Triticum aestivum (bread wheat) is an important cereal crop not only in Canada but also worldwide. The pathogen Fusarium graminearum is responsible for causing the disease fusarium head blight and generates yield loses and mycotoxin contaminated grains, including in wheat. A strategy used to mitigate this problem is through the production of FHB resistant wheat varieties by crossing strongly resistant germplasms from closely related wheat species. Thinopyrum elongatum is a wild wheat grass that carries genetic resistance to FHB on the long arm of its chromosome 7E (7EL). Previous work has developed genetic material by crossing Chinese Spring (CS) ph1b line with a CS-7E(7D) substitution line to facilitate introgression of 7E fragments from Thinopyrum into the 7D chromosome of wheat. In the first part of this project a genetic order for previously designed 7EL- and 7D- specific markers was proposed using IWGSC RefSeq v1.0 and was used to characterize the introgressed material from the above cross. Progeny from BC1F7 and BC1F5 families of different lineages were genotyped and phenotyped to characterize regions of introgression which were estimated to be at least 42 and 22 Mbp respectively. Gene expression analysis was also performed for selected 7EL genes. Results showed that the expression of selected 7EL genes present within the introgressed fragments were highly variable between the three families characterized as well as within families. It was also observed that the 7EL introgressed progeny had variable expression when compared to the addition line CS-7EL. Additionally gene expression analyses were also performed using 7D genes. These results showed that there was variation in 7D gene expression between the 7EL introgressed progeny and the controls CS-Fg and addition line CS-7EL-Fg. Possible explanations regarding the variation in gene expression includes differential methylation patterns, silencing of genes in the progeny, alteration of repetitive sequences or activation of transposable elements. Further research will be needed to test these hypotheses.

La presente publicación pretende resumir el conocimiento científico químico-biológico sobre el Piper aduncum L., y sus especies sinónimas, P. angustifolium y P. elongatum. Se han logrado aislar e identificar más de 50 compuestos en dichas especies, los cuales pueden ser agrupados en cromenos, fenilpropanoides, derivados de ácido benzoico y flavonoides. Se presenta una discusión de las actividades biológicas encontradas para los extractos crudos y los compuestos aislados de ellos. / This review article covers the present knowledge on the chemistry and biological activities of Piper aduncurn and its synonyms P. angustifoliurn and P. elongaturn. More than 50 compounds have been isolated from these species, which can be grouped as chromenes, phenylpropanoids, benzoic acid derivatives and flavonoids. The biological activities of the crude extracts, and the compounds isolated from them, are discussed.

Twenty selected Agropyron elongatum clones were evaluated in parent and progeny nurseries with each clone represented by 560 progenies. Agronomic characters evaluated on the progenies included degree of erectness, three height measurements, and green weight data. Correlations were calculated between the seed yields of the progenies and the forage yield of the parents. General combining ability was determined for the 20 clones. The clonal source of variation for erectness was high. More variation existed within clones for green weight than for any other character studied. Two specific clones exhibited better over-all general combining ability than the others. Successive seed yields on the same nursery were highly correlated, whereas no correlation was found between progeny forage and parent seed yields.

The potential of basin wildrye (Elymus cinereus Scribn. & Merr. 'Magnar') and tall wheatgrass [Agropyron elongatum (Host) Beav. 'Jose '] to establish on saline, arid rangelands in the Great Basin in relation to soil water and salinity was compared in field and laboratory experiments. Tall wheatgrass had higher emergence and establishment on a nonsaline and a saline soil (electrical conductivity of the saturation extract of 7 dS·m-1) over a range of spring precipitation as simulated by sprinkler irrigation. Basin wildrye will require supplemental irrigation to establish on soils of similar salinity. In the absence of precipitation, soil salinity increases and matric and osmotic potentials rapidly decrease as the surface soil dries in late spring. Germination and growth responses in relation to salinity and drought in laboratory experiments were consistent with emergence and establishment results in the field experiments. Tall wheatgrass had higher total germination, rate of germination and radicle growth under decreasing osmotic potentials and higher emergence under decreasing matric potentials than basin wildrye. Tall wheatgrass had greater root and shoot yield than basin wildrye when osmotic potentials in sand cultures were decreased by solutions of NaCl, Na2SO4 and CaCl2.Tall wheatgrass is more tolerant of salt and boron than basin wildrye, but basin wildrye is highly salt tolerant compared to most forage species. Tall wheatgrass had more rapid root elongation and more extensive root growth than basin wildrye seedlings grown in 60-cm soil columns filled with nonsaline and saline soil. Germination and growth of both species was reduced by ions in addition to the effects of water stress due to low osmotic potentials. Rate of germination and radicle growth of both species was less in salts than in isosmotic polyethylene glycol solutions. Seedlings exhibited less growth in saline than nonsaline soil even when plant water stress was minimal or when leaf water potentials were low but turgor was maintained by osmotic adjustment. Germination at low osmotic and matric potentials and root elongation in relation to salinity may be important plant responses to use in evaluating the potential for establishment of new plant materials on saline, arid rangelands.

