Abstract:Crop genetic germplasm is the most important basis for crop genetic improvement. The levels of research on crop germplasm indicated the core competing ability of crop breeding. In this paper, we searched the SCIE data base and analyzed the publications in field of crop germplasms identification and utilization, the results show that China ranks in number one in all the countries in number of publications and genetic diversity is still the main objective but the characteristics and methods used extended to new generation of molecular markers such as SNP. The Wild crop germplasms were much more concerned than before. The current status of study on crop genetic germplasm in China was reviewed and precision phenotyping of crop germplasm was suggested.

Abstract:With the completion of genome sequencing on major crops, such as rice, wheat, maize, soybean, rape, cotton and vegetables, the molecular biological techniques are becoming more important and widely used in their genetic improvement. Many genes curtail for agronomic traits have been identified in the past decades. In this review, we summarized the research progresses on the Major Crop Genomics, especially those achieved in 2017.

Abstract:Traditional breeding is a method to develop new varieties through genetic recombination and phenotype selection based on sexual hybridization. With the gradual reduction of genetic diversity of the varieties used, the bottleneck of traditional breeding becomes more and more obvious, and it is difficult to develop a breakthrough variety with conventional breeding technology. The innovation of biotechnology has greatly promoted the development of modern breeding. With the rapid progress in multiple biological disciplines, including molecular biology, genomics, systems biology, synthetic biology, has led to the innovation of design

Abstract:Taking the Web of Science and Derwent Innovation database as the main data sources, a comprehensive analysis of research papers and patents referring to crop breeding in 2017 was performed from many aspects such as the number of documents, the state, institution and research topics based on bibliometrics,. The results showed that China and the United States contributed most to the science and technology output of crop breeding. However, the two countries exhibited different characteristics in terms of R D subjects and patent layouts, therefore, they have their own characteristics.

Abstract:_{:The research papers of crop breeding published in 2017 were collected by species in this article, which were analyzed from many aspects such as countries and organizations. The results showed that the number of research papers of rice and wheat rank the top two, China and its major research institutes had outstanding performance in crop breeding research area.}

Abstract:Rice is the most important cereal crop in our country, the continuous and stable grain production of rice and other major crops is of great practical and strategic significance for the food security and sustainable development of agriculture. During the past 20 years, a series of important research progresses has been made in rice molecular biology and molecular design breeding, especially, with the development of new disciplines such as genomics, computational biology, systems biology and synthetic biology, the identification and utilization of important functional genes not only brings opportunity to dissect the genetic regulation network of biological complex traits, but also provides scientific basis for the innovation of breeding technology. This article briefly reviews the research progress in the studies of functional genes in associated with improvement of rice grain yield.

Abstract:Wheat is one of the most important food crops worldwide. China is the biggest wheat producer and consumer in the world. Production enough amount of wheat is crucial for national food security and market requirement. The current situation of wheat production and breeding in China was reviewed and the perspective was analyzed. In addition, the most important research advances of wheat genomics, genetics and breeding in 2017 were summarized.

Abstract:Maize is the most widely cultivated, used and highest yield crop in the world and China. The development of maize production plays a vital role in ensuring food security and matching the marketrequirementin China. We analyze and expound the current situation of maize production and breeding in China, the main problems at present stage and future trend of development, and forwards countermeasures and suggestions.In addition, the main maize research developments in 2017 were summarized.

Abstract:Oilseed rape is an important oil crop in China. The sown area is about 67 million hectares and about 4.5 million tons of rapeseed oil is produced every year, which account for about 19.7% of total food oil consumption in China. Compared with developed countries, the problems in rapeseed industry of China are low yield and poor quality of rapeseed, and about 5 million tons of rapeseed is annually imported. The sequencing of oilseed rape genome has promoted the research on its breeding. According to the searching record of Web of Science, about total 728 articles related to rapeseed breeding was published in SCI/SCIE journals. Of 728 articles, 181 and 62 were independently completed by Chinese scientists and jointly done by Chinese and their cooperators from other countries, respectively, which account for 33.38% of the total published paper in the world. However, we lack high impact paper. The achievements in 2017 mainly focused on rapeseed oil content and quality, rapeseed yield, genome domestication, male sterility, abiotic

Abstract:In this review, we comment on the progress in cotton genetic and breeding in 2017.The cotton chip-SNPs were commercially applied in genotyping, lots of QTL/genes related to fiber yield and quality traits were identified and cloned. Significant progress was made in cotton GWAS research, construction of upland cotton high densy genetic mapping, and significant advance in fine mapping and cloning the genes related to cotton virescent and fiber quality,and the great achievements were made in cotton transgenetic new technology and materials for resistance to bud worm and herbicide. Meanwhile, combined with cotton production situation, future needs and new opportunity in china, we propose the some solutions,which need to be considered in the long term research.

