Parthenocarpy, a pollination-independent fruit set mechanism to ensure yield stability.

Fruit development is essential for flowering plants' reproduction and a significant food source. Climate change threatens fruit yields due to its impact on pollination and fertilization processes, especially vulnerable to extreme temperatures, insufficient light, and pollinator decline. Parthenocarpy, the development of fruit without fertilization, offers a solution, ensuring yield stability in adverse conditions and enhancing fruit quality.

A Flashforward Look into Solutions for Fruit and Vegetable Production.

One of the most important challenges facing current and future generations is how climate change and continuous population growth adversely affect food security. To address this, the food system needs a complete transformation where more is produced in non-optimal and space-limited areas while reducing negative environmental impacts. Fruits and vegetables, essential for human health, are high-value-added crops, which are grown in both greenhouses and open field environments.

VviPLATZ1 is a major factor that controls female flower morphology determination in grapevine.

Plant genetic sex determinants that mediate the transition to dioecy are predicted to be diverse, as this type of mating system independently evolved multiple times in angiosperms. Wild Vitis species are dioecious with individuals producing morphologically distinct female or male flowers; whereas, modern domesticated Vitis vinifera cultivars form hermaphrodite flowers capable of self-pollination. Here, we identify the VviPLATZ1 transcription factor as a key candidate female flower morphology factor that localizes to the Vitis SEX-DETERMINING REGION.

[Building a care relationship in the home of drug-addicted parents].

Professionals' visits to the home of drug-addicted parents are a way of constructing a flexible and original framework.Whether the objective is simply to create the opportunity for the parties to meet with each other or to carry out intensive and complex treatment, it involves establishing the conditions for a trust relationship between the parents, children and partners.

Mis-expression of a PISTILLATA-like MADS box gene prevents fruit development in grapevine.

The FLESHLESS BERRY (Flb) somatic variant identified in the grapevine cultivar Ugni Blanc develops grape berries without flesh, suggesting a role for the altered gene in differentiation of flesh cells. Here we describe identification of the molecular defect responsible for this phenotype. Using a combination of genetic and transcriptomic approaches, we detected the insertion of a miniature inverted-repeat transposable element in the promoter region of the PISTILLATA-like (VvPI) gene, the grapevine homologue of Arabidopsis PISTILLATA.

Patterns of sequence polymorphism in the fleshless berry locus in cultivated and wild Vitis vinifera accessions.

Background: Unlike in tomato, little is known about the genetic and molecular control of fleshy fruit development of perennial fruit trees like grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.). Here we present the study of the sequence polymorphism in a 1 Mb grapevine genome region at the top of chromosome 18 carrying the fleshless berry mutation (flb) in order, first to identify SNP markers closely linked to the gene and second to search for possible signatures of domestication.

The grape microvine - a model system for rapid forward and reverse genetics of grapevines.

A grapevine model system is described that is suitable for rapid forward and reverse genetic studies in small controlled environments. It is based on the Vvgai1 mutant allele that confers a dwarf stature, short generation cycles and continuous flowering ('microvine'). Black and white berry microvine genotypes were developed that can be transformed by Agrobacterium tumefaciens.

Metabolic characterization of loci affecting sensory attributes in tomato allows an assessment of the influence of the levels of primary metabolites and volatile organic contents.

Numerous studies have revealed the extent of genetic and phenotypic variation between both species and cultivars of tomato. Using a series of tomato lines resulting from crosses between a cherry tomato and three independent large fruit cultivar (Levovil, VilB, and VilD), extensive profiling of both central primary metabolism and volatile organic components of the fruit was performed. In this study, it was possible to define a number of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) which determined the levels of primary metabolites and/or volatile organic components and to evaluate their co-location with previously defined organoleptic QTLs.

A molecular genetic perspective of reproductive development in grapevine.

The grapevine reproductive cycle has a number of unique features. Inflorescences develop from lateral meristems (anlagen) in latent buds during spring and summer and enter a dormant state at a very immature stage before completing development and producing flowers and berries the following spring. Lateral meristems are unique structures derived from the shoot apical meristem and can either develop into an inflorescence or a tendril.

Both additivity and epistasis control the genetic variation for fruit quality traits in tomato.

The effect of a gene involved in the variation of a quantitative trait may change due to epistatic interactions with the overall genetic background or with other genes through digenic interactions. The classical populations used to map quantitative trait loci (QTL) are poorly efficient to detect epistasis. To assess the importance of epistasis in the genetic control of fruit quality traits, we compared 13 tomato lines having the same genetic background except for one to five chromosome fragments introgressed from a distant line.

Physiological relationships among physical, sensory, and morphological attributes of texture in tomato fruits.

Tomato texture is one of the critical components for the consumer's perception of fruit quality. Texture is a complex character composed of several attributes that are difficult to evaluate and which change during fruit ripening. This study investigated the texture of tomato fruits at the rheological, sensory, morphological, and genetic levels, and attempted to correlate several parameters.

Phenol extraction of proteins for proteomic studies of recalcitrant plant tissues.

Phenol extraction of proteins is an alternative method to classical TCA-acetone extraction. It allows efficient protein recovery and removes nonprotein components in the case of plant tissues rich in polysaccharides, lipids, and phenolic compounds. We present here a tried and tested protocol adapted for two dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) and further proteomic studies.