Multilocus functional characterization of indigenous and exotic inbreds for dgat1-2, fatb, ge2 and wri1a genes affecting kernel oil and fatty acid profile in maize

Demand for maize oil is progressively increasing due to its diverse industrial applications, aside from its primary role in human nutrition and animal feed. Oil content and composition are two crucial determinants of maize oil in the international market. As kernel oil in maize is a complex quantitative trait, improving this trait presents a challenge for plant breeders and biotechnologists. Here, we characterized a set of 292 diverse maize inbreds of both indigenous and exotic origin by exploiting functional polymorphism of the dgat1-2, fatb, ge2, and wri1a genes governing kernel oil in maize. Genotyping using gene-based functional markers revealed a lower frequencies of dgat1-2 (0.15) and fatb (0.12) mutant alleles and a higher frequencies of wild-type alleles (Dgat1-2: 0.85; fatB: 0.88). The favorable wri1a allele was conserved across genotypes, while its wild-type allele (WRI1a) was not detected. In contrast, none of the genotypes possessed the ge2 favorable allele. The frequency of favorable alleles of both dgat1-2 and fatb decreased to 0.03 when considered together. Furthermore, pairwise protein-protein interactions among target gene products were conducted to understand the effect of one protein on another and their responses to kernel oil through functional enrichments. Thus, the identified maize genotypes with dgat1-2, fatb, and wri1a favourable alleles, along with insights gained through the protein-protein association network, serve as prominent and unique genetic resources for high-oil maize breeding programs. This is the first comprehensive report on the functional characterization of diverse genotypes at the molecular and protein levels.

Indian Wheat Genomics Initiative for Harnessing the Potential of Wheat Germplasm Resources for Breeding Disease-Resistant, Nutrient-Dense, and Climate-Resilient Cultivars

Wheat is one of the major staple cereal food crops in India. However, most of the wheat-growing areas experience several biotic and abiotic stresses, resulting in poor quality grains and reduced yield. To ensure food security for the growing population in India, there is a compelling need to explore the untapped genetic diversity available in gene banks for the development of stress-resistant/tolerant cultivars. The improvement of any crop lies in exploring and harnessing the genetic diversity available in its genetic resources in the form of cultivated varieties, landraces, wild relatives, and related genera. A huge collection of wheat genetic resources is conserved in various gene banks across the globe. Molecular and phenotypic characterization followed by documentation of conserved genetic resources is a prerequisite for germplasm utilization in crop improvement. The National Genebank of India has an extensive and diverse collection of wheat germplasm, comprising Indian wheat landraces, primitive cultivars, breeding lines, and collection from other countries. The conserved germplasm can contribute immensely to the development of wheat cultivars with high levels of biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. Breeding wheat varieties that can give high yields under different stress environments has not made much headway due to high genotypes and environmental interaction, non-availability of truly resistant/tolerant germplasm, and non-availability of reliable markers linked with the QTL having a significant impact on resistance/tolerance. The development of new breeding technologies like genomic selection (GS), which takes into account the G × E interaction, will facilitate crop improvement through enhanced climate resilience, by combining biotic and abiotic stress resistance/tolerance and maximizing yield potential. In this review article, we have summarized different constraints being faced by Indian wheat-breeding programs, challenges in addressing biotic and abiotic stresses, and improving quality and nutrition. Efforts have been made to highlight the wealth of Indian wheat genetic resources available in our National Genebank and their evaluation for the identification of trait-specific germplasm. Promising genotypes to develop varieties of important targeted traits and the development of different genomics resources have also been highlighted.

Evaluation of 19,460 Wheat Accessions Conserved in the Indian National Genebank to Identify New Sources of Resistance to Rust and Spot Blotch Diseases

