TropGENE-DB, a multi-tropical crop information system.

TropGENE-DB, is a crop information system created to store genetic, molecular and phenotypic data of the numerous yet poorly documented tropical crop species. The most common data stored in TropGENE-DB are information on genetic resources (agro-morphological data, parentages, allelic diversity), molecular markers, genetic maps, results of quantitative trait loci analyses, data from physical mapping, sequences, genes, as well as the corresponding references. TropGENE-DB is organized on a crop basis with currently three running modules (sugarcane, cocoa and banana), with plans to create additional modules for rice, cotton, oil palm, coconut, rubber tree, pineapple, taro, yam and sorghum.

Construction and characterization of a bacterial artificial chromosome library of banana (Musa acuminata Colla).

A bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library for banana was constructed from leaves of the wild diploid 'Calcutta 4' clone (Musa acuminata subsp. Burmannicoides 2n = 2 x = 22). 'Calcutta 4' is widely used in breeding programs for its resistance to the current major disease of banana and is being used to build a genetic reference map of banana.

Comparative mapping of the wheat 5B short chromosome arm distal region with rice, relative to a crossability locus.

Colinearity between wheat and rice genomes is quite well established at the chromosome level, but less is known at a finer level. We tried to specify these relationships for the wheat 5BS chromosome-arm distal region, where a major locus for crossability was located. By developing AFLP markers, we succeeded to locate this major QTL more precisely.

Ascertaining maternal and paternal lineage within Musa by chloroplast and mitochondrial DNA RFLP analyses.

In banana, the maternal transmission of chloroplast DNA and paternal transmission of the mitochondrial DNA provides an exceptional opportunity for studying the maternal and paternal lineage of clones. In the present study, RFLP combined with hybridization of heterologous mitochondrial and chloroplastic probes have been used to characterize 71 wild accessions and 131 diploid and 103 triploid cultivated clones. In additon to Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana, other species from the four Musa sections were studied to investigate their contribution to the origin of cultivated bananas.