Journal of Plant Molecular Breeding
Volume:11 Issue: 1, Winter and Spring 2023

An entire open reading frame (ORF) encoding for a polypeptide of GTP cyclohydrolase I (GTPCH I) was isolated and cloned from Askari cultivar of grape (Vitis vinifera L.) berries. The 1,338-nucleotide ORF yields a 445-residue amino acid sequence with a calculated molecular mass of 48.65 kDa and a predicted isoelectric point of 6.43. The Vvgtpch I genomic sequence with a length of 4,964 bp contains two exons (169 and 1,169 bp) and an intron (2,676 bp). The gtpch I sequence of grape displayed a strong similarity with gtpch I sequence found in other plants, including peach (72%), cocoa (72%), strawberry (70%), and poplar (69%). Analysis of mRNA secondary structure revealed that the start codon of Vvgtpch I is completely exposed, suggesting a robust binding of the ribosome and efficient translation. Similar to gtpchs I from  diverse sources, molecular modeling uncovered that the monomer of VvGTPCH I adopts an αβ structure, which includes 10 α-helices and 8 β-sheets. Moreover, in silico analysis of the Vvgtpch I gene promoter identified potential cis-acting elements  responsive to environmental signals. This suggests that the Vvgtpch I gene has the capacity to be responsive to various environmental cues, such as heat, heavy metals, light, and plant hormones.

Studies on genetic diversity prove knowledge on genetic variation that can be useful to improve on food security. Variations were found among the thirty-nine robusta coffee accessions with the use of expressed sequence tag (EST)-simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The EST-SSR markers used in this study identified a total number of 15 alleles with an average of 3.0 alleles per locus. Primer CESR02, had the highest polymorphic information content value was of 0.59, the highest genetic diversity value (0.66) and the highest number of alleles (4). The highest percentage polymorphism of 42.86 was detected in primers CESR04 and CESR05. The phylogenetic dendrogram grouped the accessions into main three groups and six subgroups. The most genetic distinct accessions were accession: 3, 26 and 30. The most genetically related accessions accounted for 43.59% and the most distinct accession recorded 2.56%. For the Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA), the least genetic similar accessions accounted for 20.51%, while 28.21% of the accessions were genetically similar, representing the highest grouping. The results of this study clearly demonstrated that EST-SSR markers could be utilized to identify and categorize coffee accessions proper understand the genetic diversity among robusta coffee accessions for further improvement and preservation.

The aim of this study was to conduct a comparative analysis of protein-predicted sequences within the omega-3 fatty acid desaturase (FAD) gene family across various oilseed crops, such as cotton, soybean, rapeseed, and corn. Twenty-five omega-3 FAD genes were distinguished by the removal of similar sequences. Phylogenetic analysis of the omega-3 FAD gene family was detected. Omega-3 FAD gene information, and physical parameters including the number of amino acids, chromosome locations, exon count and etc. were obtained. The results showed that the average length of the proteins encoded by the omega-3 fatty acid desaturase proteins was 388.58 amino acid. The molecular weights of these proteins ranged from 22.2 to 51.3 kDa. The phylogenetic tree divided the omega-3 FAD proteins into five clades. Clade 2 comprises the smallest number of omega-3 fatty acid desaturase gene members, whereas clade 1 encompasses the highest number of members. We identified five pairs of orthologous genes among the omega-3 FAD genes and identified a total of twenty distinct conserved motifs. Four of these motifs were associated with encoding the FAD domain, while an additional four were related to the DUF3474 domain. Undoubtedly, characterizing these FADs could offer valuable candidate genes for enhancing new oilseed varieties.

