Cytogenetic and genomic characterization of a novel wheat-tetraploid Thinopyrum elongatum 1BS·1EL translocation line with stripe rust resistance.

Stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp tritici (Pst), is a destructive wheat disease pathogen. Thinopyrum elongatum is a valuable germplasm including diploid, tetraploid, and decaploid with plenty of biotic and abiotic resistance. In a previous study, we generated a stripe rust resistance wheat-tetraploid Th. elongatum 1E/1D substitution line K17-841-1. To further apply the wild germplasm for wheat breeding, we selected and obtained a new homozygous wheat-tetraploid Th. elongatum translocation line T1BS·1EL using genomic in situ hybridization (GISH), fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), oligo-FISH-Painting, and the wheat 55K single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) genotyping array. The T1BS·1EL is highly resistant to stripe rust at the seedling and adult stage. Pedigree and molecular marker analyses revealed that the resistance gene was located on chromosome arm 1EL of tetraploid Th. elongatum, tentatively named Yr1EL. Besides, we developed and validated 32 Simple Sequence Repeats (SSR) markers and two kompititive allele specific PCR (KASP) assays which were specific to tetraploid Th. elongatum chromosome arm 1EL to facilitate marker-assisted selection for alien 1EL stripe rust resistance breeding. This will help us explore and locate the stripe rust resistance gene mapping on the 1E chromosome and deploy it in the wheat breeding program.

Effect of skill proficiency on motor imagery ability between amateur dancers and non-dancers.

Evidence has shown that athletes with high motor skill proficiency possess higher motor imagery ability than those with low motor skill proficiency. However, less is known whether this superiority in motor imagery ability emerges over amateur athletes. To address the issue, the present study aimed to investigate the individual differences in motor imagery ability between amateur dancers and non-dancers. Forty participants completed a novel dance movement reproduction task and measures of the vividness of visual imagery questionnaire (VVIQ) and the vividness of motor imagery questionnaire (VMIQ). The results showed that, relative to non-dancers, amateur dancers had higher ability of motor imagery to reproduce the lower-limb and upper-limb dance movements during the dance movement reproduction task. Besides, amateur dancers displayed higher abilities of the visual motor imagery and the kinesthetic imagery, but comparable visual imagery ability as the non-dancers. These findings suggest that the mental representation of motors but not the visual is affected by the motor skill levels, due to the motor imagery practice in sports amateurs.