Eric Jellen
Brigham Young University, Plant and Wildlife Science, Faculty Member
- I was born in New Orleans and raised in Los Angeles, then attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where I g... moreI was born in New Orleans and raised in Los Angeles, then attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where I graduated with a B.S. degree in 1986 in crop science. I served as a volunteer for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in various locations in Peru (Lima, Piura, Iquitos, Barranca) from 1982-83. I graduated with a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in 1992 in plant breeding (thesis topics: cytological characterization of Avena aneuploids and molecular characterization of rRNA genes; advisor Ron Phillips). I did postdoctoral research in wheat and oat genetics at Kansas State University and USDA-ARS with Stan Cox and Bikram Gill from 1992-96. I have been a professorial faculty member at Brigham Young University since 1996, during which time I have also served as department chair of Plant & Wildlife Sciences and as associate dean of research in the College of Life Sciences. My wife, Trish, and I are the parents of four sons and two daughters-in-law.edit
Research Interests:
Argania spinosa (L.) Skeels is an endemic tree to Morocco, that produce a high-quality oil used for both cosmetic and culinary purposes. In this study, the morphological diversity of argan trees was investigated in an in situ preserved... more
Argania spinosa (L.) Skeels is an endemic tree to Morocco, that produce a high-quality oil used for both cosmetic and culinary purposes. In this study, the morphological diversity of argan trees was investigated in an in situ preserved population, at Admine reserve in southwestern Morocco over three years. A total of 122 trees were characterized using 30 quantitative traits. Significant differences among genotypes and among years were seen for all traits. Correlation analysis between traits showed that vigor traits (leaf and shoot sizes) were positively correlated with fruit traits. Broad-sense heritability estimates were high for clustered leaf traits and thorn numbers (H²>0.90) and for most of the fruit, stone and almond traits (H²>0.70). Cluster analysis using Euclidian distances was used to establish the relationships among the argan germplasm and grouped the genotypes into five relatively homogenous clusters. The relationship among the traits was also analyzed by principa...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT Genome reduction followed by 454 DNA sequencing was previously described in three orphaned Andean crops: grain amaranth or kiwicha (Amaranthus caudatus, 2n=2x=32); papalisa (Ullucus tuberosus, 2n=2x=24); and oca (Oxalis tuberosa,... more
ABSTRACT Genome reduction followed by 454 DNA sequencing was previously described in three orphaned Andean crops: grain amaranth or kiwicha (Amaranthus caudatus, 2n=2x=32); papalisa (Ullucus tuberosus, 2n=2x=24); and oca (Oxalis tuberosa, 2n=8x=). Kiwicha is an ideal subsistence crop for intermediate-altitude tropical and subtropical environments due to its superb nutritional characteristics and culinary versatility. Papalisa and oca are starchy tuber crops that fill a vital agronomic niche in highland potato production systems. These sequences were mined for potentially useful SNP and SSR markers. We herein discuss the use of these markers for diversity studies in Peruvian collections of kiwicha and oca. Most notably, Fluidigm-based SNP assays in kiwicha identified that a cryptic vitreous-seeded type of kiwicha derived from unintentional hybridization with black-seeded wild amaranths has been under selection in multiple areas of the central Andes.
ABSTRACT Acetylene was introduced into the soil atmosphere of field plots either by flood irrigation with CâHâ-treated water or by continuous diffusion of CâHâ from dispersion tubes placed in the soil to a depth of 25 cm. Some plots... more
ABSTRACT Acetylene was introduced into the soil atmosphere of field plots either by flood irrigation with CâHâ-treated water or by continuous diffusion of CâHâ from dispersion tubes placed in the soil to a depth of 25 cm. Some plots received CâHâ through dispersion tubes continuously for 42 d, while rotated plots received the gas for 7 d and were then abandoned in favor of fresh plots. Denitrification losses from the fallow, clay loam soil were approximately 16-kg N when the soil was flood-irrigated and approximately 3-kg N when the soil was sprinkle-irrigated. Soil environmental conditions within the disintegrated structure of the flood-irrigated soil promoted denitrification losses. Nitrification rates in CâHâ-treated soils were only 30 and 87% of control rates, but nitrification rates recovered within 4 d after removal of the gas. The complications of nitrification inhibition by acetylene in field denitrification studies may be minimized by intermittent exposure of soil to acetylene or by rotation of experimental sites. Soil microorganisms began to metabolize CâHâ after 7 d of continuous exposure. The problems of CâHâ decomposition and decreased CâHâ partial pressures were overcome by rotating field plots every 7 d.
