Saharan wheats have been studied particularly from a botanical viewpoint. Genotypic identification, classification and genetic diversity studies to date were essentially based on the morphology of the spike and grain. For this, the allelic variation at the glutenin loci was studied in a set of Saharan bread and durum wheats from Algerian oases where this crop has been traditionally cultivated. The high molecular weight and low molecular weight glutenin subunit composition of 40 Saharan bread and 30 durum wheats was determined by SDS-PAGE. In Saharan bread wheats 32 alleles at the six glutenin loci were detected, which in combination resulted in 36 different patterns including 17 for HMW and 23 for LMW glutenin subunits. For the Saharan durum wheats, 29 different alleles were identified for the five glutenin loci studied. Altogether, 29 glutenin patterns were detected, including 13 for HMW-GS and 20 for LMW-GS. Three new alleles were found in Saharan wheats, two in durum wheat at the Glu-B1 and Glu-B3 loci, and one in bread wheat at the Glu-B1 locus. The mean indices of genetic variation at the six loci in bread wheat and at the five loci in durum wheat were 0.59 and 0.63, respectively, showing that Saharan wheats were more diverse. This information could be useful to select Saharan varieties with improved quality and also as a source of genes to develop new lines when breeding for quality.

The HMW and B-LMW glutenin subunits composition of 120 durum wheat germplasm grown in Algeria was examined using SDS-PAGE. All together, 39 glutenin patterns were detected, including eight for HMW and 21 for B-LMW glutenin subunits. Twenty-six different alleles were identified for the five glutenin loci studied, that is, Glu-A1 (3), Glu-B1 (7), Glu-A3 (5), Glu-B3 (9) and Glu-B2 (2). Two new alleles were found at Glu-B3 locus: Glu-B3new 1 encodes for five subunits (7 + 8 + 14 + 16 + 18) and Glu-B3new 2 codes for five subunits (4 + 6* + 12 + 15 + 15*), of which subunit 15* with mobility between bands 15-16 was not described previously. At the Glu-1 loci, the Glu-A1c/Glu-B1e allelic composition was predominant. For the B-LMW glutenins, the most common allelic composition was Glu-A3a/Glu-B3a/ Glu-B2a. The collection analysed shows glutenin alleles and allele combinations related to high gluten strength. This information could be useful to select varieties with improved quality and also as a source of genes to develop new lines when breeding for quality.

Klinefelter syndrome and Y-chromosomal microdeletion analyses were once the only two genetic tests offered to infertile men. Analyses of aurora kinase C (AURKC) and DPY19L2 are now recommended for patients presenting macrozoospermia and globozoospermia, respectively, two rare forms of teratozoospermia particularly frequent among North African men. We carried out genetic analyses on Algerian patients, to evaluate the prevalence of these syndromes in this population and to compare it with the expected frequency of Klinefelter syndrome and Y-microdeletions. We carried out a retrospective study on 599 consecutive patients consulting for couple infertility at the assisted reproduction unit of the Ibn Rochd Clinique, Constantine, Algeria. Abnormal sperm parameters were observed in 404 men. Fourteen and seven men had typical macrozoospermia and globozoospermia profiles, respectively. Molecular diagnosis was carried out for these patients, for the AURKC and DPY19L2 genes. Eleven men with macrozoospermia had a homozygous AURKC mutation (79%), corresponding to 2.7% of all patients with abnormal spermograms. All the men with globozoospermia studied (n = 5), corresponding to 1.2% of all infertile men, presented a homozygous DPY19L2 deletion. By comparison, we would expect 1.6% of the patients in this cohort to have Klinefelter syndrome and 0.23% to have Y-microdeletion. Our findings thus indicate that AURKC mutations are more frequent than Klinefelter syndrome and constitute the leading genetic cause of infertility in North African men. Furthermore, we estimate that AURKC and DPY19L2 molecular defects are 10 and 5 times more frequent, respectively, than Y-microdeletions.

