Variances of direct genetic effects, maternal genetic effects, and cytoplasmic inheritance effects for milk yield, fat yield, and fat percentage

Milk yield, fat yield, and fat percentage during the first three lactations were studied using New York Holsteins that were milked twice daily over a 305-d, mature equivalent lactation. Those data were used to estimate variances from direct and maternal genetic effects, cytoplasmic effects, sire by herd interaction, and cow permanent environmental effects. Cytoplasmic line was traced to the last female ancestor using DHI records from 1950 through 1991. Records were 138,869 lactations of 68,063 cows calving from 1980 through 1991. Ten random samples were based on herd code. Samples averaged 4926 dams and 2026 cytoplasmic lines. Model also included herd-year-seasons as fixed effects and genetic covariance for direct-maternal effects. Mean estimates of the effects of maternal genetic variances and direct-maternal covariances, as fractions of phenotypic variances, were 0.008 and 0.007 for milk yield, 0.010 and 0.010 for fat yield, and 0.006 and 0.025 for fat percentage, respectively. Average fractions of variance from cytoplasmic line were 0.011, 0.008, and 0.009 for milk yield, fat yield, and fat percentage. Removal of maternal genetic effects and covariance for maternal direct effects from the model increased the fraction of direct genetic variance by 0.014, 0.021, and 0.046 for milk yield, fat yield, and fat percentage; little change in the fraction was due to cytoplasmic line. Exclusion of cytoplasmic effects from the model increased the ratio of additive direct genetic variance to phenotypic variance by less than 2%. Similarly, when sire by herd interaction was excluded, the ratio of direct genetic variance to phenotypic variance increased 1% or less.

Genetic variation for carbon isotope discrimination in sunflower: Association with transpiration efficiency and evidence for cytoplasmic inheritance

Plants accumulate isotopes of carbon at different rates because of discrimination against C-13 relative to C-12. In plants that fix carbon by the C-3 pathway, the amount of discrimination correlates negatively with transpiration efficiency (TE) where TE is the amount of dry matter accumulated per unit water transpired. Therefore, carbon isotope discrimination (Delta) has become a useful tool for selecting genotypes with improved TE and performance in dry environments. Surveys of 161 sunflower (Helianthus spp.) genotypes of diverse origin revealed a large and unprecedented range of genetic variation for Delta (19.5-23.8parts per thousand). A strong negative genetic correlation (r(g)) between TE and Delta (r(g) = -0.87, P < 0.001) was observed in glasshouse studies. Gas exchange measurements of field grown plants indicated that Delta was strongly correlated with stomatal conductance to water vapor (g), (r(g) 0.64, P < 0.01), and the ratio of net assimilation rate (A) to g, (r(g) = 0.86, P < 0.001), an instantaneous measure of TE. Genotype CMSHA89MAX1 had the lowest TE (and highest Delta) of all genotypes tested in these studies and low yields in hybrid combination. Backcrossing studies showed that the TE of this genotype was due to an adverse effect of the MAX1 cytoplasm, which was inherited from the diploid perennial H. maximiliani Schrader. Overall, these studies suggested that there is an excellent opportunity for breeders to develop sunflower germplasm with improved TE. This can be achieved, in part, by avoiding cytoplasms such as the MAX1 cytoplasm.

