Rubus Spp Research Articles

Identification and characterization of the causal agent of powdery mildew on native salmonberry and thimbleberry plants in British Columbia

Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) and thimbleberry (Rubus nutkanus) are important native berry plants for Indigenous communities and restoration sites in the coastal region of British Columbia (BC). Compared to cultivated berry plants, information on the diseases impacting native berry plant species is limited. In late August 2022, powdery mildew symptoms and signs were observed on field plots of salmonberry and thimbleberry plants at the Agassiz Research and Development Centre, BC. The disease symptoms progressed until the end of September. The morphology of conidiophores and conidia when examined under a compound and scanning electron microscope showed they matched with those of Podosphaera aphanis. DNA from diseased foliage was subjected to PCR amplification with primers representing the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of rDNA followed by sequencing. The corresponding sequences from both hosts showed >99% similarity to P. aphanis in GenBank and grouped with several accessions of P. aphanis following phylogenetic analysis. In artificially inoculated trials conducted in the greenhouse, powdery mildew symptoms developed within 3−4 weeks post-inoculation and P. aphanis isolates from salmonberry and thimbleberry were cross-pathogenic to each host. To our knowledge, this is the first study characterizing the powdery mildew pathogen infecting salmonberry and thimbleberry and demonstrating cross-pathogenicity to both hosts. The outcomes from this study provide insight into the biology of the powdery mildew pathogen infecting native Rubus spp.

Raspberry leaf mottle virus

Abstract A new distribution map is provided for Raspberry leaf mottle virus Closteroviridae: Closterovirus Host: Rubus spp.

Construction and genetic characterization of an interspecific raspberry hybrids panel aiming resistance to late leaf rust and adaptation to tropical regions

Raspberries (Rubus spp) are temperate climate fruits with profitable high returns and have the potential for diversification of fruit growing in mid to low-latitude regions. However, there are still no cultivars adapted to climatic conditions and high pressure of diseases that occurs in tropical areas. In this context, our objective was to evaluate the genetic diversity from a 116 raspberry genotypes panel obtained from interspecific crosses in a testcross scheme with four cultivars already introduced in Brazil. The panel was genotyped via genotyping-by-sequencing. 28,373 and 27,281 SNPs were obtained, using the species R. occidentalis and R. idaeus genomes as references, respectively. A third marker dataset was constructed consisting of 41,292 non-coincident markers. Overall, there were no differences in the results when using the different marker sets for the subsequent analyses. The mean heterozygosity was 0.54. The average effective population size was 174, indicating great genetic variability. The other analyses revealed that the half-sibling families were structured in three groups. It is concluded that the studied panel has great potential for breeding and further genetic studies. Moreover, only one of the three marker matrices is sufficient for diversity studies.

Development of a Real-Time PCR Assay for the Detection and Identification of Rubus Stunt Phytoplasma in Rubus spp.

Rubus stunt, caused by 'Candidatus Phytoplasma rubi' (Rubus stunt phytoplasma; RSP), is an economically important disease of Rubus. This disease occurs in wild and cultivated Rubus spp. in Europe but has not been reported from North America; however, its major leafhopper vector is well established in western Canada and the U.S.A. RSP has the potential to impact the cane-fruit industry by significantly compromising yields and impacting export potential for Rubus propagation material. To mitigate the risk of this disease entering or establishing, import and export testing of propagation material is a phytosanitary requirement in Canada, the U.S.A., and other countries regulating RSP. In the absence of a specific test for RSP, the current testing scheme involves the use of a generic test to screen for phytoplasmas followed by additional time-consuming procedures to confirm the phytoplasma species. In this study, a real-time PCR assay, targeting a 154-bp region of tuf gene, was developed for sensitive and specific detection of RSP in Rubus spp. The developed assay detected a minimum of five target copies, and no cross-reactivity was observed even with the 'Ca. P. rubi'-related strain associated with blackberry witches' broom, which differs from RSP only by a single nucleotide polymorphism in the target region. Repeatability of the developed assay was checked on two real-time PCR platforms with acceptable results. In conclusion, this real-time PCR assay provides a sensitive and specific detection of RSP for mitigating the introduction and spread of Rubus stunt disease in Rubus spp.

Breeding and Growth Performance of 'Ningzhi 4', a New Blackberry Cultivar with High Yield Potential and Good Quality in China.

