577 results match your criteria: "Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health[Affiliation]"

Sweet corn (Zea mays L.) is highly consumed in the United States, but does not make major contributions to the daily intake of carotenoids (provitamin A carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin) that would help in the prevention of health complications. A genome-wide association study of seven kernel carotenoids and twelve derivative traits was conducted in a sweet corn inbred line association panel ranging from light to dark yellow in endosperm color to elucidate the genetic basis of carotenoid levels in fresh kernels.

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Successful management and utilization of increasingly large genomic datasets is essential for breeding programs to accelerate cultivar development. To help with this, we developed a Sorghum bicolor Practical Haplotype Graph (PHG) pangenome database that stores haplotypes and variant information. We developed two PHGs in sorghum that were used to identify genome-wide variants for 24 founders of the Chibas sorghum breeding program from 0.

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Use of CRISPR-Cas9 (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)-CRISPR-associated 9)-mediated genome editing has proliferated for use in numerous plant species to modify gene function and expression, usually in the context of either transient or stably inherited genetic alternations. While extremely useful in many applications, modification of some loci yields outcomes detrimental to further experimental evaluation or viability of the target organism. Expression of Cas9 under a promoter conferring gene knockouts in a tissue-specific subset of genomes has been demonstrated in insect and animal models, and recently in .

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Low Phytate Peas ( L.) Improve Iron Status, Gut Microbiome, and Brush Border Membrane Functionality In Vivo ().

Nutrients

August 2020

USDA-ARS, Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.

Article Synopsis
  • Pulse inclusion in wheat-based foods is rising due to their high protein, antioxidant properties, and dietary fiber benefits.
  • Approximately 30% of the global population suffers from iron deficiency, leading to anemia, which negatively impacts cognitive development and increases maternal and infant mortality rates.
  • The study showed that low-phytate biofortified pea varieties enhance iron bioavailability and properly influence gut microbiota and intestinal function, suggesting these peas could improve overall nutritional quality and safety in biofortification strategies.
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Auxin Regulates Sucrose Transport to Repress Petal Abscission in Rose ().

Plant Cell

November 2020

State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, Beijing Key Laboratory of Development and Quality Control of Ornamental Crops, Department of Ornamental Horticulture, College of Horticulture, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China

Developmental transitions in plants require adequate carbon resources, and organ abscission often occurs due to competition for carbohydrates/assimilates. Physiological studies have indicated that organ abscission may be activated by Suc deprivation; however, an underlying regulatory mechanism that links Suc transport to organ shedding has yet to be identified. Here, we report that transport of Suc and the phytohormone auxin to petals through the phloem of the abscission zone (AZ) decreases during petal abscission in rose (), and that auxin regulates Suc transport into the petals.

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The whitefly (Gennadius) is a notorious insect vector that transmits hundreds of plant viruses, affecting food and fiber crops worldwide, and results in the equivalent of billions of U.S. dollars in crop loss annually.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The coffee berry borer (CBB) is a major pest affecting coffee globally, discovered in Hawai'i in 2010 and spreading to O'ahu and Maui by 2014 and 2016.
  • - Researchers conducted a survey of Beauveria fungi associated with the CBB, collecting over 1800 fungal isolates from various coffee farms and unmanaged sites across Hawai'i and Puerto Rico to study their effectiveness against the pest.
  • - The study identified 16 different genetic variants (haplotypes) of Beauveria bassiana, with one specific haplotype (Bb1) dominant in high-elevation coffee farms that hadn't been treated with the commercial strain, indicating a complex genetic landscape among these fungi in Hawai
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Kiwifruit ( spp.) plants produce economically important fruits containing abundant, balanced phytonutrients with extraordinarily high vitamin C contents. Since the release of the first kiwifruit reference genome sequence in 2013, large volumes of genome and transcriptome data have been rapidly accumulated for a handful of kiwifruit species.

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Complete Genome Sequence Resource for the Necrotrophic Plant-Pathogenic Bacterium WPP14.