杉木生殖生物学特性的研究

本文就杉木大小孢子、雌雄配子体发育、受精作用、新细胞质形成以及细胞质遗传进行较为详细的研究，主要结果如下： 1.2月底小孢子母细胞进入减数分裂，其核相的变化与通常所描述的一致，细胞器集中排列在赤道板附近，其中质体有一重建的过程。当分裂完成时，在四个核之间产生胼胝质壁，细胞器随机分配在四分体中，每个四分孢子含有线粒体、质体、核糖体、高尔基体、脂体、RER和一些液泡。 2.花粉外壁的形成开始于四分体。颗粒状外壁外层和纤维状的原外壁几乎同时产生，具有三层结构的片层状外壁内层的形成晚于外壁外层。初期外壁外层的物质由小孢子和绒毡层共同提供，后期则主要由绒毡层形成的乌氏体所叠加;外壁内层则由小孢子本身分泌的物质形成，在液泡化之前厚度及数目达到最大，片层之间存在广泛的交叉和融合。3月底花粉成熟，花粉壁由颗粒状外层、片层结构的外壁内层和厚的纤维状内壁所组成，在喙处只有一层外壁内层和内壁。各种细胞器的活动在四分体及游离小孢子时期最为活跃。 3.绒毡层的变化与小孢子的发育密切相关，前者具有发生、发展和解体的过程。期间绒毡层分泌的圆球体在结构上有所不同，减数分裂时为中间电子密度深、外围浅的圆球体结构;四分体及游离小孢子时为中间电子密度浅、外围沉积有孢粉素的乌氏体;成熟花粉时为星芒状的乌氏体，它们共同形成花粉的我壁。绒毡层细胞中的细胞器也经历一个变化过程，造粉体的含量在四分体时达到高潮，在小孢子液泡期时基本消耗殆尽并解体;大量的粗糙内质网成零分布在质膜处，并与质膜走向平行。绒毡层解体时出现特殊的现象，具多个由多层膜组成的吞噬泡，并成堆分布，RER和线粒体为最后解体的细胞器。绒毡层外切向面的周绒毡层膜由两层膜组成，其上分布有大量的孢粉素和乌氏体。 4.萌发的花粉管4月底穿过珠心顶端，内含两个不育核和一精原细胞，不育核分布在具有淀粉、脂滴、线粒体和RER的原花粉细胞质中，位于精原细胞之前，这种关系保持到受精前。6月初精原细胞体积迅速增加到最大，相应的细胞质也发生变化，以线粒体为主的细胞质中出现少量质体，线粒体再资分化，细胞质中含有大量的可溶性多糖。 5.受精前，精原细胞分裂产生两个大小和形状相同的精细胞，彼此之间由胞间连丝的横壁联系在一起，并被原花粉细胞质所包被。精细胞中质体和淀粉粒的数量大幅度增加。精核们于细胞的中央，细胞质呈现区域分布的特点，据所含细胞器的差别，人核膜向外，细胞质分为五层，中间两层最为突出，即线粒体层和淀粉层，其间有大量核糖体的存在，线粒体层位于淀粉层的里面。这两层占据精细胞的大部分体积。 6.雌配子体游离核时期持续时间较长，近两个月，而从细胞化到卵细胞成熟则非常迅速，大约只需两周左右的时间。进一步发育，颈卵器中的液泡减少，细胞质变浓。初期少量的质体和淀粉粒被膨大的内质网片段和小泡的融合而与细胞质相隔，并最终退化。小内含物增加，亲锇颗粒出现。 7.成熟的卵细胞中具有大量各种形式的小内含物，细胞质被平行和环形的内质网所分隔。核膜外围有一圈疏松排列的亲锇颗粒，核仁变为多个基本为圆形的小核仁。没有质体的存在，大量脱分化的线粒体和核糖体集中分布在卵核的下部。 8.受精作用主要发生在6.9-6.16日期间，雄性细胞质始终伴随着精核向卵核移动，当两核接近时，朝向精核－面的卵核形成凹陷内，性细胞质覆盖在精核之上并最终包围两性核，而把雌性细胞质排除在外。因此，受精卵周围的胞质主要为由质体、线粒体和核糖体组成的新细胞质，且线粒体和质体的分布形式与精细胞的相同，即线粒体在里层，质体在外层。 9.融合后的合子核随即进行有丝分裂，形成两个原胚游离核，两个游离核同步分裂，并向基部移动，游离核始终分布在新细胞质中。八游离核时形成细胞壁，原胚属标准型。胚细胞中基本不含淀粉粒，具有大量的线粒体、高尔基体、RER和原质体。原胚之上的卵细胞质退化解体。杉木的质体和线粒体均为父本遗传。 10.幼胚的胚性细胞和胚柄细胞具有明显的差别，主要表现在质体的存在形式和高尔基体的数量上。胚性细胞中，原质体分布在核周围，大量的RER、高尔基体和线粒体平行于胚的走向;位于其上的胚柄细胞则含有淀粉粒和特别多的高尔基体。具简单多胚和裂生多胚，胚柄系统发达，7月底出现根原始细胞，8月中旬胚分化完成，具有两个子叶。

