Optimal flowering time is critical to the success of modern agriculture. Sorghum is a short-day tropical species that exhibits substantial photoperiod sensitivity and delayed flowering in long days. Genotypes with reduced photoperiod sensitivity enabled sorghum's utilization as a grain crop in temperate zones worldwide. In the present study, Ma 1 , the major repressor of sorghum flowering in long days, was identified as the pseudoresponse regulator protein 37 (PRR37) through positional cloning and analysis of SbPRR37 alleles that modulate flowering time in grain and energy sorghum. Several allelic variants of SbPRR37 were identified in early flowering grain sorghum germplasm that contain unique loss-of-function mutations. We show that in long days SbPRR37 activates expression of the floral inhibitor CONSTANS and represses expression of the floral activators Early Heading Date 1, FLOWERING LOCUS T, Zea mays CENTRORADIALIS 8, and floral induction. Expression of SbPRR37 is light dependent and regulated by the circadian clock, with peaks of RNA abundance in the morning and evening in long days. In short days, the evening-phase expression of SbPRR37 does not occur due to darkness, allowing sorghum to flower in this photoperiod. This study provides insight into an external coincidence mechanism of photoperiodic regulation of flowering time mediated by PRR37 in the short-day grass sorghum and identifies important alleles of SbPRR37 that are critical for the utilization of this tropical grass in temperate zone grain and bioenergy production.is a C4 grass native to Africa that provides an indispensable food source for over 300 million people inhabiting food-insecure regions worldwide (1). Although primarily grown for its grain and forage, highbiomass sorghum is also an excellent drought-tolerant energy crop for sustainable production of lignocellulosic-based biofuels (2). Forage and energy sorghums are selected for delayed flowering to increase biomass yield through longer duration of vegetative growth, whereas grain sorghums are selected for early flowering to ensure sufficient time for grain maturation and to avoid drought and frost. Optimal production of each of these sorghum crops requires the precise regulation of flowering time, which varies depending on planting location and climate. Differences in photoperiod sensitivity confer a wide range of flowering times on diverse accessions of the sorghum germplasm collection (3). Due to its critical importance to crop yield and hybrid seed production, photoperiodic regulation of flowering has been an important trait characterized by sorghum improvement programs dating back to the early 1900s (4).In Arabidopsis, flowering is induced in long days (LD) that expose plants to light in the evening during a phase of circadian clock oscillation required for induction of floral genes, consistent with the external coincidence model (5-7). Rhythmic expression of the core circadian clock components CIRCADIAN CLOCK ASSOCIATED 1 (CCA1)/LATE ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL (LHY) and TIMING OF CAB 1...

Escherichia coli labeled with a green fluorescent protein was inoculated into sterile dairy manure at 7.0 log cfu/g. Approximately 125 black soldier fly larvae were placed in manure inoculated and homogenized with E. coli. Manure inoculated with E. coli but without black soldier fly larvae served as the control. For the first experiment, larvae were introduced into 50, 75, 100, or 125 g sterilized dairy manure inoculated and homogenized with E. coli and stored 72 h at 27 degrees C. Black soldier fly larvae significantly reduced E. coli counts in all treatments. However, varying the amount of manure provided the black soldier fly larvae significantly affected their weight gain and their ability to reduce E. coli populations present. For the second experiment, larvae were introduced into 50 g manure inoculated with E. coli and stored for 72 h at 23, 27, 31, or 35 degrees C. Minimal bacterial growth was recorded in the control held at 35 degrees C and was excluded from the analysis. Black soldier fly larvae significantly reduced E. coli counts in manure held at remaining temperatures. Accordingly, temperature significantly influenced the ability of black soldier fly larvae to develop and reduce E. coli counts with greatest suppression occurring at 27 degrees C.

We have conducted a large-scale study of gene expression in the C4 monocot sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) L. Moench cv BTx623 in response to the signaling compounds salicylic acid (SA), methyl jasmonate (MeJA), and the ethylene precursor aminocyclopropane carboxylic acid. Expression profiles were generated from seedling root and shoot tissue at 3 and 27 h, using a microarray containing 12,982 nonredundant elements. Data from 102 slides and quantitative reverse transcription-PCR data on mRNA abundance from 171 genes were collected and analyzed and are here made publicly available. Numerous gene clusters were identified in which expression was correlated with particular signaling compound and tissue combinations. Many genes previously implicated in defense responded to the treatments, including numerous pathogenesis-related genes and most members of the phenylpropanoid pathway, and several other genes that may represent novel activities or pathways. Genes of the octadecanoic acid pathway of jasmonic acid (JA) synthesis were induced by SA as well as by MeJA. The resulting hypothesis that increased SA could lead to increased endogenous JA production was confirmed by measurement of JA content. Comparison of responses to SA, MeJA, and combined SA+MeJA revealed patterns of one-way and mutual antagonisms, as well as synergistic effects on regulation of some genes. These experiments thus help further define the transcriptional results of cross talk between the SA and JA pathways and suggest that a subset of genes coregulated by SA and JA may comprise a uniquely evolved sector of plant signaling responsive cascades.

