ABSTRACT. Diploid Thinopyrum elongatum, a wild relative of wheat, contains many agronomically desirable traits and has potential for increasing genetic variability and introducing desirable characters in this crop. Few molecular markers are available for rapid screening of T. elongatum genome segments in the wheat genetic background. We used 36 RAPD primers and 33 ISSR primers to screen for polymorphisms in the common wheat variety Chinese Spring and in T. elongatum. Two RAPD markers and one ISSR marker, designated OPF03 1407 , LW10 1487 and UBC841 701 , were identified and were specific for the T. elongatum E genome. Three pairs of primers flanking these specific sequences were designed to produce SCAR markers. All three SCAR markers were T. elongatum E genome-specific. Two of these SCAR markers, SCAR 807 and SCAR 577 , were present in all seven T. elongatum chromosomes, while SCAR 839 was specific for T. elongatum chromosomes 2E and 3E. These newly developed SCAR markers should be useful for detecting alien genome chromatin or chromosome segments in the genetic background of common wheat.

Petroleum is potentially toxic to living organisms, and there are worldwide efforts to develop methods for bioremediation of petroleum-contaminated soils. Phytoremediation is an effective method to reduce the concentration of petroleum in soils, and plant growthpromoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) play an important role in the phytoremediation. Two PGPR, Pseudomonas aeruginosa SLC-2 and Serratia marcescens BC-3, were isolated from the rhizophere of Echinochloa grown in petroleumcontaminated soil. These isolates showed capacities for 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase activity, indole acetic acid production, siderophore synthesis, and the degradation of petroleum. The ACC deaminase activity of SLC-2 and BC-3 was 2.52 ± 0.03 lmol a-KA (mg PrÁh) -1 and 38.52 ± 0.37 lmol a-KA (mg PrÁh) -1 , respectively. On the other hand, when the concentration of L-Trp increased, the IAA synthesis of BC-3 also increased, while the synthesis of SLC-2 did not change significantly. The ability of synthesized siderophore of SLC-2 was much higher than that of BC-3. The petroleum degradations of SLC-2 and BC-3 increased 4.78 and 7.36 %, respectively. The pot experiment of oat was performed to evaluate the plant growth-promoting abilities of SLC-2 and BC-3. Compared with non-inoculated controls, the height and fresh weight of stems increased (23.64 and 42.57) % and (16.98 and 28.3) %, respectively, whereas the length and fresh weight of roots also increased (10.34 and 20.84) and (24.13 and 43.11) %, respectively, when inoculated with SLC-2 and BC-3. The results indicated that P. aeruginosa SLC-2 and S. marcescens BC-3 can serve as promising microbes for increasing plant growth in petroleum-contaminated soil to improve the phytoremediation efficiency.

Formaldehyde is widely used in chemical manufacturing industry and classified as a human carcinogen. Discharging wastewater containing formaldehyde without treatment can cause serious risk to the water environment. In this study, a formaldehyde-resistant fungal strain was isolated from sewerage of a furniture factory. Isolate strain was identified based on the morphological and phylogenetic analyses. Formaldehyde-degrading fungus was determined by characterizing the mycelia growth in culture media, formaldehyde-resistant, formaldehydedegrading efficiencies, and specific enzyme activity involved in formaldehyde removal. Isolate strain HUA was identified as a member of Aspergillus sydowii. The strain HUA showed a growth in the presence of formaldehyde up to 2,400 mg l -1 at an optimum temperature of 25°C and optimum pH of 7. The specific activity of formaldehyde dehydrogenase and formate dehydrogenase could reach up to 5.02 and 1.06 U mg -1 , respectively. It indicated that isolated formaldehyde-resistant A. sydowii HUA strain would be potential used for removing formaldehyde from industrial wastewater.

Thinopyrum elongatum, a wild relative of wheat, can be used as an excellent source of disease and abiotic stresses resistance and carries several useful traits, which have been transferred into wheat by interspecific hybridization. The most effective method of transferring the profitable genes of Th. elongatum into wheat is to induce chromosome recombination by the gametocidal system. In this study, cross, backcross and selfcross were performed between Chinese Spring-Th. elongatum 3E disomic addition line and Chinese Spring-Ae. cylindrica gametocidal chromosome 2C disomic addition line, and the gametocidal chromosome would induce chromosome breakages and aberrations. The chromosome counts of somatic cell and the observation of PMCs metaphase were performed in F2, BC1F1and F1, F2plants, respectively, the results showed that the gametocidal chromosome was functioning during the formation of gametes. The gametocidal chromosome 2C induced segregation for spike type in F2and BC1F1plants. Thus, the gametocidal chromosome 2C was demonstrated to be effective on transferring Th. elongatum 3E chromosome into wheat.

Petroleum, one of the main energy resources, plays an important role in the progress of human culture. With the development of petroleum industry, soil contamination by petroleum products has become a worldwide environment problem. This study investigated the effects of inoculation using microorganism, identified as an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF), Glomus intraradices on oat under petroleum stress using a pot experiment in greenhouse. The concentration of petroleum in the tested soils was 5000mg/kg. The results showed that the degradation rate of the total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) of the inoculation treatments was significantly higher than the non-inoculation group. By detection the index of plant growth and physiology, such as soluble protein and MDA, the results showed that all the inoculation treatments increased plant tolerance to the TPHs stress and which could promote the phytoremediation.