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Advances in Research for Sunflower Breeding and Genetics
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Advances in Research for Sunflower Breeding and Genetics

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Plant Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 May 2023) | Viewed by 7878

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Flavia Mascagni

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (DAFE), University of Pisa, Via del Borghetto 80, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
Interests: bioinformatics application to plant breeding; plant structural and functional genomics; bioinformatics; genome structure and evolution; genome sequencing; crop improvement
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Claudio Pugliesi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (DAFE), University of Pisa, Via del Borghetto 80, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
Interests: carotenoid biosynthesis; cell totipotency; development of axillary meristem; disease resistance; flower symmetry; nanotechnology; plant hormones; RNA silencing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Marco Fambrini

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (DAFE), University of Pisa, Via del Borghetto 80, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
Interests: carotenoid biosynthesis; cell totipotency; plant architecture; disease resistance; flower development; nanotechnology; plant hormones; RNA silencing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is an economically important seed crop of the Asteraceae family. The oilseed sunflower contributes approximately ten percent of the world’s plant-derived edible oil, and the confection-type sunflower holds a considerable share of the directly consumed snacks market. Studies have shown that sunflower oil is healthier than most other food oils on the market. In addition, sunflowers are also grown ornamentally for cut flowers, as well as for in-home gardens. The domestication of the sunflower is believed to have occurred 4000 to 5000 years ago. All modern domesticated sunflowers can be traced to a single center of domestication in the interior mid-latitudes of eastern North America. Among the important domestication traits, we can notice an unbranched stem supporting a single large flower head with large seeds that stay in the head after maturity.  For many decades, plant breeders have used conventional breeding techniques to improve the sunflower. Nevertheless, there is a need for more sophisticated techniques. Sequencing of the sunflower genome, bridging traditional research with modern molecular investigations on the sunflower, has opened up new opportunities in sunflower breeding, genetics and genomics research. Genotype by sequencing and whole genome sequencing based on next-generation sequencing technologies have facilitated the production of large amounts of SNP markers for high-density maps as well as SNP arrays and allowed genome-wide association studies and genomic selection in sunflower. Furthermore, integrative approaches combining genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and phenomics using bioinformatics tools will make the identification of target genes for complex traits easier and will give a better insight into the mechanisms behind the traits. This Special Issue calls for original research articles, short communications, and review articles in all areas of plant breeding, molecular breeding and genomics, genome-wide association study (GWAS) and in vitro culture and genetic transformation, not limited to newly emerging fields but aimed at building a more resilient and sustainable agriculture of sunflowers.

Dr. Flavia Mascagni
Dr. Claudio Pugliesi
Dr. Marco Fambrini
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • climate change
  • crop improvement
  • plant architecture
  • breeding for biotic and abiotic stresses
  • RNA-seq methods
  • in vitro culture and genetic transformation
  • genome-wide association study
  • bioinformatics technologies
  • molecular breeding
  • genomics

Published Papers (4 papers)