Sorghum Ma 6 , a strong repressor of flowering in long days (LDs), was identified as the CONSTANS, CO-like, and TOC1 (CCT)-domain protein encoded by SbGhd7. Sorghum Ghd7 increases photoperiod sensitivity and delays flowering by inhibiting expression of the floral activator SbEhd1 and genes encoding FT. SbGhd7 expression is light-dependent and gated by the circadian clock. In LDs when flowering is repressed, SbGhd7 mRNA abundance peaks in the morning and evening. In short days (SDs) when floral initiation occurs, the evening phase of SbGhd7 expression occurs in darkness, reducing SbGhd7 mRNA abundance. In energy sorghum hybrids, dominant alleles of SbGhd7 and SbPRR37 act in additive fashion to delay floral initiation for ~175 d until daylengths decrease below 12.3 h. In contrast, photoperiod-insensitive grain sorghum genotypes containing recessive alleles of SbGhd7 and SbPRR37 flower in 60 to 80 d. Recessive alleles of SbGhd7 and SbPRR37 are present in historically important sorghum germplasm introduced into the United States in the 1800s that was used to produce early flowering grain and sweet sorghum. Recessive alleles ghd7-1 and prr37-1 are present in maturity standards such as SM100, and in BTx406, a genotype used in the Sorghum Conversion Program to convert late-flowering photoperiod-sensitive sorghum accessions into early flowering photoperiod-insensitive germplasm useful for grain sorghum breeding. The results show that alleles of SbGhd7 confer differences in photoperiod sensitivity and flowering times that are critical for production of late-flowering high-biomass energy sorghum and early flowering grain sorghum.

Genetic linkage maps of bermudagrass (Cynodon spp.) species using 118 triploid individuals derived from a cross of T89 [C. dactylon (2n = 4x = 36)] and T574 [C. transvaalensis (2n = 2x = 18)] were enriched with expressed sequence tags-derived simple sequence repeat (EST-SSR) markers. Primers were developed from 53 ESTs containing SSRs producing 75 segregating markers from which 28 could be mapped to the T89 and T574 genetic maps. With the addition of previously generated marker data, 26 T89 linkage groups and eight T574 linkage groups were formed using a log-of-odds (LOD) value of 4.0. The T89 and T574 linkage maps spanned 1055 cM and 311.1 cM and include 125 and 36 single-dose amplified fragments (SDAFs), respectively. Many of the SDAFs displayed disomic segregation and thus T89 may be a segmental allotetraploid or an allotetraploid. The additional EST-SSR markers add value to the maps by increasing marker density and provide markers that can be easily transferred to other bermudagrass populations. Furthermore, EST-SSRs can be immediately used to assess genetic diversity, identify non-mutated cultivars of bermudagrass, confirm pedigrees, and differentiate contaminants from cultivars derived from ‘Tifgreen’.

Cucurbit yellow vine disease (CYVD), which can inflict heavy losses to watermelon, pumpkin, cantaloupe, and squash in U.S. production areas from the midwest to northeastern states, causes phloem discoloration, foliar yellowing, wilting, and plant decline. Bacteria were cultured from the phloem of crown sections of symptomatic plants of Citrullus lanatas and Cucurbita pepo. Those bacteria testing positive in CYVD-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were all gram negative and appeared morphologically identical, producing creamy white, smooth, entire, convex colonies on Luria-Bertani or nutrient agar. Characterized cucurbit-derived strains of Serratia marcescens were introduced into greenhouse-grown squash plants by puncture inoculation and into field-grown squash plants by enclosure with S. marcescens-fed squash bugs, Anasa tristis. Up to 60% of the bacteria-inoculated plants in the greenhouse and up to 17% of field plants caged with inoculative squash bugs developed phloem discoloration and tested positive for S. marcescens by CYVD-specific PCR. None of the controls developed phloem discoloration or tested positive by PCR. Of the diseased field plants, 12% (2 of 35) also yellowed, wilted, and collapsed, exhibiting full symptom development of CYVD. However, neither plant collapse nor decline was observed in the greenhouse-grown, puncture-inoculated plants. The morphology, growth habit, and PCR reaction of bacteria cultured from crown tissue of a subset of plants in each experimental group were indistinguishable from those of the inoculum bacteria. Evidence presented from our studies confirms that the squash bug can transmit S. marcescens, the CYVD causal bacterium. The S. marcescens-A. tristis relationship described here is the first instance in which the squash bug has been identified as a vector of a plant pathogen. Our experiments represent a completion of the steps of Koch's postulates, demonstrating that S. marcescens is the causal agent of CYVD and that the squash bug, A. tristis, is a vector of the pathogen.

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Three varieties, characterised by the possession of varying degrees of resistance to lodging, were grown in a Latin square with a view to determining if any character could be found which would serve as a stable criterion of resistance to lodging.Observations were made and analysed for all those morphological characters associated with strength of straw. The characters examined were: tillering, length of straw, lengths of internodes, diameter of fifth internode, thickness of culm wall, number of vascular bundles, width of lignified tissue in a cross-section, and thickness of sclerenchyma cell walls.