A collection of 35 accessions of the tetraploid wild wheat Aegilops geniculata Roth (MM, UU) sampled in northern Algeria was evaluated for morphological and biochemical variability. Morphological and ecological analyses based on morphological traits and bioclimatic parameters, respectively, were assessed using principal component analysis (PCA). Accessions were differentiated by width characters, namely spike's width, and a weak relationship between morphological traits and ecological parameters was found. Polymorphism of high molecular weight (HMW) glutenin subunits was carried on by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Among accessions analyzed, 27 alleles were identified at the two loci Glu-M1 and Glu-U1: resulting in twenty-nine patterns and a nomenclature was proposed. Two alleles at the Glu-U1 locus expressed a new subunit with a slightly slower mobility than subunit 8. These results provide new information regarding the genetic variability of HMW glutenin subunits, as well as their usefulness in cultivated wheat quality improvement.

Medouri A., Bellil I., Khelifi D. (2015): The genetic diversity of gliadins in Aegilops geniculata from Algeria. Czech J. Genet. Plant Breed., 51: 9-15.The gliadins of the wild wheat Aegilops geniculata represent a valuable gene pool in breeding for bread making quality. The genetic diversity of gliadins in A. geniculata was studied among 36 of its accessions, collected in the north of Algeria, using acid polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis (Acid-PAGE). In total, sixty-one polymorphic bands and 35 gliadin patterns were identified. Twenty-eight different bands and 34 patterns were found in the ω-gliadin region, 13 polymorphic bands and 33 patterns for γ-gliadins, 12 bands and 34 different patterns for β-gliadins and eight bands in combination resulted in 25 different patterns in the α-gliadin zone. Thirty-five patterns were found for each of the Gli-1 (γ/ω region) and Gli-2 (α/β region) loci. The genetic diversity index (H) was higher for ω-gliadins (0.968), followed by γ-and β-gliadins (0.964 and 0.961, respectively), and the lowest value was detected in α-gliadin patterns (0.944). Cluster analysis based on Ward's method divided the analysed collection into five separated groups in which genetic diversity did not follow the geographical distribution. The polymorphism observed in the electrophoretic patterns highlights close correlations between bioclimatic features and some ω-gliadin proteins.

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Background Durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) is one of the most important cereals in the world. Unfortunately, the wheat plant is a target of several species of the genus Fusarium. This genus causes two serious diseases: fusarium crown rot (FCR) and fusarium head blight (FHB). The search for new indigenous strains of Trichoderma with a high potential for biocontrol against these two diseases was the purpose of this study. Results Biocontrol potential of 15 isolates of Trichoderma (T1 to T15), isolated from different rhizosphere soils and Algerian ecosystems, was evaluated against 4 strains of Fusarium culmorum (FC11, FC2, FC4, and FC20); the main causative agent of FCR and FHB. The efficacy of biological control by Trichoderma spp., evaluated by in vitro tests (direct and indirect confrontation), was confirmed by in vivo bioassays. The in vitro results showed a significant inhibition of mycelial growth of F. culmorum species than the control. The highest percentages of inhibition were obtained by T9, T12, and T14 isolates causing a maximum inhibition percentage of 81.81, 77.27, and 80.68%, respectively. T14 was selected for biocontrol in in vivo testing. A tube and pot experiments for FCR against F. culmorum showed that T14 decreased the disease severity with 50 and 63.63% reduction, respectively. FHB infection was significantly reduced by T14 in all durum wheat cultivars tested, where %AUDPC (area under the disease progress curve) reduction was 49.77, 43.43, 48.25, and 74.60% for Simeto, Waha, Bousselem, and Setifis genotypes, respectively. Yields also increased significantly for almost all cultivars. The antagonistic T14 was characterized based on molecular tools, using translation elongation factor1-alpha (TEF1-α) and internal transcribed spacers rDNA (ITS1). The results identified T14 as T. afroharzianum with accession numbers attributed by NCBI GenBank as MW171248 and MW159753. Conclusions Trichoderma afroharzianum, evaluated for the first time in Algeria as biocontrol agent, is a promising biocontrol approach against FCR and FHB.

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