User:RockyLeng8/sandbox

This is my sandbox. This is my link.

The above was my first attempts at creating content for wikipedia. I'm a Public Health Student (undergraduate in my last year) at Saint Louis University, and I'm excited to join the community. I'm hoping to contribute whenever I can and gain more knowledge about the world around me.

I added, "Transferring leaf rust and powdery mildew resistance to wheat has been a special interest." to Thinopyrum intermedium.

For my assignment 5 of the wikipedia project, I made a 583 word addition to the Thinopyrum Intermedium page. These changes are already on the wikipedia page, so feel free to check them out too! Thinopyrum intermedium

Additions to “Breeding/domestication for grain production.” 149 words

The whole aforementioned process is called mass selection, which is breeding and selecting the best individuals to spawn the next generation. Mass breeding, however, is a process by which large quantities of genetically diverse individuals are made.. Due to Thinopyrum intermedium's grass-like structures, some believe that it still needs to be domesticated as much as possible to resemble wheat.^[17]

The fact that Thinopyrum intermedium is a perennial grass is important with regards to its use as a grain. The plant persists and can be harvested year after year, and its domestication would yield an additional three months of agriculture; its leaves are most active in the months in which common wheat is not active: July through September. Despite promise, the yield per acre of Thinopyrum intermedium is 26% of the yield of traditional wheat. Because of this, some are putting effort into hybridizing wheat andThinopyrum intermedium instead of attempting to domesticate Thinopyrum Intermedium to a more acceptable yield^[18]

Addition to “Seed Production.” 17 words

Despite this, Thinopyrum intermedium is still considered lesser than Wheat by some, as its seeds are comparatively very small.^[12]

Integration and Expansion:

I’ll start a new section after “uses,” named “hybridization” to allow for more room for my expansion of Thinopyrum Intermedium while still maintaining structural/organizational integrity.

Hybridization: 417 words

Attempts to hybridize Thinopyrum intermedium with Wheat have also been done. This has some distinct advantages. First, there is wide evidence that hybridization ofThinopyrum intermedium with wheat is a method to confer fungal resistance to domestic wheat plants. However, which specific genes that protect against which specific fungus has not been as well studied. Thinopyum elongatum and Thinopyrum intermedium confer a total of four leaf rust resistance genes, while Thinopyrum intermedium also confers two powdery mildew genes as well.^[19] There's evidence that Thinopyrum intermedium also has resistance to Wheat streak mosaic virus, the Aceria tosichella mite,Barley yellow dwarf, and others.^[20] These conferred genes in wheat help increase yield and hardiness in times of environmental strain. Second, Thinopyrum intermedium also has genes that improve bread making when hybridized common wheat. While this may not seem like an important characteristic, better bread may mean more calories, feeding more people. In addition, bread that stays fresh longer may provide more opportunities for people to be adequately fed, and/or the bread can transported to areas without food access.^[21]

The Land Institute has been working to develop a viable wheat and Thinopyrum intermedium hybrid since 2001, and there have been several successful strains that shared 14 Thinopyrum intermedium chromosomes and 42 wheat chomosomes. These hybrids perform better in yield and resistance than either of their parents, but it cannot be widespread due to the changes of climate across the world. In addition, perennially is lost with these hybrids. This loss of perenniality is a common problem with hybridization attempts. All other desired characteristics are present in the hybrids - large seeds, good yields, etc. - except that the plants have taken on too many wheat characteristics: they are annual. However, crosses between DurumWheat and Thinopyrum intermedium have resulted in hybrids that do exhibit perenniality in addition to other desired characteristics (increased vigor, hardiness in colder weather, good yield).^[22] There are two general strategies for creating an alternate grain crop. One strategy is to domesticate Thinopyrum intermedium through mass breeding and selection in order to create a strain that mimics Wheat's seed size and yield but retains Thinopyum Intermedium's natural resistances, hardiness, and perenniality. In other words, this strategy gives Thinopyrum intermedium more wheat-like characteristics. A second strategy is to hybridize Wheat with Thinopyrum intermedium to create a strain of wheat that mimics Thinopyrum intermedium's resistance and perenniality but retains wheat's seed size and yield. In other words, this second strategy gives wheat moreThinopyrum intermedium-like characteristics. Researchers hope that these two strategies will progress and meet in the middle.^[17]

References (links are actually found on the page):

14 - Salina E, Adonina I, Badaeva E, Kroupin P, Stasyuk A, Et. Al. (2015). A Thinopyrum intermedium chromosome in bread wheat cultivars as a source of genes conferring resistance to fungal diseases. Euphytica 1: 91-101.

