A TaqMan Assay Allows an Accurate Detection and Quantification of spp., the Causal Agents of Tomato Wilt and Rot Diseases.

In tomato plants, spp. have been increasingly associated with several wilt and rot diseases that are responsible for severe yield losses. Here, we present a real-time PCR TaqMan MGB (Minor Groove Binder) assay to detect and discriminate spp.

Advances in Plant-Pathogen Interaction: New Challenges for Sustainable Disease Management.

Plant pathogens cause huge losses and have been an important constraint to a worldwide increase in crop production and productivity [...

TaqMan Probes for Plant Species Identification and Quantification in Food and Feed Traceability.

In the last few years, the traceability and labeling of processed food and feeds have gained increasing importance due to the impact that mislabeling and product fraud may have on human/animal health or on the quality of final products, such as milk, cheese, and meat, as a consequence of animal dietary. The presence of contaminants or possible frauds due to the use of alternative plant materials in food and feeds can greatly impact the economy; therefore, they are becoming important targets for product certification by competent institutional services. This is especially relevant when complex matrixes are considered, in which the visual identification of the different components is quite difficult or even impossible.

Defense Strategies: The Role of Transcription Factors in Tomato-Pathogen Interaction.

Tomato, one of the most cultivated and economically important vegetable crops throughout the world, is affected by a panoply of different pathogens that reduce yield and affect product quality. The study of tomato-pathogen system arises as an ideal system for better understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying disease resistance, offering an opportunity of improving yield and quality of the products. Among several genes already identified in tomato response to pathogens, we highlight those encoding the transcription factors (TFs).

Carrot Transcript Profile Responds to Growth and Chilling Exposure.

Alternative oxidase (AOX) is a key enzyme of the alternative respiration, known to be involved in plant development and in response to various stresses. To verify the role of and genes in carrot tap root growth and in response to cold stress, their expression was analyzed in two experiments: during root growth for 13 weeks and in response to a cold challenge trial of 7 days, in both cases using different carrot cultivars. Carrot root growth is initially characterized by an increase in length, followed by a strong increase in weight.

An Overview of the Application of Viruses to Biotechnology.

Viruses may cause devastating diseases in several organisms; however, they are simple systems that can be manipulated to be beneficial and useful for many purposes in different areas. In medicine, viruses have been used for a long time in vaccines and are now being used as vectors to carry materials for the treatment of diseases, such as cancer, being able to target specific cells. In agriculture, viruses are being studied to introduce desirable characteristics in plants or render resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses.

A Bipartite Geminivirus with a Highly Divergent Genomic Organization Identified in Olive Trees May Represent a Novel Evolutionary Direction in the Family .

Olea europaea Geminivirus (OEGV) was recently identified in olive in Italy through HTS. In this work, we used HTS to show the presence of an OEGV isolate in Portuguese olive trees and suggest the evolution direction of OEGV. The bipartite genome (DNA-A and DNA-B) of the OEGV-PT is similar to Old World begomoviruses in length, but it lacks a pre-coat protein (AV2), which is a typical feature of New World begomoviruses (NW).

High throughput sequencing unravels tomato-pathogen interactions towards a sustainable plant breeding.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is one of the most economically important vegetables throughout the world. It is one of the best studied cultivated dicotyledonous plants, often used as a model system for plant research into classical genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, and molecular biology. Tomato plants are affected by different pathogens such as viruses, viroids, fungi, oomycetes, bacteria, and nematodes, that reduce yield and affect product quality.

Plant-Pathogen Interaction.

Plant diseases result in severe losses to natural plant systems, and also cause problems for economics and production in agricultural systems [...

Plant Viruses: From Targets to Tools for CRISPR.

Plant viruses cause devastating diseases in many agriculture systems, being a serious threat for the provision of adequate nourishment to a continuous growing population. At the present, there are no chemical products that directly target the viruses, and their control rely mainly on preventive sanitary measures to reduce viral infections that, although important, have proved to be far from enough. The current most effective and sustainable solution is the use of virus-resistant varieties, but which require too much work and time to obtain.

Endophytic Fungi as Potential Biological Control Agents against Grapevine Trunk Diseases in Alentejo Region.

Grapevine trunk diseases (GTDs) are the most widespread fungal diseases, affecting grapevines in all the major growing regions of the world, and their complete eradication is still not possible. Aiming to search alternatives to avoid the spread and high incidence of these diseases, the present work intended to molecularly identify the grapevine endophytic community, the phytopathogenic fungi associated with GTDs in vineyards within the Alentejo region, and to test potential antagonist microorganisms as biological control candidates against GTDs-associated fungi. Grapevine endophytic community showed a wide variety of fungi in GTDs' asymptomatic and symptomatic plants, nine of them previously described as GTDs-associated fungi.