Research Interests:
The genus Chenopodium L. has a worldwide distribution and includes species that were domesticated on four continents. Several species are notorious as invasive weeds, having spread far beyond their centers of origin. Among the wild... more
The genus Chenopodium L. has a worldwide distribution and includes species that were domesticated on four continents. Several species are notorious as invasive weeds, having spread far beyond their centers of origin. Among the wild species are some that are common and others that are restricted to niche environments, appearing ephemerally in response to episodically favorable climatic conditions. Chenopodium inhabits
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The 17S/5.8S/26S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences were mapped to the three satellited (SAT) chromosomes in the common hexaploid cultivated oat Avena sativa (2n = 6x = 42, AACCDD genomes). In situ hybridization and Southern hybridization of... more
The 17S/5.8S/26S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences were mapped to the three satellited (SAT) chromosomes in the common hexaploid cultivated oat Avena sativa (2n = 6x = 42, AACCDD genomes). In situ hybridization and Southern hybridization of maize and (or) wheat rDNA probes to DNA from nullisomics derived from the cultivar 'Sun II' allowed the placement of rDNA sequences to the physical chromosomes. A restriction map was produced for the rDNA sequences of 'Sun II' using a maize probe from the transcribed region of the 17S/26S rDNA repeat. The set of rDNA repeats on SAT 2 of 'Sun II' possesses a 10.5-kb EcoRI fragment not found in the rDNA repeats of SAT 1 and SAT 8. This 10.5-kb fragment results from the absence of an EcoRI site in the intergenic spacer (IGS) of SAT 2 repeats. Extensive polymorphisms were demonstrated for three hexaploid Avena species, namely, the Mediterranean-type cultivated oat A. byzantina and the wild species A. sterilis and A. fatua. Howeve...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Additional file 3: Table S2. List of Avena accessions included in the resequencing panel. Cc 7277 (A. atlantica) and CN 19328 (A. eriantha) were the reference genomes. The species and genome formula of each accession is presented. The raw... more
Additional file 3: Table S2. List of Avena accessions included in the resequencing panel. Cc 7277 (A. atlantica) and CN 19328 (A. eriantha) were the reference genomes. The species and genome formula of each accession is presented. The raw read files can be found in BioProject PRJNA556219.
Common hexaploid oat (Avena sativa L.) is an important global cereal crop. A Moroccan tetraploid sister species, A. magna Murphy et Terrel, was exclusively a wild species until recently. The goal of domestication was to exploit its... more
Common hexaploid oat (Avena sativa L.) is an important global cereal crop. A Moroccan tetraploid sister species, A. magna Murphy et Terrel, was exclusively a wild species until recently. The goal of domestication was to exploit its superior groat-protein content and climatic tolerances. We set up replicated trials of 41 domesticated A. magna lines on eight Moroccan farms during the 2017–2018 and 2018–2019 growing seasons. Twenty traits were measured and analyses of variance detected significant differences among lines. The highest grain yield was at Berrechid in 2017–2018 (63.56 q/ha), with an average annual yield across sites of 43.50 q/ha, the site factor explaining 82% and the genotype-environment interaction explaining 15% of the variability. In the second year, El Kebab recorded the highest yield at 20.03 q/ha over the annual average of 14.78 q/ha. In this second year, the site factor was highly significant, explaining 42.25% of the variation, with the genotype-environment inte...
