Iranian Journal of Genetics and Plant Breeding
Volume:11 Issue: 2, Oct 2022

Soybean (Glycine max) is one of the most important oilseed crops in the world. However, its cultivation is limited in many areas with water shortage, and is affected by drought. This study investigated the expression of genes involved in drought stress in two soybean cultivars, i.e. Williams (tolerant) and L17 (sensitive) after drought stress and treatment with methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and salicylic acid (SA). In addition, the impact of drought and hormone treatments were validated with morpho-physiological evaluation of these two cultivars. Experiment was conducted in a factorial basis with completely randomized design. The results showed that the expression of basic-leucine zipper (BZIP19), NAM-ATAF1, 2-CUC2 (NAC), dehydration-responsive element-binding (DREB1), and vascular plant one zinc finger protein (VOZ1G) was higher in the resistant cultivar, i.e. Williams. Gene expression was induced after simultaneous application of SA and MeJA in Williams cultivar. According to the morpho-physiological results, plant height and root length, fresh and dry weight of roots and shoots, nodes and number of lateral roots, number of pods and number of seeds per pod, leaf area, and percentage of relative leaf moisture, number of stem nodes and internode distance, pod weight and harvest index were significantly different between the two cultivars. Increase in the expression of VOZ gene, under treatment with SA was more effective on shoot height and nodule formation of Williams than in L17. Results of this investigation should be useful for developing tools for breeding new soybean genotypes with an improved tolerance to drought.

Salinity stress is one of the most important abiotic stresses in the arid and semi-arid areas of the world. To identify superior genotypes of barley with high grain performance and stability under salinity stress conditions, 18 promising genotypes along with two local checks (Mehr cultivar and MBS-97-6 line) were investigated in three saline regions (Yazd, Isfahan, and Birjand) in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 cropping seasons. Based on the results of means comparison, genotypes G19, G17, G1 (Check 1), G20 (Check 2), G4 and G8 genotypes showed the highest grain yield compared to the other genotypes. The results of the GGE biplot analysis indicated that the first two principal components in total and in averaged data of two years, accounted for 49.29% and 21.6%, 60.42% and 25.8% of the total variation of grain yield, respectively. The vertex genotypes were identified as G1, G2, G10, G11, G17, G18, G19 and G20. Isfahan had representativeness ability and was identified as the ideal location for the selection of superior genotypes. On the basis of results, genotypes Rojo/3/LB.Iran/Una8271//Gloria”S”/Com”S”/4/Kavir (G4), Roho / Mazorka // Trompilo /3/ Lignee527/Nk1272 // Jlb70-63 (G20) and Manal / Alanda-01 // 1-BC-0152 /4/ Rojo /3/ LB.Iran / Una8271 // Gloria”S” / Com”S”(G8) were recognized as the closest genotypes to the ideal genotype. Genotypes G4 and G20 were recognized as the best genotypes for cultivation in Yazd and G8 was recognized as the best genotype for cultivation in Isfahan and Birjand.

Salinity is a serious impediment to agricultural production in the world. Development of salt tolerant hybrid varieties using marker aided selection (MAS) is a pioneering strategy to combat salinity stress. Here we used retrotransposon based molecular markers and salinity tolerance related characters in a panel of eighty-four sunflower inbred lines for marker-trait association (MTA) analysis. Characters such as grain yield per plant, leaf relative water content (RWC), K+, Na+ and Cl- concentration in leaf lamina and petiole were measured separately under normal and 8 ds/m salt stress conditions. The impact of salinity was significant on grain yield, RWC, Na+ concentrations in lamina and petiole as well as on K+ to Na+ ratio. To study genomic variability and survey of LTR retrotransposons activity, the lines were fingerprinted with retrotransposon-based DNA markers; IRAP and REMAP. In hierarchical cluster analysis using IRAP+REMAP markers data, the 84 inbred lines were categorized in four main groups, whereas in Bayesian model-based cluster analysis, the lines were assigned into 2 subpopulations (K=2). A mixed linear model was implemented to detect marker–trait associations incorporating membership coefficient of individuals in the subpopulation (Q matrix) and relationship coefficient (kinship matrix) as covariates in the model. In association analysis by using IRAP+REMAP markers; 8 and 12 loci were identified to be significantly linked with the studied characters in normal and salt stress states, respectively. After developing specific primers for identified markers, they could be potentially applied in marker aided selection (MAS) programs to achieve suitable parental lines and also the improvement of traits of interest.

