Plant Breeding and Genetics Commons^™

Efficacy Of A Novel Molecular Tool In Silencing Arabidopsis Genes, Chase Purnell, Vibha Srivastava, M. Aydin Akbudak, Scott J. Nicholson

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

RNA interference (RNAi), a pathway capable of silencing genes, has until recently only been achievable in the laboratory by the use of one method, expression of inverted repeat sequences of DNA. These constructs generate a double-stranded RNA, which in turn induce post-transcriptional silencing of other genes that bear sequence homology with the transgene. This approach of targeted gene silencing is extremely useful for studying the function of genes and engineering new traits in both plants and animals. It has recently been discovered that a transgene lacking the polyadenylation signal, called a truncated transgene, is also capable of inducing RNAi in …

Effects Of Reactive Oxygen Species On Life History Traits Of Caenorhabditis Elegans, Samson William Smith

Dissertations and Theses

Evolutionary life history theory predicts that tradeoffs among fitness-related phenotypes will occur as a result of resource limitations and/or physiological constraints. Such tradeoffs are defined as the cost(s) incurred on one component of fitness (e.g., reproduction) by the increased expression of another fitness-related trait (e.g., longevity). Only recently have researchers begun to investigate the mechanistic bases of life history tradeoffs. A recent proposal is that reactive oxygen species (ROS) have a central role in shaping life history traits and tradeoffs. Research on disparate animal taxa has highlighted strong correlations between oxidative stress resistance and fitness-related life history traits, for example. …

Returns To The Introduction Of New Sorghum Cultivars Into The Dairy Industry Of El Salvador, Alexis H. Villacís, John H. Sanders

INTSORMIL Presentations

The driver of agricultural development is the introduction of new technology. Sensitive sorghums have long been a critical component of hillside Central American agriculture providing a reserve or insurance policy when the principal staple of maize falters. The insensitive sorghums have been more recently introduced since the ‘70s for planting in the valleys in the second season. In the last thirty years the introduction of new insensitive cultivars has accelerated initially for poultry and in the previous two decades for dairy production. This growth has been facilitated by strategic investments in research by CENTA and the Ministry of Agriculture.

As …

Characterization And Molecular Analysis Of University Of Arkansas Peach, Prunus Persica (L.) Batsch, Flesh Types And Development Of A Post-Harvest Evaluation Protocol For Arkansas Peach And Nectarine Genotypes, Paul James Sandefur

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study determined the effect of pre-cold storage treatment on P. persica genotypes, developed a protocol for the evaluation of breeding selection and cultivar storage performance, and provided information on post-harvest performance of these individuals. Additionally, characterization of the peach and nectarine flesh types, validation of endopolygalacturonase (endoPG) DNA markers, and investigation of endoPG marker allele combinations associated with the slow-melting-flesh (SMF) trait were done.

Fruit from 30 individuals were harvested at minimum- and well-mature states. After conditioning for 24 h at 20 ◦C, all 2010 fruit were exposed to 2 min of 1 ◦C 100 ppm chlorinated hydro-cooling, a …

Smp1-3 Insight Into Seed Longevity, Taylor Lloyd

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Extensive Clonal Spread And Extreme Longevity In Saw Palmetto, A Foundation Clonal Plant, Mizuki K. Takahashi, Liana M. Horner, Toshiro Kubota, Nathan A. Keller, Warren G. Abrahamson Ii

Faculty Journal Articles

The lack of effective tools have hampered our ability to assess the size, growth and ages of clonal plants. With Serenoa repens (saw palmetto) as a model, we introduce a novel analytical framework that integrates DNA fingerprinting and mathematical modelling to simulate growth and estimate ages of clonal plants. We also demonstrate the application of such life-history information of clonal plants to provide insight into management plans. Serenoa is an ecologically important foundation species in many Southeastern United States ecosystems; yet, many land managers consider Serenoa a troublesome invasive plant. Accordingly, management plans have been developed to reduce or eliminate …

Use Of Natural Variation Reveals Core Genes In The Transcriptome Of Iron-Deficient Arabidopsis Thaliana Roots, Ricardo J. Stein, Brian M. Waters

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Iron (Fe) is an essential mineral micronutrient for plants and animals. Plants respond to Fe deficiency by increasing root uptake capacity. Identification of gene networks for Fe uptake and homeostasis could result in improved crop growth and nutritional value. Previous studies have used microarrays to identify a large number of genes regulated by Fe deficiency in roots of three Arabidopsis ecotypes. However, a large proportion of these genes may be involved in secondary or genotype-influenced responses rather than in a universal role in Fe uptake or homeostasis. Here we show that a small percentage of the Fe deficiency transcriptome of …

