.

Description: 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 β-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.