Search

In the present study, we estimated genetic diversity and population structure in 186 accessions of Triticum and Aegilops species using 24 simple sequence repeat markers (SSR). Furthermore, an association analysis was performed for antioxidant activities, including guaiacol peroxidase (GPX), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), peroxidase (POX), catalase (CAT), and dry matter (DM) under two control and drought stress conditions. Our findings showed that drought treatment significantly decreased DM, whereas activities of all antioxidant enzymes were increased compared to the control conditions. The results of correlation analysis indicated that, under drought stress conditions, all biochemical traits had a positive and significant association with each other and with dry matter. In the molecular section, the results of the analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated that the molecular variation within species is more than within them. The dendrogram obtained by cluster analysis showed that grouping the investigated accessions was in accordance with their genomic constitutions. The results of association analysis revealed 8 and 9 significant marker–trait associations (MTA) under control and drought stress conditions, respectively. Among identified MTAs, two associations were simultaneously found in both growing conditions. Moreover, several SSR markers were associated with multiple traits across both conditions. In conclusion, our results could provide worthwhile information regarding marker-assisted selection for the activity of antioxidant enzymes in future breeding programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wild common wheat species represent a significant pool of resistance genes to various environmental stresses. In this study, we examined several physiological traits and the activity of three antioxidant enzymes—namely, catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and ascorbate peroxidase (APX)—as well as the expression patterns of their encoding genes in three neglected Aegilops species with alien genomes (including Ae. triuncialis (UUCC-genome), Ae. neglecta (UUMM-genome) and Ae. umbellulata (UU-genome)) under two control (0 mM NaCl) and salinity (250 mM NaCl) conditions. The results of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed highly significant effects of salinity stress, accessions, and their interaction on most physio-biochemical traits, root and shoot dry biomasses, and antioxidant-related gene expression level. As a result of comparison between Aegilops species and a bread wheat cultivar (cv. Narin as a salt-tolerant reference variety), Ae. triuncialis responded well to salinity stress, maintaining both ionic homeostasis capability and biochemical ability. Moreover, transcriptional data revealed the prominence of Ae. triuncialis over other Aegilops species and salt-tolerant bread wheat [cv. Narin] in terms of the level of expression of antioxidant genes (APX, SOD, and CAT). This result was further supported by a biplot rendered based on principal component analysis (PCA), where this wild relative showed a positive association with most measured traits under salinity stress. Moreover, we speculate that this accession can be subjected to physiological and molecular studies, and that it can provide new insights into the use of the alien genomes in future wheat breeding programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) and start codon targeted (SCoT) markers were used for genetic diversity and relationship analysis of nine Salvia species. Twenty-one and twenty selected ISSR and SCoT primers amplified 350 and 329 loci, respectively, of which all were polymorphic. The obtained average polymorphism information content (ISSR, 0.38; SCoT, 0.40), average band informativeness (ISSR, 16.67; SCoT, 16.45) and resolving power (ISSR, 9.75; SCoT, 12.52) revealed high genetic diversity prevailing among Salvia accessions. Considering the ISSR and SCoT data, the species with a basic chromosome number of x = 8 showed higher values of the percentage polymorphism loci (PPL), the number of observed alleles (Na) and Shannon index (I) than the other species. The partition of clusters in the neighbour-joining dendrogram based on ISSR, SCoT and combined data was similar and grouped all individuals into four clusters. However, the dendrogram generated based on SCoT separated the individuals into sub-clusters in accordance with their species and section. The Mantel test revealed a similar polymorphism distribution pattern between ISSR and SCoT techniques, the correlation coefficient (r) was 0.83, and the results showed that both techniques were effective to assess the genetic diversity. Our results indicated that SCoT markers can be used as a reliable and informative technique for evaluation of genetic diversity and relationships among Salvia species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Targeted nucleases are powerful genomic tools to precisely change the target genome of living cells, controlling functional genes with high exactness. The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats associated protein 9 (CRISPR-Cas9) genome editing system has been identified as one of the most useful biological tools in genetic engineering that is taken from adaptive immune strategies for bacteria. In recent years, this system has made significant progress and it has been widely used in genome editing to create gene knock-ins, knock-outs, and point mutations. This paper summarizes the application of this system in various biological sciences, including medicine, plant science, and animal breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A molecular assessment of genetic diversity was performed on a set of 228 selected accessions belonging to the different Aegilops and Triticum species using CAAT-box derived polymorphism (CBDP) markers. Fifteen CBDP primers generated 141 polymorphic fragments with an average of 9.40 per primer. The average of polymorphic information content and resolving power revealed a high efficiency of CBDP markers in analyzing genetic diversity among different wheat genotypes. The diversity indexes including polymorphic loci percent, number of observed and effective alleles, Shannon's index and gene diversity among different populations were 76.24%, 1.67, 1.49, 0.42 and 0.28, respectively. These essentially coincided with the analysis of molecular variance results, indicating that 86, 68, and 59.46% of genetic variation were found within two Aegilops and Triticum genera and their populations, respectively. Genetic relationships inferred from cluster analysis was matched with STRUCTURE analysis, disclosing the accessions were grouped based on their genomic constitution. Furthermore, these results were confirmed by principal coordinate analysis (PCoA). Taken together, our results suggest that CBDP markers will be useful for genetic diversity assessment in the domesticated and wild relatives of wheat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]