A Strawberry Knox Gene Regulates Leaf, Flower And Meristem Architecture, Mithu Chatterjee, Claudia L. Bermudez-Lozano, Maureen A. Clancy, Thomas M. Davis, Kevin M. Folta

Biological Sciences

The KNOTTED-LIKE HOMEODOMAIN (KNOX) genes play a central role in maintenance of the shoot apical meristem. They also contribute to the morphology of simple and compound leaves. In this report we characterize the FaKNOX1 gene from strawberry (Fragaria spp.) and demonstrate its function in trasgenic plants. The FaKNOX1 cDNA was isolated from a cultivated strawberry (F.×ananassa) flower EST library. The sequence is most similar to Class I KNOX genes, and was mapped to linkage group VI of the diploid strawberry genome. Unlike most KNOX genes studied, steady-state transcript levels were highest in flowers and fruits. Transcripts were also detected in …

Rna-Mediated Silencing In Algae: Biological Roles And Tools For Analysis Of Gene Function, Heriberto Cerutti, Xinrong Ma, Joseph Msanne, Timothy Repas

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

Algae are a large group of aquatic, typically photosynthetic, eukaryotes that include species from very diverse phylogenetic lineages, from those similar to land plants to those related to protist parasites. The recent sequencing of several algal genomes has provided insights into the great complexity of these organisms. Genomic information has also emphasized our lack of knowledge of the functions of many predicted genes, as well as the gene regulatory mechanisms in algae. Core components of the machinery for RNA-mediated silencing show widespread distribution among algal lineages, but they also seem to have been lost entirely from several species with relatively …

Muts Homolog1 Is A Nucleoid Protein That Alters Mitochondrial And Plastid Properties And Plant Response To High Light, Ying-Zhi Xu, Maria P. Arrieta-Montiel, Kamaldeep S. Virdi, Wilson B. M. De Paula, Joshua R. Widhalm, Gilles J. Basset, Jaime I. Davila, Thomas Elthon, Christian G. Elowsky, Shirley J. Sato, Thomas E. Clemente, Sally Ann Mackenzie

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

Mitochondrial-plastid interdependence within the plant cell is presumed to be essential, but measurable demonstration of this intimate interaction is difficult. At the level of cellular metabolism, several biosynthetic pathways involve both mitochondrial- and plastid-localized steps. However, at an environmental response level, it is not clear how the two organelles intersect in programmed cellular responses. Here, we provide evidence, using genetic perturbation of the MutS Homolog1 (MSH1) nuclear gene in five plant species, that MSH1 functions within the mitochondrion and plastid to influence organellar genome behavior and plant growth patterns. The mitochondrial form of the protein participates in DNA recombination …

Aronia Mitschurinii: Solving A Horticultural Enigma, Peter J. Leonard

Master's Theses

Aronia (Medik.), commonly known as chokeberry, is a taxonomically misunderstood genus currently experiencing a renaissance in North America as both an ornamental and fruit crop. Three species of chokeberry are commonly accepted as native in North America: A. arbutifolia (L.) Pers. red chokeberry; A. melanocarpa (Michx.) Elliot, black chokeberry; and A. prunifolia (Marshall) Rehder, or purple chokeberry. In Europe a fourth species of human origin is recognized as Aronia mitschurinii (A.K.Skvortsov & Maitul.), or cultivated, black-fruited Aronia. It is widely speculated that this genotype originated in the early 20^th century with Russian pomologist Ivan Michurin, as the product …

The Role Of A Transcription Factor In Regulating Rice Response To Drought Stress, Diana Ha, Liyuan A. Zhang, Jeffery Shen

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)

The current water shortage is a major concern in regard to our global climate change crisis. A decrease in the availability of water will have direct effects on the development of plants. Some crops, such as Oryza sativa, or commonly known as rice, requires an abundant amount of water for adequate growth. With the water shortage crisis, it will become extremely difficult to harvest such crops to meet the world’s food demand. However, many plants have evolved mechanisms for overcoming and tolerating stresses such as drought. My research focuses on studying the proteins involved with these mechanisms. The WRKY superfamily …

Growing Oats In Western Australia For Hay And Grain, Raj Malik, Blakely Paynter, Cindy L. Webster, Amelia Mclarty

Bulletins 4000 -

The oat industry in Western Australia has made phenomenal progress in recent years with the discovery of new markets, the release of several high yielding varieties and the development of agronomic guidelines through rigorous research programs. Oat production in Western Australia for the domestic and export market has significantly increased over the past few years. Oats are now regarded as one of the most profitable cropping enterprises. Oat production is mainly export orientated and thus has a substantial economic influence on the agricultural industry.

