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Regulation Of Arf16-2 By Microrna160 During Soybean Root Nodule Development, Spencer Schreier Jan 2017

Regulation Of Arf16-2 By Microrna160 During Soybean Root Nodule Development, Spencer Schreier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Soybean is an excellent candidate for sustainable agriculture due to its production of nutritious, versatile beans and the ability to form symbiotic organs called root nodules that perform nitrogen fixation. As demand for both yield and sustainable agriculture continue to increase, root nodules offer an attractive alternative to expensive and environmentally harmful nitrogen fertilizers. Understanding root nodule formation may open genetic engineering avenues for optimizing nitrogen fixation performance and transferring the nodule-formation ability to other plants. A major determinant of nodule numbers and quality in soybean is microRNA 160 (miR160), which dictates developmental stage-specific auxin sensitivity by targeting repressor auxin …


Mitigating Risks Of Ochratoxin A Contamination In Oats, Bandana Dhungana Jan 2017

Mitigating Risks Of Ochratoxin A Contamination In Oats, Bandana Dhungana

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a toxic metabolite produced by several species of fungal genera Penicillium and Aspergillus. The major OTA producer in temperate regions (i.e. U.S., Canada, Europe) is Penicillium verrucosum. Oat (Avena sativa), like any other cereal grain, can be contaminated with OTA when storage conditions are favorable for fungal growth. The presence of OTA exceeding the European Union maximum limit of 3 ppb in processed food has been reported in some samples of oat-based breakfast cereals from the US. The use of oat genotypes with limited OTA accumulation would be an effective way to …


Silencing Seed Dormancy Genes To Mitigate Risk Of Transgene Flow To Weedy Rice, Alexander Wireko Kena Jan 2017

Silencing Seed Dormancy Genes To Mitigate Risk Of Transgene Flow To Weedy Rice, Alexander Wireko Kena

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The flow of fitness-enhancing transgenes from genetically modified crops into wild/weed relatives may cause serious ecological and economic consequences. Seed dormancy (SD) is a key adaptive trait that distributes germination over time, resulting in weed persistence in agroecosystems. Thus, silencing major genes controlling SD would reduce the adaptive fitness of weeds. SD-enhancing genes cloned from weedy rice include SD7-1, SD7-2, SD12a, SD12b, and SD12c. The goal of this study was to develop a transgenic mitigation (TM) strategy using SD gene-silencing structures as mitigating factors to reduce the risk of transgene flow to wild/weed populations. TM vector constructs consisted of the …


Interactive Effects Of Cover Crops, Invertebrate Communities And Soil Health In Corn Production Systems, Claire Lacanne Jan 2017

Interactive Effects Of Cover Crops, Invertebrate Communities And Soil Health In Corn Production Systems, Claire Lacanne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The adoption of regenerative farming practices is gaining traction, but the costs and benefits are not often considered on a systems level. Encouraging biodiversity and soil health is the goal of many agricultural practices used in regenerative farming; regenerative systems employ practices which abide by the two main principles of increasing biodiversity and decreasing disturbance, with the goal of encouraging ecosystem functioning to minimize inputs and maximize the productivity of a farm. I examined the management of corn (Zea mays) fields across four states in the Upper Midwest region of the United States. Regenerative systems in this study …


Characterization Of Pyrenophora Tritici-Repentis In Wheat And Rye To Study Tan Spot Susceptibility And Insights Into Its Relationship With Stem Rust Resistance, Sidrat Abdullah Jan 2017

Characterization Of Pyrenophora Tritici-Repentis In Wheat And Rye To Study Tan Spot Susceptibility And Insights Into Its Relationship With Stem Rust Resistance, Sidrat Abdullah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Tan spot, caused by the ascomycete fungus, Pyrenophora tritici-repentis (Ptr), is a major foliar fungal disease of wheat worldwide. To date, Ptr isolates have been grouped into eight races based on the production of three host selective effectors (toxins), Ptr ToxA, ToxB, and ToxC, which are associated with necrosis and chlorosis symptoms on wheat differential lines. In order to see the correlation between stem rust resistance and tan spot susceptibility in 1970’s, to know the pathogen virulence profile, and explore the sources of tan spot resistance, we recovered isolates from wheat and rye and evaluated wheat and rye lines with …