Eleni Bachlava

Bayer CropScience · Vegetable Seeds R&D

Silverleaf sunflower (Helianthus argophyllus Torrey and Gray) has been an important source of favorable alleles for broadening genetic diversity and enhancing agriculturally important traits in common sunflower (H. annuus L.), and, as the closest living relative of H. annuus, provides an excellent model for understanding how apparently maladaptive...

Genetic linkage maps have the potential to facilitate the genetic dissection of complex traits and comparative analyses of genome structure, as well as molecular breeding efforts in species of agronomic importance. Until recently, the majority of such maps was based on relatively low-throughput marker technologies, which limited marker density acro...

Recent advances in next-generation DNA sequencing technologies have made possible the development of high-throughput SNP genotyping platforms that allow for the simultaneous interrogation of thousands of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Such resources have the potential to facilitate the rapid development of high-density genetic maps, and to...

Nucleotide binding site-leucine rich repeat (NBS-LRR) proteins are encoded by a ubiquitous gene family in sunflower and frequently harbor disease resistance genes. We investigated NBS-LRR-encoding resistance gene candidates (RGCs) flanking the downy mildew resistance genes Pl ( 8 ) and Pl ( 14 ) and the rust resistance gene R ( Adv ), which map on...

The microsomal omega-6 desaturase enzymes, which catalyze the desaturation of oleic acid to linoleic acid during fatty acid biosynthesis, are encoded by the FAD2-1 and FAD2-2 genes in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.]. Breeders aim to incorporate the high-oleate trait into soybean germplasm in order to improve the nutritional value and oxidative sta...

We present version 1.4 of the reference sunflower genome and discuss the diverse genetic resources available in this valuable oilseed crop. Our 3.6 Gbp reference genome consists of seventeen pseudomolecules representing the nuclear chromosomes of sunflower, complete cytoplasmic genomes, and a representative repeat library. The pseudomolecules were...

Here we present a reference genome of the domestic sunflower, Helianthus annuus. The sunflower genome contains ~3.6 billion base pairs. Retrotransposons make up ~80% of the genome, most of which derive from a recent expansion of the Ty3/Gypsytype. Pervasive high-copy repeats make genome reconstruction difficult, as they form tight knots in an assem...

Key message: fap 1 mutation is caused by a G174A change in GmKASIIIA that disrupts a donor splice site recognition and creates a GATCTG motif that enhanced its expression. Soybean oil with reduced palmitic acid content is desirable to reduce the health risks associated with consumption of this fatty acid. The objectives of this study were: to iden...

Abstract Sex expression is an important trait in watermelon (Citrullus lanatus), in which monoecious, andromonoecious, and trimonoecious forms are present. The andromonoecious trait is highly undesirable in watermelon breeding programs because it would require emasculation during hybrid development. In contrast to other cucurbits such as melon (Cu...

Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) is an important crop grown for both its edible flesh and seeds. Seed size is an important trait in watermelon breeding, with large seeds preferred for planting and edible seeds but small seeds preferred in fruit sold for consumption. Large, medium, and small seed sizes are thought to be controlled by two genes with ep...

The egusi watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) is popular in West Africa for its oil and protein-rich seed, which is consumed in soups and stews. The egusi phenotypic trait is controlled by a single recessive gene (eg) and is characterized by large seed size and fleshy, thick pericarp. An F2 mapping population was derived from Strain II (PI 279461) of th...

The first single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) maps for watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. et Nakai] were constructed and compared. Three populations were developed from crosses between two elite cultivars, Klondike Black Seeded × New Hampshire Midget (KBS × NHM), an elite cultivar and wild egusi accession, Strain II × PI 560023 (SII ×...

Here we report a draft sequence of the 3.6 Gb genome of cultivated sunflower (Helianthus annuus), the most economically important crop in the Compositae family. The genome was put together using a combination of 24x 454 whole-genome shotgun (WGS) sequencing and 80x Illumina WGS, along with ultra-high density genetic and physical maps that serve as...

