Small Number Of Plants Research Articles

PHYTOREMEDIATION PROSPECTS FOR SOILS CONTAMINATED WITH HEAVY METALS

Phytoremediation is an effective technique of using plants to restore contaminated soils. The aim of this work is to review promising hyperaccumulators with regard to phytoremediation. Different types of plants, genetic and cellular engineering and other techniques that contribute to soil purification from heavy metals are used for phytoremediation. The paper presents an overview of hyperaccumulators that are able to accumulate various contaminants in the tissues of aboveground organs. The literature search was carried out in such databases as eLIBRARY and CyberLeninka. Plants for phytoremediation should meet a large set of specific criteria. However, no plant can satisfy all of them. Therefore, choosing the most effective plant is a difficult task. The paper analyzes plants used for phytoremediation on the territory of the Russian Federation. The list of studies included in the review demonstrates the peculiarities of certain heavy metal accumulation by different plants. At the same time, the majority of plants used for phytoremediant (about 75 %) accumulate nickel. Only a small number of plants are able to accumulate other heavy metals, such as copper, zinc, cadmium, and lead. Some publications presented in the review indicate that for effective phytoremediation, it is also necessary to pay attention to the soil composition and other external factors. This remark is really crucial. Currently, phytoremediation is an understudied unpredictable technique for cleaning up contaminated soils. It has not received widespread use yet, but it is promising.

Elucidating the attributes of winter wheat grain quality under reduced nitrogen input through near‐infrared spectroscopy

AbstractBackground and ObjectivesResearch in crop science is usually conducted in studies with a small number of plants and crops. The aim of this project was to investigate whether near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) can contribute to the analysis of such small data sets. For this purpose, NIR spectra of a small sample set of whole‐grain wheat flours of two winter wheat cultivars harvested from greenhouse and field experiments with different fertilization management were analyzed.FindingsPrincipal component analysis (PCA) facilitated the discrimination of samples based on fertilization, baking volume, and growing conditions for each wheat cultivar. In addition, PCA allowed the differentiation of wheat cultivars in a data set containing both cultivars. Spectra–structure relationships were also established. Accurate calibrations with R2 of .98, .98, and .54 were obtained for fertilization, crude protein concentration, and baking volume, respectively, even for a small data set of 10 samples of wheat cultivar Discus.ConclusionThe NIR spectra of whole‐grain wheat flour samples provided high‐resolution information on various parameters such as fertilization, baking volume, wheat cultivar, and growing site. This study demonstrates that NIRS is a valuable and efficient tool for the analysis of small data sets in crop science. This illustrates the effectiveness of the elegant NIRS method.Significance and NoveltyIn this study, small data sets of whole‐grain wheat flour from crop science experiments were analyzed by NIRS. Characteristic changes of the NIR spectra based on applied fertilizer amount, crude protein concentration, baking volume, growing site, and wheat cultivar were revealed. The detection of cause‐and‐effect relationships between spectra and chemical properties of samples contributes to a better understanding of NIR spectra of wheat flours in an interpretative way.

Fungi of Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA: a spatial survey.

The natural system at Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA was augmented by the construction of a rock-filled railroad causeway in 1960, creating two lakes at one site. The north arm is sequestered from the mountain snowmelt inputs and thus became saturated with salts (250-340 g/L). The south arm is a flourishing ecosystem with moderate salinity (90-190 g/L) and a significant body of water for ten million birds on the avian flyways of the western US who engorge themselves on the large biomass of brine flies and shrimp. The sediments around the lake shores include calcium carbonate oolitic sand and clay, and further away from the saltwater margins, a zone with less saline soil. Here a small number of plants can thrive, including Salicornia and Sueda species. At the north arm at Rozel Point, halite crystals precipitate in the salt-saturated lake water, calcium sulfate precipitates to form gypsum crystals embedded in the clay, and high molecular weight asphalt seeps from the ground. It is an ecosystem with gradients and extremes, and fungi are up to the challenge. We have collected data on Great Salt Lake fungi from a variety of studies and present them here in a spatial survey. Combining knowledge of cultivation studies as well as environmental DNA work, we discuss the genera prevalent in and around this unique ecosystem. A wide diversity of taxa were found in multiple microniches of the lake, suggesting significant roles for these genera: Acremonium, Alternaria, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Clydae, Coniochaeta, Cryptococcus, Malassezia, Nectria, Penicillium, Powellomyces, Rhizophlyctis, and Wallemia. Considering the species present and the features of Great Salt Lake as a terminal basin, we discuss of the possible roles of the fungi. These include not only nutrient cycling, toxin mediation, and predation for the ecosystem, but also roles that would enable other life to thrive in the water and on the shore. Many genera that we discovered may help other organisms in alleviating salinity stress, promoting growth, or affording protection from dehydration. The diverse taxa of Great Salt Lake fungi provide important benefits for the ecosystem.