Research Interests:
A collection of 19 wheat (Triticum aestivum) probes, detecting sequences in the seven homoeologous groups of chromosomes, were hybridized to DNA from the 'Kanota' series of oat monosomic lines (Avena byzantina) to investigate... more
A collection of 19 wheat (Triticum aestivum) probes, detecting sequences in the seven homoeologous groups of chromosomes, were hybridized to DNA from the 'Kanota' series of oat monosomic lines (Avena byzantina) to investigate their use for identifying groups of homoeologous oat chromosomes. Three probes from homoeologous group 1 of wheat, psr161, psr162, and psr121, mapped among the set of oat chromosomes 1C, 14, and 17. One homoeologous group 6 probe, psr167, mapped to oat chromosomes 1C and 17. Two oat probes that had previously been shown to map to oat chromosomes 1C, 14, and 17 were then hybridized to DNA from the 'Chinese Spring' wheat ditelosomics. They localized to homoeologous group 1 wheat chromosomes, one to the short arm and one to the long arm. These results reveal that in hexaploid oat there is a group of three chromosomes that correspond at least in part to homoeologous group 1 of wheat. The remaining wheat probes identifying other wheat homoeologous se...
Research Interests:
Additional file 2. Telomeric satellite and centromeric repeat sequences.
Additional file 9: Table S4. Summary of resistance gene analog identification results using the RGAugury pipeline [92] for A. atlantica and A. eriantha.
Additional file 10: Figure S5. Distribution of the resistance gene analogs (RGAs) encoding genes on the (A) A. atlantica and (B) A. eriantha genome. The RGAugury pipeline classifies RGA candidates into four major families based on the... more
Additional file 10: Figure S5. Distribution of the resistance gene analogs (RGAs) encoding genes on the (A) A. atlantica and (B) A. eriantha genome. The RGAugury pipeline classifies RGA candidates into four major families based on the presence of RGA domains and motifs, specifically, nucleotide binding sites (NBS, blue), transmembrane coiled-coil (TMCC, black), and membrane associated receptor-like proteins kinases (RLK, yellow) and receptor-like proteins (RLP, green). The predicted location of the Pc91 crown rust QTLs (Klos et al. [30]) in the A. atlantica genome is shown on chromosome AA2.
Additional file 16: Figure S8. Unabbreviated C-genome diploids rooted to the A. atlantica (AT_Cc 7277) reference. Accession names are abbreviated as described in Additional file 3: Table S2.
Additional file 1: Table S1. Summary of the repeat element content in the amaranth genome assembly as identified by RepeatMasker relative to the RepBase-derived RepeatMasker libraries.
Additional file 5: Figure S1. Rate of synonymous substitutions per synonymous sites (Ks) within duplicated gene pairs from coding sequences predicted from A. atlantica comparisons with A. eriantha, H. vulgare, B. distachyon, O. sativa,... more
Additional file 5: Figure S1. Rate of synonymous substitutions per synonymous sites (Ks) within duplicated gene pairs from coding sequences predicted from A. atlantica comparisons with A. eriantha, H. vulgare, B. distachyon, O. sativa, and Z. mays.
Additional file 12: Figure S6. Corresponding location of restriction fragment length polymorphism markers mapped on a segregating A. strigosa X A. wiestii population developed by Kremer et al. [102] on the A. atlantica chromosomes (shown... more
Additional file 12: Figure S6. Corresponding location of restriction fragment length polymorphism markers mapped on a segregating A. strigosa X A. wiestii population developed by Kremer et al. [102] on the A. atlantica chromosomes (shown on a gene density plot). Markers from each of their linkage groups (Asw A-I) are color-coded with approximate positions on A. atlantica scaffolds indicated with arrows.