水松生殖生物学的研究

本文运用组织化学技术、透射电镜技术，就水松雌雄配子体发育，精卵细胞形成和结构，受精作用以及细胞质遗传等问题进行了较为详细的研究。主要结果如下： 1 绒毡层发育与雄配子体发育，尤其与花粉外壁的形成关系密切。绒毡层组织在小孢子母细胞和减数分裂时期达到发育高峰。四分体阶段和游离小孢子发育前期，绒毡层细胞中内质网、脂体、线粒体非常活跃，参与孢粉素和乌氏体的形成和转移。乌氏体有球形、星芒状两种类型，它们主要参与花粉外壁内层和外壁外层的建成。小孢子发育后期绒毡层细胞开始明显解体。 2 减数分裂阶段，质体、线粒俺等细胞器和造粉体随细胞核和染色体的变化，出现有规律的迁移现象。减数分裂前期，细胞核移到细胞的一侧;各种细胞器和造粉体迁移到细胞的另一侧，并随染色体移向细胞中部而转移到细胞质周缘。减数分裂中期l和后期，各种细胞器和造粉体汇聚在赤道板丙侧分布。说明细胞质中微管系统在起调节作用。 3 花粉壁形成开始于四分体时期。片层状结构的外壁内层随纤维状原外壁的出现雨形成。外壁外层和花粉内壁在小孢子发育中期几乎同时形成。小孢子细胞和绒毡层组织共同参与了外壁内层和外壁外层孢粉素物质的合成、转运。水松成熟花粉由孢粉素组成的外壁外层、片层状结构的外壁内层及有分层状结构的内壁构成。 4 传粉到受精间隔要四个月左右的时间。六月上旬，花粉管和精原细胞抵达颈卵器上部。精原细胞富含淀粉粒、质体、线粒体和异形泡并分区分布。受精前，精原细胞分裂形成两个大小和形状相同豹精细胞。精细胞含有质体、线粒体和异型泡等细胞器。 5 雌配子体游离核持续时间长，从颈卵器原始细胞形成到卵细胞发育成熟所需时间较短。复合颈卵器结构，颈细胞和套层细胞形态结构特殊。中央细胞不经分裂，直接行使卵细胞的功能。 6 成熟卵细胞中除弋量各种形式的内含物外，细胞质被庞大的内质网包围、分割，形成网膜系统。质体、淀粉等细胞器被包含成大内含物。在卵核周围细胞质中没有发现质体和发育完好的线粒体存在。 7 受精作用发生在六月十日左右。雌雄核融合时，朝向精核一面的卵核形成凹陷，精核陷入其中与卵核进一步融合。精卵融合可发生在颈卵器的上部、中部、下部甚至底部。有旋转受精、两个精核同时与一个卵核受精及多卵细胞现象等。 8 新细胞质主要为雄性细胞质成分。合子转移到颈卵器基部分裂，形成原胚游离核。合子、新细胞质和游离核周围淀粉鞘显著。八游离核时期形成细胞壁，新细胞质和淀粉粒转移到原胚细胞中。 9 水松的质体和线粒体为父系遗传。

Efeito da linhagem citoplasmática sobre a produção de leite em bovinos da raça Caracu

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Efeito da linhagem citoplasmática sobre o peso ao nascer e o ganho médio diário na pré-desmama em bovinos da raça Caracu

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Accelerated evolution and Muller's rachet in endosymbiotic bacteria.

Many bacteria live only within animal cells and infect hosts through cytoplasmic inheritance. These endosymbiotic lineages show distinctive population structure, with small population size and effectively no recombination. As a result, endosymbionts are expected to accumulate mildly deleterious mutations. If these constitute a substantial proportion of new mutations, endosymbionts will show (i) faster sequence evolution and (ii) a possible shift in base composition reflecting mutational bias. Analyses of 16S rDNA of five independently derived endosymbiont clades show, in every case, faster evolution in endosymbionts than in free-living relatives. For aphid endosymbionts (genus Buchnera), coding genes exhibit accelerated evolution and unusually low ratios of synonymous to nonsynonymous substitutions compared to ratios for the same genes for enterics. This concentration of the rate increase in nonsynonymous substitutions is expected under the hypothesis of increased fixation of deleterious mutations. Polypeptides for all Buchnera genes analyzed have accumulated amino acids with codon families rich in A+T, supporting the hypothesis that substitutions are deleterious in terms of polypeptide function. These observations are best explained as the result of Muller's ratchet within small asexual populations, combined with mutational bias. In light of this explanation, two observations reported earlier for Buchnera, the apparent loss of a repair gene and the overproduction of a chaperonin, may reflect compensatory evolution. An alternative hypothesis, involving selection on genomic base composition, is contradicted by the observation that the speedup is concentrated at nonsynonymous sites.

Color inheritance and pigment characterization of red (wild-type), greenish-brown, and green strains of Gracilaria birdiae (Gracilariales, Rhodophyta)

Species of Gracilaria are some of the most useful algae in the world for the production of agar. As a consequence of its economic importance, the genus has been the subject of many studies worldwide. Color variants of Gracilaria birdiae have been found in the natural population on the Brazilian coast, and they have also been isolated from plants cultivated in laboratory. These findings raised new questions regarding intraspecific variation and the prospects of cultivating such variants for their agar production. Therefore, this work aimed to determine the mode of color inheritance for two G. birdiae strains: a greenish-brown strain (gb) found in a natural population and a green strain (gr) which had arisen as a spontaneous mutation in a red plant cultured in the laboratory. The pigment contents of these strains, as well as the red wildtype (rd), were also characterized. Crosses between female and male plants of the same color (rd, gr, or gb) and between different colors were performed. Crosses between plants of the same color showed tetrasporophytic and gametophytic descendents of the parental color. Recessive nuclear inheritance was found in the greenish-brown strain, and cytoplasmic maternal inheritance was found in the green strain; both had lower phycoerythrin and higher concentrations of allophycocyanin and phycocyanin than the wild-type. Chlorophyll a contents were similar among all strains. Taken together, our results contribute to knowledge about the variability of this important red algae. In addition, since greenish-brown and green strains showed stability of color, both could be selected and tested in experimental sea cultivation to evaluate if mutants have advantageous performance when compared with red strain.