The 20 most common GO terms in each of three categories for the 10,640 SNP-containing unigenes. A) Biological Process. B) Molecular Function. C) Cellular Component. (TIF)

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Log-likelihood and DeltaK plots for the STRUCTURE analyses. A) Log-likelihood plot. B) DeltaK plot. (TIF)

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Frequency of SNP types based on the full set of 85,063 sunflower SNPs. (TIFF)

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Supporting Information for “SNP Discovery and Development of a High-Density SNP Genotyping Array for Sunflower.” (PDF)

Abstract Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) is an important crop grown for both its edible flesh and seeds. Seed size is an important trait in watermelon breeding, with large seeds preferred for planting and edible seeds but small seeds preferred in fruit sold for consumption. Large, medium, and small seed sizes are thought to be controlled by two gen...

Abstract The egusi watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) is popular in West Africa for its oil and protein-rich seed, which is consumed in soups and stews. The egusi phenotypic trait is controlled by a single recessive gene (eg) and is characterized by large seed size and fleshy, thick pericarp. An F2 mapping population was derived from Strain II (PI 279...

The Compositae is one of the largest and most economically important families of flowering plants and includes a diverse array of food crops, horticultural crops, medicinals, and noxious weeds. Despite its size and economic importance, there is no reference genome sequence for the Compositae, which impedes research and improvement efforts. We repor...

Downy mildew, caused by Plasmopara halstedii, is one of the most destructive diseases in cultivated sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.). The dominant resistance locus PlARG originates from silverleaf sunflower (H. argophyllus Torrey and Gray) and confers resistance to all known races of P. halstedii. We mapped PlARG on linkage group (LG) 1 of (cms)HA3...

The discovery of unbranched, monocephalic natural variants was pivotal for the domestication of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.). The branching locus (B), one of several loci apparently targeted by aboriginal selection for monocephaly, pleiotropically affects plant, seed and capitula morphology and, when segregating, confounds the discovery of favo...

The development of high-oleate soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] germplasm, currently in demand due to its nutritional value and oxidative stability, may be hampered by the instability of fatty acid composition across environments, which is largely attributed to temperature changes and its effects on fatty acid biosynthesis during the period of oil...

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] produces 29.4% of the world's edible vegetable oil. An important determinant of the nutritional value and the oxidative stability of soybean oil is the oleic acid content. Elevation of the oleate content levels leads to the improvement of soybean oil quality. However, our knowledge of the genetic factors underlying...

The development of high-oleate soybean germplasm is hindered by the lack of knowledge of the genetic factors controlling oleate phenotypic variation. In the present study, several candidate genes implicated in oleate biosynthesis were mapped and their cosegregation with oleate, linoleate and linolenate quantitative trait loci (QTLs) was investigate...

Oleate content is important for the nutritional value and oxidative stability of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] seed oil. Response to selection for higher oleate content depends on its heritability in breeding populations, and correlated responses of other fatty acid and agronomic traits to selection for oleate content depend on their genetic cor...

Here we report an improved draft sequence of the 3.6 Gb genome of cultivated sunflower (Helianthus annuus), the most economically important crop in the Compositae family. The genome has now been assembled into 19 pseudomolecules representing the 17 nuclear chromosomes, the chloroplast, and the mitochondrial genome. We used a combination of 24x 454...

High density genetic maps can provide a framework to address many of the questions of genetics and plant breeding. We produced multiple high density genetic maps of sunflower Helianthus annuus by two different high throughput technologies. A 9,480 gene Illumina chip was used to create genetic maps from 4 different sunflower crosses with 3500 to 550...

Cultivated sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is grown worldwide as an oilseed crop, however, evidence suggests that sunflower can also be used as a dual use crop and harvested as a source of lignocellulosic biomass. To gain a better understanding of the genetics of wood chemistry and biomass related traits in sunflower a H. annuus x (H. annuus x H....