Plants have developed sophisticated systems to adapt to local conditions during evolution, domestication and natural or artificial selection. The selective pressures of these different growing conditions have caused significant genomic divergence within species. The flowering time trait is the most crucial factor because it helps plants to maintain sustainable development. Controlling flowering...

Molecular markers were used for assessing genetic diversity in Finnish six-rowed barley and for mapping and tagging genes affecting traits important in barley breeding. Finnish six-rowed barley germplasm is narrow-based: twenty two released varieties are largely composed of only seven ancestors. The level of diversity in the RAPD markers has remained during barley breeding. Coancestry based on ...

Proteoglycan-induced arthritis (PGIA) is a murine model for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) both in terms of its pathology and its genetics. PGIA can only be induced in susceptible mouse strains and their F(2) progeny. Using the F(2) hybrids resulting from an F(1) intercross of a newly identified susceptible (C3H/HeJCr) and an established resistant (C57BL/6) strain of mouse, our goals were to: 1) ide...

The success of germination, growth and final yield of every crop depends to a large extent on the quality of the seeds used to grow the crop. Seed quality is defined as the viability and vigor attribute of a seed that enables the emergence and establishment of normal seedlings under a wide range of environments. We attempt to dissect the mechanisms involved in the acquisition of seed quality, t...

Angular leaf spot (ALS) and powdery mildew (PWM) are two important fungi diseases causing significant yield losses in common beans. In this study, a new genetic linkage map was constructed using single sequence repeats (SSRs) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), in a segregating population derived from the AND 277 x SEA 5 cross, with 105 recombinant inbred lines. Phenotypic evaluations w...

Heterosis plays a decisive role in maize production worldwide, but its genetic basis remains unclear. In this study, we explored heterosis for ear-weight (EW)-related traits using a North Carolina Experiment III design (Design III) population derived from the elite maize hybrid Zhengdan 958. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis was conducted based on phenotypic data collected from five enviro...

We investigated quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for several leaf chemistry traits in early-generation hybrids between Helianthus annuus and Helianthus petiolaris, the parental species of the ancient diploid hybrid sunflower species Helianthus anomalus, Helianthus deserticola, and Helianthus paradoxus. We grew individuals of a second-generation backcross (BC(2)) toward H. petiolaris under optimum...

Behavioral genetic mapping studies in model organisms predominantly use crosses originating from a single pair of inbred lines to determine the location of alleles that confer genetic variation in the trait of interest, and they often make sweeping generalizations about the genetic architecture of the trait based on these results. A previous study fine mapped mate preference variation between o...

The key to plant survival under NaCl salt stress is maintaining a low Na(+) level or Na(+)/K(+) ratio in the cells. A population of recombinant inbred lines (RILs, F(2:9)) derived from a cross between the salt-tolerant japonica rice variety Jiucaiqing and the salt-sensitive indica variety IR26, was used to determine Na(+) and K(+) concentrations in the roots and shoots under three different NaC...

Maize with high grain protein and oil contents offers great advantages for human food and animal feed. In this study, grain protein contents of 282 and 263 F7:8 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) of 2 crosses were evaluated in 4 environments within and between populations. The RILs were developed from crosses between an inbred high-oil maize line and 2 normal dent inbred maize lines. A total of 16...