RNA-seq analysis of synchronized developing pollen isolated from a single anther.

Pollen development, from unicellular microspores to anthesis, is a complex process involving the coordinated specification, differentiation and functions of different cell types. Key to understanding this development is identifying the genes expressed at precise stages of development. However, transcriptomic studies on pollen prior to anthesis are complicated by the inaccessible nature of pollen developing in the anther and the resistant pollen wall. To assist with understanding gene expression during pollen development we have developed a protocol to perform RNA-Seq on pollen isolated from a single anther (SA RNA-Seq). The protocol involves removing pollen from a single anther for analysis and viewing the remaining pollen to determine the developmental stage. The isolated pollen is chemically lysed and mRNA isolated from the lysate using an oligo-dT column before library preparation. Here, we report on the development and testing of our method and the generation of a transcriptome for three stages of pollen development from Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and two stages from male kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis). This protocol enables the transcriptome of precise developmental stages of pollen to be analyzed, and uses a small number of plants, potentially facilitating studies that require a range of treatments or the analysis of the first generation of transgenic plants.

Analysis of the effects of the mutation of selected genes of pedilanthus leaf curl virus on infectivity, symptoms and the maintenance of tobacco leaf curl betasatellite

Pedilanthus leaf curl virus (PeLCV) is a widely encountered monopartite begomovirus with a wide host range that usually associates with a betasatellite. The cloned PeLCV used was highly infectious to Nicotiana benthamiana plants by agroinoculation and symptoms were enhanced by co-inoculation with tobacco leaf curl betasatellite (TbLCB). The study investigated the effects of the mutation of the coat protein (CP), V2, C2 and C4 genes of PeLCV on infectivity, symptoms and maintenance of TbLCB in N. benthamiana. Mutation of the CP abolished infectivity of PeLCV, which was not rescued by co-inoculation with TbLCB. Mutation of the V2 gene severely reduced infectivity that, in a small number of plants, was rescued by TbLCB, resulting in plants with very mild symptoms. Mutation of the C2 or V4 genes led to a significant reduction in virus infectivity, but also to non-symptomatic infections. Co-inoculation of either mutant with TbLCB led to a greater number of plants infected but fewer plants ultimately maintained the betasatellite, compared with inoculation of the betasatellite with the wild-type virus, indicating that the C2 and C4 proteins play a role in the maintenance of the betasatellite. For the C2 mutation, but not the C4 mutation, the presence of the betasatellite also resulted in mild symptoms. The results here, in conjunction with earlier studies, highlight commonalities as well as differences for the effects of gene mutations and interactions with betasatellites of different begomoviruses, indicating that begomovirus--betasatellite interaction is highly nuanced.

City climate and landscape structure shape pollinators, nectar and transported pollen along a gradient of urbanization

