Nitrate and ammonium differ in their impact on δC of plant metabolites and respired CO from tobacco leaves.

The carbon isotopic composition (δC) of foliage is often used as proxy for plant performance. However, the effect of vs. supply on δC of leaf metabolites and respired CO is largely unknown.

Moving from qPCR to Chip Digital PCR Assays for Tracking of some Species Causing Head Blight in Cereals.

Head Blight (FHB) is one of the major diseases affecting small-grain cereals, worldwide spread and responsible for severe yield and quality losses annually. Diagnostic tools, able to track species even in the early stages of infection, can contribute to mycotoxins' risk control. Among DNA-based technologies for detection, qPCR (single and multiplex assays) is currently the most applied method.

Elevated CO Impact on Common Wheat ( L.) Yield, Wholemeal Quality, and Sanitary Risk.

The rising atmospheric CO concentration is expected to exert a strong impact on crop production, enhancing crop growth but threatening food security and safety. An improver wheat, a hybrid, and its parents were grown at elevated CO e[CO] in open field, and their yield and rheological, nutritional, and sanitary quality were assessed. For all cultivars, grain yield increased (+16%) and protein content decreased (-7%), accompanied by a reduction in dough strength.

Mobile Transposable Elements Shape Plant Genome Diversity.

The presence of various types of structural variants, including transposons, make up the major part of the genomic differences among plant species. Two recent papers, Domínguez et al. and Alonge et al.

The outer influences the inner: Postharvest UV-B irradiation modulates peach flesh metabolome although shielded by the skin.

UV-B-driven modulation of secondary metabolism in peach fruit by enhancing the biosynthesis of specific phenolic subclasses, is attracting interest among consumers. However, current literature explored the UV-B-induced metabolic changes only in peach skin subjected to direct UV-B irradiation. Accordingly, this study aimed to understand whether UV-B radiation penetrates the fruit skin and is able to induce metabolic changes also within the inner flesh.

Adaptive Traits to Improve Durum Wheat Yield in Drought and Crown Rot Environments.

Durum wheat ( L. ssp. ) production can experience significant yield losses due to crown rot (CR) disease.

Combining Molecular Weight Fractionation and Metabolomics to Elucidate the Bioactivity of Vegetal Protein Hydrolysates in Tomato Plants.

The comprehension of the bioactive fractions involved in the biostimulant activity of plant derived protein hydrolysates (PH) is a complex task, but it can also lead to significant improvements in the production of more effective plant biostimulants. The aim of this work is to shed light onto the bioactivity of different PH dialysis fractions (PH1 < 0.5-1 kDa; PH2 > 0.

Elevated CO2 has concurrent effects on leaf and grain metabolism but minimal effects on yield in wheat.

While the general effect of CO2 enrichment on photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, N content, and yield has been documented, there is still some uncertainty as to whether there are interactive effects between CO2 enrichment and other factors, such as temperature, geographical location, water availability, and cultivar. In addition, the metabolic coordination between leaves and grains, which is crucial for crop responsiveness to elevated CO2, has never been examined closely. Here, we address these two aspects by multi-level analyses of data from several free-air CO2 enrichment experiments conducted in five different countries.

A Chip Digital PCR Assay for Quantification of Common Wheat Contamination in Pasta Production Chain.

Pasta, the Italian product par excellence, is made of pure durum wheat. The use of derived semolina is in fact mandatory for Italian pasta, in which species is considered a contamination that must not exceed the 3% maximum level. Over the last 50 years, various electrophoretic, chemical, and immuno-chemical methods have been proposed aimed to track the possible presence of common wheat in semolina and pasta.

Transcriptomic and biochemical investigations support the role of rootstock-scion interaction in grapevine berry quality.

Background: In viticulture, rootstock genotype plays a critical role to improve scion physiology, berry quality and to adapt grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) to different environmental conditions. This study aimed at investigating the effect of two different rootstocks (1103 Paulsen - P - and Mgt 101-14 - M) in comparison with not grafted plants - NGC - on transcriptome (RNA-seq and small RNA-seq) and chemical composition of berry skin in Pinot noir, and exploring the influence of rootstock-scion interaction on grape quality.

A New Intra-Specific and High-Resolution Genetic Map of Eggplant Based on a RIL Population, and Location of QTLs Related to Plant Anthocyanin Pigmentation and Seed Vigour.

Eggplant is the second most important solanaceous berry-producing crop after tomato. Despite mapping studies based on bi-parental progenies and GWAS approaches having been performed, an eggplant intraspecific high-resolution map is still lacking. We developed a RIL population from the intraspecific cross '305E40', (androgenetic introgressed line carrying the locus conferring resistance) x '67/3' (breeding line whose genome sequence was recently released).

Conducting Field Trials for Frost Tolerance Breeding in Cereals.

Cereal species can be damaged by frost either during winter or at flowering stage. Frost tolerance per se is only a part of the mechanisms that allow plants to survive during winter, while winter-hardiness also considers other biotic or physical stresses that challenge the plants during the winter season, limiting their survival rate. While frost tolerance can also be tested in controlled environments, winter-hardiness can only be determined with field evaluations.

Crop reproductive meristems in the genomic era: a brief overview.