Abstract:China is the biggest consumer of soybean production, but mainly depends on import. Moreover, the import dependence is continuing to increase. The soybean production in China largely lag behind that of the main foreign soybean producing countries. Accelerating yield via molecular design breeding innovation system is the key to solve the soybean crisis in China. In 2017, Chinese scientists cloned a number of important genes that related to soybean growth period, yield and quality, and made important progress in dissection of the genetic network underlying multiple agronomical traits.

Abstract:The objective of this study is to make the genetic analysis and origin of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) by using sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers. 129 sweet potato accessions including wild relatives, landraces and cultivars were used. The phylogenetic trees of sweet potato and its wild relatives were constructed by MEGA and DPS softwares, and the genetic distance of sweet potato accession was calculated. The results showed that: (1) the average genetic distance of 124 cultivars and 5 wild relatives was 0.1848 and 0.4822, respectively. (2) The wild relatives were separated from cultivars at the level of L1=0.31, and 124 cultivars were classified into 8 different groups at the level of L2=0.21. (3) 129 sweet potato accessions were placed into 3 groups (I, II and III) on the SRAP constructed phylogenetic tree. Group I included 5 wild relatives, and group II contained 1 landrace and 6 cultivars. There were 117 cultivars and landcaces in the group III. (4) Being consistent with previous publication, the divergence time of the wild relatives was the longest, followed by local accessions, whereas cultivars were the shortest. Moreover, the divergence time of Fujian landraces and the cultivars from Philippines was same, indicating the evolution pathway of sweet potato from The Philippines to Fujian province of China is believable. In conclusion, SRAP is a useful method for deciphering the genetic diversity and origin of sweet potato germplasm.

Abstract:In this study, we analyzed the phenotypic differences between Hunan peasant households preserved in situ (hereinafter referred to as farmer households) and their hypothermic counterparts in Hunan germplasm pool (hereinafter referred to as cryogenics preservation), and the genetic similarity of SSR markers comparative analysis,A total of ninty two accessions of rice( Oryza sativa L．) landraces divided into 7 groups(the same name and similar names of the material for the 6 groups),the purpose is to identify the genetic distance with the resources of the same name, to provide a theoretical basis for effective conservation, targeted supply and efficient use.The results showed that there were significant differences in the phenotypic traits of the same name for the test materials, and there was significant difference in the phenotypic traits between the farmer"s preserved and the cryogenic preserved materials.Comparison of SSR markers between farmer and low-temperature preservation of Hunan with the same name material, found that in addition to the E group of materials, other groups of materials are farmer preservation of allelic variation is less than cold preservation.It shows that the farmers" preservation is natural and artificial selection in the process of planting and harvesting year after year.In the group with the same name of similar SSR markers similar coefficient, except for Group C, farmer conserved materials > materials stored in low temperature > farmer conserved materials and low temperature preservative materials.It is suggested that the farmers" retention of the same name rice resources is worth collecting and evaluating.

Abstract:The grape harvest is closely related to the number of inflorescence, characteristics.Numerous grape variety resources, different varieties of each new inflorescence slightly the living quantity, the joint position, and the structure of inflorescence, these characteristics not only influence the grape harvest, also affect the use of the tree and cut way and other management measures.To have a better understanding on grape inflorescence, for the selection of grape germplasm resources, grape breeding parent selection and cultivation management measures to provide certain theory reference and the implementation of the inflorescence characteristics of this study, 206 samples of grape germplasm resources has carried on the investigation and analysis.Study found that grape types of the inflorescence flowers are compact, loose flowers, with flowers without tendrils, tendril close to the flowers, there are flowers have tendrils panicle (close), etc., European and American hybrid flower festival at the beginning of a spike in distribution in 3 and 4, one of branches of panicle number mainly for 1 or 2.Eurasian section at the beginning of a distribution in 4 and 5, one of branches of panicle number mainly to 1.