In Western Australia, oats are grown for grain, for both milling and feed, and for hay. …

2012 Barley Variety Sowing Guide For Western Australia, Blakely Paynter, Andrea Hills, Harmohinder Dhammu

Bulletins 4000 -

This variety guide is designed as a quick reference to help growers determine which barley variety to grow in their region. It provides domestic and international market feedback, relative grain yield comparisons, disease ratings, agronomic information and herbicide tolerance ratings for all malting barley varieties, the new food variety and selected feed varieties.

Herbicide-Resistant Risk Assessment: Response Of Common Nebraska Weeds To Dicamba Dose, Roberto J. Crespo

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Dicamba-resistant soybeans are being developed to provide an additional herbicide mechanism of action that can be used in soybean, and to provide a tool to help manage or mitigate the evolution of other herbicide-resistant weed populations. The objectives of this thesis were to assess the risk of common Nebraska weeds developing resistance to dicamba, quantify baseline dose-response to dicamba of high-risk weed species, and survey the variability in dicamba dose-response among populations of those species. Twenty-five weed scientists were asked to estimate the risk likelihood of ten weed species evolving resistance to dicamba following the commercialization of dicamba-resistant soybean. Palmer …

Generation Of Transgenic Medicago Sativa Overexpressing "Osmotin-Chitinase" Gene Chimera, Jahnavi Reddy Kancharla

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Medicago is widely used as a forage crop. It is often susceptible to various pathogenic infections and exhibits low growth in drought and extreme climatic conditions. In the current study, a strategy was developed for over-expressing an “Osmotin-Chitinase” gene chimera in transgenic Medicago that could potentially confer resistance to different biotic and abiotic stresses. Seed germination of several cultivars of Medicago (M. sativa ssp. sativa, M. sativa ssp. falcata, M. sativa ssp. caerulea, M. truncatula, and M. Rugosa) was tested to determine the cultivars with good germination rates. Among these, M. sativa ssp. sativa showed an …

Impact Of Student Motivation In Online Learning Activities, Amy Lathrop

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

With the prevalence of online learning in education for both distance and campus-based students, it is critical to determine how to design electronic learning materials that tailor to student motivation and facilitate learning.  Students were asked to complete an online plant breeding activity, motivation survey and an online learning quiz related to the activity.  The control group of students was those who elected not to complete the activity, while the experimental group of students chose to complete the activity.  Motivation scores were compared between control and experiment groups, courses, and gender using independent sample t-tests.  Pearson correlations were also used …

Analysis Of Rice Blast Resistance Genes In The National Small Grains Collection (Nsgc), Moytri Roychowdhury

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Identification of blast resistance genes in rice germplasm is one of the most important activities of rice breeding programs in worldwide. The objective of this research was to characterize two major blast resistance genes, Pi-z and Pi-b, in selected rice germplasm. A simple sequence repeat DNA marker, AP5659-1 linked to the Pi-z gene, and a Pib dominant marker derived from the Pi-b gene were first used to screen a rice core collection consisting of 1700 accessions estimated to represent 70% of the genetic diversity of rice in the US National Small Grains Collection. There were 131 rice germplasm accessions with …

Oral Presentation: Plant Genes And Drought Tolerance, Norris Lam

Festival of Communities: UG Symposium (Posters)

Research has shown that a gene from C3 xerophyte Larrea tridentata (creosote bush), LtWRKY21, is involved in pathways governing creosote bush’s high tolerance to environmental stress. By understanding the way in which creosote bush adapts to drought, crop plants can be engineered to be more drought tolerant during times of imminent global climate change. To study the underlying mechanisms of creosote bush drought response, the LtWRKY21 gene was mobilized into the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana. Chlorophyll degradation, cellular electrolyte leakage, and water content in leaves will serve as indicators of drought tolerance in LtWRKY21-transgenic A. thaliana after treatment in chemically …

Producción Artesanal De Semilla De Sorgo, Máximo Antonio Hernández Valle

INTSORMIL Presentations

Objectivos:

General:

Producir semilla de calidad para que los productores tengan disponibilidad de esta y así incrementar la producción.

Específicos:

Que haya disponibilidad de semilla en el mercado para satisfacer la demanda de siembra

Fomentar el uso de variedades mejoradas con alto potencial de rendimiento de grano

Que nuevos productores se capaciten en la producción artesanal y certificada de semilla.