Identification of a locus characteristic of male individuals of buffalo grass [Buchloe dactyloides (Nutt.) Engelm.] by using an RAPD marker.

Buffalo grass [Buchloe dactyloides (Nutt.) Engelm.] plants can be either male, female, or hermaphrodite (monoecious). As there is no morphological difference in the early vegetative growth of these three classes of plants, it is worthwhile to use molecular biological methods to attempt to identify the sex of a plant at this early growth period. In this study, we identified 23 plants that had a stable sex for over at least 3 years. Of these, 9 were male plants, 10 were female plants, and 4 were hermaphrodites. Screening of 300 RAPD primers identified a primer, namely S211 (5'-ttccccgcga-3'), which is capable of identifying male plants. The specific fragment was cloned, sequenced, and submitted to the GenBank database (accession No. JN982469). When used to identify the sex of 188 plants during their first growing season, the S211 primer correctly identified 85.8% of all male plants. Our results showed that the S211 primer can identify the male, and in doing so, it facilitates buffalo grass breeding work.

Changes in inflorescence protein during advanced stages of floret development in Buchloe dactyloides (Poaceae).

Buffalograss, Buchloe dactyloides, is a dioecious species native to the Great Plains of North America. The florets at the early stages of development possess both gynoecium and androecium organ primordia but later become unisexual. Very little is known about the proteomic changes that occur when the florets change from hermaphroditism to unisexuality. We compared the protein composition of florets at the hermaphroditic stage with that at the unisexual stage. The development stage of the floret was determined by stereomicroscopic observation. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis was used to separate the proteins extracted from female and male inflorescences. Stage- specific protein maps, with an average of about 400 spots per map, were analyzed with the protein analysis software. Eighteen spots were found to be differentially expressed between the hermaphrodite and unisexual stages. Of these, 12 were present at both stages but with a different expression value. Four specific spots appeared at the hermaphrodite stage and disappeared at the unisexual stage. Two specific protein spots were associated with female and male floret differentiation. One appears to be associated with contabescence in the female floret and the final protein appears to lead to the abortion of gynoecium in the male floret. The MALDI TOF/TOF technique was used for peptide mass fingerprinting of the differentially expressed proteins and the MASCOT software was used to search the protein database. However, only two protein spots were identified from the database. These were aldolase1 and Os05g0574400 (similar to malate dehydrogenase). This type of proteomic study can help to identify novel protein products and determine the mechanisms involved in the floral sex differentiation process in buffalo grass.

Mitochondrial DNA polymorphism in Chinese.

Human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) restriction endonuclease fragment patterns were analyzed using placenta DNA isolated from 273 individuals representing four different nationalities, the Han, the Uygur, the Kazakh and the Hui populations. Thirty-eight fragment patterns (morphs) were observed with the enzyme ApaI, BamHI, EcoRI, HindIII, HinfI, HhaI, HapII, KpnI, Mbol, PstI, PvuII, SacI, ScaL and XhoI. Fourteen new morphs, including some only existing in individual racial and national populations were observed, which indicates that there is a significant difference in the distribution of mtDNA morphs among various national and racial populations. By comparison with the mtDNA sequences in primate species, some mtDNA ancestral morphs were found to be retained in Oriental population today. This result provided indirect evidence that Asia may be one of the human original sources. Genetic distances among four national populations computed and employed in construction of an average linkage tree suggested that the Uygur and the Kazakh populations combined to form a branch at first, then the Han and the Hui came together to form another one, and at last, these two branches converged into a stem. Again, it was found that the internal variation within the Uygur and the Kazakh populations was greater than that within the Han and the Hui populations. These results showed a relationship among the four different national populations in China based on the molecular level.