An improved assembly of the pearl millet reference genome using Oxford Nanopore long reads and optical mapping.

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.)) R. Br.

Genomic footprints of selection in early-and late-flowering pearl millet landraces.

Pearl millet is among the top three-cereal production in one of the most climate vulnerable regions, sub-Saharan Africa. Its Sahelian origin makes it adapted to grow in poor sandy soils under low soil water regimes. Pearl millet is thus considered today as one of the most interesting crops to face the global warming.

Transferability, development of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers and application to the analysis of genetic diversity and population structure of the African fan palm (Borassus aethiopum Mart.) in Benin.

Background: In Sub-Saharan Africa, Borassus aethiopum Mart. (African fan palm) is an important non-timber forest product-providing palm that faces multiple anthropogenic threats to its genetic diversity. However, this species is so far under-studied, which prevents its sustainable development as a resource.

GWAS unveils features between early- and late-flowering pearl millets.

Background: Pearl millet, a nutritious food for around 100 million people in Africa and India, displays extensive genetic diversity and a high degree of admixture with wild relatives. Two major morphotypes can be distinguished in Senegal: early-flowering Souna and late-flowering Sanio. Phenotypic variabilities related to flowering time play an important role in the adaptation of pearl millet to climate variability.

Abandonment of pearl millet cropping and homogenization of its diversity over a 40 year period in Senegal.

Cultivated diversity is considered an insurance against major climatic variability. However, since the 1980s, several studies have shown that climate variability and agricultural changes may already have locally eroded crop genetic diversity. We studied pearl millet diversity in Senegal through a comparison of pearl millet landraces collected 40 years apart.

Fonio millet genome unlocks African orphan crop diversity for agriculture in a changing climate.

Sustainable food production in the context of climate change necessitates diversification of agriculture and a more efficient utilization of plant genetic resources. Fonio millet (Digitaria exilis) is an orphan African cereal crop with a great potential for dryland agriculture. Here, we establish high-quality genomic resources to facilitate fonio improvement through molecular breeding.

Microsatellite markers development for Indonesian nutmeg (Myristica fragrans Houtt.) and transferability to other Myristicaceae spp.

Myristica fragrans (Myristicaceae) is a tropical evergreen tree that yields the two famous spices: nutmeg and mace. Despite its socio-economic importance, the spatial distribution of its genetic diversity is barely documented. In this aim, 48 nuclear microsatellite markers were isolated of which 14 were polymorphic in M.

New microsatellite markers for Dacryodes edulis (Burseraceae), an indigenous fruit tree species from Central Africa.

Microsatellites were designed and characterized in the African fruit tree species Dacryodes edulis (Burseraceae). The fruits are commercialized throughout Central Africa and the species is present in forested environments as well as cultivated systems. The high variability of these markers makes them suitable to investigate the structure of genetic diversity in this important food tree species from Central Africa.

Human management and hybridization shape treegourd fruits in the Brazilian Amazon Basin.

Local people's perceptions of cultivated and wild agrobiodiversity, as well as their management of hybridization are still understudied in Amazonia. Here we analyze domesticated treegourd (), whose versatile fruits have technological, symbolic, and medicinal uses. A wild relative () of the cultivated species grows spontaneously in Amazonian flooded forests.

New Genetic Insights into Pearl Millet Diversity As Revealed by Characterization of Early- and Late-Flowering Landraces from Senegal.

Pearl millet ( (L.) R. Br.

Structure of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) diversity in West Africa covaries with a climatic gradient.

Sub-Saharan agriculture has been identified as vulnerable to ongoing climate change. Adaptation of agriculture has been suggested as a way to maintain productivity. Better knowledge of intra-specific diversity of varieties is prerequisites for the successful management of such adaptation.

Myosin XI is associated with fitness and adaptation to aridity in wild pearl millet.

Phenotypic changes in plants can be observed along many environmental gradients and are determined by both environmental and genetic factors. The identification of alleles associated with phenotypic variations is a rapidly developing area of research. We studied the genetic basis of phenotypic variations in 11 populations of wild pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) on two North-South aridity gradients, one in Niger and one in Mali.

Sterile inflammation of endothelial cell-derived apoptotic bodies is mediated by interleukin-1α.

Sterile inflammation resulting from cell death is due to the release of cell contents normally inactive and sequestered within the cell; fragments of cell membranes from dying cells also contribute to sterile inflammation. Endothelial cells undergoing stress-induced apoptosis release membrane microparticles, which become vehicles for proinflammatory signals. Here, we show that stress-activated endothelial cells release two distinct populations of particles: One population consists of membrane microparticles (<1 μm, annexin V positive without DNA and no histones) and another larger (1-3 μm) apoptotic body-like particles containing nuclear fragments and histones, representing apoptotic bodies.

The Arabidopsis KAKTUS gene encodes a HECT protein and controls the number of endoreduplication cycles.

In animals and plants, many cell types switch from mitotic cycles to endoreduplication cycles during differentiation. Little is known about the way in which the number of endoreduplication cycles is controlled in such endopolyploid cells. In this study we have characterized at the molecular level three mutations in the Arabidopsis gene KAKTUS ( KAK), which were previously shown specifically to repress endoreduplication in trichomes.

A new informative Alw 26 I polymorphism in exon 10 of the human low density lipoprotein receptor gene. Application to prenatal diagnosis. Mutations in brief no. 145. Online.

Using DNA sequencing of the coding and exon flanking regions of the low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) gene we identified an Alw26 I site in exon 10 by a transition G142A. The alleles are represented by one uncut fragment (A1=108bp) or two fragments (A2=82bp and 26 pb). Two other fragments (72bp and 16bp) were systematically found within the amplified product.

High frequency of the apolipoprotein E *4 allele in African pygmies and most of the African populations in sub-Saharan Africa.

Apolipoprotein E genotypes (alleles *2, *3, and *4) have been determined in 70 Aka Pygmies and 470 unrelated African sub-Saharan subjects. Allele frequencies for Pygmies are 5.7% for APOE*2, 53.

[Genotyping of apolipoprotein E (alleles epsilon 2, epsilon 3 and epsilon 4) from capillary blood].

A technique to determine epsilon 2, epsilon 3 and epsilon 4 alleles expressed at the apolipoprotein E locus (apoE genotype) is described. The proposed method is convenient for detecting this polymorphism on capillary blood spots. Capillary blood is collected on absorbent paper allowing transmission by post and prolonged conservation of samples.