مجله پژوهش های ژنتیک گیاهی
سال نهم شماره 1 (بهار و تابستان 1401)

have been bred with altered flower color using genetic engineering approaches. One of the most effective applications is the reduction of flower pigments by suppression of involved enzymes in their biosynthesis pathways. RNA interference (RNAi) has provided an effective tool for the knock down of genes involved in the production of flower pigments. In this study, a chi-RNAi construct was designed for chalcone isomerase (chi) gene to transform Petunia plants. Transgenic lines in one phenotype showed 5.6 fold reduction in chi expression in comparison to the control. Chalcone and naringenin were also extracted and quantified. A 24% reduction in naringenin content was obvious in all transgenic lines. Generally, the results of this research showed that RNAi technology can be used as an efficient method for silencing the flower pigments in petunia. In addition, the chalcone isomerase gene was identified as one of the effective genes in anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway in Petunia plants which is involved in the production of color in these plants; hence, chi gene silencing resulted in clear phenotypic alterations in this plant.

In order to identify loci controlling seedling morpho-physiologic characteristics in 88 bread wheat cultivars, a greenhouse experiment based on simple alpha lattice was conducted under both normal and 120 mM (12 ds/m) salt stress condition of the Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University in 2020-2021 cropping season. Chlorophyll a, b and carotenoid content, proline, plant fresh and dry weight, plant height and leaf relative water content (RWC), Na+, K+ and K+/Na+ concentrations were measured. After genotyping by sequencing with Ion Torrent technology and removal of SNPs with more than 20% of missing data and minor allele frequency less than 5%, a total of 5869 SNP markers were identified. Based on association mapping with the mixed linear model (MLM) method, a total of 25 marker-trait associations were detected under normal conditions. The A and D genomes had the highest and lowest number of significant marker-trait associations (MTAs). Among the studied traits under normal conditions, chlorophyll a had the highest number of MTAs on 1A, 3B, 3D, 5B, 7A chromosomes with eight MTAs. A total of 21 MTAs were identified under salt stress conditions which the genome B and D had the highest and lowest number of MTAs, respectively. Five MTAs were identified for plant fresh weight, which were located on chromosomes 4A and 6B. The results of this study provide valuable information about the loci associated with the studied traits, which can be used in marker assisted selection in wheat breeding programs after confirmation in biparental populations and additional experiments.

Hairy and adventitious roots are efficient systems for expressing recombinant proteins. In the present study, the amount of DrsB1-CBDAvr4 recombinant protein in hairy and adventitious root systems was compared. To this end, the effect of different factors on the optimization of culture conditions to obtain adventitious and hairy roots was evaluated in three separate experiments by assessment of biomass production in T1 transgenic plants expressing DrsB1-CBDAvr4 recombinant protein. The efficacy of Agrobacterium rhizogenesis in producing hairy roots was ensured using rolC gene specific primers. The insertion of DrsB1-CBDAvr4 recombinant peptide transgene in the genome of hairy and adventitious roots was confirmed by PCR analysis. Also, the level of DrsB1-CBDAvr4 protein was measured in hairy and adventitious roots by ELISA analysis. Analysis of the variance of data showed that the highest number of roots and the longest roots were obtained in MS media supplemented with 1 mg/L NAA and 0.5 mg/L IBA. The results of adventitious root biomass showed that liquid MS medium containing 1 mg/L of NAA hormone had a significant effect (P <0.01) on biomass production. More biomass was obtained in MS medium supplemented with 1mg/L NAA, whereas a lower fresh and dry weight was obtained in a 1/4 MS medium with no NAA. The results also showed that ATCC15834 strain with MS media supplemented with 3% sucrose, 10 minutes inoculation time was high efficiency to induce hairy roots in tobacco plants. The results of ELISA analysis showed that clones obtained from both roots showed a significant difference in terms of total protein content. The amount of recombinant protein from hairy roots was much higher than that of adventitious roots.