The thornless blackberry cultivar 'Ningzhi 4' was developed by the Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Nanjing Botanical Garden Mem. Sun Yat-Sen). The new blackberry cultivar was selected from the 'Kiowa' (female parent) and 'Hull Thornless' (male parent) F1 hybrid. 'Ningzhi 4' had excellent plant characteristics, including thornlessness, semi-erect to erect canes, vigorous growth and good disease resistance. 'Ningzhi 4' had large fruit and high yield. In addition, the parents of the superior hybrid plant were further identified by SSR markers, which provided the basis for the fingerprint of the new blackberry cultivar 'Ningzhi 4'. This is a commercial cultivar to be grown for fruit production for either shipping or local sales. It also has value as a home-garden plant. This unique type of blackberry fruit was a traditional summer fruit. This new cultivar has thornless semi-erect to erect canes and produces high-quality berries with large size, good firmness, excellent flavor, and potential for shipping and postharvest storage. The new blackberry cultivar 'Ningzhi 4' is adapted to all areas of southern China and is expected to replace or complement 'Kiowa', 'Hull Thornless', 'Chester Thornless' and 'Triple Crown'. A local cultivar patent has been approved by the Jiangsu Variety Approval Committee as 'Rubus spp. Ningzhi 4' in 2020 (S-SV-RS-014-2020). In the future, 'Ningzhi 4' could be promoted as an advantageous thornless blackberry cultivar in the main production regions of China.

Dominant weed species exert significant impacts on hazelnut orchards and rural livelihoods

Turkey contributes ~76% towards global hazelnut production; thus, it has significant socioeconomic impacts in the country. However, product losses due to weeds and challenges faced during harvesting impair hazelnut production. Therefore, weed management in hazelnut orchards is one of the major challenges faced by hazelnut producers in Turkey. Multiple complaints are received regarding weed spreading in hazelnut orchards of Turkey to different institutes. This study aimed at determining the dominant weed taxa faced by hazelnut producers and providing basic data for the precautionary measures and management strategies that could be opted to manage weed spreading. For this purpose, face-to-face interviews were conducted with the hazelnut producers between 2018 and 2020. Weed species causing significant problems in hazelnut orchards were identified according to their life forms, morphological and biological characteristics and defined as “dominant/robust” species. Considering this definition, the hazelnut producers complained of 32 taxa belonging to 19 families in hazelnut orchards. The identified taxa were compared with the earlier reported taxa from hazelnut orchards in the Black Sea region (the primary growing region of hazelnut production in Turkey) and this comparison revealed 14.81–38.89% similarities. In addition, it has been determined that the most problematic weeds in hazelnut orchards are Calystegia sepium, Coronilla varia, Dioscorea communis, Hedera spp., Rubus spp. The results showed that significant changes occurred in hazelnut fields over time and the main reason for this change was the dominant weeds. For this reason, it is recommended to consider the management strategies according to the dominant weed species in the hazelnut production areas. The results also provide empirical data for the development of effective management strategies in the region.

Identification and distribution of leafrollers (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae) associated with berries (Rosaceae) cultivated in Mexico.

Berries are agricultural products of great economic interest for Mexico, and their production has increased in recent years; however, crops are affected by tortricid leafrollers. From August 2019 to April 2021 in Michoacán and Guanajuato, Mexico, a study was conducted to determine the species of tortricids associated with blackberries (Rubus spp. L.), raspberries (Rubusidaeus L.) and strawberries (Fragaria×ananassa Duch.), as well as their altitudinal distribution. In 12 orchards located in these states, shoots, leaves and flowers infested by larvae were collected. The species were identified by male genitalia and were determined taxonomically as Amorbiacuneana (Walsingham, 1879), Argyrotaeniamontezumae (Walsingham, 1914) and Platynota sp. Walker, 1859, found at elevations from 1290 to 2372 m. The most abundant species were A.cuneana and A.montezumae. Generally, these tortricids prefer to feed on tender vegetative parts of the plant, but the economic impact they have is not known. It is worth mentioning that the number of species found is lower than those reported in other countries, but it is necessary to broaden the study area to other berry-producing regions to determine whether their distribution is wider.

