The allelic variations at glutenin loci could significantly affect the bread baking quality, and specific glutenin alleles might be closely associated with greater gluten strength, which, in turn, is related to superior bread baking quality. In this study, allelic variations at Glu-1, Glu-A3 and Glu-B3 loci were evaluated in 222 Korean wheat landraces using gene-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) markers. Ten alleles were identified at Glu-1 loci. Glu-A1c, Glu-B1b, and Glu-D1a or Glu-D1f alleles were predominantly found at the respective loci and their frequencies were 86.5, 87.8 and 96.9 %, respectively. Seven Korean wheat landraces carried the Glu-D1d allele, and only one Korean wheat landrace (IT173162) achieved 10 points for the Glu-1 score. Fifteen alleles were identified at Glu-A3 and Glu-B3 loci; Glu-A3c and Glu-B3d or Glu-B3i alleles were commonly found at the respective loci and their frequencies were 77.0, 33.3 and 37.8 %, respectively. Glu-B3 alleles exhibited the highest genetic diversity than other alleles, while Glu-B1 and Glu-A1 alleles exhibited the lowest genetic diversity than other alleles. Twenty Korean wheat landraces had the Glu-A3d and Glu-B3b, Glu-B3d, Glu-B3f, Glu-B3g or Glu-B3i alleles, which were correlated with superior bread baking quality. Among these wheat lines, two (IT59787 and IT236544) carried the Glu-D1d allele.

The wild species of tomato Solanum pennellii (Lpa) is more tolerant to salt-induced oxidative stress than the cultivated species Solanum lycopersicum (Lem), due to the increase of several antioxidative metabolites and enzymes in this species under stress. The increase of reduced glutathione (GSH), one of these metabolites, in NaCl-treated Lpa, is due at least partly to the elevation of γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase (γ-ECS). Introgression line IL 8–3, which was found to include the Lpa orthologue of the γ-ECS gene (Lpa γ-ECS) in Lem's genetic background, was used to assign this gene to chromosome 8 and to assess its relative contribution to the effective antioxidative response of Lpa to stress. The growth of IL 8–3 and Lem plants responded similarly to NaCl and cadmium (Cd) stresses. In both genotypes, GSH and H2O2 levels responded also similarly to NaCl stress. NaCl and Cd stresses affected similarly the transcription of the γ-ECS gene in leaves of both IL 8–3 and Lpa plants. The effect of buthionine sulfoximine (BSO), a competitive inhibitor of the γ-ECS enzyme, on γ-ECS transcription was also similar in these two genotypes. Taken together, these results suggest that γ-ECS orthologues differ mainly in the regulation of their transcription and not at the post-transcriptional or translational levels. The mutation(s) led to these differences in the response of the two orthologues to the salinity and heavy metal stresses are expected to occur in a cis-regulatory element(s) located relatively close to γ-ECS.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of one cycle of seed regeneration on the conservation of genetic diversity in five Italian ryegrass landraces (Lolium multiflorum Lam.). Regeneration took place outdoors, in a sheltered site surrounded by tall Galician wheat, 20 m from the nearest source of alien pollen. A balanced mixture of seed (the same weight of seed per plant) was made from 90–100 plants harvested within each population. The conservation of allele frequencies was assessed by starch gel electrophoresis. Five enzyme systems from 78–153 plants per population were examined on slices of a single histidine–citrate starch gel. Each regenerated population differed from its original landrace in at least one of the five loci. The mean heterozygosity per locus was 0.45 for original and regenerated populations, and the mean number of alleles per locus was 3.7 and 3.6 for original and regenerated populations, respectively. There was no loss of common alleles (frequency >0.05) in the five regenerated populations compared with the original populations. Only three rare alleles (frequency < 0.05) were lost (e.g. alleles phosphoglucose isomerase (PGI)-2a, PGI-2c* and shikimate dehydrogenase (SDH)-1d in Padrón, Pravia and Luarca, respectively). No regeneration effect (P>0.05) was observed in the six agromorphological characters. However, a significant landrace effect was observed (P < 0.05) in the five agromorphological traits and the regenerated landraces deviated from the original landraces in 20% of direct comparisons. The results suggest that the method of regeneration used was not very suitable for maintaining the genetic integrity of the original landraces.

