Publications by authors named "Arne Mertens"

Unlabelled: Collection and storage of crop wild relative (CWR) germplasm is crucial for preserving species genetic diversity and crop improvement. Nevertheless, much of the genetic variation of CWRs is absent in ex situ collections and detailed passport data are often lacking. Here, we focussed on one of the two main progenitor species of many banana cultivars.

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Article Synopsis
  • Storing seed collections of crop wild relatives is crucial for food security, but banana and plantain wild relatives are under-represented in genebanks despite their importance.
  • Data from 13 institutions across 10 countries revealed 537 seed accessions, but these had low viability rates (25% mean) and highlighted challenges in seed storage, germination, and sourcing suitable materials.
  • A conservation assessment indicated that 51% of banana crop wild relatives are not represented in seed collections, prompting recommendations for improved collecting and management strategies to enhance conservation efforts.
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The ability of seeds to withstand drying is fundamental to seed conservation but drying responses are not well known for most wild species including crop wild relatives. We look at drying responses of seeds of and , the two primary wild relatives of bananas and plantains, using the following four experimental approaches: (i) We equilibrated seeds to a range of relative humidity (RH) levels using non-saturated lithium chloride solutions and subsequently measured moisture content (MC) and viability. At each humidity level we tested viability using embryo rescue (ER), tetrazolium chloride staining and germination in an incubator.

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Background: In pediatric hereditary cystic kidney diseases, epithelial cell defects mostly result from rare, autosomal recessively inherited pathogenic variants in genes encoding proteins of the cilia-centrosome complex. Consequences of individual gene variants on epithelial function are often difficult to predict and can furthermore depend on the patient's genetic background. Here, we studied urine-derived renal tubular epithelial cells (URECs) from genetically determined, pediatric cohorts of different hereditary cystic kidney diseases, comprising autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease, nephronophthisis (NPH) and the Bardet Biedl syndrome (BBS).

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is one of the most important fungal genera of plant pathogens that affect the cultivation of a wide range of crops. Agricultural losses caused by Fusariumoxysporumf.sp.

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Background: Conservation of plant genetic resources, including the wild relatives of crops, plays an important and well recognised role in addressing some of the key challenges faced by humanity and the planet including ending hunger and biodiversity loss. However, the genetic diversity and representativeness of ex situ collections, especially that contained in seed collections, is often unknown. This limits meaningful assessments against conservation targets, impairs targeting of future collecting and limits their use.

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Article Synopsis
  • Crop wild relatives (CWR) like Musa balbisiana are crucial for enhancing traits in cultivated crops, yet their genetic diversity has been under-researched.
  • The study evaluated the genetic variation among 17 populations of Musa balbisiana in Vietnam and six in China using SSR markers, finding significant genetic diversity, especially in central Vietnam and China.
  • Northern Vietnam populations displayed unique genetic characteristics compared to those from China, suggesting the need for conservation efforts focused on populations in central Vietnam and northern Vietnam's Hoang Lien Son mountain range.
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Background And Aims: Floral diversity as a result of plant-pollinator interactions can evolve by two distinct processes: shifts between pollination systems or divergent use of the same pollinator. Although both are pollinator driven, the mode, relative importance and interdependence of these different processes are rarely studied simultaneously. Here we apply a phylogenetic approach using the Balsaminaceae (including the species-rich genus Impatiens) to simultaneously quantify shifts in pollination syndromes (as inferred from the shape and colour of the perianth), as well as divergent use of the same pollinator (inferred from corolla symmetry).

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Phylogenies are a central and indispensable tool for evolutionary and ecological research. Even though most angiosperm families are well investigated from a phylogenetic point of view, there are far less possibilities to carry out large-scale meta-analyses at order level or higher. Here, we reconstructed a large-scale dated phylogeny including nearly 1/8th of all angiosperm species, based on two plastid barcoding genes, (incl.

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The genetic diversity and structure of plant populations are determined by the interaction of three distinct processes: gene flow, genetic drift and natural selection. These processes are to some extent dependent on the mating system of plants, which in turn is largely determined by floral morphology and the level of herkogamy in particular. In this study, we used molecular markers to investigate the impact of floral morphology on genetic differentiation and structure in two closely related species that display large variation in floral morphology across two distinct geographic regions in Europe (mainland Europe and the UK).

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