Rice is the most important staple food in the world. Bacterial leaf blight of rice, caused by Xanthamonos oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), is a highly destructive and widespread disease. Chemical management approach to control this disease appears ineffective. In this experiment, the effects of three treatments of salicylic acid, potassium phosphite, and chitosan on susceptible rice plants inoculated with the bacteria were investigated  to assess the induction of resistance and activity of antioxidant enzymes including catalase (CAT), guaiacol peroxidase (GPX) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) during four days. The results showed that the highest and lowest activity of CAT was recorded in the chitosan and salicylic acid treatment, respectively. The maximum amount of catalase activity was 72 hours after inoculation.  Comparison of GPX and SOD enzyme activities at different sampling times  revealed that these enzymes reached their highest level at 48 and 72 hours after inoculation across all treatments, respectively. However, among different treatments, the highest activity of these enzymes was observed in plants infected with bacteria under potassium phosphite treatment. The findings show that potassium phosphite increases the activity of plant defense enzymes against the pathogen,  ultimately  reducing the symptoms of the disease.

This study aimed to assess the efficacy of silver nitrate and calcium phosphate in inducing chromosome elimination and promoting haploid wheat generation in the context of wheat-maize crosses. The experiment explored the impact of various treatments, including non-use (control) and the utilization of silver nitrate (3gr/l) combined with calcium phosphate (0.1gr/l). Additionally, different durations of treatments post-pollination, spanning 48 and 72 hours, were considered. The study evaluated key characteristics such a number florets, number as well as the quantity and percentage of successful seed formations. The findings underscored significant distinctions among the treatments, achieving a level of significance of 1%. The use of silver nitrate in conjunctionwith calcium phosphate for wheat tillers demonstrated an increased propensity for haploid embryo formationSpecifically, maintaining wheat tillers in a solution of silver nitrate and calcium phosphate for 72 and 48 hours, in comparison to the control group, resulted in haploid embryo formations with proportions of 12.53%, 5.60%, and 3.82%, respectively. These results indicate that extended exposure to the silver nitrate-calcium phosphate treatmentenhances the formation of haploid embryos.

Magnesium transporter (MGT) genes play a critical role in plant growth, development, and stress responses. These genes involve Mg uptake, transport, and distribution within cells and organs. In this study, 48 MGT family members were screened from the soybean genome, and three subfamilies, including MRS2-like (18 members), CorA (3 members), and NIPA (22 members). The length of soybean MGTs ranged from 160 amino acids (aa) (GLYMA_06G214500) to 555 aa (GLYMA_15G125900). The results revealed that NIPA subfamily proteins have more genetic distance than MRS2-like and CorA proteins. In addition, the NIPA subfamily members showed a high variation in physiochemical properties such as theoretical isoelectric point (pI), grand average of hydropathicity (GRAVY), and instability index. All NIPAs were identified as hydrophobic proteins, while the MRS2-like and CorA members were predicted as hydrophilic. Moreover, the instability index revealed that NIPA members are more stable, while more MRS2-like and CorA proteins are predicted to be unstable.  Additionally,, several duplication events were recognized among MGT family members, and all duplicated genes have been created through segmental duplication. The expression profile of soybean MGT genes showed significant differences in expression levels across various s. These results confirm that MGTs’ widespread distribution across organs,  regulating magnesium homeostasis.

In this study molecular markers associated with morpho-physiological traits were identified using 14 AFLP primer combinations and 32 SSRs primer pairs across a cohort of 148 barley cultivars employing the association mapping approach. Phenotypic analysis was carried out using an alpha-lattice design with five incomplete blocks replicated twice under normal and salinity stress conditions (EC = 12 dS m-1) in two growing seasons. Population genetic structure was divided into two subpopulations (K = 2). In the present association panel, the mean of D´and r2, indicators for linkage disequilibrium (LD) were estimated at 0.25 and 0.02, respectively. The mixed linear model identified 194 significant marker-trait associations for nine studied traits under normal and salinity stress conditions. Several quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were stable for plant height, number of grains per spike, grain weight per spike, and leaf proline content traits under each of the environmental conditions, and termed stable QTLs. In addition, some stable QTLs were common to several traits and thereby enable barley breeder to undertake a concurrent selection of multiple traits to develop high-yielding cultivars. The identified markers could be useful in the implementation of marker-assisted selection in barley to improve the efficiency of selecting genotypes for salinity tolerance.