Inhibition of gibberellin accumulation by water deficiency promotes fast and long-term 'drought avoidance' responses in tomato.

Plants reduce transpiration to avoid dehydration during drought episodes by stomatal closure and inhibition of canopy growth. Previous studies have suggested that low gibberellin (GA) activity promotes these 'drought avoidance' responses. Using genome editing, molecular, physiological and hormone analyses, we examined if drought regulates GA metabolism in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) guard cells and leaves, and studied how this affects water loss.

KISS ME DEADLY F-box proteins modulate cytokinin responses by targeting the transcription factor TCP14 for degradation.

The F-box proteins KISS ME DEADLY interact with the transcription factor TCP14 and target it for degradation to fine-tune cytokinin responses in leaves and flowers.

Siliplant1 protein precipitates silica in sorghum silica cells.

Silicon is absorbed by plant roots as silicic acid. The acid moves with the transpiration stream to the shoot, and mineralizes as silica. In grasses, leaf epidermal cells called silica cells deposit silica in most of their volume using an unknown biological factor.

Multiple Gibberellin Receptors Contribute to Phenotypic Stability under Changing Environments.

The pleiotropic and complex gibberellin (GA) response relies on targeted proteolysis of DELLA proteins mediated by a GA-activated GIBBERELLIN-INSENSITIVE DWARF1 (GID1) receptor. The tomato () genome encodes for a single DELLA protein, PROCERA (PRO), and three receptors, SlGID1a (GID1a), GID1b1, and GID1b2, that may guide specific GA responses. In this work, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) /CRISPR associated protein 9-derived mutants were generated and their effect on GA responses was studied.

Highly efficient de novo mutant identification in a Sorghum bicolor TILLING population using the ComSeq approach.

Screening large populations for carriers of known or de novo rare single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is required both in Targeting induced local lesions in genomes (TILLING) experiments in plants and in screening of human populations. We previously suggested an approach that combines the mathematical field of compressed sensing with next-generation sequencing to allow such large-scale screening. Based on pooled measurements, this method identifies multiple carriers of heterozygous or homozygous rare alleles while using only a small fraction of resources.

QTLs detected in a multigenerational resource chicken population.

The genetic structure of resource populations affects the power of tests to detect associations between DNA markers and complex traits. Following a chicken interline cross (White Plymouth Rock background), we produced a multigenerational resource population based on 4 pedigreed generations. In this large sibship, 265 parents have been genotyped, and their 3317 progenies have been phenotyped for BW21, BW42, breast meat weight, fat pad weight, and egg production.

Female-specific DNA sequences in the chicken genome.

Eight in silico W-specific sequences from the WASHUC1 chicken genome assembly gave female-specific PCR products using chicken DNA. Some of these fragments gave female-specific products with turkey and peacock DNA. Sequence analysis of these 8 fragments (3077 bp total) failed to detect any polymorphisms among 10 divergent chickens.

Recent duplication of the common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) genome as revealed by analyses of microsatellite loci.

Genome duplications may have played a role in the early stages of vertebrate evolution, near the time of divergence of the lamprey lineage. Additional genome duplication, specifically in ray-finned fish, may have occurred before the divergence of the teleosts. The common carp (Cyprinus carpio) has been considered tetraploid because of its chromosome number (2n = 100) and its high DNA content.