Abstract Urbanization gradients influence both landscape and climate and provide opportunity for understanding how plants and pollinators respond to artificially driven environmental transitions, a relevant aspect for the ecosystem service of pollination. Here, we investigated several aspects of pollination along an urbanization gradient in landscape and climate. We quantified wild hoverfly and bee abundances with trapping, standing crop of nectar with spectrophotometer, and the pollen transported by flower visitors with DNA metabarcoding, in 40 independent sites from semi‐natural to built‐up areas in Northern Italy. Direct and indirect effects were fitted considering landscape and climate variables. Linear and nonlinear relationships were detected along the urbanization gradient. Pollinator abundances increased quadratically and peaked at 22% of impervious cover with an 81% growth, and they decreased with green‐patch distance by 37% and urban park largeness by 60%. This indicates that pollinators are more abundant at intermediate levels of urbanization. Climatically, pollinators diminished by up to 46% in areas with low spring–summer temperature seasonality: urban areas likely posing thermic stress. Furthermore, the sugar mass available in nectar increased by 61% with impervious cover and by 79% with precipitations, indicating that city nectars were less consumed or flowers more productive. Furthermore, the species richness of pollen decreased by 32% in highly urbanized areas, and contained a high incidence of exotic plants, hinting for anthropized, simplified plant communities. Synthesis and applications. Urbanization influences pollinator abundances, nectar resources and transported pollen in direct and indirect ways. Pollinators are negatively affected by a thermally harsh climate in highly urbanized areas with isolated green areas and large parks. Suburban landscapes demonstrated the highest pollinator presence. In the city core, flowers contained more nectary sugar in association with more precipitations, while pollinators collected pollen from a small number of plants, mainly exotic. These findings highlight the strong influence of urban landscape and climate on pollinators and plants, showing that cities are heterogenous realities. Patterns from this study will serve as basis for pollinator‐friendly planning, mitigation and management of urban landscapes.

Installation and imaging of thousands of minirhizotrons to phenotype root systems of field-grown plants

BackgroundRoots are vital to plant performance because they acquire resources from the soil and provide anchorage. However, it remains difficult to assess root system size and distribution because roots are inaccessible in the soil. Existing methods to phenotype entire root systems range from slow, often destructive, methods applied to relatively small numbers of plants in the field to rapid methods that can be applied to large numbers of plants in controlled environment conditions. Much has been learned recently by extensive sampling of the root crown portion of field-grown plants. But, information on large-scale genetic and environmental variation in the size and distribution of root systems in the field remains a key knowledge gap. Minirhizotrons are the only established, non-destructive technology that can address this need in a standard field trial. Prior experiments have used only modest numbers of minirhizotrons, which has limited testing to small numbers of genotypes or environmental conditions. This study addressed the need for methods to install and collect images from thousands of minirhizotrons and thereby help break the phenotyping bottleneck in the field.ResultsOver three growing seasons, methods were developed and refined to install and collect images from up to 3038 minirhizotrons per experiment. Modifications were made to four tractors and hydraulic soil corers mounted to them. High quality installation was achieved at an average rate of up to 84.4 minirhizotron tubes per tractor per day. A set of four commercially available minirhizotron camera systems were each transported by wheelbarrow to allow collection of images of mature maize root systems at an average rate of up to 65.3 tubes per day per camera. This resulted in over 300,000 images being collected in as little as 11 days for a single experiment.ConclusionThe scale of minirhizotron installation was increased by two orders of magnitude by simultaneously using four tractor-mounted, hydraulic soil corers with modifications to ensure high quality, rapid operation. Image collection can be achieved at the corresponding scale using commercially available minirhizotron camera systems. Along with recent advances in image analysis, these advances will allow use of minirhizotrons at unprecedented scale to address key knowledge gaps regarding genetic and environmental effects on root system size and distribution in the field.

IDENTIFICATION OF PSYCHOACTIVE NICOTINE COMPOUND IN COMMONLY USED INDIAN TOOTH PASTE PRODUCTS

Nicotine is a nitrogen-containing alkaloid produced by a small number of plants, including the tobacco plant. Although the use of tobacco products as dentifrices is still popular in some parts of India, Indian law prohibits the use of nicotine in dentifrices. Nicotiana tobacco, the type of nicotine found in tobacco plants, is a nightshade family member and has a potential to cause oral lesions and other oral hazard in a few individuals. In the present study, we focussed to find the quantitative limits of Nicotine in toothpaste varieties. Ten brands for ordinarily utilized toothpaste were assessed by Agarwal and Rajagopal method for extraction and seclusion of nicotine from toothpowder. Another most proposed method for the practical and reliable detection of alkaloids belong to pyrrolidine group -test by Wagner reagent (iodine-potassium-iodide solution). Our results demonstrated the presence of nicotine content in a few commercial brands tested like Closeup, Pepsodent, Colgate and Himalaya. Our approach involved in demonstrating a simplified method to analyse nicotine compounds in tooth pastes by expressing titrations values using aqueous solutions using Wagner reagent. Further safety studies need to be focussed in validating a simplistic and rapid method in monitoring and expressing the permissible limits of nicotine in commonly available tooth paste varieties.