Transgenic plants and their products are being developed day by day due to their improved characteristics, and it is necessary to evaluate the safety of these plants before releasing them. Hence, the importance of the issue of biosafety of transgenic plants and the use of their products has led the regulatory agencies to create some laws called substantial equivalence. based on that, the essential nutrients of transgenic plants are examined and compared with the control. The present study aimed to compare the transgenic potato line F (salinity-resistant) with non-transgenic Agria cultivar plants. The salt resistant potato line was produced by transferring Arabidopsis SOS3 gene to potato (Agria variety) and its resistance was confirmed. First, the presence of AtSOS3 gene in F-line plants was confirmed and then the substantial equivalent experiments were performed by comparing the production of proline, soluble sugars, carotenoids and chlorophylls a and b, the relative expression of Catalase1 (CAT1) and AtSOS3 gene between F and non-transgenic WT Agria plants. Based on evaluations of physiological traits and some metabolites (proline content, soluble sugars, carotenoids and chlorophylls a and b) and morphological traits (plant height, dry and fresh weight of plant) between line F and WT, no significant difference was observed. The number of microbiome colonies around the root in the transgenic F and non-transgenic WT plants was a non-significant difference, which indicates that the transgenic line has no threatening effects on the environment and human pathogenicity. The relative expression of AtSOS3 and Catalase1 genes in line F had higher values than WT. The reason for such increase in the expression of Catalase1 is the activation of plant defense mechanisms against stress. Finally, the results of the evaluations proved the equality of line F and WT

This research was carried out to estimate the genetic variance components for sunflower fatty acids in two separate optimum and drought stressed conditions in Karaj during 2020 and 2021 growing seasons. The plant materials consisted of 12 hybrids derived from crossing of four restorer lines by three cytoplasmic male sterile lines (Testers) that were evaluated in two separate experiments as randomized complete block design with three replications. Drought stress made a reduction in oil yield (34 percent), oil content (six percent), stearic acid (4.7 percent) and oleic acid (10.6 percent) and an increase in palmitic acid (12 percent) and linoleic acid (2.8 percent). Line × tester interaction effect had a major role in explanation of the variance of the hybrids in terms of fatty acid content in both conditions, indicating the critical role of non-additive effects in genetic control of these traits. Under optimum irrigation, oil yield, oil content and stearic acid content were under control of both additive and dominant gene action and palmitic, oleic and linoleic acids were under control of dominant gene action. Under drought stress, except oil content which was under control of additive effects, all the other traits were under control of dominant gene action. According to the results of this study, fatty acid composition of sunflower was under control of non-additive genetic effects and the crossing-based methods and hybrid breeding could be used for improvement of sunflower in terms of fatty acid composition.

Salinity stress falls into the major environmental factors that limit the production of various crops, including wheat. An effective approach to reducing the impacts of stress is the production of new salinity-tolerant cultivars. Accordingly, identifying effective genes and molecular mechanisms responsible for salinity tolerance is an essential step for breeding programs. In this investigation, a population of F12 recombinant inbred lines (RIL) comprising 186 genotypes was studied to identify the loci that control some physiological traits and element concentrations in the wheat seedling stage under salinity stress. Totally, 12 quantitative traits loci (QTLs) were identified for wet weight, dry weight, length, and sodium and potassium contents using the composite interval mapping (CIM) analysis. Most of the identified QTLs were located on chromosomes B and D. A gene ontology (GO) analysis specified candidate genes in QTL regions. However, it is noteworthy that candidate genes need confirmation using marker-assisted identification. The prioritization of genes resulted in determining 3486 candidate genes in 19 GO phrases (including eight biological processes). These genes are involved in the processes of glutathione metabolism, L-phenylalanine catabolism, cytoplasmic translation, auxin-activated signaling pathway, transcriptional regulation, DNA-patterning, protoporphyrinogen IX, cell wall organization and genesis, xyloglucan tRNA metabolism, protein glycosylation, pigment biosynthesis, etc. GO may be introduced for identifying novel CGs in which the associated QTL is responsible for complicated traits.

Genetic diversity is key to breeding programs and increasing selection efficiency. In this study, 19 promising advanced lines (F7 generation) along with two cultivars, Dalgan and, RGS003 were evaluated in a randomized complete block design with three replications in three experimental field stations (Gorgan, Sari and, Zabol) during the 2020–2021 growing season. The highest phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variations was found for number of lateral branches and number of pods per plant, respectively. The highest broad sense heritability was estimated for days to end of flowering, and days to start of flowering and the lowest broad sense heritability was estimated for the plant height. The genotypes G16, G18, G15, G1, G2, G5, and G20 with a higher SIIG values as well as a higher seed yield above average were introduced as superior genotypes with respect to yield and other agronomic traits. Therefore, these genotypes can be used for further testing, including adaptation tests. Also, the results of factor analysis and genetic correlation coefficients indicated a positive relationship between number of lateral branches, number of pods per plant and number of seeds per pod with seed yield and seed yield. Generally, it can be concluded that number of lateral branches, number of pods per plant and number of seeds per pod traits could be used as the appropriate criteria to select for increasing seed yield in rapeseed breeding programs.

