Institut national de la recherche agronomique

About: Institut national de la recherche agronomique is a facility organization based out in Rabat, Morocco. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Gene. The organization has 41515 authors who have published 68362 publications receiving 3292057 citations. The organization is also known as: INRA & Inra.

The complete genome sequence of the meat-borne lactic acid bacterium Lactobacillus sakei 23K

Abstract: The complete genome sequence of the meat-borne lactic acid bacterium Lactobacillus sakei 23K

The genome of flax (Linum usitatissimum) assembled de novo from short shotgun sequence reads.

Abstract: Flax (Linum usitatissimum) is an ancient crop that is widely cultivated as a source of fiber, oil and medicinally relevant compounds. To accelerate crop improvement, we performed whole-genome shotgun sequencing of the nuclear genome of flax. Seven paired-end libraries ranging in size from 300 bp to 10 kb were sequenced using an Illumina genome analyzer. A de novo assembly, comprised exclusively of deep-coverage (approximately 94× raw, approximately 69× filtered) short-sequence reads (44-100 bp), produced a set of scaffolds with N(50) =694 kb, including contigs with N(50)=20.1 kb. The contig assembly contained 302 Mb of non-redundant sequence representing an estimated 81% genome coverage. Up to 96% of published flax ESTs aligned to the whole-genome shotgun scaffolds. However, comparisons with independently sequenced BACs and fosmids showed some mis-assembly of regions at the genome scale. A total of 43384 protein-coding genes were predicted in the whole-genome shotgun assembly, and up to 93% of published flax ESTs, and 86% of A. thaliana genes aligned to these predicted genes, indicating excellent coverage and accuracy at the gene level. Analysis of the synonymous substitution rates (K(s) ) observed within duplicate gene pairs was consistent with a recent (5-9 MYA) whole-genome duplication in flax. Within the predicted proteome, we observed enrichment of many conserved domains (Pfam-A) that may contribute to the unique properties of this crop, including agglutinin proteins. Together these results show that de novo assembly, based solely on whole-genome shotgun short-sequence reads, is an efficient means of obtaining nearly complete genome sequence information for some plant species.

The genome of the stress-tolerant wild tomato species Solanum pennellii

Abstract: Solanum pennellii is a wild tomato species endemic to Andean regions in South America, where it has evolved to thrive in arid habitats. Because of its extreme stress tolerance and unusual morphology, it is an important donor of germplasm for the cultivated tomato Solanum lycopersicum. Introgression lines (ILs) in which large genomic regions of S. lycopersicum are replaced with the corresponding segments from S. pennellii can show remarkably superior agronomic performance. Here we describe a high-quality genome assembly of the parents of the IL population. By anchoring the S. pennellii genome to the genetic map, we define candidate genes for stress tolerance and provide evidence that transposable elements had a role in the evolution of these traits. Our work paves a path toward further tomato improvement and for deciphering the mechanisms underlying the myriad other agronomic traits that can be improved with S. pennellii germplasm.

The relationship of temperature-humidity index with milk production of dairy cows in a Mediterranean climate

Abstract: Two experiments were conducted using lactating Friesian-Holstein cows to measure the effects of heat stress, using temperature-humidity index (THI), on milk production, milk composition and dry matter intake (DMI) under the Mediterranean climate. These trials were carried out in two pe- riods differing in average THI values (68 ± 3.75 vs. 78 ± 3.23 for the spring and summer periods, re- spectively). Daily THI was negatively correlated to milk yield (r = -0.76) and feed intake (r = -0.24). When the THI value increased from 68 to 78, milk production decreased by 21% and DMI by 9.6%. Milk yield decreased by 0.41 kg per cow per day for each point increase in the THI values above 69. Milk fat (3.24 vs. 3.58%) and milk protein (2.88 vs. 2.96%) were lower for the summer group. THI was positively correlated to respiration rate (RR) (r = 0.89), heart rate (HR) (r = 0.88), rectal tempera- ture (RT) (r = 0.85) and cortisol (0.31), and negatively with free thyroxin (-0.43). As the THI values increased from 68 to 78, RT increased by 0.5 o C, HR by 6 beats, and RR by 5 inspirations per min. The average concentration of cortisol increased from 21.75 to 23.5 nmol·L -1 (P > 0.05), while that of free thyroxin decreased from 15.5 to 14.5 pmol·L -1 ,( P > 0.05). Summer heat stress reduced milk yield and DMI, altered milk composition and affected the physiological functions of confined lactating Hol- stein cows managed under Mediterranean climatic conditions. dairy cow / temperature-humidity index / milk production / intake / physiology