The objectives of this study were to analyse the maize diversity in the southeast of Coahuila State in Mexico and to identify a representative subset that encompasses the majority of the diversity in the region of study. Seventy-seven native maize populations were first explored and given a race classification followed by a morphological description based on selected quantitative ear traits using 10 representative ears from the collected samples. The differences between maize populations from the adaptation area and the relationships between and within groups in the region of study indicate the usefulness of the ear traits to describe maize diversity. Two main groups were identified that summarized the maize diversity. The first group, the conical ear complex, includes populations adapted to highland altitudes (Conico Norteño Race). The second group, the cylindrical ear complex, represents populations adapted to lowland and intermediate altitudes (Raton and Tuxpeño Norteño). Using the phenogram, a subset of 18 out of the 77 maize populations (23.4%) was defined that accounts for the variation between and within the different race complexes. This subset also includes at least one representative population from each of the less represented types. The final subset, representing a sample of maize diversity, can be used to establish strategies for conservation and use, such as participatory conservation and management, or it can be used to develop breeding techniques for improving the land race populations within the region of study.

The genus Lilium contains a number of ornamental crop species, which are commercially important in many countries. As they are vegetatively propagated, maintaining genetic stability is essential for their efficient conservation. In this study, we investigated the genetic stability of regenerated plants of three cultivars (L. bolanderi ‘Lenora’, L. bolanderi ‘Mount Duckling’ and L. bolanderi ‘Mount Dragon’) and one variety (L. callosum var. flavum) after cryopreservation, compared with fresh (donor) and non-cryopreserved plants using morphological traits and ISSR markers. No differences in morphological parameters including flower, stigma and pollen colour, floral spots, floral direction or polymorphic bands were observed between control (fresh and non-cryopreserved) and cryopreserved plantlets. In addition, based on the resulting UPGMA dendrogram, the four taxa were divided into different clusters. All cryopreserved, non-cryopreserved and fresh plants in each group could be grouped together in a single cluster with more than 97 or 100% similarity. The results suggest a very low level or the absence of genetic variation in terms of morphological and genetic stability among the plants regenerated after cryopreservation.

The characterisation of traditional barley varieties from North Africa is promising with respect to detect traits linked with resilience to drought. Nine Algerian barley varieties comprising the economically relevant local landraces Saïda183 and Tichedrett were genotyped by random amplifying polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and by Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) markers to get insight into their phylogenetic relationship and to compare the efficiency of the two approaches. The SSR markers were chosen such that all chromosomes of barley were represented by at least one marker. In addition, a principal component analysis (PCA) of morpho-agronomical traits was conducted. We found that the phylogeny based on the RAPD markers reflected the geographical distribution of the tested varieties, while the phylogeny based on the SSR markers reflected the pedigree. Among the RAPD markers, the maximal polymorphism information content was obtained for BY14 with a value of 0.82, for the SSR markers, Bmg13 was most informative with a value of 0.60. The similarity matrix used to the construct the phylogenetic tree, inferred a close relationship (Jaccard Index 0.8 based on RAPD markers) between the accessions Fouara and Oued-Athmania occurring in close vicinity. The SSR markers group the autochthonous varieties Saïda183 and Tichedrett together with a Jaccard Index of 0.8. The close phylogenetic relationship between Saïda183 and Tichedrett is also supported by the PCA of morphological and agronomic traits. Our data underpin the diversity of Algerian barley varieties and lend support to the autochthonous origin of these two Algerian landraces.

Fluted pumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis Hook F.) is an underutilized indigenous leafy vegetable with enormous prospects for food security in sub-Saharan Africa. However, relatively little is known about genetic relationships and population structure in the species. In this study, 32 landraces of fluted pumpkin collected across three southern geographical regions in Nigeria were assessed for genetic diversity and population structure using 8 start codon-targeted (SCoT) makers. The polymorphic information content of the SCoT markers ranged from 0.48 in SCoT36 to 0.94 in SCoT28, with an average of 0.77. Hierarchical cluster dendrogram based on Ward's method and principal component analysis grouped the landraces into four clusters without affiliation to provenance. Overall, the mean values of the population genetic diversity parameters – Nei's gene diversity (H) and Shannon's information index (I) showed values of 0.28 ± 0.01 and 0.43 ± 0.02, respectively, implying a narrow genetic base for the landraces. The result was further corroborated by a very close Nei's genetic distance and identity among populations of the landraces. Furthermore, the south-west population exhibited the higher genetic diversity (H = 0.31 ± 0.02 and I = 0.45 ± 0.03). Population structure analysis inferred three subpopulations for the accessions with varying degrees of allelic admixture. An analysis of molecular variance revealed that almost all the genetic variation occurred within (99%) than between (1%) populations. The findings shed light on the genetic diversity of southern Nigerian fluted pumpkin and have significant implications for the characterisation, conservation, exploitation and improvement of the species.

