The advent of plant cells in bioreactors.

Ever since agriculture started, plants have been bred to obtain better yields, better fruits, or sustainable products under uncertain biotic and abiotic conditions. However, a new way to obtain products from plant cells emerged with the development of recombinant DNA technologies. This led to the possibility of producing exogenous molecules in plants.

How binomial (traditional rainfed olive grove-Crocus sativus) crops impact the soil bacterial community and enhance microbial capacities.

Intercropping can favour the yield of the main crop. However, because of the potential competition among woody crops, this system is rarely used by farmers. To increase knowledge about the intercropping system, we have explored three different combinations of alley cropping in rainfed olive groves compared to conventional management (CP): (i) Crocus sativus (D-S); (ii) Vicia sativa/Avena sativa in annual rotation (D-O); and (iii) Lavandula x intermedia (D-L).

Molecular mechanisms involved in fruit cracking: A review.

Several fleshy fruits are highly affected by cracking, a severe physiological disorder that compromises their quality and causes high economical losses to the producers. Cracking can occur due to physiological, genetic or environmental factors and may happen during fruit growth, development and ripening. Moreover, in fleshy fruits, exocarp plays an important role, acting as a mechanical protective barrier, defending against biotic or abiotic factors.

Flower transcriptional response to long term hot and cold environments in .

Short term experiments have identified heat shock and cold response elements in many biological systems. However, the effect of long-term low or high temperatures is not well documented. To address this gap, we grew plants from two-weeks old until maturity under control (normal) (22/16°C), cold (15/5°C), and hot (30/23°C) conditions for a period of two years.

A novel ground truth multispectral image dataset with weight, anthocyanins, and Brix index measures of grape berries tested for its utility in machine learning pipelines.

Background: The combination of computer vision devices such as multispectral cameras coupled with artificial intelligence has provided a major leap forward in image-based analysis of biological processes. Supervised artificial intelligence algorithms require large ground truth image datasets for model training, which allows to validate or refute research hypotheses and to carry out comparisons between models. However, public datasets of images are scarce and ground truth images are surprisingly few considering the numbers required for training algorithms.

Humans Share More Preferences for Floral Phenotypes With Pollinators Than With Pests.

Studies on the selection of floral traits usually consider pollinators and sometimes herbivores. However, humans also exert selection on floral traits of ornamental plants. We compared the preferences of bumblebees (), thrips (), and humans for flowers of snapdragon.

gcProfileMakeR: An R Package for Automatic Classification of Constitutive and Non-Constitutive Metabolites.

Metabolomes comprise constitutive and non-constitutive metabolites produced due to physiological, genetic or environmental effects. However, finding constitutive metabolites and non-constitutive metabolites in large datasets is technically challenging. We developed gcProfileMakeR, an R package using standard Excel output files from an Agilent Chemstation GC-MS for automatic data analysis using CAS numbers.

The Effect of Post-harvest Conditions in sp. Cut Flowers Scent Profile.

flowers are used as cut flowers and to obtain high quality essential oils for the perfume industry. As a winter crop in the Mediterranean area, it flowers at temperatures ranging between 10 and 15°C during the day and 3-10°C during the night. Here we tested the impact of different light and temperature conditions on scent quality during post-harvest.

Gigantea: Uncovering New Functions in Flower Development.

is a gene involved in multiple biological functions, which have been analysed and are partially conserved in a series of mono- and dicotyledonous plant species. The identified biological functions include control over the circadian rhythm, light signalling, cold tolerance, hormone signalling and photoperiodic flowering. The latter function is a central role of , as it involves a multitude of pathways, both dependent and independent of the gene , as well as on the basis of interaction with miRNA.

ATR-MIR spectroscopy as a tool to assist 'Tempranillo' clonal selection process: Geographical origin and year of harvest discrimination and oenological parameters prediction.