EUPHORIA DAVIDII SUBILS (EUPHORBIACEAE) IN FLORA OF RAILWAY TRACKS OF DNIESTER BAY BAR

Aim. Anthropogenically transformed ecotopes act as a centre for existance of many adventive species. The distribution of North-American species Euphorbia davidii subsp. Poinsettia across various continents is often attributed to the export of grain. For some time scientists have been bringing up the issue about identification of plants E. davidii in new territories, because the species is morphologically similar to E. dentata agg.
 The species E. davidii is characterised by a high invasive potential, it is a neophyte. In Ukraine the species is represented by separate localities almost throughout the country. It is related to sectors of ports, railway tracks, and abandoned lands.
 Methods. In the year 2021, by means of route method, in sectors of railway tracks of the Dniester bay bar, between the railway stops Karolina-Buhas and Soniachna (total length is up to eight kilometers) seven localities of E. davidii were distinguished; the coordinates of the locations are listed in the publication. The examined ecotopes are characterised by a crushed stone substratum, with higher temperatures, and also by specific vibrational, insolational and hydrological modes.
 Results. Both inconsiderable in number of plants localities (32 exemplars) and zones, where the number of plants reaches over 2000 are represented. The extent of habitats ranges from 2 to 20 meters. The height of particular, the most developed individuals constituted 20 cm. As a rule, in the inter-rail space there is a considerably smaller number of plants, however, they are better developed, well-branched and have more inflorescences with fruits.
 Conclusions. A number of plants from the southern slopes of the railways is typically bigger, however, the plants on the southern slopes (in comparison with the northern ones) are worse developed, branch out less and, at the time of conducting the research were represented by a smaller number of generative individuals. In sandy sectors of the bay bar adjoining the railway tracks the plants E. davidii were almost not noticed. The individuals found in the above-mentioned sectors are characterised by stunted growth, a single stem, almost did not bloom, and did not produce seeds.

Growth and yield response of a local pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) accession to begomoviral caused disease in the medium elevation land

The experiment aimed to evaluate resistance of a local pepper accession to begomovirus caused disease which is annually observed in pepper cultivation in Aceh, Indonesia. The evaluation was conducted by assessing the growth and yield response of the pepper plants in the median elevation. The field experimental was conducted in Agricultural Staff Training Center (BLPP) Saree and Horticultural Laboratory of Syiah Kuala University from December 2018 to August 2019. Purpose sampling method was established to for plant selection devided into two clusters. The first cluster of 930 plants was evaluated for typical symptom of begomovirus caused disease from 15 to 135 days post transplanting (dpt). Second clusters plants were selected and divided into two group of early-symptomatic and late-symptomatic plants consisted of 12 plants, respectively for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based begomovirus diagnosis and yield survey. Typical begomovirus symptom started to be observed at 30 dpt in small number of plants (3%) and reach the highest rate (100%) at 105 dpt. The difference productivity of early-symptomatic plants was 0,26 tons ha−1 higher than late-symptomatic plants. Begomovirus species which prevalently infect the plants both early and late symptomatic plants was pepper yellow leaf curl Indonesia virus (PepYLCIV).

Localized management of non-indigenous animal domesticates in Northwestern China during the Bronze Age

The movements of ancient crop and animal domesticates across prehistoric Eurasia are well-documented in the archaeological record. What is less well understood are the precise mechanisms that farmers and herders employed to incorporate newly introduced domesticates into their long-standing husbandry and culinary traditions. This paper presents stable isotope values (δ13C, δ15N) of humans, animals, and a small number of plants from the Hexi Corridor, a key region that facilitated the movement of ancient crops between Central and East Asia. The data show that the role of animal products in human diets was more significant than previously thought. In addition, the diets of domestic herbivores (sheep/goat, and cattle) suggest that these two groups of domesticates were managed in distinct ways in the two main ecozones of the Hexi Corridor: the drier Northwestern region and the wetter Southeastern region. Whereas sheep and goat diets are consistent with consumption of naturally available vegetation, cattle exhibit a higher input of C4 plants in places where these plants contributed little to the natural vegetation. This suggests that cattle consumed diets that were more influenced by human provisioning, and may therefore have been reared closer to the human settlements, than sheep and goats.