In many crops, androgenesis is one of the most common methods for in vitro haploid induction. The most effective technique in this system is the isolated-microspore culture, in which haploid cells are reprogrammed to follow the sporophytic pathway. But this pathway has been stopped at the globular shape stage of embryogenesis in eggplant, and efforts are still being made to overcome this problem. In this study, the effects of different concentrations of gum arabic, sucrose, and plant growth regulators (6-Benzylaminopurine, BAP, and 1-Naphthaleneacetic acid, NAA) were evaluated on isolated microspore cultures from two cultivars of eggplant. In cultivar Ricarda, the highest number of microspore-derived calli (711.4 per Petri dish) was produced when 2000 mg/l gum arabic, 2% sucrose, 0.5 mg/l BAP, and 0.5 mg/l NAA were used together. By combining 2600 mg/l gum arabic, 2% sucrose, and 0.5 mg/l BAP and NAA, the cultivar Chantale produced the most calli (230.33 per Petri dish; 5.27-fold higher than the control (43.73 per Petri dish). In addition, the results showed that heart-shaped embryos could be produced in eggplant. The culture of microspores of cultivar Ricarda in NLN medium supplemented with 2600 mg/l of gum arabic, 2% sucrose, 0.5 mg/l BAP, and 0.5 mg/l NAA led to the developmental progression of some of the globular structures. In fact, the globular embryos were induced to develop into heart-shaped embryos, which is a promising step forward in the process of eggplant microspore embryogenesis.

This study was performed to investigate the effect of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) elicitor on green fluorescent protein (GFP) and Anti vascular endothelial growth factor (Anti-VEGFR2) proteins accumulation. A factorial experiment based on completely randomized design (CRD) was performed primarily to evaluate the effect of MeJA and days after inoculation on GFP expression in Brassica napus and Nicotiana benthamiana. RT-PCR and qRt-PCR assay was performed for GFP gene transcription confirmation at mRNA level. ELISA was done to investigate effect of the elicitor on GFP and Anti-VEGFR2 accumulation. The optimum treatment combination was then used to check Anti-VEGFR2 accumulation. GFP expression was significantly enhanced using M1D10 combination (the best treatment combination) in the two plants. This increase was greater in Brassica napus than in Nicotiana benthamiana. GFP and Anti-VEGFR2 transcript levels showed no significant differences between the optimized and control treatments in the qRT-PCR experiment, but the quantity of Anti-VEGFR2 protein accumulated in optimized treatments was higher than in control. A simple explanation for the improved accumulation of GFP and Anti-VEGFR2 would be a low ‘sink pressure’ on amino acid pools towards RuBisCO biosynthesis in RuBisCO-depleted leaves, and a resulting increased availability of metabolite and cellular resources for the production of less abundant (e.g., recombinant) proteins. This research showed that MeJA elicitor increased the accumulation of both proteins.

Powdery mildew is one of the most important diseases of cucurbits in the world and Iran. The disease is found in cucumbers, melons, cantaloupes, squash, and watermelons in both farm and greenhouse conditions and causes great damage. Cultivating resistant cultivars or chemical control with fungicides can be used to control this disease. In this study, 28 different genotypes of hull-less seed pumpkin were studied and compared for powdery mildew resistance in potted conditions in a greenhouse. To achieve this, the genotypes in the greenhouse were sprayed with powdery mildew spores, and when signs of powdery mildew appeared through infection on the plants, the severity of the disease was determined by image processing using a program written in MATLAB software. The mean comparison showed that the lowest level of infection was related to lines 11 and 23 and hybrids of 7×16, 2×16, and 2×23. The highest negative general combining ability was related to line 11 and the highest negative specific combining ability was related to hybrids 7×14, 2×16, 2×23, and 11×14. The highest negative heterosis compared to the high parent was related to 11×14, 2×23, and 2×16 hybrids. Due to the significant values obtained for specific combining ability and significant heterosis in hybrids, the role of dominance variance in controlling this trait is prominent, and hybrid production is recommended to improve resistance to powdery mildew.