Diversity of Wild Edible Plants in the Kotla Valley in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, India

The current study focuses on the variety of wild edible plants that the locals of Uttarakhand,India’s Kotla valley Barkot (Uttarakashi) consume. During a field survey, local informantsprovided all of the information. The informants included laborers in the fields, priests,physicians, and birth attendants older than 55, to repeatedly verify the validity of theinformation gathered from the research area. There were 64 wild edible plant species in total,with 56 genera and 39 families represented. There were 22 kinds of shrubs, 20 species oftrees, 17 species of herbs, and 5 species of climbers that were edible. 49% of the species wereused for foraging edible wild fruits, 26% for leaves, 13% for seeds, 7% for roots, and 6% forflowers. The most widespread species included Ficus species, Elaeagnus umbellata, Morusserrata, Amaranthus caudatus, Berberis aristata, Myrica esculenta, Pinus roxburghii, Prunuscerasoides, Pyracantha crenulata, Pyrus pashia, Rhododendron arboretum, Rubia manjith,and Rubus spp. The importance of wild edible plants in supplying stable and supplementarysustenance cannot be overstated.

Enhancement on antioxidant, anti-hyperglycemic and antibacterial activities of blackberry anthocyanins by processes optimization involving extraction and purification.

This research aimed to recover anthocyanin-rich extracts from blackberry (Rubus spp. Hull cultivar) by optimizing the processing conditions, and to characterize anthocyanin individuals and determine influences of optimization on enhancement of antioxidant and anti-hyperglycemic activities of anthocyanins as natural supplements. The ethanol concentration of 69.87%, HCl dosage of 0.53%, solid-to-liquid ratio of 1:19.06 at 47.68°C for 17.04 h were optimal to obtain the highest extraction yield of anthocyanins at 0.72 mg/g. By using AB-8 macroporous resins, the anthocyanin concentration of 3.0 mg/mL, ethanol concentration of 90%, and elution rate of 2.0 mL/min were selected to boost the anthocyanin purity up to be 60.11%. Moreover, the purified anthocyanin extracts from blackberry contained nine main pigments which could be divided into three aglycone-based forms, and cyanidin-3-O-glucoside was the most abundant among them. Due to the successive processes of extraction and purification, the blackberry purified anthocyanin extracts (BA-PAE) showed much higher bioactive capacities than the blackberry crude anthocyanin extracts (BA-CAE) and blackberry fruit slurry extracts (BA-FSE), e.g., DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities (EC50 = 0.08 and 0.04, 0.32 and 0.24, and 1.31 and 0.41 mg/mL), oxygen radical absorbance capacity (1.60, 0.59, and 0.15 mmol TEAC/g), cytoprotective effects against oxidative stress in PC12 cells (1.69-, 1.58-, and 1.50-fold cell viability compared to oxidative group), α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities (IC50 = 0.10 and 0.06, 0.56 and 0.32, and 3.98 and 2.16 mg/mL), and antibacterial activity (93.23, 40.85, and 80.42% reduced biofilm).

Characterization of the first Rubus yellow net virus genome from blackberry.

Rubus yellow net virus (RYNV) is a badnavirus that infects Rubus spp. Mixed infections with black raspberry necrosis virus and raspberry leaf mottle virus cause raspberry mosaic, a disease that leads to significant losses and even plant death. RYNV has been reported in several European countries and the Americas yet there is substantial lack of knowledge, especially when it comes to virus diversity and the evolutionary forces that affect virus fitness outside its primary host, raspberry. Herein, we report the first RYNV episomal genome isolated from blackberry and this is the first report of the virus in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The isolate has five open reading frames (ORFs) and, when compared with other fully sequenced counterparts, showed 82-97% nucleotide pairwise identity. This communication adds to our limited knowledge on RYNV and addresses some of the gaps in RYNV genetics when it comes to the coding capacity of episomal isolates and the probability of the first fully sequenced isolate of the virus being integrated in the raspberry genome.

Supercritical CO2 with co-solvent extraction of blackberry (Rubus spp. Xavante cultivar) seeds

Blackberry seed extracts (BSEs) were obtained by extraction using supercritical CO2 and ethanol as co-solvent. Conditions of 70 °C and 25 MPa provided the best results: 24.05 wt% of yield, total phenolic content of 3856 mg GAE 100 g−1, and 12,948, 12,996 and 14,243 µmol TE 100 g−1 for the assays ABTS, DPPH and FRAP, respectively. The nutritional lipid indices were PUFA/SFA ratio of 9.60, hypocholesterolemic/hypercholesterolemic ratio of 16.23, atherogenicity 0.06 and thrombogenicity 0.17. The main phenolic compounds were rutin and protocatechuic acid. The thermo-oxidative decomposition of the extract started at 196.25 °C and storage at − 29.52 °C. Rancimat analysis showed that the extract has a protective effect against the oxidation of soybean oil. These results indicate good potential for the application of this extract as an antioxidant.