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15 pages, 1056 KiB  
Article
A Quantitative Genetic Study of Sclerotinia Head Rot Resistance Introgressed from the Wild Perennial Helianthus maximiliani into Cultivated Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.)
by Zahirul I. Talukder, William Underwood, Christopher G. Misar, Gerald J. Seiler, Xiwen Cai, Xuehui Li and Lili Qi
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(14), 7727; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23147727 - 13 Jul 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1549
Abstract
Sclerotinia head rot (HR), caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, is an economically important disease of sunflower with known detrimental effects on yield and quality in humid climates worldwide. The objective of this study was to gain insight into the genetic architecture of HR [...] Read more.
Sclerotinia head rot (HR), caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, is an economically important disease of sunflower with known detrimental effects on yield and quality in humid climates worldwide. The objective of this study was to gain insight into the genetic architecture of HR resistance from a sunflower line HR21 harboring HR resistance introgressed from the wild perennial Helianthus maximiliani. An F2 population derived from the cross of HA 234 (susceptible-line)/HR21 (resistant-line) was evaluated for HR resistance at two locations during 2019–2020. Highly significant genetic variations (p < 0.001) were observed for HR disease incidence (DI) and disease severity (DS) in both individual and combined analyses. Broad sense heritability (H2) estimates across environments for DI and DS were 0.51 and 0.62, respectively. A high-density genetic map of 1420.287 cM was constructed with 6315 SNP/InDel markers developed using genotype-by-sequencing technology. A total of 16 genomic regions on eight sunflower chromosomes, 1, 2, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 17 were associated with HR resistance, each explaining between 3.97 to 16.67% of the phenotypic variance for HR resistance. Eleven of these QTL had resistance alleles from the HR21 parent. Molecular markers flanking the QTL will facilitate marker-assisted selection breeding for HR resistance in sunflower. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Research for Sunflower Breeding and Genetics)
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19 pages, 3122 KiB  
Article
Genetic Insight into Disease Resistance Gene Clusters by Using Sequencing-Based Fine Mapping in Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.)
by Guojia Ma, Qijian Song, Xuehui Li and Lili Qi
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(17), 9516; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23179516 - 23 Aug 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1903
Abstract
Rust and downy mildew (DM) are two important sunflower diseases that lead to significant yield losses globally. The use of resistant hybrids to control rust and DM in sunflower has a long history. The rust resistance genes, R13a and R16, [...] Read more.
Rust and downy mildew (DM) are two important sunflower diseases that lead to significant yield losses globally. The use of resistant hybrids to control rust and DM in sunflower has a long history. The rust resistance genes, R13a and R16, were previously mapped to a 3.4 Mb region at the lower end of sunflower chromosome 13, while the DM resistance gene, Pl33, was previously mapped to a 4.2 Mb region located at the upper end of chromosome 4. High-resolution fine mapping was conducted using whole genome sequencing of HA-R6 (R13a) and TX16R (R16 and Pl33) and large segregated populations. R13a and R16 were fine mapped to a 0.48 cM region in chromosome 13 corresponding to a 790 kb physical interval on the XRQr1.0 genome assembly. Four disease defense-related genes with nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) motifs were found in this region from XRQr1.0 gene annotation as candidate genes for R13a and R16. Pl33 was fine mapped to a 0.04 cM region in chromosome 4 corresponding to a 63 kb physical interval. One NLR gene, HanXRQChr04g0095641, was predicted as the candidate gene for Pl33. The diagnostic SNP markers developed for each gene in the current study will facilitate marker-assisted selections of resistance genes in sunflower breeding programs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Research for Sunflower Breeding and Genetics)
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20 pages, 6891 KiB  
Article
Genome-Wide Analysis of WOX Multigene Family in Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.)
by Ettore Riccucci, Cosimo Vanni, Alberto Vangelisti, Marco Fambrini, Tommaso Giordani, Andrea Cavallini, Flavia Mascagni and Claudio Pugliesi
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(4), 3352; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24043352 - 08 Feb 2023
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2108
Abstract
The WUSCHEL-related homeobox (WOX) is a family of specific transcription factors involved in plant development and response to stress, characterized by the presence of a homeodomain. This study represents the first comprehensive characterization of the WOX family in a member of [...] Read more.
The WUSCHEL-related homeobox (WOX) is a family of specific transcription factors involved in plant development and response to stress, characterized by the presence of a homeodomain. This study represents the first comprehensive characterization of the WOX family in a member of the Asteraceae family, the sunflower (H. annuus L.). Overall, we identified 18 putative HaWOX genes divided by phylogenetic analysis in three major clades (i.e., ancient, intermediate, and WUS). These genes showed conserved structural and functional motifs. Moreover, HaWOX has homogeneously distributed on H. annuus chromosomes. In particular, 10 genes originated after whole segment duplication events, underpinning a possible evolution of this family along with the sunflower genome. In addition, gene expression analysis evidenced a specific pattern of regulation of the putative 18 HaWOX during embryo growth and in ovule and inflorescence meristem differentiation, suggesting a pivotal role for this multigenic family in sunflower development. The results obtained in this work improved the understanding of the WOX multigenic family, providing a resource for future study on functional analysis in an economically valuable species such as sunflower. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Research for Sunflower Breeding and Genetics)
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25 pages, 1291 KiB  
Article
Similar Transcriptomic Responses to Early and Late Drought Stresses Produce Divergent Phenotypes in Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.)
by Garrett M. Janzen, Emily L. Dittmar, Nicolas B. Langlade, Nicolas Blanchet, Lisa A. Donovan, Andries A. Temme and John M. Burke
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(11), 9351; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24119351 - 27 May 2023
Viewed by 1196
Abstract
Cultivated sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) exhibits numerous phenotypic and transcriptomic responses to drought. However, the ways in which these responses vary with differences in drought timing and severity are insufficiently understood. We used phenotypic and transcriptomic data to evaluate the response of [...] Read more.
Cultivated sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) exhibits numerous phenotypic and transcriptomic responses to drought. However, the ways in which these responses vary with differences in drought timing and severity are insufficiently understood. We used phenotypic and transcriptomic data to evaluate the response of sunflower to drought scenarios of different timing and severity in a common garden experiment. Using a semi-automated outdoor high-throughput phenotyping platform, we grew six oilseed sunflower lines under control and drought conditions. Our results reveal that similar transcriptomic responses can have disparate phenotypic effects when triggered at different developmental time points. Leaf transcriptomic responses, however, share similarities despite timing and severity differences (e.g., 523 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were shared across all treatments), though increased severity elicited greater differences in expression, particularly during vegetative growth. Across treatments, DEGs were highly enriched for genes related to photosynthesis and plastid maintenance. A co-expression analysis identified a single module (M8) enriched in all drought stress treatments. Genes related to drought, temperature, proline biosynthesis, and other stress responses were overrepresented in this module. In contrast to transcriptomic responses, phenotypic responses were largely divergent between early and late drought. Early-stressed sunflowers responded to drought with reduced overall growth, but became highly water-acquisitive during recovery irrigation, resulting in overcompensation (higher aboveground biomass and leaf area) and a greater overall shift in phenotypic correlations, whereas late-stressed sunflowers were smaller and more water use-efficient. Taken together, these results suggest that drought stress at an earlier growth stage elicits a change in development that enables greater uptake and transpiration of water during recovery, resulting in higher growth rates despite similar initial transcriptomic responses. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Research for Sunflower Breeding and Genetics)
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