The population structure of a lichen, Thamnolia subuliformis and a moss, Dicranum elongatum, was examined in northeastern regions of Wapusk National Park. With the use of microsatellite molecular markers, it was reported that the sterile lichen had a level of variation similar to that of a sexually reproducing species. The variation reported for the moss, where sporophytes were not encountered, supported subdivided populations. It was concluded that these species have the genetic resources necessary to adapt to changing environmental conditions. / February 2007

The population structure of a lichen, Thamnolia subuliformis and a moss, Dicranum elongatum, was examined in northeastern regions of Wapusk National Park. With the use of microsatellite molecular markers, it was reported that the sterile lichen had a level of variation similar to that of a sexually reproducing species. The variation reported for the moss, where sporophytes were not encountered, supported subdivided populations. It was concluded that these species have the genetic resources necessary to adapt to changing environmental conditions.

The population structure of a lichen, Thamnolia subuliformis and a moss, Dicranum elongatum, was examined in northeastern regions of Wapusk National Park. With the use of microsatellite molecular markers, it was reported that the sterile lichen had a level of variation similar to that of a sexually reproducing species. The variation reported for the moss, where sporophytes were not encountered, supported subdivided populations. It was concluded that these species have the genetic resources necessary to adapt to changing environmental conditions.

[Truncated abstract] Lophopyrum elongatum, a wild relative of wheat, can be used as a source of novel genes for improving the salt tolerance of bread wheat. Na+ `exclusion? is a major physiological mechanism for salt tolerance in the wheat L. elongatum amphiploid, and a large proportion (~50%) of the improved Na+ `exclusion? is contributed by a gene(s) on chromosome 3E. This study integrated physiological analysis with comparative genomics to identify gene orthologues that may regulate Na+ transport, and designed and implemented molecular markers for developing wheat L. elongatum recombinant lines with reduced portions of L. elongatum chromatin retaining the Na+ `exclusion? trait. Physiological analysis of leaf Na+ accumulation in wheat L. elongatum substitution lines confirmed that the 3E chromosome contributes a major effect on reduced leaf Na+ accumulation in wheat when grown at 200 mM NaCl. Candidate genes from the model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, controlling Na+ transport into and from cells (SOS1, HKT1) or compartmentalisation within vacuoles (NHX1, NHX5, AVP1, AVP2) were targeted for comparative analysis in wheat. Wheat gene orthologues were identified by BLAST searching to identify either FL-cDNAs or ESTs, which were subsequently used to amplify genomic DNA, and orthologues confirmed by similar intron-exon structure between Arabidopsis and rice. Intron-exon comparisons showed the majority of exons were conserved between Arabidopsis, rice and wheat, but also indicated exon shuffling events since divergence from a common ancestor. Gene orthologues were assigned to homoeologous chromosomes and non-syntenic regions between wheat and L. elongatum, with the SOS1 orthologue located on group 3 chromosomes in wheat and L. elongatum. ... The recombinant line 524-568 contains a small introgression on the distal end of the long arm of wheat chromosome 3A and represents the most desirable line presently available for further germplasm development. The main outcomes of this thesis have been an increased understanding of the physiology and evolution of orthologues for Na+ transport in wheat and L. elongatum, improved methodologies for designing alien-specific PCR markers, and the development of overlapping recombinant lines that provide a source of novel genes for pyramiding into wheat and improving its tolerance to salt stress.

Triticum aestivum (bread wheat), one of the most globally important cereal crops, is vulnerable to fusarium head blight (FHB). The disease is mainly associated with the pathogen Fusarium graminearum and generates yield losses and mycotoxin contaminated grains with low quality. One possible solution to overcome this problem is the production of FHB resistant wheat varieties by crossing with strongly resistant germplasm from either wheat or closely related species. Thinopyrum elongatum is a wild grass that carries genetic resistance to FHB on the long arm of its chromosome 7E (7EL). In the first part of this research project, five Th. elongatum accessions were characterized for their response to F. graminearum infection. In the second part, BC1F4 progeny derived from the cross CS-ph1b × CS-7E(7D) were characterized to better define the 7E fragments introgressed into the 7D chromosome. Progeny were screened with a series of known 7E-specific genetic markers and for their FHB resistance. Among the 43 wheat plants tested, twelve FHB resistant progeny were shown to carry a similar, smaller 7EL introgressed fragment based on genetic marker screening. To characterize further the introgressed 7EL fragments, additional 7EL-specific markers as well as 7DL-specific markers for homoeologous wheat sequences were designed. As neither wheat nor Th. elongatum genomes were fully sequenced at the time, this made the designing procedure challenging; a cross-walking strategy between wheat and Th. elongatum draft genomic sequences was used. Twelve pairs of markers for homoeologous sequence regions of 7EL and 7DL chromosomes plus six individual 7EL- and four 7DL-specific markers were successfully designed. Nine novel 7EL-specific markers were associated with the smallest 7EL fragment carrying FHB resistance. That smallest introgressed 7EL fragment replaced approximately half of the 7DL chromosome, based on the absence of 7DL markers in some progeny. The novel 7EL- and 7DL-specific markers as well as the proposed genetic order for novel and previously designed markers contributed greatly to the characterization of the introgressed 7EL fragments in the 7DL chromosome. Further analysis of progeny from the next generations of these plants and from other families will be required to confirm the results and possibly obtain much smaller 7EL fragments.