First Report of Podosphaera aphanis Causing Powdery Mildew on Wild Blackberry Species (Rubus Species) in Mexico.

Wild blackberry species (Rubus spp. L.; Rosaceae) represents an invaluable source of genes for the generation of new varieties, but also serve as a primary source of disease inoculum. During April of 2020, symptoms of powdery mildew were observed on four populations of wild blackberry species located in the states of Chiapas (16°59'11"N, 92°59'07"W; 16°47'08"N, 92°31'05"W) and Michoacán (19°37'17"N, 100°08'59"W; 19°29'25"N, 101°32'54"W), Mexico. Signs of the pathogen were white powdery masses mainly on the top of new shoots. Symptoms included yellowing, necrosis, and early defoliation of the plants. Hyphae were tin-walled, hyaline, smooth, and 4.0-9.0 mm wide. Appressoria were indistinct -to- nipple-shaped. Conidiophores (n=30, 75-225 × 10.5-13.5 μm) were straight, and unbranched with cylindrical foot cells (n=30, 31.5-158 × 8-13.5 μm), straight, somewhat widening upwards, followed by 1-3 shorter cells. Conidia (n=100; 25.5-38.5 × 9.5-22.5 μm) were catenulate, ellipsoid-ovoid -to- doliiform, containing fibrosin bodies (in 3% KOH). Germ tubes (n=30, 13.5-40.5 × 4.5 μm) emerged laterally, and were unbranched with slightly swollen tips. Chasmothecia were not found. Morphological characters of the fungus in all samples corresponded to the previous descriptions of Podosphaera aphanis by Braun and Cook (2012) and Stevanovi´c et al. (2020). Voucher specimens were deposited in the Department of Agricultural Parasitology Herbarium at the Chapingo Autonomous University under accessions UACH421, UACH423, UACH425, UACH426. To confirm the species identification, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of one sample was amplified using the primers ITS5 (White et al. 1990) and P3 (Kusaba and Tsuge, 1995) and sequenced. The sequence was deposited in GenBank (accession number MW988591). A phylogenetic analysis using Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood was performed (Hernández-Restrepo et al. 2018) and included other Podosphaera species (Takamatsu et al. 2010). The sequence from the isolate UACH426 clustered with the strain MUMH1871 of P. aphanis forming a definite clade and remained as a sister taxon of P. pannosa. Pathogenicity was verified through inoculation by gently dusting conidia from one powdery mildew patch onto leaves of five healthy blackberry plants of each specie. The same number of noninoculated plants served as controls. All plants were maintained in a greenhouse at 25-30°C with 75% relative humidity. All inoculated plants developed powdery mildew symptoms after 12 days, whereas no symptoms were observed on noninoculated plants. The fungus recovered from the inoculated plants was morphologically identical to that originally observed on diseased blackberry plants, demonstrating the pathogenicity of the fungus. Based on morphological data and phylogenetic analysis, the fungus was identified as P. aphanis. This fungus has been reported to cause powdery mildew on blackberry plants in Serbia (Stevanovi´c et al. 2020). This is the first report of P. aphanis causing powdery mildew on wild backberry species in Mexico according to Farr and Rossman (2021). The primary source of inoculum of powdery mildew for commercial plantings is wild blackberry plants from noncultivated areas and may warrant control of wild populations.

Greener extraction of anthocyanins and antioxidant activity from blackberry (Rubus spp) using natural deep eutectic solvents