Sensitivity of alfalfa to acidity and aluminium (Al) toxicity in soil is the major limiting factor in broadening of its growing area. Due to lack of Al tolerance in primary alfalfa germplasm, there is a need for transfer of genes for Al tolerance from other Medicago germplasm. One of the identified sources of Al tolerance is M. sativa ssp. caerulea accession PI 464724, which was used as a female parent in our study. The objectives of this study were: (i) obtaining the tetraploid offspring from 2x–4x M. sativa ssp. caerulea – M. sativa ssp. sativa spontaneous crosses, and (ii) development of a breeding strategy for Al/acid tolerance in alfalfa, using M. sativa ssp. caerulea as a source of Al tolerance. Out of eleven fully developed plants, five were morphologically similar to M. sativa ssp. caerulae, while six plants were similar to M. sativa ssp. sativa. All tested plants were fertile, with the pollen viability ranging from 21.45 to 97.09% and the average number of ovules per plant from 8.80 to 12.29. Eleven SSR primer pairs confirmed the hybrid nature of M. sativa ssp. caerulae × M. sativa ssp. sativa offspring. Both the Cluster Analysis and the Principal Coordinates Analysis separated plants in the caerulae type from plants in the sativa type, with one exception. Strategies based on conventional and molecular marker breeding efforts could lead towards development of tolerant alfalfa cultivars and successful crop production on acidic, Al-contaminated soils.

Indigofera oblongifolia Forssk. locally known as ‘Goilia or Jhil’, is an important underutilized leguminous browse shrub for small ruminants in hot arid region of India and traditionally utilized for its medicinal value. Its irregular patchy distribution was observed in depression of rocky areas, bunds of farmer fields and along the depression on the road sides in Jaisalmer and Pali district during collection. Soil samples collected from Pali district have high level of pH and electrical conductivity as compared to Jaisalmer which indicates its suitability to saline areas. It exhibited good plant growth under Jodhpur conditions with respect to plant height (171.5 cm), number of branches (47.9) and canopy diameter (100–210 and 115–180 cm in north-south and east-west direction, respectively) after 12 months of planting in fields under protected condition. Morphological characterization showed the presence of high coefficient of variation (%) in the number of raceme per branch (27.3) followed by raceme length (22.9), pod length (21.0) and least in pod width (8.1). Phytochemical results revealed that leaves of I. oblongifolia contained considerable amounts of total phenols (31.44 mg g−1), flavonoids (29.73 mg g−1) and antioxidant capacity (6.26 FRU g−1) which make its suitability as a browse species to ruminants in rangelands. Along with these finding, its traditional knowledge and utilization are detailed in this paper as to hasten further research on its various aspects for its sustainable utilization in rangelands or in alternate land use systems in the Indian hot arid region.

We successfully generated clear amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) profiles of Anemone coronaria using only a single restriction enzyme (EcoR I). Four primer combinations generated 571 bands in 37 anemone accessions with an average 142.75 bands per primer combination. Polymorphism among the 37 samples was very high (98.15%). This high polymorphism showed that the one-enzyme AFLP method is effective for the assessment of genetic diversity as well as cultivar differentiation of anemone. We observed 26 bands which differentiated between fingerprints derived from leaf and corm DNA of eight plant individuals. However, the low percentage of such bands showed that anemone corms can also be used to evaluate anemone germplasm using AFLP markers.

