Genetic Diversity within a Collection of Italian Maize Inbred Lines: A Resource for Maize Genomics and Breeding.

Genetic diversity is fundamental for studying the complex architecture of the traits of agronomic importance, controlled by major and minor loci. Moreover, well-characterized germplasm collections are essential tools for dissecting and analyzing genetic and phenotypic diversity in crops. A panel of 360 entries, a subset of a larger collection maintained within the GenBank at CREA Bergamo, which includes the inbreds derived from traditional Italian maize open-pollinated (OP) varieties and advanced breeding ones (Elite Inbreds), was analyzed to identify SNP markers using the tGBS genotyping-by-sequencing technology.

Genome-wide association study of common resistance to rust species in tetraploid wheat.

Rusts of the genus are wheat pathogens. Stem (black; Sr), leaf (brown; Lr), and stripe (yellow; Yr) rust, caused by f. sp.

A new wild emmer wheat panel allows to map new loci associated with resistance to stem rust at seedling stage.

Wheat stem rust, caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt), is a major wheat disease worldwide.

Coping with Fungal Diseases in Crops: New Advances in Genomics, Breeding and Management.

This Special Issue comprises a collection of eight peer-reviewed articles centered around the plant-pathogen interaction with the aim of proposing strategies that enhance plant resistance to pathogens and limit the damage to crop production, utilizing a multidisciplinary approach [...

From Transgenesis to Genome Editing in Crop Improvement: Applications, Marketing, and Legal Issues.

The biotechnological approaches of transgenesis and the more recent eco-friendly new breeding techniques (NBTs), in particular, genome editing, offer useful strategies for genetic improvement of crops, and therefore, recently, they have been receiving increasingly more attention. The number of traits improved through transgenesis and genome editing technologies is growing, ranging from resistance to herbicides and insects to traits capable of coping with human population growth and climate change, such as nutritional quality or resistance to climatic stress and diseases. Research on both technologies has reached an advanced stage of development and, for many biotech crops, phenotypic evaluations in the open field are already underway.

Wild emmer wheat, the progenitor of modern bread wheat, exhibits great diversity in the gene.

Wild emmer wheat is an excellent reservoir of genetic variability that can be utilized to improve cultivated wheat to address the challenges of the expanding world population and climate change. Bearing this in mind, we have collected a panel of 263 wild emmer wheat (WEW) genotypes across the Fertile Crescent. The genotypes were grown in different locations and phenotyped for heading date.

QTL Mapping of Stem Rust Resistance in Populations of Durum Wheat.

Stem rinfectionust, caused by the fungus f. sp. (), is one of the most devastating fungal diseases of durum and common wheat worldwide.

Specialized metabolites: Physiological and biochemical role in stress resistance, strategies to improve their accumulation, and new applications in crop breeding and management.

Specialized plant metabolites (SPMs), traditionally referred to as 'secondary metabolites', are chemical compounds involved in a broad range of biological functions, including plant responses to abiotic and biotic stresses. Moreover, some of them have a role in end-product quality with potential health benefits in humans. For this reason, they became an important target of studies focusing on their mechanisms of action and use in crop breeding and management.

Genomic Approaches to Identify Molecular Bases of Crop Resistance to Diseases and to Develop Future Breeding Strategies.

Plant diseases are responsible for substantial crop losses each year and affect food security and agricultural sustainability. The improvement of crop resistance to pathogens through breeding represents an environmentally sound method for managing disease and minimizing these losses. The challenge is to breed varieties with a stable and broad-spectrum resistance.

Sustainable Use of Bioactive Compounds from and Wastes and by-Products for Crop Protection-A Review.

Defatted seed meals of oleaginous Brassicaceae, such as , and potato peel are excellent plant matrices to recover potentially useful biomolecules from industrial processes in a circular strategy perspective aiming at crop protection. These biomolecules, mainly glycoalkaloids and phenols for potato and glucosinolates for Brassicaceae, have been proven to be effective against microbes, fungi, nematodes, insects, and even parasitic plants. Their role in plant protection is overviewed, together with the molecular basis of their synthesis in plant, and the description of their mechanisms of action.

Genetic Mapping of Loci for Resistance to Stem Rust in a Tetraploid Wheat Collection.

Stem rust, caused by f. sp. (), is a major biotic constraint to wheat production worldwide.

Mapping QTL for Root and Shoot Morphological Traits in a Durum Wheat × Segregating Population at Seedling Stage.