Uniparental inheritance of mitochondrial and chloroplast genes: mechanisms and evolution.

In nearly all eukaryotes, at least some individuals inherit mitochondrial and chloroplast genes from only one parent. There is no single mechanism of uniparental inheritance: organelle gene inheritance is blocked by a variety of mechanisms and at different stages of reproduction in different species. Frequent changes in the pattern of organelle gene inheritance during evolution suggest that it is subject to varying selective pressures. Organelle genes often fail to recombine even when inherited biparentally; consequently, their inheritance is asexual. Sexual reproduction is apparently less important for genes in organelles than for nuclear genes, probably because there are fewer of them. As a result organelle sex can be lost because of selection for special reproductive features such as oogamy or because uniparental inheritance reduces the spread of cytoplasmic parasites and selfish organelle DNA.

Expression of Potato virus Y cytoplasmic inclusion protein in tobacco results in disorganization of parenchyma cells, distortion of epidermal cells, and induces mitochondrial and chloroplast abnormalities, formation of membrane whorls and atypical lipid accumulation

Infection of plant cells by potyviruses induces the formation of cytoplasmic inclusions ranging in size from 200 to 1000 nm. To determine if the ability to form these ordered, insoluble structures is intrinsic to the potyviral cytoplasmic inclusion protein, we have expressed the cytoplasmic inclusion protein from Potato virus Y in tobacco under the control of the chrysanthemum ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase small subunit promoter, a highly active, green tissue promoter. No cytoplasmic inclusions were observed in the leaves of transgenic tobacco using transmission electron microscopy, despite being able to clearly visualize these inclusions in Potato virus Y infected tobacco leaves under the same conditions. However, we did observe a wide range of tissue and sub-cellular abnormalities associated with the expression of the Potato virus Y cytoplasmic inclusion protein. These changes included the disruption of normal cell morphology and organization in leaves, mitochondrial and chloroplast internal reorganization, and the formation of atypical lipid accumulations. Despite these significant structural changes, however, transgenic tobacco plants were viable and the results are discussed in the context of potyviral cytoplasmic inclusion protein function.

Inheritance of Resistance to Rice Tungro Spherical Virus in a Near-Isogenic Line Derived from Utri Merah and in Rice Cultivar TKM6

Resistance to rice virus diseases is an important requirement in many Southeast Asian rice breeding programs. Inheritance of resistance to rice tungro spherical virus (RTSV) in TW5, a near-isogenic line derived from Indonesian rice cultivar Utri Merah, was compared to that in TKM6, an Indian rice cultivar. Both TKM6 and Utri Merah are cultivars resistant to RTSV infections. Crosses were made between TKM6 and TN1, a susceptible cultivar, and between TW5 and TN1, and F3 lines were evaluated for their resistance to RTSV using two RTSV inoculum sources and a serological assay (ELISA). In TKM6, the resistance to the mixture of RTSV-V + RTBV inoculum source was controlled by a single recessive gene, whereas in TW5, the resistance was controlled by two recessive genes. A single recessive gene, however, controlled the resistance in TW5 when another RTSV variant, RTSV-VI, was used, suggesting that the resistance in TW5 depends on the nature of the RTSV inoculum used. RT-PCR, sequence, and phylogenetic analyses confirmed that RTSV-VI inoculum differs from RTSV-V inoculum and accurate phenotyping of the resistance to RTSV requires the use of a genetic marker.

Inheritance of qualitative and quantitative trypsin inhibitor variants in Pisum

A trypsin inhibitor locus (Tri) has been mapped close to Vc-2 on Pisum (pea) linkage group 5 using recombinant inbred lines derived from crosses of genotypes showing qualitative variation in seed trypsin inhibitors. F2 seed populations derived from crosses between lines showing qualitative variation in trypsin inhibitors as well as quantitative variation in inhibitor activity showed an association between the segregation of the structural variation and relative activity levels. Clones complementary to Pisum trypsin inhibitor mRNA were used in hybridization analyses which showed that the segregation of protein polymorphisms reflected directly the segregation of polymorphisms associated with the structural genes.