Genetic control of tolerance to drought stress in soybean.

BACKGROUND: Drought stress limits the production of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], which is the most grown high-value legume crop worldwide. Breeding for drought tolerance is a difficult endeavor and understanding the genetic basis of drought tolerance in soybean is therefore crucial for harnessing the genomic regions involved in the tolerance mechanisms. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) analysis was applied in a soybean germplasm collection (the EUCLEG collection) of 359 accessions relevant for breeding in Europe, to identify genomic regions and candidate genes involved in the response to short duration and long duration drought stress (SDS and LDS respectively) in soybean. RESULTS: The phenotypic response to drought was stronger in the long duration drought (LDS) than in the short duration drought (SDS) experiment. Over the four traits considered (canopy wilting, leaf senescence, maximum absolute growth rate and maximum plant height) the variation was in the range of 8.4-25.2% in the SDS, and 14.7-29.7% in the LDS experiments. The GWAS analysis identified a total of 17 and 22 significant marker-trait associations for four traits in the SDS and LDS experiments, respectively. In the genomic regions delimited by these markers we identified a total of 12 and 16 genes with putative functions that are of particular relevance for drought stress responses including stomatal movement, root formation, photosynthesis, ABA signaling, cellular protection and cellular repair mechanisms. Some of these genomic regions co-localized with previously known QTLs for drought tolerance traits including water use efficiency, chlorophyll content and photosynthesis. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that the mechanism of slow wilting in the SDS might be associated with the characteristics of the root system, whereas in the LDS, slow wilting could be due to low stomatal conductance and transpiration rates enabling a high WUE. Drought-induced leaf senescence was found to be associated to ABA and ROS responses. The QTLs related to WUE contributed to growth rate and canopy height maintenance under drought stress. Co-localization of several previously known QTLs for multiple agronomic traits with the SNPs identified in this study, highlights the importance of the identified genomic regions for the improvement of agronomic performance in addition to drought tolerance in the EUCLEG collection.

First report on genome wide association study in western Indian population reveals host genetic factors for COVID-19 severity and outcome.

Different human races across the globe responded in a different way to the SARS-CoV-2 infection leading to different disease severity. Therefore, it is anticipated that host genetic factors have a straight association with the COVID-19. We identified a total 6, 7, and 6 genomic loci for deceased-recovered, asymptomatic-recovered, and deceased-asymptomatic group comparison, respectively. Unfavourable alleles of the markers nearby the genes which are associated with lung and heart diseases such as Tumor necrosis factor superfamily (TNFSF4&18), showed noteworthy association with the disease severity and outcome for the COVID-19 patients in the western Indian population. The markers found with significant association with disease prognosis or recovery are of value in determining the individual's response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and can be used for the risk prediction in COVID-19. Besides, GWAS study in other populations from India may help to strengthen the outcome of this study.

Novel Genomic Regions of Fusarium Wilt Resistance in Bottle Gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl.] Discovered in Genome-Wide Association Study.

Fusarium wilt (FW) is a typical soil-borne disease that seriously affects the yield and fruit quality of bottle gourd. Thus, to improve resistance to FW in bottle gourd, the genetic mechanism underlying FW resistance needs to be explored. In this study, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) based on 5,330 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 89 bottle gourd accessions. The GWAS results revealed a total of 10 SNPs (P ≤ 0.01, -log10 P ≥ 2.0) significantly associated with FW resistance that were detected in at least two environments (2019DI, 2020DI, and the average across the 2 years); these SNPs were located on chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, and 9. Linkage disequilibrium (LD) block structure analysis predicted three potential candidate genes for FW resistance. Genes HG_GLEAN_10001030 and HG_GLEAN_10001042 were within the range of the mean LD block of the marker BGReSe_14202; gene HG_GLEAN_10011803 was 280 kb upstream of the marker BGReSe_00818. Real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis showed that HG_GLEAN_10011803 was significantly up-regulated in FW-infected plants of YD-4, Yin-10, and Hanbi; HG_GLEAN_10001030 and HG_GLEAN_10001042 were specifically up-regulated in FW-infected plants of YD-4. Therefore, gene HG_GLEAN_10011803 is likely the major effect candidate gene for resistance against FW in bottle gourd. This work provides scientific evidence for the exploration of candidate gene and development of functional markers in FW-resistant bottle gourd breeding programs.

Identification of Basp1 as a novel angiogenesis-regulating gene by multi-model system studies.

