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Wheat (Triticum L.), an annual herbaceous plant in Poacae
(Gramineae) family, settles in the Triticeae (Hordeae) subfamily.
The grasses (Poaceae Barnhart) are the fifth largest
(monocotyledonous flowering) plant family and of great importance
for human civilization and life. Cereal crops such as maize, wheat,
rice, barley, and millet are the domesticated ones in the family.
It is still the most vital economical plant family in modern times,
providing food, forage, building materials (bamboo, thatch), and
fuel (ethanol). Wheat has many accessions in national and
international gene banks. The estimated number of wheats by FAO in
2010 is 856,000, and, followed by rice (774,000), and barley
(467,000). However, the recent consumer's (misdirected) focus on
gluten content and nutritional value urges scientists to reexamine
their knowledge about wheat (i.e., origin, evolution, and general
and special quality characteristics), as well as their wild
relatives and landraces for newer possible genetic resources.
Cultured or non-cultured ancestral wheats: einkorn, emmer, wild
emmer, spelt, macha, and vavilovii are still limitedly grown on the
higher areas in Turkey, Italy, Germany, Morocco, Israel, and Balkan
countries. They are exploited mostly for their desired agronomic,
and specific quality. In some cultures, wheat species are believed
to be therapeutic, with bioactive compounds that reduce and inhibit
stubborn illnesses such as diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer, and
cardiovascular diseases. In this book, we summarize the importance
of ancestral wheat species, and provide a prospect for their future
with special considerations in terms of species conservation and
improvement.
The work presented in this book consists of three disparate
elements which have the unifying feature of being concerned with
alphasatellite. The satellite-like alphasatellites (previously
known as DNA 1) were first identified in 1999 and were shown to be
associated with the majority of begomoviruses (family
Geminiviridae) that require the satellite molecule now collectively
known as betasatellites. Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is a
powerful reverse genetics tool for application in functional
genomics. The alphasatellite-based VIGS vector was shown to be
functional by silencing expression of GFP in 16c plants and
magnesium chelatase. In addition, the alphasatellite vector was
shown to be useful as a gene expression vector. An analysis of
tomato plants from Oman exhibiting severe leaf curl symptoms showed
the presence of Tomato yellow leaf curl-Oman (TYLCV-Om), a virus
previously shown to be present in tomato in this country, a new
recombinant begomovirus species, for which the name Tomato leaf
curl Oman virus (ToLCOMV) is proposed, a betasatellite (tobacco
leaf curl betasatellite (TbLCB) and an unusual alphasatellite. The
significance of these findings is discussed.
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