Sesame is an important crop plant for harsh environmental conditions because it is relatively resistance to drought stress. Evaluation of different genotypes in different climate condition plays a fundamental role in selection of the best genotypes before the commercial release of a variety and helping in identify plant traits that should be monitored during breeding experiments. In the present study, 10 promising lines obtained from the preliminary yield test were investigated to evaluate the yield compatibility along with 6 local cultivars in a randomized complete block design experiment with three replications in two cropping years (2018 and 2019) in Dashtestan climate condition in Bushehr province. During the growing season, phenology traits, grain yield components and grain yield were measured. Based on the results of ANOVA, statistically significant difference was observed between different genotypes for plant height, height of the first sub branch, height of the first capsule, number of sub branches, number of capsules per plant, length of capsule, length of capsule bearing zone, number of seeds in capsule and grain yield. Based on the mean comparison and biplot analysis the genotype 12 (Local Dashtestan), 2 (SES97-103), 7 (SES97-110) and 15 (Local Jiroft), were identified as superior genotypes for grain yield. Genotype 5 (SES97-105) and genotypes 14 (SES97-124) with 104.5 days and 4 (Local Darab1) with 111 showed the highest and lowest number of days to maturity, respectively. First capsule height showed the highest positive and significant phenotype (0.56) and genetic (0.78) correlation with grain yield. Days to the end of flowering and days to physiological maturity traits showed a negative genetic correlation with yield. Cluster analysis separated 16 sesame genotypes into four separate groups. Based on regression analysis, the height of the first capsule was identified as the most sensitive trait in predicting the yield of sesame genotypes in Dashtestan region in Bushehr province, which seems it can be considered during breeding programs.

Henbane has a high medicinal value due to the presence of hyoscyamine and scopolamine alkaloids. Improving the quality and quantity of henbane alkaloids using modern breeding methods requires evaluating the genetic diversity. The genetic diversity of henbane has been investigated using morphological, biochemical and molecular markers in several studies and the superiority of molecular markers over other markers has been proven. To this end, in 2018, the genetic diversity of 96 henbane genotypes collected from the habitats of northwest Iran was investigated using IRAP and REMAP molecular markers. For IRAP markers, out of 36 possible combinations obtained from eight LTR primers, seven combinations had a fine and scalable amplification. In the REMAP technique, the combination of 11 ISSR primers with eight LTR primers was used, and 12 combinations could be scored out of 88 possible combinations. The average amount of polymorphic information for IRAP and REMAP markers was 0.30 and 0.32, respectively, and the average marker index for these two markers was estimated as 2.59 and 2.47. Based on these criteria, REMAP marker was more efficient than IRAP in estimating the genetic diversity of henbane. In the analysis of molecular variance using IRAP and REMAP markers, intra-population variability was estimated to be higher than inter-population, which indicates the high diversity of these populations in northwestern Iran. Cluster analysis based on IRAP marker failed to separate species and populations, but REMAP marker was able to separate H. pusillus and H. reticulatus species to a high degree. A high shannon index in this research suggests that IRAP and REMAP retrotransposon markers resulted in a high genetic diversity within henbane populations with a high insertion in the genome of henbane populations.

Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) has a high genetic variation in Iran and there are many landraces of this crop in Iran. In the present study, 15 superior genotypes of eggplant which were selected from Minab landraces accompanying two superior mother landraces (totally 17 lines) were studied for two successive years in three regions of Iran including Minab, Karaj and Jiroft. The experiment was conducted in Randomized complete block design with three replications. Finally, total yield of both years was measured and the combined analysis was done and the best line(s) for different climates were introduced using evaluation the stability of the lines via AMMI and GGE biplot procedures. Based on the results of means comparison of yield in the studied lines in each region from average of two years, GHE12 line in Minab region, SA13 line in Jiroft region and AM4, SA15 and SA5 lines in Karaj region have higher fruit yield than the other lines. Based on the results of yield comparison of the examined genotypes in each region from the average of two years of testing, GHE12 genotype in Minab region, SA13 genotype in Jiroft region and AM4, SA15 and SA5 genotypes in Karaj region had acceptable yield compared to other genotypes. However, according to the results of special adaptability and stability analysis, Y genotype for Minab region, SA13 genotype for Jiroft region and AM4 genotype for Karaj region are recommended