21 - Garg M, Yanaka M, Tanaka H, Tsujimoto H (2014). Introgression of useful genes from Thinopyrum intermedium to wheat for improvement of bread-making quality. Plant Breeding 133: 327-334.

12 - Becker R, Wagoner P, Hanners G, Saunders R (1991). Compositional, nutritional and functional evaluation of intermediate wheatgrass (thinopyum-intermedium). Journal of Food Processing and Preservation (1991) 15: 63-77

18,20 - Cox T, Glover J, Van Tassel D, et. Al (2006). Prospects for Developing Perennial Grain Crops. BioScience 56(8): 649-659.

22 - Dehaan L, Wang S, Larson S, Cattani D, Zhang Xiaofei Et. Al (2014). Current efforts to develop perennial wheat and domesticate Thinopyrum Intermedium as a perennial grain. Genetics and Breeding: State of the Art, Gaps and Opportunities. 1: 72-89.

Assignment 7: Revised Wikipedia Assignment (12/6/15): Thinopyrum intermedium

Addition to "Breeding/Domestication for Grain Production"

The whole aforementioned process is called mass selection, which is breeding and selecting the best individuals to spawn the next generation. Mass breeding, however, is a process by which large quantities of genetically diverse individuals are made. Due to Thinopyrum intermedium's grass-like structures, some believe that it still needs to be domesticated as much as possible to resemble wheat.^[17]

The fact that Thinopyrum intermedium is a perennial grass is important with regards to its use as a grain. The plant persists and can be harvested year after year, and its domestication would yield an additional three months of agriculture; its leaves are most active in the months in which common wheat is not active: July through September. Despite promise, the yield per acre of Thinopyrum intermedium is 26% of the yield of traditional wheat. Because of this, some are putting effort into hybridizing wheat andThinopyrum intermedium instead of attempting to domesticate Thinopyrum Intermedium to a more acceptable yield. ^[18]

Addition to "Seed Production"

Despite this, Thinopyrum intermedium is still considered lesser than Wheat by some, as its seeds are comparatively very small.^[12]

Creation of the section "Hybridization"

Attempts to hybridize Thinopyrum intermedium with Wheat have also been done. This has some distinct advantages. First, there is wide evidence that hybridization ofThinopyrum intermedium with wheat is a method to confer fungal resistance to domestic wheat plants. However, which specific genes that protect against which specific fungus has not been as well studied. Thinopyum elongatum and Thinopyrum intermedium impart a total of four leaf rust resistance genes, while Thinopyrum intermedium confers two powdery mildew genes.^[19] There's evidence that Thinopyrum intermedium also has resistance to Wheat streak mosaic virus, the Aceria tosichella mite, Barley yellow dwarf, and others.^[20] These conferred genes in wheat help increase yield and hardiness in times of environmental strain. Second, Thinopyrum intermedium also has genes that improve bread making when hybridized common wheat. While this may not seem like an important characteristic, better bread may mean more calories, feeding more people. In addition, bread that stays fresh longer may provide more opportunities for people to be adequately fed, and/or the bread can be transported to areas without much food access.^[21]

The Land Institute has been working to develop a viable wheat and Thinopyrum intermedium hybrid since 2001, and there have been several successful strains that shared 14Thinopyrum intermedium chromosomes and 42 wheat chomosomes. These hybrids perform better in terms of yield and resistance than either of their parents, but it cannot be widespread due to the changes of climate across the world. In addition, perenniality is lost with these hybrids. This loss of perenniality is a common problem with hybridization attempts. All other desired characteristics are present in the hybrids - large seeds, good yields, etc. - except that the plants have taken on too many wheat characteristics: they are annual. However, crosses between Durum Wheat and Thinopyrum intermedium have resulted in hybrids that do exhibit perenniality in addition to other desired characteristics (increased vigor, hardiness in colder weather, good yield).^[22]There are two general strategies for creating an alternate grain crop. One strategy is to domesticateThinopyrum intermedium through mass breeding and selection in order to create a strain that mimics Wheat's seed size and yield but retains Thinopyum Intermedium's natural resistances, hardiness, and perenniality. In other words, this strategy gives Thinopyrum intermedium more wheat-like characteristics. A second strategy is to hybridize Wheat with Thinopyrum intermedium to create a strain of wheat that mimics Thinopyrum intermedium's resistance and perenniality but retains wheat's seed size and yield. In other words, this second strategy gives wheat more Thinopyrum intermedium-like characteristics. Researchers hope that these two strategies will progress and meet in the middle.^[17]

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