Genetic analyses of the domestication syndrome have revealed that domestication-related traits typically have a very similar genetic architecture across most crops, being conditioned by a small number of quantitative trait loci (QTL), each with a relatively large effect on the phenotype. To date, the domestication of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) stands as the only counterexample to this pat...

Sunflower is an important oilseed crop, however the genetic transformation of sunflower has been very challenging to date. In the present study, we describe a successful Agrobacterium-mediated transformation approach via somatic embryogenesis from immature zygotic embryos of sunflower. By optimizing the culture medium, we have achieved high efficiency (45.5%) of somatic embryogenesis with MS me...

From late July to early November 1979, 1980, and 1982, red-winged blackbirds were collected in sunflower, field corn, and at two roosts in Cass County, North Dakota. Their espophageal contents were examined, and they were also assessed for stage of molt. Both males and females contained a higher proportion of sunflower in sunflower fields than corn in field corn (P < 0.05). Male redwings consum...

BACKGROUND Regardless of the overall association between diet and acne which cannot be easily ignored, there might be an association between specific nutrients and acne development or improvement. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to assess the effect of dietary intake of sunflower seeds on acne severity and the pattern of acne lesions. PATIENTS AND METHODS In a randomized controlled tri...

1 The University of Georgia, Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics Center for Applied Genetic Technologies, 111 RiverbendRoad 30606 Athens, GA 2 INRA UMR DIAPC, chemin du Mezouls, 34130 Mauguio, France 3 INRA UMR DIAPC, bâtiment 33, 34060 Montpellier cedex 01, France Abstract: Sunflower (2n=17) belongs to the Helianthus genus (Asteraceae). Wild Helianthus species display morphologi...

Enhanced Cd concentrations in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grain produced on saline soils of central Iran have been recently reported. Because wheat bread is a major dietary component for the Iranian people, practical approaches to decrease Cd concentration in wheat grain were investigated. This study investigated the influence of sunflower-wheat vs. cotton-wheat rotations on extractable Cd and...

INTRODUCTION Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L., Asteraceae), currently cultivated for its seeds, is the world’s fourth largest oil-seed crop. World seed production was 25.2 million tonnes (t) during 1995/1996 from approximately 50 million ha of cultivated land. In the US, during 1999, sunflower seed production was 1,971,205 t from 1,438,000 ha, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Se...

Lentz et al. (1) propose that, along with being domesticated in eastern North America (ENA) by 2800 B.C. (2, 3), the sunflower was independently domesticated and widely cultivated in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Archaeological evidence presented, however, falls far short of an adequate supporting argument for their claim. Pre-Columbian contexts in ENA have yielded 3,000 domesticated sunflower ach...

Plasmopara halstedii is an obligate biotrophic oomycete causing downy mildew disease on sunflower, Helianthus annuus, an economically important oil crop. Severe symptoms of the disease (e.g., plant dwarfism, leaf bleaching, sporulation and production of infertile flower) strongly impair seed yield. Pl resistance genes conferring resistance to specific P. halstedii pathotypes were located on sun...