Natural deep eutectic solvents (NaDESs) are new green solvents used for the extraction of phenolic compounds. In this work, an efficient and greener strategy for extracting blackberry anthocyanins using NADESs was investigated. Sixteen NADESs constituted of choline chloride-urea, choline chloride-sugars, choline chloride-organic acids, choline chloride-polyalcohols and organic acids-sugars were synthesized. The antioxidant properties and anthocyanin profile of blackberry extracts obtained with NADESs and conventional solvents (water, methanol and ethanol)were evaluated. Results of the characterization of NADESs showed that the viscosity, pH, electric conductivity and chemical structure of NADESs were greatly influenced by the hydrogen bond acceptors and hydrogen bond donors. The highest recovery efficiencies were recorded with NADESs giving the highest total phenolic content (9.35 ± 0.39 mg GAE/G), total flavonoid content (104.72 ± 5.17 mg ECE/100g), total anthocyanin content (115.37 ± 0.43), antiradical activity (68.77 ± 2.29 mmol TE/g), reducing power (83.08 ± 3.78) and metal chelating activity (4771.25 ± 83.58 mg TE/100g). NADESs were the most prominent solvents for the recovery of the targeted anthocyanins, with the more acidic NADESs extracting higher quantities of cyanidin-3-glucoside, cyanidin-3-rutinoside, cyanidin chloride and pelargonidin-3-glucoside. A greener extraction using NADES can therefore effectively and reliably targets antioxidants and particularly anthocyanins in blackberry, offering promising ways for future investigations on the phytochemicals in plants.

Eriophyoid (Acariformes: Eriophyoidea) and Phytoseiid (Parasitiformes: Phytoseiidae) Mite Fauna of Selected Rubus taxa (Rosaceae) with Re-description of Anthocoptes rubicolens Roivainen and Epitrimerus rubi (Domes)

Mite species (Acari: Parasitiformes, Acariformes) living on foliage of brambles (Rubus sp.) were collected in Hungary, Austria and Slovakia. Four eriophyoid mite species (Acariformes: Eriophyoidea) associated with 14 Rubus taxa were identified. Female of Anthocoptes rubicolens Roivainen, 1953 is re-described, the male is described and illustrated from Rubus praecox Bertol., and recorded for the first time from R.bifrons Vest, R.clusii Borbás, R.grabowskii Weihe, R.praecocifrons Király et Trávn., Rubus ser. Rhamnifolii (Bab.) Focke, R.slavonicus Király, Trávn. et Žila, and R. solvensis W. Maurer. Anthocoptes rubicolens is a new species for the fauna of Hungary. Female of Epitrimerus rubi (Domes, 1960) is re-described, male and nymph are described and illustrated from R.bertramii G. Braun. Morphological differences distinguishing these species from the similar Anthocoptes rubi Domes and Epitrimerus gibbosus (Nalepa) are discussed. Out of the four identified phytoseiid species, Phytoseius juvenis Wainstein et Arutunjan (Parasitiformes: Phytoseiidae) was the most frequent predatory mite on the leaves of studied Rubus spp.

Bioactive compounds conservation and energy-mass analysis in the solar greenhouse drying of blackberry pulps

Recently, the quality of food solar dried has been associated to solar irradiance, irradiation and UV-light. Different materials used as covering materials in direct solar dryers had different optical properties, thus, different quality should be expected in solar food drying. The objective of this study was to compare two direct solar dryers builder with different covering materials: Direct Solar Drying with Poly (methyl methacrylate) (DSD), and Greenhouse Solar Drying with polyethylene (SGD), based on their three aspects: chemical composition, heat-mass transference, economic-environmental effect. Chemical composition was evaluated as the total phenolic compounds (TPC), flavonoids (TF) anthocyanins (TA) and antioxidant activity (AA) of blackberry pulp (Rubus spp). Dehydrated blackberry pulp contains lower TA than raw samples because TA is sensitive to solar irradiation and UV solar irradiation. TPC, TF and AA averages do not show significant differences among all the drying processes. Evaluation of energy and heat transfer in the evaporative and diffusive periods of the drying technologies led to an assessment of the return of investment period for DSD and SGD technologies for different power sources. The results suggest payback periods between 39 and 121 months, considering only the 6 months of harvest duration without using the solar dryers the rest of the year.

Pressurized extraction of high-quality blackberry (Rubus spp. Xavante cultivar) seed oils

This study reports the extraction of oil from organic blackberry (Rubus spp. Xavante cultivar) performed using supercritical CO2 (scCO2), compressed propane, n-hexane and petroleum ether. The extractions with compressed propane showed higher extraction yield and extraction rate, when compared to those performed with scCO2. All the oils obtained represent a rich source of unsaturated fatty acid (around 93 %) composed mainly by linoleic acid. Furthermore, the extraction using scCO2 resulted an oil with high total phenolic compounds (113.49 mg GAE 100 g−1) and antioxidant activity as given by the ABTS method (2701.74 μmol TE 100 g−1). On the other hand, compressed propane showed a higher efficiency in extracting β-carotene and the oil obtained with such solvent presented a higher thermal stability (224.70 °C), rather than the oil obtained with scCO2 (198.83 °C). These results indicate a high potential of this oil for applications in food, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetic industries.

