Genomic insights into the virulence repertoire and hemibiotrophic lifestyle of the grapevine black rot pathogen Phyllosticta ampelicida.

Phyllosticta ampelicida, the causal agent of grapevine black rot, is a globally emerging pathogen that infects all grapevine green tissues, with young shoots and berries being particularly susceptible. Severe infections can result in total crop loss. To investigate its virulence repertoire, we generated a high-quality genome assembly of strain GW18.

Rice Adaptation to Abiotic Stresses Caused by Soil Inorganic Elements.

Soil contamination with toxic inorganic elements poses a major challenge to rice cultivation, affecting plant physiology, yield, and grain safety. While natural variation in tolerance exists among rice genotypes and related species, recent advances in genomics, breeding, and biotechnology offer new opportunities to enhance adaptation. This review synthesizes the current knowledge on the physiological effects of toxic elements and explores strategies to improve tolerance, from harnessing genetic diversity to genome editing and transgenic approaches.

Venus flytraps' metabolome analysis discloses the metabolic fate of prey animal foodstock.

Carnivorous plants such as the Venus flytrap Dionaea muscipula survive in nutrient-poor habitats by attracting and consuming animals. Upon deflection of the touch-sensitive trigger hairs, the trap closes instantly. Panicking prey repeatedly collides with trigger hairs, which activate the endocrine system: mechano- and chemosensors translate the information on the prey's nature, size, and activity into jasmonate-dependent lytic enzyme secretion.

Climate change and the antinutrient-antioxidant puzzle in common bean seeds.

Non-proteinaceous and proteinaceous antinutrients in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) seeds can negatively affect human nutrition by reducing mineral bioavailability and impairing protein digestibility during digestion, respectively. However, many of these compounds also possess strong antioxidant properties that can help protect the plant from oxidative stress.

A new phenotyping method for root growth studies in compacted soil validated by GWAS in barley.

Background: Soil compaction is defined as the reduction of air-filled pore space affecting soil density, water conductivity and nutrient availability. These conditions negatively influence root morphology, root development and plant growth leading to yield loss. To date, the ability of roots to penetrate compacted soil has been investigated using high density agar or wax-petrolatum layers as a proxy for compaction.

Spatial transcriptomic and morpho-functional information derived from single mouse FFPE slides allows in-depth fingerprinting of lung fibrosis.

Background: Transcriptome profiling by RNA sequencing (RNAseq) can provide insightful information on the molecular processes underlying disease development and progression. Although fresh tissue represents the preferred source material for RNAseq, here, we investigated the feasibility of applying RNAseq analysis to single 10 μm thick formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) lung slides from the lungs of control and bleomycin (BLM)-treated mice. This approach aims at providing spatial-oriented transcriptomic data, that can be integrated with in vivo and ex vivo readouts obtained on the same sample, as a way to enhance the mechanistic information and biomarker/target discovery potential of preclinical models of fibrotic lung diseases.

New loci and candidate genes in spring two-rowed barley detected through meta-analysis of a field trial European network.

A dense genome-wide meta-analysis provides new QTLs, reveals breeding history trends and identifies new candidate genes for yield, plant height, grain weight, and heading time of spring barley. This study contributes new knowledge on quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and candidate genes for adaptive traits and yield in two-rowed spring barley. A meta-analysis of a network of field trials, varying in latitude and sowing date, with 151 cultivars across several European countries, increased QTL detection power compared to single-trial analyses.

A Step Sideways From the Green Revolution in the Light of the European Green Deal.

The need for increasing the environmental friendliness of food systems is driving regulatory initiatives aimed at reducing the use of pesticides and supporting organic farming. This scenario is casting a shadow over the suitability of modern cultivars that-shaped by the Green Revolution-have lost competitiveness against weeds. In this context, reducing the use of herbicides could rapidly become a critical threat to food security.

Population genomics and molecular epidemiology of wheat powdery mildew in Europe.

Agricultural diseases are a major threat to sustainable food production. Yet, for many pathogens we know exceptionally little about their epidemiological and population dynamics, and this knowledge gap is slowing the development of efficient control strategies. Here we study the population genomics and molecular epidemiology of wheat powdery mildew, a disease caused by the biotrophic fungus Blumeria graminis forma specialis tritici (Bgt).

Ancient diversity of subspecies as source of novel loci for bread wheat improvement.

Ancient subspecies of hexaploid wheat, not yet subjected to intensive selection, harbor potentially valuable alternative genetic variability for the genetic improvement of modern cultivated bread wheat. To investigate these hitherto unexplored resources, we established a panel, currently unique, consisting of 190 accessions of belonging to five different neglected subspecies, , , , , and , with few references. The panel was genotyped through the iSelect Illumina arrays (20K and 25K) and phenotyped for 25 traits related to phenology, morphology, yield, and physiology for 4 years under field conditions.

Molecular mechanisms driving the unusual pigmentation shift during eggplant fruit development.

Fruit pigmentation is a major signal that attracts frugivores to enable seed dispersal. In most fleshy fruit, green chlorophyll typically accumulates early in development and is replaced by a range of pigments during ripening. In species such as grape and strawberry, chlorophyll is replaced by red anthocyanins produced by the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway.

In a nutshell: pistachio genome and kernel development.