Plant Dis

January 2021

School of Integrative Plant Science, Section of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, U.S.A.

spp. are a major cause of loss in vegetable and ornamental plant production. One of these species, , can cause soft rot disease on many plants, particularly potato.

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Two new species from the genus Strongwellsea (Entomophthorales: Entomophthoraceae) are described: Strongwellsea tigrinae from adult Coenosia tigrina (Diptera: Muscidae) and Strongwellsea acerosa from adult Coenosia testacea. The descriptions are based on pathobiological, phenotypical and genotypical characters. Further, the circumscription of the genus Strongwellsea is emended.

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Antibacterial activity and mode of action of potassium tetraborate tetrahydrate against soft-rot bacterial plant pathogens.

Microbiology (Reading)

September 2020

Section of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.

Bacterial soft rot caused by the bacteria and is a destructive disease of vegetables, as well as ornamental plants. Several management options exist to help control these pathogens. Because of the limited success of these approaches, there is a need for the development of alternative methods to reduce losses.

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Complete Genome Sequence of a Gram-Positive Bacterium, sp. Strain PS1209, a Potato Endophyte.

Microbiol Resour Announc

June 2020

School of Integrative Plant Science, Section of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.

We report the complete and annotated genome sequence of a Gram-positive bacterium, sp. strain PS1209, a potato endophyte that was isolated from apparently healthy tubers of potato cultivar NY166. The circular genome is 4,091,164 bp long, with a GC content of 69.

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Cyst nematodes induce a multicellular feeding site within roots called a syncytium. It remains unknown how root cells are primed for incorporation into the developing syncytium. Furthermore, it is unclear how CLAVATA3/EMBRYO SURROUNDING REGION (CLE) peptide effectors secreted into the cytoplasm of the initial feeding cell could have an effect on plant cells so distant from where the nematode is feeding as the syncytium expands.

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Two types of secondary conidia and their formation are described from six species of Strongwellsea infecting hosts from Anthomyiidae, Muscidae and Fanniidae. We used a simple device allowing secondary conidia to be produced under very moist or comparatively dry conditions. Ellipsoid type secondary conidia, which are formed under very moist conditions, have never been reported before from the genus Strongwellsea, and they are unique for Entomophthorales; these are broadly ellipsoidal with a clearly pointed basal papilla and are actively discharged.

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Localization shift of a sugar transporter contributes to phloem unloading in sweet watermelons.

New Phytol

September 2020

National Watermelon and Melon Improvement Center, Beijing Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops (North China), Beijing Key Laboratory of Vegetable Germplasm Improvement, Beijing, 100097, China.

Unloading sugar from sink phloem by transporters is complex and much remains to be understood about this phenomenon in the watermelon fruit. Here, we report a novel vacuolar sugar transporter (ClVST1) identified through map-based cloning and association study, whose expression in fruit phloem is associated with accumulation of sucrose (Suc) in watermelon fruit. ClVST1 knockout lines show decreased sugar content and total biomass, whereas overexpression of ClVST1 increases Suc content.

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The Penium margaritaceum Genome: Hallmarks of the Origins of Land Plants.

Cell

May 2020

Plant Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA. Electronic address:

The evolutionary features and molecular innovations that enabled plants to first colonize land are not well understood. Here, insights are provided through our report of the genome sequence of the unicellular alga Penium margaritaceum, a member of the Zygnematophyceae, the sister lineage to land plants. The genome has a high proportion of repeat sequences that are associated with massive segmental gene duplications, likely facilitating neofunctionalization.

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Creating gapless telomere-to-telomere assemblies of complex genomes is one of the ultimate challenges in genomics. We use two independent assemblies and an optical map-based merging pipeline to produce a maize genome (B73-Ab10) composed of 63 contigs and a contig N50 of 162 Mb. This genome includes gapless assemblies of chromosome 3 (236 Mb) and chromosome 9 (162 Mb), and 53 Mb of the Ab10 meiotic drive haplotype.