UPLC–QToF-MS Characterization of Blackberry Extracts of Cultivars ‘Tupy’, ‘Guarani’, and ‘Xavante’: Development of Extract-Loaded Niosomes

Blackberry fruit (Rubus spp. L., Rosaceae) is a source of natural antioxidants for cosmetic products due to its abundance of phenolic compounds. The aim of the present study was to characterize blackberry extracts of the cultivars ‘Tupy’, ‘Guarani’, and ‘Xavante’ and to develop niosomes loaded with blackberry extracts for future applications in cosmetic formulations. After fruit collection at the Experimental Central Stations of the Federal University of Parana, Quatro Barras, Brazil, the extracts were solubilized in different solvents. The choice of extraction solvent and blackberry cultivar was established by analysis to evaluate the total phenolic content, radical scavenging capacity, and chemical characterization by ultra-performance liquid chromatography couple to quadrupole time-of-flight-mass spectrometry. These tests revealed that fruits of Rubus ‘Xavante’ had the highest potential to be used as an active cosmetic ingredient. Niosomes formulated with the acetone/water extract obtained from the fruit of this cultivar showed both good performance and encapsulation efficiency. The results indicate that this type of niosome can be considered a promising delivery system with the potential to improve skin absorption, in addition to the antioxidant, anti-aging, and UV protective activities of the polyphenol-rich blackberry extracts.

The Weed Flora of Turkish Tea Plantations

This study was performed to find out the vascular weed taxa of tea ( Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze) plantations in Turkey and determine the critical control periods of the taxa which are negatively affect both of crop quality and yield. These taxa were determined with the studies and observations of authors both in tea plantations and local herbarium (KATO). A total of 114 native and naturalized/cultivated vascular plant taxa were found out as weeds in tea plantations. The most noxious weed, which were unintentionaly added to harvested shoots and negatively affected the tea quality, were underlined. The most commonly growing taxa in tea plantations in the region were: Pteridium aqulinum (L.) Kuhn., Smilax excelsa L., Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn. subsp. barbata (C.A. Mey.) Yalt., Crassocephalum crepidioides (Bentham) S. Moore, Calystegia silvatica (Kit.) Griseb, Commelina communis L. , Microstegium vimineum (Trin.) A. Camus. , Oplismenus undulatifolius (Ard.) P. Beauw. and Rubus spp. A high number of the observed weed species are ecologically tolerated taxa which are naturalized in the region. Furthermore, of these taxa 9 are climbers and 14 are woody plants. The critical periods of weed control in tea plantations were derived from both literature and our ecological/phenological observatins in tea plantations.

Improving Flavonoid Metabolism in Blackberry Leaves and Plant Fitness by Using the Bioeffector Pseudomonas fluorescens N 21.4 and Its Metabolic Elicitors: A Biotechnological Approach for a More Sustainable Crop.

Beneficial rhizobacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens N 21.4 and its metabolic elicitors inoculated to cultivars of blackberry (Rubus spp. Var. Loch Ness) reinforced the plants' immune system and improved their fitness by increasing photosynthesis, decreasing oxidative stress, and activating pathogenesis-related proteins. They also triggered the leaves' flavonoid metabolism, enhancing the accumulation of beneficial phenolic compounds such as kaempferols and quercetin derivatives. The elicitation of leaf secondary metabolism allows one to take advantage of the blackberry leaves (a current crop waste), following the premises of the circular economy, to isolate and obtain high added value compounds. The results of this work suggest the use of N 21.4 and/or its metabolic elicitors as plant inoculants as an effective and economically and environmentally friendly agronomic alternative practice in the exploitation of blackberry crops to obtain plants with a better immune system and to revalorize the leaf pruning as a potential source of polyphenols.

Genome Resources forThelonectria rubi,the Causal Agent of Nectria Canker of Caneberry

Thelonectria rubi is the causal agent of Nectria canker of Rubus spp. Here, we report a high-quality draft genome sequence for this pathogen, which also represents the first genome sequence for a Thelonectria species. The genome assembly was 44.6 Mb in size, assembled into 669 scaffolds and consisting of 12,973 predicted protein-coding genes. The availability of genome data for T. rubi provides a critical additional resource for an important plant pathogen and will be useful for fungal biology, comparative genomic, taxonomic and population studies of this and related species.