Abstract:To explore genetic diversity and population structure of common wild rice of Guangxi, we investigated patterns of genetic diversity in a large collection comprising 4173 common wild rice germplasms from 14 cities in Guangxi using 64 molecular markers on 12 chromosomes of rice. The result showed that a total of 1180 alleles were detected with a mean of 18.4375 alleles per locus. Mean Shannon index was 0.64 and mean Nei index was 1.7367. The genetic diversity of common wild rice in Guangxi showed very abundant. A core collection representing the genetic diversity of these germplasms was identified using priority preservation-stepwise cluster method. Thus, a core collection bank of common wild rice including 351 germplasm, which accounted for 8.41% of total germplasm, was constructed.

Abstract:Branches of soybean are closely associated with plant architecture and yield Accurate identification of branching are of guiding significance for improving the utilization of germplasm resources. In order to identify the stability of accessions which are from Heilongjiang province but grow in Beijing, 49 varieties from Northeast ecological regions of China were selected. Three planting densities of 25 cm, 15 cm and 5 cm were designed under the same spacing for evaluating branch characteristics and density sensitivities of these varieties in 2011 and 2012. The results showed that there were significant differences in the number of branches of different germplasm resources and the sensitive degrees were different among different soybean genotypes. All these varieties were classified into three or four groups based on the number of branches and density-sensitivities, respectively. Taken together, these results provide a theoretical basis for the utilization of these germplasm in different architecture, but also provide a reference for the accurate identification of soybean germplasm phenotype.

Abstract:Under the investigation of crop germplasm resources in the whole province, the 3th national action of crop germplasm resources survey and collection were carried out in 199 villages of 19 selected counties (cities, districts) in Hubei Province during 2015-17. Total 1072 accessions of local vegetables were collected in the field survey. The current study mainly focused on classification, distribution pattern, agronomic characters, conservation, main resources and special resources of vegetable germplasm. The main findings of the study were: (1) All resources of collected vegetable germplasm are belonged to 26 families; (2) Hong'an County, Zhongxiang City, Gucheng County, Nanzhang County andYuan'an County had more local vegetable cultivars than other counties (cities, districts); (3) Local cultivars showed high quality, high resistance and barren-tolerance, but most of them were distributed in remote areas with low purity, low yield and serious threat of degradation; (4) Most of the landraces were mainly preserved by some well-educated elder peasants; (5) The local cultivars of Cruciferae, Solanaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Liliaceae and Leguminosae accounted for 67.91% of the total vegetable resources; (6) Pearl flower (Staghylea Bumalda DC.), scallion (Allium paepalanthoides), elephant-foot yam (Amorphophallus spp.) and other important vegetable resources were scattered distributing in mountainous regions. This study will provide valuable information for conservation and utilization of local vegetable resources in Hubei Province.

Abstract:Bacterial blight of rice, caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), is one of the most destructive diseases of rice, and seriously affects the rice production in Asian countries. Utilizing resistance genes to breed resistant varieties is the most effective, economic and environment-friendly strategy for disease control. W6023 is a resistant introgression line which was generated by a cross between a wild rice accession and IR24. In our previous work, Pong2-1(Os02g20780)and Pong11-1 (Os11g14160)display transcriptional activation in IR24, but not in resistant line W6023. And Pong2-1 and Pong11-1 are highly similar in DNA sequences, but show different forms of transcripts. To investigate whether these two genes are susceptibility factors to Xoo, we knocked out Pong2-1 and Pong11-1 in IR24 using CRISPR/Cas9 methods and obtained a series of mutant plants. Inoculation assays showed the double mutant lines show enhanced resistance to PXO99_A comparing with the wild type.

Abstract:Physiological regulation is an essential way against drought stress in wheat; dissecting the genetic basis of drought-tolerant related physiological traits, and developing molecular markers can provide strong support for efficient improvement of drought tolerance in wheat. In this study, 150 doubled haploid (DH) lines derived from a cross of Hanxuan 10 × Lumai 14 were genotyped by Wheat 660K SNP Array and SSR (simple sequence repeat) markers for constructing a high density genetic map. The genetic basis of canopy temperature (CT), chlorophyll content (SPAD value) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) under different water regimes at booting and mid-grain fill stages were dissected. A genetic map covering 21 chromosomes was constructed, which included 30 linkage groups and spanned 4082.44 cM, with an average interval distance of 2.20 cM. Eighty-six QTL were identified on all chromosomes except for 3D. The numbers of QTL for CT, SPAD value and NDVI are 30, 40 and 34, respectively. Seventeen QTL showed pleiotropic effects, among which, four were related to CT and NDVI, eight for CT and SPAD value, seven for SPAD value and NDVI. QPT52 located on chromosome 4D was related to all three physiological traits. The present study provided reference information and technical supports for drought-tolerant gene discovery and molecular breeding in wheat.

