A blueberry (Vaccinium sp.) germplasm collection was screened for allelic variation in TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (TFL1) that could be used in breeding flowering or architecture traits. TFL1 has been found to repress the transition from vegetative to reproductive growth in diverse plant species, with mutations leading to altered flowering and form. The VcTFL1 gene sequence was determined from the draft genome sequence of diploid V. corymbosum line W8520. VcTFL1 is a member of a PEBP gene family and it could be distinguished from its family members by sequence comparison with PEBP family genes from other plants. High-resolution DNA melting analysis of 160 Vaccinium accessions detected VcTFL1 exons that differed in sequence from the W8520 control. DNA sequence analysis confirmed the presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and identified haplotypes of tetraploid accessions. A total of 18 SNP sites were detected in VcTFL1 coding sequences of the Vaccinium germplasm screened. A SNP causing an alanine-to-valine change in exon 4 (A159V) was determined by multiple bioinformatic tools to be deleterious to VcTFL1 function. A diploid V. corymbosum accession heterozygous for the VcTFL1 mutation was identified as a candidate for breeding novel traits for blueberry.

Rice is a salt-sensitive species with enormous genetic variation for salt tolerance hidden in its germplasm pool. The EcoTILLING technique allows us to assign haplotypes, thus reducing the number of accessions to be sequenced, becoming a cost-effective, time-saving and high-throughput method, ideal to be used in laboratories with limited financial resources. Aiming to find alleles associated with salinity tolerance, we are currently using the EcoTILLING technique to detect single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and small indels across 375 germplasm accessions representing the diversity available in domesticated rice. We are targeting several genes known to be involved in salt stress signal transduction (OsCPK17) or tolerance mechanisms (SalT). So far, we found a total of 15 and 23 representative SNPs or indels in OsCPK17 and SalT, respectively. These natural allelic variants are mostly located in 3′-untranslated region, thus opening a new path for studying their potential contribution to the regulation of gene expression and possible role in salt tolerance.