Growth analysis of serradella (Ornithopus sativus Brot.) developed under different soils, methods of sowing and seasons

Growth analysis of French serradella plants was made by classical and functional methods. Relative Growth Rate, Leaf Area Ratio and Unit Leaf Rate were calculated on the basis of weekly measurements of dry matter and leaf area quantities. The dry matter accumulation in above-ground part of serradella plants was described by logistic functions. Their characteristics included the inflection points of the first and the second derivatives, the standard errors of parameters, the determination coefficient and the residual mean squares. The linear function, which was obtained after linearisation of the logistic function, allowed for confirmation of the hypothesis of statistical differentiation among behaviour plants of serradella growing in different conditions within the whole vegetation period.     

The genome sequence of the North-European cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) unravels evolutionary adaptation mechanisms in plants

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.), a widely cultivated crop, has originated from Eastern Himalayas and secondary domestication regions includes highly divergent climate conditions e.g. temperate and subtropical. We wanted to uncover adaptive genome differences between the cucumber cultivars and what sort of evolutionary molecular mechanisms regulate genetic adaptation of plants to different ecosystems and organism biodiversity. Here we present the draft genome sequence of the Cucumis sativus genome of the North-European Borszczagowski cultivar (line B10) and comparative genomics studies with the known genomes of: C. sativus (Chinese cultivar--Chinese Long (line 9930)), Arabidopsis thaliana, Populus trichocarpa and Oryza sativa. Cucumber genomes show extensive chromosomal rearrangements, distinct differences in quantity of the particular genes (e.g. involved in photosynthesis, respiration, sugar metabolism, chlorophyll degradation, regulation of gene expression, photooxidative stress tolerance, higher non-optimal temperatures tolerance and ammonium ion assimilation) as well as in distributions of abscisic acid-, dehydration- and ethylene-responsive cis-regulatory elements (CREs) in promoters of orthologous group of genes, which lead to the specific adaptation features. Abscisic acid treatment of non-acclimated Arabidopsis and C. sativus seedlings induced moderate freezing tolerance in Arabidopsis but not in C. sativus. This experiment together with analysis of abscisic acid-specific CRE distributions give a clue why C. sativus is much more susceptible to moderate freezing stresses than A. thaliana. Comparative analysis of all the five genomes showed that, each species and/or cultivars has a specific profile of CRE content in promoters of orthologous genes. Our results constitute the substantial and original resource for the basic and applied research on environmental adaptations of plants, which could facilitate creation of new crops with improved growth and yield in divergent conditions.     

AFLP marker polymorphism in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) near isogenic lines differing in sex expression

The AFLP technique was used to evaluate the level of polymorphism between two pairs of isogenic cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) lines (NIL) differing in flower sex expression. The BSA techniques were also applied to find molecular markers linked to sex determination genes (dominant alleles) in those cucumber lines. Sex determination in cucumber is controlled by three main loci F, M and Gy. The interaction of these loci is responsible for the formation of the various phenotypes of flowers in respect to sex in the analyzed lines [corrected]. A female line 2gg with a ff/MM/gygy genotype, isogenic to a monoecious line B10 (genotype ff/MM/GyGy), and a female line Gy3 with a FF/MM/GyGy genotype, isogenic to a hermaphroditic line HGy3 (genotype FF/mm/GyGy). Using 56 combinations of AFLP primers, used for the analysis of lines 2gg and B10, gave 3794 bands, of which 155 (4.1%) were polymorphic. Ten bands distinguished gynoecious and monoecious bulks appearing at the same time in the appropriate parent; they are believed to be linked to the Gy locus. The isogenic lines Gy3 and HGy3 showed a higher level of polymorphism (14.2%). In this case, 55 combinations of primers gave 2996 reaction products, of which 430 showed variation. Twenty bands occurred in one bulk and in one parent, so they are probably associated with the M locus. Using the AFLP technique, the isogenicity of the lines was evaluated. The level of polymorphism (per pair of primer) between lines 2gg and B10 is 0.072% and is four times lower than that between the Gy3 and HGy3 lines (0.27%). The differences in the isogenicity of the lines can result from the degree of their relatedness, which may reflect the way they were derived.     

Proximate Composition,Minerals and Antioxidant Activity of Artichoke Leaf Extracts

Biological Trace Element Research - In this study, leaf extracts from the Green Globe cultivar of artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.), a herbaceous plant of the Asteraceae family, were analyzed to...