Modulation of traits beneficial for cultivation and yield is one of the main goals of crop improvement. One of the targets for enhancing productivity is changing the architecture of inflorescences since in many species it determines fruit and seed yield. Inflorescence shape and organization is genetically established during the early stages of reproductive development and depends on the number, arrangement, activities, and duration of meristems during the reproductive phase of the plant life cycle.

Ab initio GO-based mining for non-tandem-duplicated functional clusters in three model plant diploid genomes.

A functional Non-Tandem Duplicated Cluster (FNTDC) is a group of non-tandem-duplicated genes that are located closer than expected by mere chance and have a role in the same biological function. The identification of secondary-compounds-related FNTDC has gained increased interest in recent years, but little ab-initio attempts aiming to the identification of FNTDCs covering all biological functions, including primary metabolism compounds, have been carried out. We report an extensive FNTDC dataset accompanied by a detailed assessment on parameters used for genome scanning and their impact on FNTDC detection.

Molecular dynamics of pre-germinative metabolism in primed eggplant ( L.) seeds.

Seed priming, a pre-sowing technique that enhances the antioxidant/DNA repair activities during the pre-germinative metabolism, still retains empirical features. We explore for the first time the molecular dynamics of pre-germinative metabolism in primed eggplant ( L.) seeds in order to identify hallmarks (expression patterns of antioxidant/DNA repair genes combined with free radical profiles) useful to discriminate between high- and low-quality lots.

Metabolomic Responses of Maize Shoots and Roots Elicited by Combinatorial Seed Treatments With Microbial and Non-microbial Biostimulants.

Microbial and non-microbial plant biostimulants have been successfully used to improve agriculture productivity in a more sustainable manner. Since the mode of action of biostimulants is still largely unknown, the present work aimed at elucidating the morpho-physiological and metabolomic changes occurring in maize ( L.) leaves and roots following seed treatment with (i) a consortium of two beneficial fungi [arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and TK7] and rhizobacteria, (ii) a protein hydrolyzate-based biostimulant (PH) alone, or (iii) in combination with a consortium of TK7 and rhizobacteria.

Exploiting Natural Variation in Tomato to Define Pathway Structure and Metabolic Regulation of Fruit Polyphenolics in the Lycopersicum Complex.

While the structures of plant primary metabolic pathways are generally well defined and highly conserved across species, those defining specialized metabolism are less well characterized and more highly variable across species. In this study, we investigated polyphenolic metabolism in the lycopersicum complex by characterizing the underlying biosynthetic and decorative reactions that constitute the metabolic network of polyphenols across eight different species of tomato. For this purpose, GC-MS- and LC-MS-based metabolomics of different tissues of Solanum lycopersicum and wild tomato species were carried out, in concert with the evaluation of cross-hybridized microarray data for MapMan-based transcriptomic analysis, and publicly available RNA-sequencing data for annotation of biosynthetic genes.

Influence of plant genotype and soil on the wheat rhizosphere microbiome: evidences for a core microbiome across eight African and European soils.

Here, we assessed the relative influence of wheat genotype, agricultural practices (conventional vs organic) and soil type on the rhizosphere microbiome. We characterized the prokaryotic (archaea and bacteria) and eukaryotic (fungi and protists) communities in soils from four different countries (Cameroon, France, Italy, Senegal) and determined if a rhizosphere core microbiome existed across these different countries. The wheat genotype had a limited effect on the rhizosphere microbiome (2% of variance) as the majority of the microbial taxa were consistently associated to multiple wheat genotypes grown in the same soil.

Metabolic Insights into the Anion-Anion Antagonism in Sweet Basil: Effects of Different Nitrate/Chloride Ratios in the Nutrient Solution.

Sweet basil ( L.) is a highly versatile and globally popular culinary herb, and a rich source of aromatic and bioactive compounds. Particularly for leafy vegetables, nutrient management allows a more efficient and sustainable improvement of crop yield and quality.

A roadmap for gene functional characterisation in crops with large genomes: Lessons from polyploid wheat.

Understanding the function of genes within staple crops will accelerate crop improvement by allowing targeted breeding approaches. Despite their importance, a lack of genomic information and resources has hindered the functional characterisation of genes in major crops. The recent release of high-quality reference sequences for these crops underpins a suite of genetic and genomic resources that support basic research and breeding.

The evolution of metabolism: How to test evolutionary hypotheses at the genomic level.

The origin of primordial metabolism and its expansion to form the metabolic networks extant today represent excellent systems to study the impact of natural selection and the potential adaptive role of novel compounds. Here we present the current hypotheses made on the origin of life and ancestral metabolism and present the theories and mechanisms by which the large chemical diversity of plants might have emerged along evolution. In particular, we provide a survey of statistical methods that can be used to detect signatures of selection at the gene and population level, and discuss potential and limits of these methods for investigating patterns of molecular adaptation in plant metabolism.

DRT111/SFPS Splicing Factor Controls Abscisic Acid Sensitivity during Seed Development and Germination.

RNA splicing is a fundamental mechanism contributing to the definition of the cellular protein population in any given environmental condition. DNA-DAMAGE REPAIR/TOLERATION PROTEIN111 (DRT111)/SPLICING FACTOR FOR PHYTOCHROME SIGNALING is a splicing factor previously shown to interact with phytochrome B and characterized for its role in splicing of pre-mRNAs involved in photomorphogenesis. Here, we show that DRT111 interacts with Arabidopsis () Splicing Factor1, involved in 3' splicing site recognition.