A dominant spotted leaf gene TaSpl1 activates endocytosis and defense-related genes causing cell death in the absence of dominant inhibitors

The spotted leaf lesion mimic trait simulates cell death in a plant responding to pathogen infection. Some spotted leaf genes are recessive, while others are dominant. A small number of plants with a lesion mimic phenotype appeared in a segregating population obtained by crossing two normal green wheat strains, XN509 and N07216. Here, we clarified the genetic model and its breeding value. Phenotyping of the consecutive progeny populations over six cropping seasons showed that the spotted leaf lesion mimic phenotype was controlled by a dominant gene designated TaSpl1, which was inhibited by two other dominant genes, designated TaSpl1-I1 and TaSpl1-I2. Using bulked segregant analysis RNA-seq (BSR-Seq) and newly developed KASP-PCR markers, the TaSpl1 and TaSpl1-I1 loci in N07216 were mapped to the end of chromosomes 3DS and 3BS, respectively. Plants with the spotted phenotype showed lower levels of stripe rust and powdery mildew than those with the normal green phenotype. Compared with normal leaves, the differentially expressed genes in spotted leaves were significantly enriched in plant-pathogen interaction and endocytosis pathways. There were no differences in the yield parameters of the F5 and F6 sister lines, N13039S with TaSpl1 and N13039 N without TaSpl1. These results provide a greater understanding of spotted leaf phenotyping and the breeding value of the lesion mimic allele in developing disease-resistance varieties.

Orobanchaceae plants of israel and palestine. Chemical and medicinal treasures

Orobanchaceae plant family is one of the most interesting plant families in our region. It is represented by small number of plants and some of them attracted major interest while others have been almost completely neglected. Even the ethnobotanical uses of these plants in the reviewed region are very limited. The present day knowledge about these plants indicates contradicting research tendencies, interesting natural products that were isolated from some of these plants, along with massive lack of information about the chemical and medicinal properties of others. Many review articles were published about this family, but each one of them lacks some essential information or includes ambiguities. This article will present the known information in helpful tables and figures, but will mainly emphasize the areas where intensive research efforts are needed. In the discussion section, the parasitic nature of these plants will be elaborated, and some synthetic and biosynthetic paths will be introduced.

Patterns in the transmission of traditional ecological knowledge: a case study from Arnhem Land, Australia

BackgroundThe loss of traditional ecological knowledge in endangered language communities is a cause of concern worldwide. Given the state of current knowledge, it is difficult to say whether language and TEK transmission levels are correlated, i.e. whether the erosion of one is accompanied by erosion of the other. This case study, focusing on a small Indigenous language from northern Australia, represents a first step towards a systematic investigation of this question.MethodsSpeakers of the language Kune (which is currently being transmitted to small children in the community) were asked to identify and name a number of common birds and plants known to occur on Kune traditional lands, through a series of audiovisual stimuli.ResultsThere was a weak correlation between speaker age and performance for the plant naming task, but not for the birds. Analysis of the ethnotaxa that were or were not named by individual participants showed that only a small number of plants and birds (approx. 13% and 7% respectively) were known to all participants, while many (approx. 30% and 26% respectively) could only be named by one participant, i.e. the oldest. Edible ethnotaxa were common among the plants and birds that could be named by many people. There was a tendency among younger speakers to use a single umbrella term to label similar-looking species from large genera, such as Acacia, whereas older people would have had distinct labels for each species.ConclusionsPerformance in the plant and bird naming tasks was lower than expected for a community where language transmission to younger generations is high. The loss of certain plant and bird names from the active lexicons of some younger Kune speakers may be due to lifestyle change, particularly in terms of food habits, or due to inter-individual differences in life histories. Differences between the transmission of plant and bird names may be due to more frequent interactions with edible plants, as compared to birds.