Starch content is an important trait in barley. To evaluate the genetic diversity and identify molecular markers of starch content in barley, 40 cultivated barley genotypes collected from different regions, including genotypes whose starch content is at either the high or low end of the spectrum (15), were used in this study. All the genotypes were re-sequenced by the double-digest-restriction associated DNA sequencing method, and a total of 299,103 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were obtained. The genotypes were divided into four sub-populations based on FASTSTRUCTURE, principal component analysis and neighbour-joining tree analysis. All four sub-populations had a high linkage disequilibrium, especially group 3, whose members were recently bred for malting in the Jiangsu coastal area. The starch content of the barley lines was evaluated during three growing seasons (2014–2017), and the average values of starch content across the three growing seasons at the low and high ends were 51.5 and 55.0%, respectively. The starch content was affected by population structure, the barley in group 2 had a low starch content, while the barley in group 4 had a high starch content. Twenty-six SNP markers were identified as being significantly associated with starch content (P ⩽ 0.001) based on the average values across the three growing seasons using the mixed linear model method. These SNP markers were located on chromosomes 1H and 4H, and were considered loci of qSC1-1 and qSC4-1, respectively. The major identified QTLs for starch content are helpful for further research on carbohydrates and for barley breeding.

Taq polymerase system is one of the key success factors for genotyping by using semi-random marker types. Start codon targeted (SCoT) and sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) are semi-random markers that amplify more than one target at a time, like in multiplex PCR. Here, we compared the performance of five multiplex PCR kits (QIAGEN®, Thermo Scientific™, New England Biolabs, KAPA Biosystem and iNtRON Biotechnology) and Taq DNA polymerase from Vivantis as a representative common Taq polymerase. The PCR using three SCoT and three SRAP markers was performed in six plants, which were different in genome size, including three monocotyledons (rice, oil palm and onion) and three dicotyledons (holy basil, chilli pepper and eggplant). The overall results demonstrated consistent high performance of the Taq polymerase system with the multiplex PCR kit from KAPA Biosystem. Considered by plant, the multiplex PCR kit from KAPA Biosystem showed the best performance in holy basil, eggplant, oil palm and chilli pepper, whereas in rice, the Taq DNA polymerase from Vivantis generated better results than the KAPA Biosystem. In onion, multiplex PCR kit from Thermo Scientific™ showed the best performance among those tested, even if it did not perform well in the other plans. Different Taq polymerase systems might generate different band patterns, therefore using the same Taq polymerase system within one experimental dataset is recommended. The multiplex PCR kit from KAPA Biosystem is the best starting choice.

Buckwheat (Fagopyrum spp.) is an important crop in the high-altitude regions of the Northwest Indian Himalayas. The agro-climatic heterogeneity of this region offers a great deal of diversity in the agro-morphology of buckwheat species. In this study, a total of 61 accessions of Fagopyrum esculentum and Fagopyrum tataricum were characterized for 17 morphological (8 qualitative and 9 quantitative) traits. Significant differences (P < 0.0001) among all the traits were revealed by one-way analysis of variance. Further, significant phenotypic variability in both qualitative as well as quantitative traits was also observed. Both positive and negative correlations were observed between the traits of agronomic relevance. The principal component analysis (PCA) reveals about 69% variability among the first six components. The accessions were divided into two key clusters with numerous subclusters by considering the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean dendrogram. A cluster of 19 accessions was formed utilizing a PCA scatter plot indicating accessions with maximum values for important quality traits like plant height, leaf blade width, stem colour (red), primary branches, inflorescence length, flower colour (greenish-yellow), seed anthocyanin colour (green), seed shape (ovate) and seed weight. These accessions can be of vital significance for future buckwheat breeding programmes. The findings from the current study will form a favourable base for genetic resource management, improved cultivation and applications of buckwheat at the commercial level in the northwestern Himalayas of India.

Mangrove fan palm is an endemic plant that grows well and has for a long period been related to traditional ceremonies in southern Thailand. It is an endangered plant with a slow growth and is difficult to propagate in mass production. Tissue culture technique can be used to produce a large number of plants within a short time and to preserve in vitro germplasm resulting in the plant not becoming extinct from natural habitats. Thus, the objectives of this research were to study effects of auxins and embryo preparation on somatic embryogenesis. The sterile immature zygotic embryo was cultured on MS medium with different types and concentrations of auxins. The results showed that 1 mg/l dicamba gave the best results in callus induction at 100% and callus diameter at 4.67 mm after 8 weeks of culture. For callus proliferation, callus chopped at 100 times and transferred to 0.1 mg/l dicamba containing oil palm culture medium gave the highest callus diameter at 10.33 mm after 4 weeks of culture and somatic embryos were also produced. Upon transferring somatic embryos to MS medium with 0.2 M sorbitol, a large number of various developmental stages of secondary somatic embryos were induced within 4 weeks. Therefore, the finding of this study could be highlighted that dicamba and chopping callus have an important role to induce callus and somatic embryo. This is the first report achieved on in vitro propagation of this plant and it will be beneficial for genetic conservation and biotechnological applications in the future.