A segregating population of 136 recombinant inbred lines derived from a cross between the durum wheat cv. "Simeto" and the accession "Molise Colli" was grown in soil and evaluated for a number of shoot and root morphological traits. A total of 17 quantitative trait loci (QTL) were identified for shoot dry weight, number of culms, and plant height and for root dry weight, volume, length, surface area, and number of forks and tips, on chromosomes 1B, 2A, 3A, 4B, 5B, 6A, 6B, and 7B.

The carotenoid biosynthetic and catabolic genes in wheat and their association with yellow pigments.

Background: In plants carotenoids play an important role in the photosynthetic process and photo-oxidative protection, and are the substrate for the synthesis of abscisic acid and strigolactones. In addition to their protective role as antioxidants and precursors of vitamin A, in wheat carotenoids are important as they influence the colour (whiteness vs. yellowness) of the grain.

Exploiting the Repetitive Fraction of the Wheat Genome for High-Throughput Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism Discovery and Genotyping.

Transposable elements (TEs) account for more than 80% of the wheat genome. Although they represent a major obstacle for genomic studies, TEs are also a source of polymorphism and consequently of molecular markers such as insertion site-based polymorphism (ISBP) markers. Insertion site-based polymorphisms have been found to be a great source of genome-specific single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) in the hexaploid wheat ( L.

Effects of Heat Stress on Metabolite Accumulation and Composition, and Nutritional Properties of Durum Wheat Grain.

Durum wheat (Triticum turgidum (L.) subsp. turgidum (L.

Physical Mapping of Bread Wheat Chromosome 5A: An Integrated Approach.

The huge size, redundancy, and highly repetitive nature of the bread wheat [Triticum aestivum (L.)] genome, makes it among the most difficult species to be sequenced. To overcome these limitations, a strategy based on the separation of individual chromosomes or chromosome arms and the subsequent production of physical maps was established within the frame of the International Wheat Genome Sequence Consortium (IWGSC).

A high-density, SNP-based consensus map of tetraploid wheat as a bridge to integrate durum and bread wheat genomics and breeding.

Consensus linkage maps are important tools in crop genomics. We have assembled a high-density tetraploid wheat consensus map by integrating 13 data sets from independent biparental populations involving durum wheat cultivars (Triticum turgidum ssp. durum), cultivated emmer (T.

Genetic analysis of root morphological traits in wheat.

Traits related to root architecture are of great importance for yield performance of crop species, although they remain poorly understood. The present study is aimed at identifying the genomic regions involved in the control of root morphological traits in durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.).

Genetic variation for the duration of pre-anthesis development in durum wheat and its interaction with vernalization treatment and photoperiod.

A recombinant inbred durum wheat population was grown under three contrasting regimes: long days following vernalization (LDV), long days without vernalization (LD), and short days following vernalization (SDV). The length of several pre-anthesis stages and the number of leaves and the phyllochron were measured. Different groups of genes were involved in determining the phenology in the three treatments, as demonstrated by a quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis.

Identification of a protein network interacting with TdRF1, a wheat RING ubiquitin ligase with a protective role against cellular dehydration.

Plants exploit ubiquitination to modulate the proteome with the final aim to ensure environmental adaptation and developmental plasticity. Ubiquitination targets are specifically driven to degradation through the action of E3 ubiquitin ligases. Genetic analyses have indicated wide functions of ubiquitination in plant life; nevertheless, despite the large number of predicted E3s, only a few of them have been characterized so far, and only a few ubiquitination targets are known.

Comparative proteome analysis of metabolic proteins from seeds of durum wheat (cv. Svevo) subjected to heat stress.

In Central and Southern Italy, where durum wheat represents one of the most widely cultivated crops, grain filling occurs during Spring, a period characterized by sudden increases in temperature. Wheat grain proteins are classified into albumins, globulins, and prolamins. The nonprolamin fractions include proteins with metabolic activity or structural function.

Low temperature promotes intron retention in two e-cor genes of durum wheat.

Following the screening of a suppression subtractive library developed from durum wheat plants exposed to low temperature for 6 h, two early cold-regulated (e-cor) genes have been isolated. These genes, coding putatively for a ribokinase (7H8) and a C3H2C3 RING-finger protein (6G2), were characterized by the stress-induced retention of a subset of introns in the mature mRNA. This feature was dependent on cold for 7H8 and on cold and dehydration for 6G2.