A chromosome C-banding protocol using Wright's stain was employed to compare chromosomes in cultivars and wild accessions of several hexaploid oat taxa (Avena spp.). This technique permits the... more
A chromosome C-banding protocol using Wright's stain was employed to compare chromosomes in cultivars and wild accessions of several hexaploid oat taxa (Avena spp.). This technique permits the identification of each of the 21 somatic hexaploid oat chromosomes. Digital images of C-banded cells were captured on computer and used to construct karyotypes of several oat accessions. Polymorphisms for C-bands among oat cultivars and wild accessions are described. These banding polymorphisms can be used to trace introgression of chromosomes from wild sources and to provide physical markers on the genetic map for oat. Although C-banding permits the identification of likely C-genome chromosomes based on comparisons with C-banding patterns in diploid and tetraploid Avena species, the A and D genomes cannot be readily differentiated based on their banding patterns.Key words: Avena, C-banding, oat, image analysis.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Additional file 7: Figure S3. Orthologous genes were identified between A. atlantica and H. vulgare genomes to detect orthologous chromosome relationships. Genome synteny was (A) visualized by dotplot analysis, with boxes drawn around... more
Additional file 7: Figure S3. Orthologous genes were identified between A. atlantica and H. vulgare genomes to detect orthologous chromosome relationships. Genome synteny was (A) visualized by dotplot analysis, with boxes drawn around syntenic regions, (B) quantified, where the chromosome pairs with the highest amount of syntenic block connections, expressed as a percentage of the total syntenic bases, are colored red and transition to white as the number of connections decreases and (C) correlation between syntenic block sizes between A. atlantica and H. vulgare (Hv_IBSC_PGSB_v2; Ensembl Release 36).
Additional file 6: Figure S2. Orthologous genes were identified between A. atlantica and A. eriantha genomes to detect orthologous chromosome relationships. Genome synteny was (A) visualized by dotplot analysis, with boxes drawn around... more
Additional file 6: Figure S2. Orthologous genes were identified between A. atlantica and A. eriantha genomes to detect orthologous chromosome relationships. Genome synteny was (A) visualized by dotplot analysis, with boxes drawn around syntenic regions, (B) quantified, where the chromosome pairs with the highest amount of syntenic block connections, expressed as a percentage of the total syntenic bases, are colored red and transition to white as the number of connections decreases and (C) correlation between syntenic block sizes between A. atlantica and A. eriantha.
Additional file 15: Figure S7. Unabbreviated A-genome diploids rooted to the A. eriantha reference (ER_CN 19238). Accession names are abbreviated as described in Additional file 3: Table S2.
Additional file 14: Table S7. Raw read statistics for RNASeq data for A. atlantica and A. eriantha. All reads were illumina pair-end reads from standard 500 bp insert libraries. The raw read files can be found in BioProjects PRJNA556794... more
Additional file 14: Table S7. Raw read statistics for RNASeq data for A. atlantica and A. eriantha. All reads were illumina pair-end reads from standard 500 bp insert libraries. The raw read files can be found in BioProjects PRJNA556794 and PRJNA546595.
Additional file 11: Table S5. Candidate resistance gene analogs associated with crown rust resistance on Mrg18 linkage group [28]. Mrg18 was previously shown to be involved in an intergenomic translocation involving 7C and 17A,... more
Additional file 11: Table S5. Candidate resistance gene analogs associated with crown rust resistance on Mrg18 linkage group [28]. Mrg18 was previously shown to be involved in an intergenomic translocation involving 7C and 17A, corresponding to A. eriantha chromosome AE7 and A. atlantica chromosome AA2. Klos et al. [30] identified two QTLs associated P. coronata (crown rust) resistance on Mrg18, one of which determined to be Pc91. Candidate resistance gene analogs were identified using BLAST searches against the A. atlantica and A. eriantha genome assembly using makers sequences associated with the QTLs.
Research Interests:
Salt tolerance is an agronomically important trait that affects plant species around the globe. The Salt Overly Sensitive 1 (SOS1) gene encodes a plasma membrane Na+/H+ antiporter that plays an important role in germination and growth of... more
Salt tolerance is an agronomically important trait that affects plant species around the globe. The Salt Overly Sensitive 1 (SOS1) gene encodes a plasma membrane Na+/H+ antiporter that plays an important role in germination and growth of plants in saline environments. Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is a halophytic, allotetraploid grain crop of the family Amaranthaceae with impressive nutritional content and an increasing worldwide market. Many quinoa varieties have considerable salt tolerance, and research suggests quinoa may utilize novel mechanisms to confer salt tolerance. Here we report the cloning and characterization of two homoeologous SOS1 loci (cqSOS1A and cqSOS1B) from C. quinoa, including full-length cDNA sequences, genomic sequences, relative expression levels, fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis, and a phylogenetic analysis of SOS1 genes from 13 plant taxa. The cqSOS1A and cqSOS1B genes each span 23 exons spread over 3477 bp and 3486 bp of coding seque...