Two aphid-transmitted RNA viruses, broad bean wilt virus 2 (BBWV2) and cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), are the most prevalent viruses in Korean pepper fields and cause chronic damage in pepper production. In this study, we employed a screening system for pathotype-specific resistance of pepper germplasm to BBWV2 and CMV by utilizing infectious cDNA clones of different pathotypes of the viruses (two BBWV2 strains and three CMV strains). We first examined pathogenic characteristics of the BBWV2 and CMV strains in various plant species and their phylogenetic positions in the virus population structures. We then screened 34 commercial pepper cultivars and seven accessions for resistance. While 21 pepper cultivars were resistant to CMV Fny strain, only two cultivars were resistant to CMV P1 strain. We also found only one cultivar partially resistant to BBWV2 RP1 strain. However, all tested commercial pepper cultivars were susceptible to the resistance-breaking CMV strain GTN (CMV-GTN) and BBWV2 severe strain PAP1 (BBWV2-PAP1), suggesting that breeding new cultivars resistant to these virus strains is necessary. Fortunately, we identified several pepper accessions that were resistant or partially resistant to CMV-GTN and one symptomless accession despite systemic infection with BBWV2-PAP1. These genetic resources will be useful in pepper breeding programs to deploy resistance to BBWV2 and CMV.

Foxtail millet (Setaria spp.) is an ancient cereal crop, having a short cropping cycle. Drought tolerance was assessed in this crop at an early growth stage and the extent of genetic diversity was measured between the foxtail millet genotypes, applying DNA markers. Tolerance of 18 foxtail millet genotypes was studied in vitro under four levels of polyethylene glycol (0, 10, 20 and 30% PEG-6000). PEG-6000 decreased final germination percentage and led to a reduction in shoot and root length with different stress levels. The genotypes ISe 869, ISe 1851 and yellow spike show superiority in stress tolerance for germination and the growth of root and shoot traits. They also clustered together in the biplot diagram and dendrogram of the genotypes based on the morphological traits. Marker polymorphism index (PI) was 80.36% and a total of 132 polymorphic alleles (4.00 alleles/locus) were obtained from 33 polymorphic primers. Polymorphic information content (0.54–0.83) was highly informative with an average value of 0.67. A dendrogram distributed the genotypes into five distinct clusters based on simple-sequence repeat (SSR) data, independent of their geographical distribution. A relationship was established between the SSR markers and the genotypes ability to tolerate drought stress. The SSR markers used could contribute to conducting DNA profiling of foxtail millet, and facilitating their use in future breeding programmes for drought tolerance in this crop. Based on water-stress experiment, three most tolerant genotypes: ISe 869, ISe 1851 and yellow spike are recommended to be cultivated under drought conditions around the world.

This study evaluated the morphological diversity of some Nigerian accessions of Bambara groundnut. Field experiments were conducted in Nigeria in two locations and the phenotypic variation of Bambara groundnut accessions evaluated in 3 years (2017–2020) using a randomized complete block design. Twenty-eight quantitative and 10 qualitative traits were observed. Twenty-three out of the 28 quantitative morphological traits showed significant differences. TVSu-589 (28.85) and TVSu-670 (28.57) had the highest plant height; TVSu-572 (121.52), TVSu-271 (113.10) and TVSu-336 (104.15) had the highest 100-seed weight. Genetic variations were also observed in seed colour, terminal leaflet shape, petiole colour and eye pattern. Principal component analysis showed PC1 constituting 23.36% and PC2 constituting 15.76% of the total variation, while the first eight principal components with eigenvalues ≥1 revealed 77.28% of the total variation. Cluster analysis grouped the accessions into four groups. Based on yield data in this study, accessions TVSu-594, TVSu-350, TVSu-336, TVSu-1242, TVSu-129, TVSu-14, TVSu-179, TVSu-2100, TVSu-261 and TVSu-589 were the best for yield and are recommended for further evaluation to improve yield. This study showed that a wide range of diversity exists in Bambara groundnut of Nigerian origin that could be useful for further utilization of genetic resources and improvement.