Plant Extract Valorization ofMelissa officinalisL. for Agroindustrial Purposes through Their Biochemical Properties and Biological Activities

Lemon balm (Melissa officinalisL.) is one of the rare medicinal plants in Tunisia. It was found only in two sites in the north of Tunisia with a small number of plants. The study of germination under the NaCl and PEG effect showed that Tunisian lemon balm seeds were sensitive to saline and osmotic stress. Morphological and biochemical characterizations of TunisianM. officinaliswere performed. Results showed that the Tunisian populations presented plants with long, broad leaves and weak branching. The major constituent in leaf essential oil was germacrene-D with a percentage ranging from 29.17 to 24.6%, and the major fatty acids were polyunsaturated fatty acids, linoleic acid, ranging from 73.93 to 66.74%. The phenolic content ofM. officinalisextract varied significantly among origins which could explain the high variation in antiradical scavenging activity. The evaluation of allelopathic activities showed that the extract of the lemon balm leaves presented an allelopathic effect with the majority of the tested seeds.

Zinc, lead, and cadmium tolerance and accumulation in Cistus libanotis, Cistus albidus, and Cistus salviifolius: Perspectives on phytoremediation

AbstractHeavy metal contamination is of particular concern for human health and the environment. Phytoremediation is an emerging cost‐effective strategy to remediate heavy metal contaminated soil. However, this technique is limited by the small number of plants that are tolerant to heavy metals and are also accumulators. This study assayed zinc, lead, and cadmium tolerance and accumulation in Cistus libanotis, Cistus albidus, and Cistus salviifolius. The plants were cultivated in hydroponic conditions and exposed to different concentrations of Pb(NO3)2 (100 and 200 µM), ZnSO4 (100 and 200 µM), or CdCl2 (10 and 20 µM) for 3 weeks. Plant biomass and metal accumulation in roots and aboveground parts varied greatly among the species. All three species appeared to be sensitive to Zn. However, C. albidus displayed strong tolerance to Pb and accumulated large quantities of Pb and Cd in its roots. C. libanotis accumulated large quantities of Pb and Cd in its aboveground parts. C. libanotis can thus be classified as a Pb and Cd accumulator species. The study results show that C. albidus is suitable for phytostabilization of Pb‐contaminated soils, while C. libanotis can be used for phytoextraction of both Pb and Cd.

A highly mutagenised barley (cv. Golden Promise) TILLING population coupled with strategies for screening-by-sequencing

BackgroundWe developed and characterised a highly mutagenised TILLING population of the barley (Hordeum vulgare) cultivar Golden Promise. Golden Promise is the ‘reference’ genotype for barley transformation and a primary objective of using this cultivar was to be able to genetically complement observed mutations directly in order to prove gene function. Importantly, a reference genome assembly of Golden Promise has also recently been developed. As our primary interest was to identify mutations in genes involved in meiosis and recombination, to characterise the population we focused on a set of 46 genes from the literature that are possible meiosis gene candidates.ResultsSequencing 20 plants from the population using whole exome capture revealed that the mutation density in this population is high (one mutation every 154 kb), and consequently even in this small number of plants we identified several interesting mutations. We also recorded some issues with seed availability and germination. We subsequently designed and applied a simple two-dimensional pooling strategy to identify mutations in varying numbers of specific target genes by Illumina short read pooled-amplicon sequencing and subsequent deconvolution. In parallel we assembled a collection of semi-sterile mutants from the population and used a custom exome capture array targeting the 46 candidate meiotic genes to identify potentially causal mutations.ConclusionsWe developed a highly mutagenised barley TILLING population in the transformation competent cultivar Golden Promise. We used novel and cost-efficient screening approaches to successfully identify a broad range of potentially deleterious variants that were subsequently validated by Sanger sequencing. These resources combined with a high-quality genome reference sequence opens new possibilities for efficient functional gene validation.

Sporadic Genetic Connectivity among Small Insular Populations of the Rare Geoendemic Plant Caulanthus amplexicaulis var. barbarae (Santa Barbara Jewelflower).

