Genetic Diversity of Some Capparis L. Species Growing in Syria

This work investigated the genetic diversity and relationships among Capparis species growing in Syria using IRAP and ISSR techniques. Forty-seven samples of three Capparis species genotypes were collected from 21 different locations in Syria. The genotypes were morphologically identified based on the descriptions available in the literature. When IRAP technique was used, an average of 71.5% of the amplified fragments were polymorphic compared to 82.04% in ISSR. Morphological characterization along with the cluster and PCoA analyses of the data divided the studied genotypes into three groups. The groups included genotypes identified as Capparis spinosa L, C. sicula Duh., and C. aegyptia Lam. Based on the morphological description, molecular studies and statistical analyses of this study, C. aegyptia could be suggested as a separate species and not a varietal rank of C. spinosa (C. spinosa var. aegyptia (Lam.). Two samples (Alep1 and Idl) were not placed in any of the three distinctive groups, despite their closeness morphologically to C. spinosa. In PCoA analysis, sample Alep1 came between C. sicula and C. spinosa and Idl was placed between C. sicula and C. aegyptia. Although hybridization between Capparis species could occur, it was not clear from the present study if these two genotypes were hybrids.

Identification of meat species by PCR-RFLP of the mitochondrial COI gene.

Meat authenticity verification is pertinent for economical, religious or public health concerns. The present study investigates the use of PCR-RFLP of a part of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene for identification of species origin of raw meat samples of cow, chicken, turkey, sheep, pig, buffalo, camel and donkey. PCR yielded a 710-bp fragment in all species. The amplicons were digested with seven restriction endonucleases (Hind II, Ava II, Rsa I, Taq I, Hpa II, Tru 1I and Xba I) that were selected based on the preliminary in silico analysis. Different levels of polymorphism were detected among samples. The level of COI variation revealed using only Hpa II was sufficient to generate easily analyzable species-specific restriction profiles that could distinguish unambiguously all targeted species. Compared to previously published reports for the determination of meat origin at the molecular level, the approach developed here is much cheaper and faster for routine identification of meats in food control laboratories.

Optimizing TILLING and Ecotilling techniques for potato (Solanum tuberosum L).

BACKGROUND: The TILLING and Ecotilling techniques for the discovery of nucleotide polymorphisms were applied to three potato (Solanum tuberosum) cultivars treated with gamma irradiation. The three mutant cultivars tested were previously shown to exhibit salinity tolerance, an important trait in countries like Syria where increasing soil salinity is affecting agricultural production. FINDINGS: Three gene-specific primer pairs were designed from BAC sequence to amplify approximately 1 to 1.5 kb of gene target. One of the three primer pairs amplified a single gene target. We used this primer pair to optimize enzymatic mismatch cleavage and fluorescence DNA detection for polymorphism discovery. We identified 15 putative nucleotide polymorphisms per kilobase. Nine discovered polymorphisms were unique to one of the three tetraploid cultivars tested. CONCLUSION: This work shows the utility of enzymatic mismatch cleavage for TILLING and Ecotilling in different varieties of potato. The method allows for rapid germplasm characterization without the cost and high informatics load of DNA sequencing. It is also suitable for mutation discovery in high-throughput reverse genetic screens.