Pistachio is a sustainable nut crop with exceptional climate resilience and nutritional value. However, the molecular processes underlying pistachio nut development and nutritional traits are largely unknown, compounded by limited genomic and molecular resources. To advance pistachios as a future food source and a model system for hard-shelled fruits, we generated a chromosome-scale reference genome of the most widely grown pistachio cultivar (Pistacia vera 'Kerman') and a spatiotemporal study of nut development.

Expanded functional roles of R2R3-MYB (S6) transcription factors in balancing phenylpropanoid and phenolamide pathways in Solanaceae.

Events of duplication and neo/subfunctionalization have significantly expanded the functional roles of R2R3 myeloblastosis (MYB) transcription factors in plants. In a previous study, we demonstrated that two paralogous R2R3 MYBs from Solanum tuberosum and S. commersonii, AN1 and AN2, respectively, induce anthocyanin pigmentation to varying extents when transiently overexpressed.

Association analyses reveal both anthropic and environmental selective events during eggplant domestication.

Eggplant (Solanum melongena) is one of the four most important Solanaceous crops, widely cultivated and consumed in Asia, the Mediterranean basin, and Southeast Europe. We studied the genome-wide association of historical genebank phenotypic data on a genotyped worldwide collection of 3449 eggplant accessions. Overall, 334 significant associations for key agronomic traits were detected.

Boosting photosynthesis opens new opportunities for agriculture sustainability and circular economy: The BEST-CROP research and innovation action.

There is a need for ground-breaking technologies to boost crop yield, both grains and biomass, and their processing into economically competitive materials. Novel cereals with enhanced photosynthesis and assimilation of greenhouse gasses, such as carbon dioxide and ozone, and tailored straw suitable for industrial manufacturing, open a new perspective for the circular economy. Here we describe the vision, strategies, and objectives of BEST-CROP, a Horizon-Europe and United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) funded project that relies on an alliance of academic plant scientists teaming up with plant breeding companies and straw processing companies to use the major advances in photosynthetic knowledge to improve barley biomass and to exploit the variability of barley straw quality and composition.

A barley pan-transcriptome reveals layers of genotype-dependent transcriptional complexity.

A pan-transcriptome describes the transcriptional and post-transcriptional consequences of genome diversity from multiple individuals within a species. We developed a barley pan-transcriptome using 20 inbred genotypes representing domesticated barley diversity by generating and analyzing short- and long-read RNA-sequencing datasets from multiple tissues. To overcome single reference bias in transcript quantification, we constructed genotype-specific reference transcript datasets (RTDs) and integrated these into a linear pan-genome framework to create a pan-RTD, allowing transcript categorization as core, shell or cloud.

Priority actions for Fusarium head blight resistance in durum wheat: Insights from the wheat initiative.

Fusarium head blight (FHB), mainly caused by Fusarium graminearum and Fusarium culmorum, is a major wheat disease. Significant efforts have been made to improve resistance to FHB in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum), but more work is needed for durum wheat (Triticum turgidum spp. durum).

Simulation of Daily Iron Intake by Actual Diet Considering Future Trends in Wheat and Rice Biofortification, Environmental, and Dietary Factors: An Italian Case Study.

Background And Aim: Cereals' iron content is a major contributor to dietary iron intake in Europe and a potential for biofortification. A simulation of daily iron intake from wheat and rice over the next 20 years will be quantified.

Methods: Food items, and energy and iron intake by age classes are estimated using the Italian dietary survey (IV SCAI).

The Pulvinus Is the Weak Point for Stem Lodging Resistance in Ripe Barley.

Stem lodging is a serious problem for the ripe barley crop because it can reduce grain yield and quality. Although biometrical traits (stem diameter and wall thickness) and mechanical properties (stiffness and strength of the culm) have an obvious role in determining lodging resistance, they have only a partial capability to predict lodging resistance. We, therefore, investigated how factors like stem wetting and the point of application of the bending force affect the assessment of these traits.

A missense mutation in the barley Xan-h gene encoding the Mg-chelatase subunit I leads to a viable pale green line with reduced daily transpiration rate.

The barley mutant xan-h.chli-1 shows phenotypic features, such as reduced leaf chlorophyll content and daily transpiration rate, typical of wild barley accessions and landraces adapted to arid climatic conditions. The pale green trait, i.

QTL Analysis of β-Glucan Content and Other Grain Traits in a Recombinant Population of Spring Barley.

Barley with high grain β-glucan content is valuable for functional foods. The identification of loci for high β-glucan content is, thus, of great importance for barley breeding. Segregation mapping for the content in β-glucan and other barley grain components (starch, protein, lipid, ash, phosphorous, calcium, sodium) was performed using the progeny of the cross between Glacier AC38, a mutant with high amylose, and CDC Fibar, a high β-glucan waxy cultivar.

Legumes and common beans in sustainable diets: nutritional quality, environmental benefits, spread and use in food preparations.

In recent decades, scarcity of available resources, population growth and the widening in the consumption of processed foods and of animal origin have made the current food system unsustainable. High-income countries have shifted towards food consumption patterns which is causing an increasingly process of environmental degradation and depletion of natural resources, with the increased incidence of malnutrition due to excess (obesity and non-communicable disease) and due to chronic food deprivation. An urgent challenge is, therefore, to move towards more healthy and sustainable eating choices and reorientating food production and distribution to obtain a human and planetary health benefit.