Research Interests:
... Crystal C. Mitchell,; Susan E. Parkinson,; Theron J. Baker and; Eric N. Jellen *. Brigham Young Univ., Dep ... Whereas tall oatgrass is a perennial, capable of surviving winter temperatures well below 0°C, winter oat production is... more
... Crystal C. Mitchell,; Susan E. Parkinson,; Theron J. Baker and; Eric N. Jellen *. Brigham Young Univ., Dep ... Whereas tall oatgrass is a perennial, capable of surviving winter temperatures well below 0°C, winter oat production is currently restricted to areas with mild winters due to the ...
Research Interests: Biology and Crop Science
The Collaborative Oat Research Enterprise (CORE) was initiated in 2009 and ran until approximately 2014. It consisted of a set of coordinated projects, funded investigators, and collaborators who were united by an over-arching goal of... more
The Collaborative Oat Research Enterprise (CORE) was initiated in 2009 and ran until approximately 2014. It consisted of a set of coordinated projects, funded investigators, and collaborators who were united by an over-arching goal of developing modern tools for genomics and molecular breeding in oat. Principle outcomes of the CORE included: (1) sets of experimental germplasm, (2) a comprehensive cDNA library and sequence resource, (3) a SNP genotyping array, (4) genotyping-by-sequencing methods, (5) genotype/phenotype data housed in a relational database, (6) a complete consensus linkage map, and (7) a foundational study on population structure, linkage disequilibrium, and adaptation in cultivated oat. Here, we present the results of an impact assessment, which includes a survey sent to 130 scientists in the oat community. Of the 56 survey respondents, 15 were principle CORE investigators, 21 were nonfunded collaborators, and 20 were not involved with CORE. A majority (37) of respo...
Research Interests: Biology and Crop Science
Pitseed goosefoot ( Chenopodium berlandieri ) is an ecologically diverse wild/weedy North American species within the primary gene pool for improving South American quinoa ( Chenopodium quinoa ). Both taxa are 36-chromosome... more
Pitseed goosefoot ( Chenopodium berlandieri ) is an ecologically diverse wild/weedy North American species within the primary gene pool for improving South American quinoa ( Chenopodium quinoa ). Both taxa are 36-chromosome allotetraploids with subgenomes AA and BB. The A genome is found in a large number of diploids in the Americas, along with one Northeast Asian taxon, and was recently shown to be the maternal ancestor, while the paternal B genome is closely related to several extant Eurasian diploids. Two of our primary objectives were 1) to determine the extent of genetic diversity in the allotetraploid C. berlandieri-quinoahircinum complex and 2) to characterize the evolutionary path from polyploidization to domestication in these taxa. In an effort to survey genetic diversity, in 2018, we made seed collections of southern Texas, southern Great Plains, and New England coastal ecotypes of C. berlandieri as well as sympatric diploids. With respect to the second goal, we performed wholegenome sequencing of two Sonoran Desert Chenopodium A-genome diploids in subsection Cellulata and Andean cultivated C. pallidicaule in subsection Leiosperma . When paired reads were aligned to the whole-genome reference of C. quinoa strain ‘QQ74’, the match percentages were 99.31, 99.23, and 98.53 for C. watsonii , C. sonorense , and C. pallidicaule , respectively. These data strongly support C. watsonii as being the most closely related of these three species to the A-genome ancestor of quinoa. Ongoing sequencing efforts with a larger panel of diploids are aimed at identifying the maternal ancestor of C. quinoa and C. berlandieri , if extant.