Effect of Tillage System and Cover Crop on Maize Mycorrhization and Presence of .

The sustainability of agriculture requires the adoption of agricultural soil conservation practices with positive impacts on soil quality, which can promote beneficial soil microbiota like arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and its diversity. This study aims to assess the influence of the presence of intact extraradical mycelium as a preferential source of inoculum of the native AMF in order to guarantee a better colonization as well as its possible bioprotective effect against . In order to vary the available extraradical mycelium, two experiments, with and without cover crop, were carried out, in which two tillage systems and two maize varieties were studied.

Effect of Long-Term Fungicide Applications on Virulence and Diversity of spp. Associated to Olive Anthracnose.

In this study, the presence and variability of spp. was evaluated by comparing fungal isolates obtained from olive trees under long-time phytosanitary treatments with trees without any phytosanitary treatments (treated and untreated, respectively). Olive fruits of trees of the highly susceptible 'Galega vulgar' cultivar growing in the Alentejo region were used as samples.

Fungal Communities Associated with Peacock and Cercospora Leaf Spots in Olive.

and are two of the most important olive fungal pathogens causing leaf spots: peacock spot, and cercosporiosis, respectively. In the present study, fungal communities associated with the presence of these pathogens were investigated. Overall, 300 symptomatic and asymptomatic trees from different cultivars were sampled from Alentejo, Portugal.

Establishment of a Sensitive qPCR Methodology for Detection of the Olive-Infecting Viruses in Portuguese and Tunisian Orchards.

Sensitive detection of viruses in olive orchards is actually of main importance since these pathogenic agents cannot be treated, their dissemination is quite easy, and they can have eventual negative effects on olive oil quality. The work presented here describes the development and application of a new SYBR Green-based real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) analysis for specific and reliable quantification of highly spread olive tree viruses: (OLV-1) (TNV-D), (OMMV), and (OLYaV). qPCR methodology revealed high specificity and sensitivity, estimated in the range of 0.

Olive Mild Mosaic Virus Coat Protein and P6 Are Suppressors of RNA Silencing, and Their Silencing Confers Resistance against OMMV.

RNA silencing is an important defense mechanism in plants, yet several plant viruses encode proteins that suppress this mechanism. In this study, the genome of the (OMMV) was screened for silencing suppressors. The full OMMV cDNA and 5 OMMV open reading frames (ORFs) were cloned into the Gateway binary vector pK7WG2, transformed into , and agroinfiltrated into 16C plants.

A TaqMan real-time PCR method based on alternative oxidase genes for detection of plant species in animal feed samples.

Traceability of processed food and feed products has been gaining importance due to the impact that those products can have on human/animal health and to the associated economic and legal concerns, often related to adulterations and frauds as it can be the case for meat and milk. Despite mandatory traceability requirements for the analysis of feed composition, few reliable and accurate methods are presently available to enforce the legislative frame and allow the authentication of animal feeds. In this study, nine sensitive and species-specific real-time PCR TaqMan MGB assays are described for plant species detection in animal feed samples.

Interlaboratory Comparison of Methods Determining the Botanical Composition of Animal Feed.

A consortium of European enterprises and research institutions has been engaged in the Feed-Code Project with the aim of addressing the requirements stated in European Union Regulation No. 767/2009, concerning market placement and use of feed of known and ascertained botanical composition. Accordingly, an interlaboratory trial was set up to compare the performance of different assays based either on optical microscope or DNA analysis for the qualitative and quantitative identification of the composition of compound animal feeds.

Carrot alternative oxidase gene AOX2a demonstrates allelic and genotypic polymorphisms in intron 3.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and insertion-deletions (InDels) are becoming important genetic markers for major crop species. In this study, we focus on variations at genomic level of the Daucus carota L. AOX2a gene.

The gymnosperm Pinus pinea contains both AOX gene subfamilies, AOX1 and AOX2.

The gymnosperm Pinus pinea L. (stone pine) is a typical Mediterranean pine used for nuts and timber production, and as an ornamental around the world. Pine genomes are large in comparison to other species.

Differential expression and co-regulation of carrot AOX genes (Daucus carota).

Alternative oxidase (AOX) is a mitochondrial protein encoded by the nuclear genome. In higher plants AOX genes form a small multigene family mostly consisting of the two subfamilies AOX1 and AOX2. Daucus carota L.