The present study evaluated the ability of Attenuated Total Reflectance - Mid-Infrared (ATR-MIR) spectroscopy combined with Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) to discriminate the origin and harvest year of 'Tempranillo' grape clones and with Partial Least Squares (PLS) regressions to predict its contents in soluble solids (SS), pH and titratable acidity (TA). Normalized spectra of grape homogenates and normalized plus 1st Derivative spectra of grape skins allowed an overall percentage of correct classifications of 99.6% and 96.

The clock gene Gigantea 1 from Petunia hybrida coordinates vegetative growth and inflorescence architecture.

The gene GIGANTEA (GI) appeared early in land plants. It is a single copy gene in most plants and is found in two to three copies in Solanaceae. We analyzed the silencing of one GI copy, Petunia hybrida GI1 (PhGI1), by hairpin RNAs in Petunia in order to gain knowledge about its range of functions.

Transcriptional Structure of Petunia Clock in Leaves and Petals.

The plant circadian clock coordinates environmental signals with internal processes including secondary metabolism, growth, flowering, and volatile emission. Plant tissues are specialized in different functions, and petals conceal the sexual organs while attracting pollinators. Here we analyzed the transcriptional structure of the petunia () circadian clock in leaves and petals.

The Snapdragon LATE ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL Plays A Dual Role in Activating Floral Growth and Scent Emission.

The plant circadian clock controls a large number of internal processes, including growth and metabolism. Scent emission displays a circadian pattern in many species such as the snapdragon. Here we show that knocking down in affects growth and scent emission.

Evaluating stress responses in cowpea under drought stress.

Drought impact on plants is an increasing concern under the climate change scenario. Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.

The Petunia CHANEL Gene is a ZEITLUPE Ortholog Coordinating Growth and Scent Profiles.

The floral perianth, comprising sepals and petals, conceals the sexual organs and attracts pollinators. The coordination of growth and scent emission is not fully understood. We have analyzed the effect of knocking down (), the ortholog in petunia () by hairpin RNAs.

A comparison of semi-quantitative methods suitable for establishing volatile profiles.

Background: Full scent profiles emitted by living tissues can be screened by using total ion chromatograms generated in full scan mode and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry technique using Headspace Sorptive Extraction. This allows the identification of specific compounds and their absolute quantification or relative abundance. Quantifications ideally should be based on calibration curves using standards for each compound.

Diel pattern of circadian clock and storage protein gene expression in leaves and during seed filling in cowpea (Vigna unguiculata).

Background: Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is an important source of protein supply for animal and human nutrition. The major storage globulins VICILIN and LEGUMIN (LEG) are synthesized from several genes including LEGA, LEGB, LEGJ and CVC (CONVICILIN). The current hypothesis is that the plant circadian core clock genes are conserved in a wide array of species and that primary metabolism is to a large extent controlled by the plant circadian clock.

Genetic diversity and structure of Iberian Peninsula cowpeas compared to world-wide cowpea accessions using high density SNP markers.

Background: Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp) is an important legume crop due to its high protein content, adaptation to heat and drought and capacity to fix nitrogen. Europe has a deficit of cowpea production.

Plant phenomics: an overview of image acquisition technologies and image data analysis algorithms.

The study of phenomes or phenomics has been a central part of biology. The field of automatic phenotype acquisition technologies based on images has seen an important advance in the last years. As with other high-throughput technologies, it addresses a common set of problems, including data acquisition and analysis.

Genetic Analysis of Natural Variation in Scent Profiles Identifies BENZOIC ACID CARBOXYMETHYL TRANSFERASE As the Major Controlling Methyl Benzoate Synthesis.

The genus has a considerable complexity in the scent profiles produced by different species. We have analyzed the genetic differences between and , two species divergent in the emission of methyl benzoate, methyl cinnamate, acetophenone, and ocimene. The genetic analysis showed that all compounds segregated in a Mendelian fashion attributable to one or two with simple or epistatic interactions.

Phenotypic Space and Variation of Floral Scent Profiles during Late Flower Development in .

The genus comprises about 28 species with a center of origin in the Iberian Peninsula. They show an important diversity of growing niches. We have performed a comprehensive analysis of scent profiles in eight wild species, , and .