A comprehensive germplasm evaluation study of wheat accessions conserved in the Indian National Genebank was conducted to identify sources of rust and spot blotch resistance. Genebank accessions comprising three species of wheat-Triticum aestivum, T. durum and T. dicoccum were screened sequentially at multiple disease hotspots, during the 2011-14 crop seasons, carrying only resistant accessions to the next step of evaluation. Wheat accessions which were found to be resistant in the field were then assayed for seedling resistance and profiled using molecular markers. In the primary evaluation, 19,460 accessions were screened at Wellington (Tamil Nadu), a hotspot for wheat rusts. We identified 4925 accessions to be resistant and these were further evaluated at Gurdaspur (Punjab), a hotspot for stripe rust and at Cooch Behar (West Bengal), a hotspot for spot blotch. The second round evaluation identified 498 accessions potentially resistant to multiple rusts and 868 accessions potentially resistant to spot blotch. Evaluation of rust resistant accessions for seedling resistance against seven virulent pathotypes of three rusts under artificial epiphytotic conditions identified 137 accessions potentially resistant to multiple rusts. Molecular analysis to identify different combinations of genetic loci imparting resistance to leaf rust, stem rust, stripe rust and spot blotch using linked molecular markers, identified 45 wheat accessions containing known resistance genes against all three rusts as well as a QTL for spot blotch resistance. The resistant germplasm accessions, particularly against stripe rust, identified in this study can be excellent potential candidates to be employed for breeding resistance into the background of high yielding wheat cultivars through conventional or molecular breeding approaches, and are expected to contribute toward food security at national and global levels.

Indian plant germplasm on the global platter: an analysis

Food security is a global concern amongst scientists, researchers and policy makers. No country is self-sufficient to address food security issues independently as almost all countries are inter-dependent for availability of plant genetic resources (PGR) in their national crop improvement programmes. Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR; in short CG) centres play an important role in conserving and distributing PGR through their genebanks. CG genebanks assembled the germplasm through collecting missions and acquisition the same from national genebanks of other countries. Using the Genesys Global Portal on Plant Genetic Resources, the World Information and Early Warning System (WIEWS) on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and other relevant databases, we analysed the conservation status of Indian-origin PGR accessions (both cultivated and wild forms possessed by India) in CG genebanks and other national genebanks, including the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) genebanks, which can be considered as an indicator of Indian contribution to the global germplasm collection. A total of 28,027,770 accessions are being conserved world-wide by 446 organizations represented in Genesys; of these, 3.78% (100,607) are Indian-origin accessions. Similarly, 62,920 Indian-origin accessions (8.73%) have been conserved in CG genebanks which are accessible to the global research community for utilization in their respective crop improvement programmes. A total of 60 genebanks including 11 CG genebanks have deposited 824,625 accessions of PGR in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) as safety duplicates; the average number of accessions deposited by each genebank is 13,744, and amongst them there are 66,339 Indian-origin accessions. In principle, India has contributed 4.85 times the number of germplasm accessions to SGSV, in comparison to the mean value (13,744) of any individual genebank including CG genebanks. More importantly, about 50% of the Indian-origin accessions deposited in SGSV are traditional varieties or landraces with defined traits which form the backbone of any crop gene pool. This paper is also attempting to correlate the global data on Indian-origin germplasm with the national germplasm export profile. The analysis from this paper is discussed with the perspective of possible implications in the access and benefit sharing regime of both the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and the newly enforced Nagoya Protocol under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Publishing a nursing textbook: collaborating through "seamless technology"

Electronic communication can enhance long-distance networking and scholarly activity and make long-distance collaboration through technology a reality. Technology presents a new world of opportunity for improving writing skills, nurturing collegiality, and maximizing efficiency in the successful completion of collaborative projects. The concept of "seamless technology" introduced by the authors provides a guide to assist partners involved in collaborative projects to manage technology for a successful, rewarding experience. Basic questions regarding technology that need to be answered on the front end of a long-distance project are suggested in this article. In addition, the steps taken by the authors to co-author and co-edit a nursing textbook and accompanying instructor's manual by using electronic communication and other sources of technology are outlined. The authors address ways that long-distance collaboration required them to maximize their communication and planning skills, thereby increasing productivity and reducing costs. The challenges and rewards of working together exclusively through technology are discussed, and finally, implications for professional nursing are addressed.

Competency outcomes for learning and performance assessment. Redesigning a BSN curriculum

In an atmosphere in which disgruntled students appeal to their legislators for intervention and faculty give few unsatisfactory clinical grades, the faculty of this state supported school of nursing began a two-step process to strengthen the assessment of students. The first step consisted of the appointment of a testing committee to provide faculty with ongoing assistance with test construction. The next concerned clinical evaluation.