We have previously used the genetic diversity available in common inbred mouse strains to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) responsible for the differences in angiogenic response using the corneal micropocket neovascularization (CoNV) assay. Employing a mouse genome-wide association study (GWAS) approach, the region on chromosome 15 containing Basp1 was identified as being significantly associated with angiogenesis in inbred strains. Here, we developed a unique strategy to determine and verify the role of BASP1 in angiogenic pathways. Basp1 expression in cornea had a strong correlation with a haplotype shared by mouse strains with varied angiogenic phenotypes. In addition, inhibition of BASP1 demonstrated a dosage-dependent effect in both primary mouse brain endothelial and human microvascular endothelial cell (HMVEC) migration. To investigate its role in vivo, we knocked out basp1 in transgenic kdrl:zsGreen zebrafish embryos using a widely adopted CRISPR-Cas9 system. These embryos had severely disrupted vessel formation compared to control siblings. We further show that basp1 promotes angiogenesis by upregulating ß-catenin gene and the Dll4/Notch1 signaling pathway. These results, to the best of our knowledge, provide the first in vivo evidence to indicate the role of Basp1 as an angiogenesis-regulating gene and opens the potential therapeutic avenues for a wide variety of systemic angiogenesis-dependent diseases.

Genome-Wide Association Analysis Identifies Resistance Loci for Bacterial Leaf Streak Resistance in Rice (Oryza sativa L.).

Bacterial leaf streak (BLS) caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola (Xoc) is one of the most devastating diseases in rice production areas, especially in humid tropical and subtropical zones throughout Asia and worldwide. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) analysis conducted on a collection of 236 diverse rice accessions, mainly indica varieties, identified 12 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) on chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 and 11, conferring resistance to five representative isolates of Thai Xoc. Of these, five QTLs conferred resistance to more than one Xoc isolates. Two QTLs, qBLS5.1 and qBLS2.3, were considered promising QTLs for broad-spectrum resistance to BLS. The xa5 gene was proposed as a potential candidate gene for qBLS5.1 and three genes, encoding pectinesterase inhibitor (OsPEI), eukaryotic zinc-binding protein (OsRAR1), and NDP epimerase function, were proposed as candidate genes for qBLS2.3. Results from this study provide an insight into the potential QTLs and candidate genes for BLS resistance in rice. The recessive xa5 gene is suggested as a potential candidate for strong influence on broad-spectrum resistance and as a focal target in rice breeding programs for BLS resistance.

A genome-wide association study of bipolar disorder with comorbid eating disorder replicates the SOX2-OT region.

BACKGROUND: Bipolar disorder is a heterogeneous mood disorder associated with several important clinical comorbidities, such as eating disorders. This clinical heterogeneity complicates the identification of genetic variants contributing to bipolar susceptibility. Here we investigate comorbidity of eating disorders as a subphenotype of bipolar disorder to identify genetic variation that is common and unique to both disorders. METHODS: We performed a genome-wide association analysis contrasting 184 bipolar subjects with eating disorder comorbidity against both 1370 controls and 2006 subjects with bipolar disorder only from the Bipolar Genome Study (BiGS). RESULTS: The most significant genome-wide finding was observed bipolar with comorbid eating disorder vs. controls within SOX2-OT (p=8.9×10(-8) for rs4854912) with a secondary peak in the adjacent FXR1 gene (p=1.2×10(-6) for rs1805576) on chromosome 3q26.33. This region was also the most prominent finding in the case-only analysis (p=3.5×10(-7) and 4.3×10(-6), respectively). Several regions of interest containing genes involved in neurodevelopment and neuroprotection processes were also identified. LIMITATIONS: While our primary finding did not quite reach genome-wide significance, likely due to the relatively limited sample size, these results can be viewed as a replication of a recent study of eating disorders in a large cohort. CONCLUSIONS: These findings replicate the prior association of SOX2-OT with eating disorders and broadly support the involvement of neurodevelopmental/neuroprotective mechanisms in the pathophysiology of both disorders. They further suggest that different clinical manifestations of bipolar disorder may reflect differential genetic contributions and argue for the utility of clinical subphenotypes in identifying additional molecular pathways leading to illness.

Large-scale development of gene-associated single-nucleotide polymorphism markers for molluscan population genomic, comparative genomic, and genome-wide association studies.

Mollusca is the second most diverse group of animals in the world. Despite their perceived importance, omics-level studies have seldom been applied to this group of animals largely due to a paucity of genomic resources. Here, we report the first large-scale gene-associated marker development and evaluation for a bivalve mollusc, Chlamys farreri. More than 21,000 putative single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified from the C. farreri transcriptome. Primers and probes were designed and synthesized for 4500 SNPs, and 1492 polymorphic markers were successfully developed using a high-resolution melting genotyping platform. These markers are particularly suitable for population genomic analysis due to high polymorphism within and across populations, a low frequency of null alleles, and conformation to neutral expectations. Unexpectedly, high cross-species transferability was observed, suggesting that the transferable SNPs may largely represent ancestral genetic variations that have been preserved differentially among subfamilies of Pectinidae. Gene annotations were available for 73% of the markers, and 65% could be anchored to the recently released Pacific oyster genome. Large-scale association analysis revealed key candidate genes responsible for scallop growth regulation, and provided markers for further genetic improvement of C. farreri in breeding programmes.