Unlocking Spanish pear genetic diversity: strategies for construction of a national core collection.

Spanish pear germplasm collections are crucial for preservation, research, and breeding efforts. However, genetic diversity and structure is unknown at national level. A coordinated national project analyzed 1251 accessions from 7 Spanish pear collections using an internationally recognized set of 14 SSRs to enhance the utilization of these collections.

Antioxidant, Antidiabetic, and Anti-Obesity Properties of Apple Pulp Extracts (): A Comparative Study of 15 Local and Commercial Cultivars from Spain.

Apples ( Borkh.) have a great agricultural and economic impact worldwide; they also present an interesting nutritional value, and their consumption has been associated with beneficial health effects. In this study, 15 apple varieties (three commercial, 12 autochthonous genotypes) were collected from mountainous areas in Spain and were evaluated for their phenolic content, antioxidant, anti-obesity and antidiabetic activities.

Mapping Quantitative Trait Loci Associated With Graft (In)Compatibility in Apricot ( L.).

Graft incompatibility (GI) between the most popular rootstocks and apricot cultivars is one of the major problems for rootstock usage and improvement. Failure in producing long-leaving healthy grafts greatly affects the range of available rootstocks for apricot cultivation. Despite recent advances related to the molecular mechanisms of a graft-union formation between rootstock and scion, information on genetic control of this trait in woody plants is essentially missing because of a lack of hybrid crosses, segregating for the trait.

Inheritance of self- and graft-incompatibility traits in an F1 apricot progeny.

Floral self-incompatibility affecting yearly yield in a weather-dependent manner and graft incompatibility affecting longevity of mature trees are two important traits for apricot production. However, genetic control of graft compatibility and relationship between these traits are unknown. Here, we analyzed its inheritance in an F1 apricot progeny from a cross between self- and graft- incompatible and self- and graft-compatible cultivars.

Genetic diversity of Spanish Prunus domestica L. germplasm reveals a complex genetic structure underlying.

European plum (Prunus domestica L.) is an ancient domesticated species cultivated in temperate areas worldwide whose genetic structure has been scarcely analyzed to date. In this study, a broad representation of Spanish European plum germplasm collected in Northeastern Spain and a representative set of reference cultivars were compared using nuclear and chloroplast markers.

Oxidative stress associated with rootstock-scion interactions in pear/quince combinations during early stages of graft development.

Exposing a plant to stress situations, such as grafting, generally triggers antioxidant defense systems. In fruit tree grafting, quince (Cydonia oblonga) is widely used as a rootstock for pear (Pyrus communis L.), but several economically important pear cultivars are incompatible with available quince rootstocks.

Cell-to-cell transport through plasmodesmata in tree callus cultures.

One factor that contributes to a successful fruit tree grafting is the establishment of symplasmic contacts in the graft interface to facilitate the transfer of compounds between scion and stock. Using novel experimental and theoretical approaches we investigated whether the localized incompatibility, experienced in some Prunus grafts, could be related to insufficient plasmodesmal coupling at an early stage of development within one of the partners. Dye-coupling analysis using fluorescent tracers combined with confocal laser scanning microscopy were performed in cultured callus from either the plum rootstock (Prunus cerasifera Ehrh.

Differential induction of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase gene expression in response to in vitro callus unions of Prunus spp.

Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) is a key enzyme in the synthesis of phenolic compounds, which play a prominent role in graft union formation, including the marked effects of their accumulation in incompatibility response. The purpose of this study was to assess changes in the abundance of PAL mRNA during graft union development. Partial cDNA clones encoding the enzyme were isolated from in vitro callus tissue in the apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.

Early detection of graft incompatibility in apricot (Prunus armeniaca) using in vitro techniques.

Graft compatibility has been studied in vitro using callus tissues of apricot (Prunus armeniaca) and different Prunus rootstocks to form scion/rootstock combinations with different degrees of graft compatibility. In these species, incompatibility is manifested by a breakdown of the trees at the union area that can occur some years after grafting. Here, the possibility of obtaining an early detection method to determine graft incompatibility is explored by callus fusion in vitro.