Leaf rust caused by Puccinia triticina is the most widespread rust disease of wheat. As pathogen populations are constantly evolving, identification of novel sources of resistance is necessary to maintain disease resistance and stay ahead of this plant-pathogen evolutionary arms race. The wild genepool of wheat is a rich source of genetic diversity, accounting for 44% of the Lr genes identified. Here we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) on a diverse germplasm of 385 accessions, including 27 different Triticum and Aegilops species. Genetic characterization using the wheat 90 K array and subsequent filtering identified a set of 20,501 single nucleotide polymorphic (SNP) markers. Of those, 9,570 were validated using exome capture and mapped onto the Chinese Spring reference sequence v1.0. Phylogenetic analyses illustrated four major clades, clearly separating the wild species from the T. aestivum and T. turgidum species. GWAS was conducted using eight statistical models for infection types against six leaf rust isolates and leaf rust severity rated in field trials for 3-4 years at 2-3 locations in Canada. Functional annotation of genes containing significant quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs) identified 96 disease-related loci associated with leaf rust resistance. A total of 21 QTNs were in haplotype blocks or within flanking markers of at least 16 known Lr genes. The remaining significant QTNs were considered loci that putatively harbor new Lr resistance genes. Isolation of these candidate genes will contribute to the elucidation of their role in leaf rust resistance and promote their usefulness in marker-assisted selection and introgression.Leucine-rich repeat (LRR)-receptor-like protein kinases (LRR-RLKs) play vital roles in plant growth, development, and responses to environmental stresses. In this study, a new LRR-RLK gene, ZmRLK7, was isolated from maize, and its function within plant development was investigated through ectopic expression in Arabidopsis. The spatial expression pattern analysis reveals that ZmRLK7 is highly expressed in embryos prior to programmed cell death (PCD) of starchy endosperm tissues, and its encoded protein has been localized to both plasm and nuclear membranes subcellularly. Overexpression of sense ZmRLK7 reduced the plant height, organ size (e.g., petals, silique, and seeds), and 1000-seed weight in transgenic lines, while the antisense transgene enlarged these traits.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/CP-690550.html  Cytological analysis suggested that ZmRLK7 negatively regulates petal size through restricting both cell expansion and proliferation. In addition, abnormal epidermal cell structure was observed, and the stomata number decreased obviously in sense ZmRLK7 transgenic lines with a lower stomatal index than that in the wild type. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis indicated that transcript levels of genes that are involved in the brassinosteroid and ERACTA signaling pathways were coordinately altered, which could partially explain the phenotypic variation. Moreover, overexpression of antisense ZmRLK7 substantially rescued the Arabidopsis bak1-3 mutant phenotype. All these results together suggest that ZmRLK7 can serve as an important regulator in regulating plant architecture and organ size formation. This work will provide insight into the function of ZmRLK7 in maize.Asiatic hybrid lily leaves emerge from their bulbs in spring, after cold exposure in winter, and the plant then blooms in early summer. We identified four FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT)-like genes, LhFT1, LhFT4, LhFT6, and LhFT8, from an Asiatic hybrid lily. Floral bud differentiation initiated within bulbs before the emergence of leaves. LhFT genes were mainly expressed in bulb scales, and hardly in leaves, in which the FT-like genes of many plants are expressed in response to environmental signals. LhFT1 was expressed in bulb scales after vernalization and was correlated to flower bud initiation in two cultivars with different flowering behaviors. LhFT8 was upregulated in bulb scales after cold exposure and three alternative splicing variants with a nonsense codon were simultaneously expressed. LhFT6 was upregulated in bulb scales after flower initiation, whereas LhFT4 was expressed constantly in all organs. LhFT1 overexpression complemented the late-flowering phenotype of Arabidopsis ft-10, whereas that of LhFT8 did so partly. LhFT4 and LhFT6 overexpression could not complement. Yeast two-hybrid and in vitro analyses showed that the LhFT1 protein interacted with the LhFD protein. LhFT6 and LhFT8 proteins also interacted with LhFD, as observed in AlphaScreen assay. Based on these results, we revealed that LhFT1 acts as a floral activator during floral bud initiation in Asiatic hybrid lilies. However, the biological functions of LhFT4, LhFT6, and LhFT8 remain unclear.Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum and hybrids) is an autotetraploid crop whose commercial relevance has been growing steadily during the last 20 years. However, the ever-increasing cost of labor for hand-picking blueberry is one main constraint in competitive marketing of the fruit. Machine harvestability is, therefore, a key trait for the blueberry industry. Understanding the genetic architecture of traits related to machine harvestability through Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) mapping is the first step toward implementation of molecular breeding for faster genetic gains. Despite recent advances in software development for autotetraploid genetic mapping, a high-resolution map is still not available for blueberry. In this study, we crafted a map for autotetraploid low-chill highbush blueberry containing 11,292 SNP markers and a total size of 1,953.97 cM (average density of 5.78 markers/cM). This map was subsequently used to perform QTL analyses in 2-year field trials for a trait crucial to machine harvesting fruit firmness. Preliminary insights were also sought for single evaluations of firmness retention after cold storage, and fruit detachment force traits. Significant QTL peaks were identified for all the traits and overlapping QTL intervals were detected for firmness across the years. We found low-to-moderate QTL effects explaining the phenotypic variance, which suggest a quantitative nature of these traits. The QTL intervals were further speculated for putative gene repertoire. Altogether, our findings provide the basis for future fine-mapping and molecular breeding efforts for machine harvesting in blueberry.