Biology subjects

Stoddard, F.

Publications and source records attributed to Stoddard, F..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Characterization of mycobiota in faba beans infected with Alternaria spp.

Leaf diseases pose a serious threat to faba bean production. Leaf blotch of faba bean, caused by Alternaria spp., has become increasingly widespread and destructive in several countries. Leaf diseases pose a serious threat to faba bean production. The infection of plant by pathogens can be influenced by various factors associated with the host plant, environmental conditions and presence of other microorganisms. The phyllosphere and endosphere play a critical role in plant health and disease development. This study aimed to evaluate the factors shaping the structure and diversity of fungal communities associated with faba beans. Plant samples were collected in 2004 from two intensively managed faba bean production fields in the central region of Latvia. Fungal assemblages were characterized using an ITS region metabarcoding approach based on Illumina MiSeq sequencing. Among the assigned amplicon sequence variant (AVS), 65% belonged to the phylum Ascomycota, while approximately 4% were classified as Basidiomycota. Alternaria and Cladosporium were the dominant genera across samples. The alfa and beta diversities of fungal communities was higher during flowering of faba beans to compare with ripening. The higher abundance of Basidiomycota yeasts were observed during flowering, in contrast, Cladosporium genus was significantly more abundant during ripening. Alternaria DNA was found on leaves that showed no symptoms of the disease. The diversity and composition of fungal communities were significantly influenced by sampling time and presence of leaf blotch, caused by Alternaria spp.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2024

New loci and candidate genes in spring two-rowed barley detected through meta-analysis of a field trial European network

This study contributes new knowledge on quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and candidate genes for adaptive traits and yield in two-rowed spring barley. A meta-analysis of a network of field trials, varying in latitude and sowing date, with 151 cultivars across several European countries, increased QTL detection power compared to single-trial analyses. The traits analysed were heading date (HD), plant height (PH), thousand-grain weight (TGW), and grain yield (GY). Breaking down the analysis by the main genotype-by-environment trends revealed QTLs and candidate genes specific to conditions like sowing date and latitude. A historical look on the evolution of QTL frequencies revealed that early selection focused on PH and TGW, likely due to their high heritability. GY selection occurred later, facilitated by reduced variance in other traits. The study observed that favourable alleles for plant height were often fixed before those for grain yield and TGW. Some regions showed linkage in repulsion, suggesting targets for future breeding. Several candidate genes were identified, including known genes and new candidates based on orthology with rice. Remarkably, the deficiens allele of gene Vrs1, appears associated to higher GY. These findings provide valuable insights for barley breeders aiming to improve yield, and other agronomic traits. HighlightA dense genome-wide meta-analysis provides new QTLs, reveals breeding history trends and identifies new candidate genes for yield, plant height, grain weight and heading time of spring barley.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2021

Machine Learning Speeding Up the Development of Portfolio of New Crop Varieties to Adapt to and Mitigate Climate Change

Climate change poses serious challenges to achieving food security in a time of a need to produce more food to keep up with the worlds increasing demand for food. There is an urgent need to speed up the development of new high yielding varieties with traits of adaptation and mitigation to climate change. Mathematical approaches, including ML approaches, have been used to search for such traits, leading to unprecedented results as some of the traits, including heat traits that have been long sought-for, have been found within a short period of time.

plant biology↗