Bailin Li

... Wilmington, DE, US), Frey Travis James (Huxley, IA, US), Hawk James A (Newark, DE, US),Jaqueth Jennifer S (Des Moines, IA, US), Jones Elizabeth S (Prole, IA, US), Multani Dilbag Singh (Urbandale, IA, US), Cecilia Wolters, Petra Johanna Christina (Wilmington, DE, US ...

Head smut is a systemic disease in maize caused by the soil-borne fungus Sporisorium reilianum that poses a grave threat to maize production worldwide. A major head smut quantitative resistance locus, qHSR1, has been detected on maize chromosome bin2.09. Here we report the map-based cloning of qHSR1 and the molecular mechanism of qHSR1-mediated resistance. Sequential fine mapping and transgenic complementation demonstrated that ZmWAK is the gene within qHSR1 conferring quantitative resistance to maize head smut. ZmWAK spans the plasma membrane, potentially serving as a receptor-like kinase to perceive and transduce extracellular signals. ZmWAK was highly expressed in the mesocotyl of seedlings where it arrested biotrophic growth of the endophytic S. reilianum. Impaired expression in the mesocotyl compromised ZmWAK-mediated resistance. Deletion of the ZmWAK locus appears to have occurred after domestication and spread among maize germplasm, and the ZmWAK kinase domain underwent funct...

Head smut is a systemic disease in maize caused by the soil-borne fungus Sporisorium reilianum that poses a grave threat to maize production worldwide. A major head smut quantitative resistance locus, qHSR1, has been detected on maize chromosome bin2.09. Here we report the map-based cloning of qHSR1 and the molecular mechanism of qHSR1-mediated resistance. Sequential fine mapping and transgenic complementation demonstrated that ZmWAK is the gene within qHSR1 conferring quantitative resistance to maize head smut. ZmWAK spans the plasma membrane, potentially serving as a receptor-like kinase to perceive and transduce extracellular signals. ZmWAK was highly expressed in the mesocotyl of seedlings where it arrested biotrophic growth of the endophytic S. reilianum. Impaired expression in the mesocotyl compromised ZmWAK-mediated resistance. Deletion of the ZmWAK locus appears to have occurred after domestication and spread among maize germplasm, and the ZmWAK kinase domain underwent funct...

To analyze the patterns of gene expression associated with seed dormancy in wild oat (Avena fatua), we have isolated cDNA clones corresponding to genes that are differentially expressed in dormant and afterripened line M73 embryos. Gene transcripts of these clones were maintained in embryos of imbibed dormant caryopses, but declined rapidly in afterripened embryos after imbibition. GA3 treatment of dormant caryopses, which breaks dormancy, could lower the transcript levels in dormant embryos. When the germination of afterripened caryopses was inhibited by high temperature (35 degrees C), the decline in abundance of the transcripts in afterripened embryos was arrested. These genes were expressed to various degrees in water-stressed, but not in unstressed, 7-day-old seedlings. The expression of the genes was also ABA-inducible in afterripened embryos. The expression patterns in non-dormant line SH430 wild oat were similar to those of afterripened M73. DNA sequence analyses indicated that some of the cDNA clones encode LEA (late embryogenesis-abundant) proteins and aldose reductase. The significance of the expression of these genes in maintaining seed dormancy or longevity is discussed.

We used whole genome scan association mapping to identify loci with major effect on oleic acid content in maize kernels. Single nucleotide polymorphism haplotypes at 8,590 loci were tested for association with oleic acid content in 553 maize inbreds. A single locus with major effect on oleic acid was mapped between 380 and 384 cM in the IBM2 neighbors genetic map on chromosome 4 and confirmed in a biparental population. A fatty acid desaturase, fad2, identified approximately 2 kb from the associated genetic marker, is the most likely candidate gene responsible for the differences in the phenotype. The fad2 alleles with high- and low-oleic acid content were sequenced and allelic differences in fad2 RNA level in developing embryos was investigated. We propose that a non-conservative amino acid polymorphism near the active site of fad2 contributes to the effect on oleic acid content. This is the first report of the use of a high resolution whole genome scan association mapping where a putative gene responsible for a quantitative trait was identified in plants.

... Wilmington, DE, US), Frey Travis James (Huxley, IA, US), Hawk James A (Newark, DE, US),Jaqueth Jennifer S (Des Moines, IA, US), Jones Elizabeth S (Prole, IA, US), Multani Dilbag Singh (Urbandale, IA, US), Cecilia Wolters, Petra Johanna Christina (Wilmington, DE, US ...

... Cinful, Zeon, and Prem are more common near the centromere, while Opie, Ji, and Huck preferentially reside at the subtelomeric segments of chromosomes. ... Ji, Opie, Prem, Cinful, Grande, Huck, Zeon, Sum, %. (A), Identified, 43291, 53720, 7449, 35289, 13634, 16680, 22276, 192339 ...