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is a cryptic species complex that requires the use of molecular tools for identification. The most widely used approach for achieving this is the partial sequencing of the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase I gene (). A more reliable single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based genotyping approach, using Nextera restriction-site-associated DNA (NextRAD) sequencing, has demonstrated the existence of six major haplogroups of on cassava in Africa.

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Article Synopsis
  • Advances in long-read data and scaffolding technologies have led to improved reference-quality genome assemblies, particularly for complex genomes like maize.
  • Critical assessments of sequence depth and read length are essential for effective resource allocation when generating these assemblies.
  • The study highlights that higher depth and longer subread lengths significantly enhance assembly quality, with high-quality optical maps further improving the contiguity of fragmented assemblies.
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Presymptomatic detection of citrus trees infected with (Las), the bacterial pathogen associated with Huanglongbing (HLB; citrus greening disease), is critical to controlling the spread of the disease. To test whether infected citrus trees produce systemic signals that may be used for indirect disease detection, lemon () plants were graft-inoculated with either Las-infected or control (Las-) budwood, and leaf samples were longitudinally collected over 46 weeks and analyzed for plant changes associated with Las infection. RNA, protein, and metabolite samples extracted from leaves were analyzed using RNA-Seq, mass spectrometry, and H NMR spectroscopy, respectively.

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Nanoparticles (NPs) are used in food packaging and processing and have become an integral part of many commonly ingested products. There are few studies that have focused on the interaction between ingested NPs, gut function, the mucus layer, and the gut microbiota. In this work, an in vitro model of gastrointestinal (GI) tract is used to determine whether, and how, the mucus layer is affected by the presence of Gram-positive, commensal Lactobacillus rhamnosus; Gram-negative, opportunistic Escherichia coli; and/or exposure to physiologically relevant doses of pristine or digested TiO NPs.

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A key 'foxy' aroma gene is regulated by homology-induced promoter indels in the iconic juice grape 'Concord'.

Hortic Res

April 2020

1US Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Grape Genetics Research Unit, Geneva, NY USA.

Article Synopsis
  • "Concord" grapes are known for their unique 'foxy' aroma, primarily caused by the chemical compound methyl anthranilate (MA), which some wine consumers find undesirable.
  • Researchers discovered that specific genetic changes in the promoters of a key gene related to MA production play a significant role in how this aroma manifests in Concord grapes compared to other grape species.
  • The study found that variations in promoter sequences are linked to higher expression and MA levels in Concord grapes, and these findings enhance understanding of the 'foxy' aroma trait, potentially aiding grapevine breeding efforts.
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Management, Analyses, and Distribution of the MaizeCODE Data on the Cloud.

Front Plant Sci

March 2020

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, United States.

MaizeCODE is a project aimed at identifying and analyzing functional elements in the maize genome. In its initial phase, MaizeCODE assayed up to five tissues from four maize strains (B73, NC350, W22, TIL11) by RNA-Seq, Chip-Seq, RAMPAGE, and small RNA sequencing. To facilitate reproducible science and provide both human and machine access to the MaizeCODE data, we enhanced SciApps, a cloud-based portal, for analysis and distribution of both raw data and analysis results.

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OR, a Natural Variant of OR, Specifically Interacts with Plastid Division Factor ARC3 to Regulate Chromoplast Number and Carotenoid Accumulation.

Mol Plant

June 2020

Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health, USDA-ARS, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA; Plant Breeding and Genetics Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. Electronic address:

Chromoplasts are colored plastids that synthesize and store massive amounts of carotenoids. Chromoplast number and size define the sink strength for carotenoid accumulation in plants. However, nothing is known about the mechanisms controlling chromoplast number.

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Chromosome-level genome assembly of the greenhouse whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum Westwood).

Mol Ecol Resour

July 2020

Department of Plant Protection, Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.

The greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum Westwood, is an agricultural pest of global importance. Here we report a 787-Mb high-quality draft genome sequence of T. vaporariorum assembled from PacBio long reads and Hi-C chromatin interaction maps, which has scaffold and contig N50 lengths of 70 Mb and 500 kb, respectively, and contains 18,275 protein-coding genes.

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