Globally, a small number of plants have adapted to terrestrial outcroppings of serpentine geology, which are characterized by soils with low levels of essential mineral nutrients (N, P, K, Ca, Mo) and toxic levels of heavy metals (Ni, Cr, Co). Paradoxically, many of these plants are restricted to this harsh environment. Caulanthus ampexlicaulis var. barbarae (Brassicaceae) is a rare annual plant that is strictly endemic to a small set of isolated serpentine outcrops in the coastal mountains of central California. The goals of the work presented here were to 1) determine the patterns of genetic connectivity among all known populations of C. ampexlicaulis var. barbarae, and 2) estimate contemporary effective population sizes (Ne), to inform ongoing genomic analyses of the evolutionary history of this taxon, and to provide a foundation upon which to model its future evolutionary potential and long-term viability in a changing environment. Eleven populations of this taxon were sampled, and population-genetic parameters were estimated using 11 nuclear microsatellite markers. Contemporary effective population sizes were estimated using multiple methods and found to be strikingly small (typically Ne < 10). Further, our data showed that a substantial component of genetic connectivity of this taxon is not at equilibrium, and instead showed sporadic gene flow. Several lines of evidence indicate that gene flow between isolated populations is maintained through long-distance seed dispersal (e.g., >1 km), possibly via zoochory.

The effect of the elicitors on the steviol glycosides biosynthesis pathway in Stevia rebaudiana

Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni has been promoted for having sweet leaves as well as pharmaceutical and industrial properties. The sweet taste of Stevia leaves is due to the presence of steviol glycosides (a group of diterpene glycosides) found in a small number of plants. In the biosynthetic pathway of steviol glycosides (SGs), 15 enzymes that express the genes are associated with these enzymes under the influence of the elicitors. Due to the individuality of the stevia and few studies on the biosynthesis pathway of SGs, this paper attempted to investigate the effects of some of the elicitors, including methyl jasmonate (MeJA), salicylic acid (SA), auxins (Aux), cytokinins (CKs), gibberellins (GAs) and its inhibitors including paclobutrazol (BPZ) and chloroquate (CCC)), on the responsible genes for the biosynthesis of SGs. Some of these elicitors, including MeJA, SA and GA have great potential in increasing secondary metabolites. Moreover, the biosynthetic pathway of GAs and SGs are shared till ent-kaurenoic acid (ent-KA) biosynthesis, which raises the question of whether this hormone and its inhibitors are effective in the SGs biosynthesis.

Inheritance of sunflower (Hellianthus annuus L.) seed size in the cross combination L12B х KP11B

One of the main parameters in sunflower breeding is the size of seeds. Usually in breeding selections for this purpose is used an indicator of weight of 1000 seeds. It is necessary to know type of inheritance of the size of seeds expressed both in weight of 1000 seeds and in their sizes for selection of parental components at heterosis selection. At the same time, the genetics of these features have been studied much less than other economic features. The aim of the study was to determine the type of inheritance in the first and second generation of signs of weight of 1000 seeds and seed length in combination with crossing lines with conventional round and large long seeds. Comparison of parent lines by weight of 1000 seeds using student's test indicates a significant difference. The second generation offspring were divided into 16 classes. The plants of the first and second generation along with the parent lines were distributed by weight of 1000 seeds. There were measured 68 plants of L12B, 160 plants of KP11B, 25 hybrid plants of the first generation, two progeny of the hybrids of the second generation of 70 and 57 plants. The smallest weight of 1000 seeds of the KP11B line was 85 g, and L12B had the largest 65 g. We assumed three possible ratios of cleavages for digenic control of the trait: 9:6:1, 12:3:1, 15:1. The digenic model was chosen because of the small number of plants of the second generation corresponding to one of the parents. According to the obtained Pearson criteria on the basis of the weight of 1000 seeds, the hypothesis of the digenic recessive control of a smaller weight of 1000 seeds can be unambiguously confirmed – the ratio of 15:1. In our populations of the second generation high correlation coefficients between the signs of weight of 1000 seeds and length of seeds were revealed: 0.66 and 0.68. On the basis of the length of the seeds, the same measurement of each plant of parent lines and hybrids was carried out. The model of splitting 15:1 was reliable for both offspring and their sum when referring to a smaller part of plants with a small seed length, as in the L12B line. Also reliable in all variants was the ratio of 9:6:1 – with the release of the plant class of the second parent line KP11B. It shows differences about control of the length of the achenes of lines KP11B and L12B. Dominant alleles cause a greater length of the achenes. Genes have complementary interactions.