Predicted Genetic Gains from Targeted Recombination in Elite Biparental Maize Populations.

Targeted recombination is the ability to induce or select for specific recombination points on chromosomes. A first study with the intermated B73 × Mo17 maize ( L.) population showed that targeted recombination doubles the predicted gains for yield and other agronomic traits.

Small ad hoc versus large general training populations for genomewide selection in maize biparental crosses.

For genomewide selection in each biparental population, it is better to use a smaller ad hoc training population than a single, large training population. In genomewide selection, different types of training populations can be used for a biparental population made from homozygous parents (A and B). Our objective was to determine whether the response to selection (R) and predictive ability (r) in an A/B population are higher with a large training population that is used for all biparental crosses, or with a smaller ad hoc training population highly related to the A/B population.

Ascertainment bias from imputation methods evaluation in wheat.

Background: Whole-genome genotyping techniques like Genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) are being used for genetic studies such as Genome-Wide Association (GWAS) and Genomewide Selection (GS), where different strategies for imputation have been developed. Nevertheless, imputation error may lead to poor performance (i.e.

Evaluation of in-house ELISA using Trypanosoma cruzi lysate and recombinant antigens for diagnosis of Chagas disease and discrimination of its clinical forms.

The aim of this work was to investigate the potential usefulness of Trypanosoma cruzi lysate, recombinant protein JL7, and peptides P013, R13, JL18, JL19, and P0β as serological markers for human Chagas disease. We analyzed 228 sera from Brazilian Chagas disease patients classified into four clinical groups and 108 from non-chagasic patients. We defined the diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, and Kappa index measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

Trypanosoma cruzi DNA in cardiac lesions of Argentinean patients with end-stage chronic chagas heart disease.

The extent of inflammation, fibrosis, and progression of chronic Chagas heart disease (cChHD) was associated with persistence of parasite DNA in cardiac lesions of necropsies or explants from Argentinean cChHD patients. A Trypanosoma cruzi-based polymerase chain reaction showed a positive result in 1) 15% of cardiac sections with less than 10 mononuclear inflammatory cells/high-power field (440x) (MNC/HPF), 89% with 10-19 MNC/HPF, and 100% with more than 20 MNC/HPF (P < 0.0001); 2) 33% with less than 10% fibrosis, 79% with 10-19% fibrosis, and 100% with more than 20% fibrosis (P < 0.