Abstract:The character variation analysis and superior individual selection were accomplished by observation and measurement on the fruit traits of 131 progenies from natural pollination of ‘Fengmiguan’jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.‘Fengmiguan’). The results showed that the variation coefficients of fruit cracking rate, yield per tree and titratable acid content were the largest, while those of water content, edible rate and fruit rigidity were the lowest. Only less than 50% progeny seedlings shared the same or similar phenotype with maternal plant in fruit color, pericarp thickness, flesh color and juicy, fruit flavor and so on. Correlation analyses among 8 characters including fruit rigidity, soluble solid content, titratable acid content etc. showed that titratable acid content had significant positive correlation with water content and had significant negative correlation with soluble sugar content. Vc content had significant negative correlation with soluble solid content. At last, 3 seedlings with excellent comprehensive characters were screened out through grey correlation analysis and synthetical weighted mark method. In addition, 2 seedlings with high soluble sugar content, 5 seedlings with high titratable acids content and 5 seedlings with high Vc content were selected out.

Abstract:Total 200 sweetpotato materials were planted both in the salt test field and fertile land in Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province. By comparing the yield and quality index in saline soil and fertile soil, such as seeding survival rate, storage roots numbers of single plant, yield of single plant, commodity potato rate and storage roots dry matter content, a comprehensive identification for salt-tolerance of these sweetpotato materials in entire growth period was carried out. The results showed that the storage roots numbers of single plant increased, but seeding survival rate, yield of single plant, commodity potato rate and storage roots dry matter content decreased. Correlation analysis showed that the salt-tolerance index of sweetpotato was significantly positively correlated with the relative seeding survival rate and the salt-tolerance coefficient of storage roots numbers of single plant, yield of single plant and commodity potato rate, but negatively correlated with the salt-tolerance coefficient of storage roots dry matter content. The tested materials were graded and 19 Salt-tolerant sweetpotato materials were screened out, according to the salt-tolerance index. It provides the material basis for the study of salt-tolerance mechanism and salt-tolerance breeding of sweetpotato.

Abstract:C4 photosynthesis and photorespiration studies are research hotspot in plant science. However, lacking low CO2 concentration culture conditions and related mutant resources limit the in-depth development of related work. This study designed a low CO2concentration incubator which can stably control plant growth conditions including light, CO2 concentrations and temperature. Test data can be simultaneously update onto the remote website, which made people conveniently to check the experimental records. By using the platform, 54 EMS (Ethyl methane sulfonate) mutants of foxtail millet were grown and screened under 40 PPM (concentration units: parts per million. The range of CO2 concentration is 380-400 ppm in normal air condition) CO2 concentration. According to the number of survival seedlings at death point, these materials can be divided into four types. Among them, 19 mutants at level III and 13 mutants at level IV, were sensitive to CO2 stress. There are also 5 mutants of vein variation which were hypersensitive to low CO2 concentration. Those results confirmed the practicability of employing low concentration of CO2 incubator in C4 photosynthesis-related mutants screening. It could also promote the in-depth study of kranz anatomical structures observation and relevant gene cloning. In addition, the low concentration of CO2 incubator can also be applied to physiology research on photosynthesis and respiration in other main crops.