The grief experience of older women whose husbands had hospice care

Grief is a universal phenomenon, affecting every age and culture. However, the literature reveals that this concept is surrounded with ambiguity and conflicting research findings. There are few studies which focus on the grief of older widows, and none which focuses on the grief of older women whose husbands received hospice care. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to generate a conceptual definition and theory of grief for older adult women using grounded theory methodology. Informants comprised six older widows whose husbands were enrolled in a hospice programme in a southern metropolitan setting in the United States. Each informant was asked to respond to the initial question: "What is your experience in dealing with the loss of your husband?' Interviews were conducted in the widows' homes after the deaths of their husbands during the following three time frames of bereavement: 1-4 months, 7-10 months and 13-16 months. Interviews were audio-taped, transcribed, coded and analysed using the constant comparative method. Oracle, a text-oriented database management computer program, was used to facilitate the creation, storage, coding, analysis and retrieval of data. Cross-comparisons of the findings from the three phases of data collection were made and these findings were compared with the literature. The following core concepts emerged from the data: "being aware', "experiencing distress', "supporting', "coping' and "facing new realities'. Core concepts were combined into a conceptual definition of grief and a grounded theory of grief of older adult women whose husbands experienced hospice care was developed. The results of this study expand our knowledge of the grief process of older widows whose husbands received hospice care and have implications for the development of effective bereavement intervention programmes.

Mothers grieving the death of a child. Case reports of maternal grief

Research has shown that the experience of losing a child is by far the most painful. It is documented that bereaved parents have more intense symptomatology than adults grieving other types of loss, such as the loss of a spouse or parent. However, there are fewer studies that focus on parental grief than on other types of grief. This article presents case reports of two mothers grieving the deaths of their children. This presentation is unique because grief as a process is explicated from the perspective of the mothers by means of qualitative and quantitative analysis. Taped semistructured interview sessions were conducted monthly and analyzed using grounded theory. These results were compared to results obtained from the analysis of two quantitative symptom inventories--the SCL-90-R, a psychological distress scale, and the GEI, a 135 item grief experience inventory. The experience of maternal grief that is presented through case examples will enable practitioners to connect theory with practical application to ease the suffering of grieving parents.

An analysis of the concept of grief

Grief is a universal response affecting every age and culture. However, this concept is surrounded by ambiguity. It is poorly understood by nurses who encounter grieving persons with increasing frequency, especially as the population ages. The ability of nurses to gain an increased understanding of grief depends on the clarification of this concept. A concept analysis is described. Antecedents, attributes, referents and intervening variables of grief are identified. In addition, model, borderline, related, invented and contrary cases are described. This analysis results in a comprehensive definition of grief which is proposed. This definition can contribute to the foundation essential to guide nursing practice with grieving persons.

FACING IT ALONE: Preholiday Grief

These strategies for coping with the holidays following a loss can be shared not only in a group format such as a preholiday workshop, but also on a one-to-one basis by caring health professionals. To be effective in promoting adaptation to loss, it is vital that health-care professionals heighten their awareness of the needs and reactions of the grieving person. Their sensitivity to the anxiety and pain that can accompany the holiday season must increase. Only when awareness and sensitivity increase will there be an increase in the development of effective bereavement outreach programs. Through such programs the bereaved can experience positive encounters with caring professionals who can help them establish a new sense of hope, purpose, and renewed self-esteem.

In vitro glucan synthesis by membranes of celery petioles: the role of the membrane in determining the type of linkage formed

Glucan synthesis was achieved with an in vitro membrane fraction from the petioles of celery (Apium graveolens). The optimum conditions for maximum synthesis were established. The Km and Vmax for the enzymic system were 1.0 mM and 0.19 microM min-1 mg protein-1, respectively. Mechanical damage to the membrane fraction altered the proportion of beta-(1----3) to beta-(1----4) glucosyl linkages that were synthesized. We suggest that cellulose synthesis (beta-(1----4)-linked glucan chains) is controlled by the availability of UDP-glucose at the plasma membrane surface in conjunction with an organized relationship between the synthase system and a specifically oriented glucosyl radical acting as an acceptor held on the membrane surface. An intact membrane is therefore necessary to direct synthesis for the beta-(1----4) bond by an enzyme that is capable of transglucosylation to the secondary alcoholic groups on C-2, C-3 or C-4 of the acceptor radical. The specificity of the system is controlled by the whole enzyme complex held on the membrane.