Research Interests:
C-banding is used to differentially stain metaphase chromosomes in organisms having appreciable amounts of constitutive heterochromatin. Its primary benefits are that it is an inexpensive and a relatively fast method of identifying... more
C-banding is used to differentially stain metaphase chromosomes in organisms having appreciable amounts of constitutive heterochromatin. Its primary benefits are that it is an inexpensive and a relatively fast method of identifying individual chromosomes and morphological or karyotypic variation, including large chromosomal rearrangements and aneuploidies. We currently employ this technique with considerable effect in genome analysis of oat (Avena sativa) and related grass species, though it has been most extensively used for chromosome analysis of wheat (Triticum aestivum) and its relatives of the Triticeae.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
... A concentration of A. sterilis populations from northern Mesopotamia, northwest Iran, and southeastern Turkey was also found to be lacking the translocation forms of these chromosomes. ... PI 168104, Turkey, Bursa, B, W, NT. PI... more
... A concentration of A. sterilis populations from northern Mesopotamia, northwest Iran, and southeastern Turkey was also found to be lacking the translocation forms of these chromosomes. ... PI 168104, Turkey, Bursa, B, W, NT. PI 168088, Turkey, Canakkale, B, W, NT. ...
Research Interests:
... Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, 411 Borlaug Hall, 1991 Upper Buford Circle, Univ ... increase in use of the videotape resource may be attributable to the greater reliability of the newer VCR technology, be-cause the... more
... Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, 411 Borlaug Hall, 1991 Upper Buford Circle, Univ ... increase in use of the videotape resource may be attributable to the greater reliability of the newer VCR technology, be-cause the reel-to-reel unit frequently had minor break-downs. ...
Research Interests:
Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is adapted to the harsh environments of the Andean Altiplano region. Its seeds have a well-balanced amino acid composition and exceptionally high protein content with respect to human nutrition. Quinoa... more
Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is adapted to the harsh environments of the Andean Altiplano region. Its seeds have a well-balanced amino acid composition and exceptionally high protein content with respect to human nutrition. Quinoa grain is a staple in the diet of some of the most impoverished people in the world. The plant is an allotetraploid displaying disomic inheritance (2n=4x=36)
Research Interests:
Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is a food crop cultivated by subsistence farmers and commercial growers on the high Andean plateau, primarily in Bolivia, Peru, and Chile. Present interest in quinoa is due to its tolerance of harsh... more
Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is a food crop cultivated by subsistence farmers and commercial growers on the high Andean plateau, primarily in Bolivia, Peru, and Chile. Present interest in quinoa is due to its tolerance of harsh environments and its nutritional ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
... Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, 411 Borlaug Hall, 1991 Upper Buford Circle, Univ ... increase in use of the videotape resource may be attributable to the greater reliability of the newer VCR technology, be-cause the... more
... Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, 411 Borlaug Hall, 1991 Upper Buford Circle, Univ ... increase in use of the videotape resource may be attributable to the greater reliability of the newer VCR technology, be-cause the reel-to-reel unit frequently had minor break-downs. ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/nature21370.
Research Interests:
Chenopodium quinoa (quinoa) is a highly nutritious grain identified as an important crop to improve world food security. Unfortunately, few resources are available to facilitate its genetic improvement. Here we report the assembly of a... more
Chenopodium quinoa (quinoa) is a highly nutritious grain identified as an important crop to improve world food security. Unfortunately, few resources are available to facilitate its genetic improvement. Here we report the assembly of a high-quality, chromosome-scale reference genome sequence for quinoa, which was produced using single-molecule real-time sequencing in combination with optical, chromosome-contact and genetic maps. We also report the sequencing of two diploids from the ancestral gene pools of quinoa, which enables the identification of sub-genomes in quinoa, and reduced-coverage genome sequences for 22 other samples of the allotetraploid goosefoot complex. The genome sequence facilitated the identification of the transcription factor likely to control the production of anti-nutritional triterpenoid saponins found in quinoa seeds, including a mutation that appears to cause alternative splicing and a premature stop codon in sweet quinoa strains. These genomic resources a...