Abstract:Drought is one of the most critical factor limiting the potato yield and quality. Abscisic acid (ABA) is the essential part of drought responsing regulatory networks and 9-cis-epoxycarotenoiddioxygenase (NCED) is the keyrate-limiting enzyme ofABA biosynthesis in higher plants.It directly influences the expression pattern of ABA metabolism. However, there are few reports on relationship among NCED expression pattern, ABA content and phenotypic changes on potato. In this research, A NCED gene (StNCED1)has been cloned from potato and NCED expression levels, ABA content and root length changes was evaluated in 4 varieties under simulated drought stress by different concentration of PEG‐6000. The results showed that the full length of StNCED1 was 2181 bp, which contains a 1803 bpopen reading frame (ORF) encoding a protein of 600 amino acid residues.Analysis showed that all the 4 varieties seedling growth was significantly inhibited, and especially the root length decreased sharply with the stress concentration increased from 5% upto 15%. Drought sensitive material“zaodabai” showed the most obvious changes in root length among the 4 tested materials and the ABA content is significantly higher than the other three materials. The expression level of StNCED1 in drought stressed plant was significantly higher than the control group of CIP478.9, star and mila, respectively. The expression levels of were increased with increasing concentration of PEG‐6000 in these three materials. On the opposite, StNCED1 expression and ABA content showed a decrease at first and then an increase trend in “zaodabai”. A positive correlation (R>0.7) was proved between ABA concentration change and StNCED1 expression level in all the 4 tested materials under drought stress. Our results will provide fundermental data for further revealing the regulation mechanism ofStNCED1 responsing to drought stress and will be helpful in screening drought resistance germplasm resources.

Abstract:In this study, QTLs of heading date (HD) and purple trait were identified using a chromosomal segments substitution line population which wild rice as donor parent and 9311 as receptor parent. Days of heading of CSSLs were investigated from multi-environments, eleven HD QTLs were identified using more than 200 molecular makers. Two CSSLs which significantly heading later under long day condition were selected for HD gene mapping, and two previously reported flowering time genes were found. One CSSL, which have significant purple trait was selected for purple trait gene mapping, an OrC gene, associated with anthocyanin biosynthesis was identified. We found that OrC gene have different function with cultivated rice allele. Our data indicated that the CSSLs population was an efficient genetic material for wild rice gene mapping. Those genes provided new gene resources for rice breeding and new evidences for rice domestication study.

Abstract:The growth-regulating factor (GRF) transcription factor is a plant-specific gene family that regulates plant growth. In Arabidopsis and rice, the GRF gene family-encoding proteins have a positive function in regulating stem and leaf growth and development. In the present study, we speculated that the GRF genes might be more important and responsible for the formation of narrow leaves. To ask if the GRF genes are the causal mechanism in the development of a narrow-leaf peach variety (Prunus persica ‘Jin Mi Xia Ye’), GRF genes in the peach genome were identified by BLAST search according to the sequence homology. The expression pattern of these GRF genes was determined in the shoot apical meristem, young leaves, mature leaves, seeds, flesh of fruit, and phloem in ‘Jin Mi Xia Ye’ and the normal-leaf variety ‘Chinese Cling’. Meanwhile, the genetic mapping of narrow-leave was conducted in an F2 population by using 126 simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers. Ten members of the GRF genes were found in the peach genome. The deduced proteins of GRFs arranged from 191 and 612 amino acids. Sequence analysis showed that the N terminal of these proteins maintained two conserved motifs QLQ (Gln-Leu-Gln) and WRC (Trp、Arg、Cys), except that the Leu residue of QLQ in ppa011917m was replaced by Phe. While the C terminal of those sequences varied, for instance, a TQL and a GGPL motifs. A phylogenetic tree using a neighbor-joining method placed the GRF genes into three groups. According the expression result of 10 GRF genes in peach, six of them exhibited higher expression levels in the shoot apical meristem than in young leaves and other mature tissues and organs. Only a few genes showed slight expression levels in the flesh of fruit, mature leaves, and phloem, such as ppa022199m in flesh and ppa019752m in phloem. Only two genes, ppa019623m and ppa003017m, expressed higher levels in peach varieties with narrow leaves than in those with normal leaves. Meanwhile, we located the narrow-leaf trait in the region between two markers (UDP98-407 and BPPCT025 of linkage group 6) using linkage analysis based on SSR markers. Based on the linkage analysis, we then chose the ppa003017m as one of the key candidates in regulating leaf development in the ‘Jin Mi Xia Ye’ variety. However, the sequence amplification found that, among 30 seedings with different leaf phenotypes, no variation existed in the promoter of the key candidate gene, ppa003017m. The results indicate that there is no relationship between the expression of ppa003017m and sequence variation in its promoter regions. This study highlights the importance of identifying genes that regulate the narrow-leaf trait in peach, as well as the importance of selecting the excellent peach germplasm resources with high photosynthesis efficiency using molecular marker assisted selection in the future.