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Unraveling the genetic architecture of blueberry fruit quality traits: major loci control organic acid content while more complex genetic mechanisms control texture and sugar content
Full text linkBackground: Fruit quality traits, including taste, flavor, texture, and shelf-life, have emerged as important breeding priorities in blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum). Organic acids and sugars play crucial roles in the perception of blueberry taste/flavor, where low and high consumer liking are correlated with high organic acids and high sugars, respectively. Blueberry texture and appearance are also critical for shelf-life quality and consumers' willingness-to-pay. As the genetic mechanisms that determine these fruit quality traits remain largely unknown, in this study, an F1 mapping population was used to perform quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping for pH, titratable acidity (TA), organic acids, total soluble solids (TSS), sugars, fruit size, and texture at harvest and/or post-storage and weight loss. Results: Twenty-eight QTLs were detected for acidity-related parameters (pH, TA, and organic acid content). Six QTLs for pH, TA, and citric acid, two for quinic acid, and two for shikimic acid with major effects were consistently detected across two years on the same genomic regions on chromosomes 3, 4, and 5, respectively. Putative candidate genes for these QTLs were also identified using comparative transcriptomic analysis. No QTL was detected for malic acid content, TSS, or individual sugar content. A total of 146 QTLs with minor effects were identified for texture- and size-related parameters. With a few exceptions, these QTLs were generally inconsistent over years and post-storage, indicating a highly quantitative nature. Conclusions: Our findings enhance the understanding of the genetic basis underlying fruit quality traits in blueberry and guide future work to exploit DNA-informed selection strategies in blueberry breeding programs. The major-effect QTLs identified for acidity-related fruit characteristics could be potential targets to develop DNA markers for marker-assisted selection (MAS). On the other hand, genomic selection may be a more suitable approach than MAS when targeting fruit texture, sugars, or siz
Current applications of benchtop FT-NMR in food science: from quality control to adulteration detection
Full text linkThe introduction of benchtop FT-NMR spectrometers in recent years represents a remarkable innovation in various fields, including the food sector. Modern benchtop FT-NMR spectrometers are low-field instruments, with a magnetic field ranging from 1 T to 2.35 T (1H resonance frequency from 43 MHz to 100 MHz), characterized by compact design, ease of use, and low maintenance costs. As in the case of high-field NMR instruments, benchtop NMR spectra (obtained by Fourier transformation) contain important information useful for compound identification and quantification. In this review, a description of the fundamental steps useful both to acquire benchtop NMR spectra and to treat the obtained data is reported together with a wide range of applications in the food field. In particular, peculiar aspects of commercial benchtop instruments as well as NMR data acquisition, processing and treatment are reviewed reporting also a practical pipeline and a list of good practices for benchtop NMR applications. Benchtop FT-NMR applications, mainly focused on food adulteration detection and quality control, are discussed here using targeted, metabolomic, and fingerprinting approaches. Finally, the industrial applicability of benchtop NMR methods in either static or continuous mode is reporte
Pantoea stewartii subsp. stewartii an inter-laboratory comparative study of molecular tests and comparative genome analysis of Italian strains
Full text linkPantoea stewartii subsp. stewartii (Pss) is a Gram-negative bacterium causing Stewart wilt, a severe disease in maize. Native to North America, it has spread globally through the maize seed trade. Resistant maize varieties and insecticides are crucial to mitigate the disease’s economic impact. Pss is a quarantine pest, requiring phytosanitary certification for the seed trade in European countries. Accurate diagnostic tests, including real-time PCR, are fundamental to detect Pss and distinguish it from other bacteria, like Pantoea stewartii subsp. indologenes (Psi), a non-quarantine bacteria associated with maize seeds. Population genetics is a valuable tool for studying adaptation, speciation, population structure, diversity, and evolution in plant bacterial pathogens. In this study, the key activities of interlaboratory comparisons are reported to assess diagnostic sensitivity (DSE), diagnostic specificity (DSP) and accuracy (ACC) for different real-time PCR able to detect Pss in seeds. The results of complete sequencing of Italian bacterial isolates are presented. This study enhances our understanding of molecular methods for diagnosing and identifying pathogens in maize seeds, improving knowledge of Pss genomes to prevent their spread and trace possible entry routes from endemic to non-endemic area
Investigating the overwintering strategy of Ganaspis kimorum, a biological control agent of Drosophila suzukii
Full text linkThe larval parasitoid Ganaspis kimorum Buffington (Hymenoptera: Figitidae) is a classical biological control agent of Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) (Diptera: Drosophilidae). This study investigated the overwintering strategy of G. kimorum under field conditions in Switzerland and Northern Italy. Field experiments conducted from 2021 to 2024 involved exposing G. kimorum to naturally variable temperatures in seven sites with different climates. Results indicate that diapause induction may be mediated by temperature, with exposures after late September successfully triggering diapause. Dissections revealed that diapause occurs in the early larval instar (L1) residing within early pupal stages of D. suzukii. In four out of seven sites, G. kimorum was able to survive winter conditions and emerged as adult. Survival rates varied significantly across sites (0.4–17.6 %). The analysis revealed significant negative associations between insect survival and the count of days with temperatures below 0°C and above 30°C. Analysing the variation of Degree Days needed until adult emergence confirmed that G. kimorum arrests its development as a first-instar larva and suggests a lower thermal threshold of 9°C, with 329 ± 6 post-diapause Degree Days needed to develop to the adult stage. The study provides valuable insights into the biology of the parasitoid that may be helpful for optimizing field releases and enhancing the effectiveness of G. kimorum as a biological control agent of D. suzuki
Alpine pasture herbs redirected hydrogen towards alternative sinks, inhibiting methane production: in vitro study
Full text linkThe impact of six alpine herbs (Alchemilla vulgaris L., Sanguisorba officinalis L., Tanacetum vulgare L., Cicerbita alpina (L.) Wallr., Galium odoratum (L.) Scop., and Sisymbrium officinale (L.) Scop.), was compared with grass hay on rumen degradability and fermentation parameters. The seven plants were fermented using an automatic in vitro system to evaluate the kinetics of gas production (GP), degraded dry matter (dDM) and fermentation end products [volatile fatty acids (VFA), carbon dioxide, methane, and hydrogen]. Gas and methane productions were also computed from VFA using specific stoichiometric relationships. The partitioning factor (PF: ratio between dDM and GP) was calculated as an index of microbial growth. Compared to grass hay, the alpine herbs exhibited lower degradability (on average −12.8%) due to their high lignified fibre content. The alpine herbs also increase the PF (+9.1%), suggesting a reduction in microbial growth efficiency, and altered the VFA profile by increasing the proportion of acetic acid (+9.9%) at the expense of propionic (−11.9%) and n-butyric acids (−19.4%). Stoichiometric relationships typically associate these variations with an increase in methane proportion. However, this was not observed; in fact, Sanguisorba officinalis L. (−15.0%) and Galium odoratum L. Scop. (-13.9%) reduced methane production. The discrepancy between the measured and expected methane production indicates that part of the hydrogen, not used for methane synthesis, was redirected to alternative sinks such as reductive acetogenesis. This change in the fermentation profile appears to be modulated by bioactive compounds present in the medicinal herbs, which are potentially found in grazing pasture
Annuario: 150 anni di eccellenza, tradizione e innovazione: un viaggio tra storia, formazione e futuro
No full textBridge fundamental studies and their application for breeding by design (BBD): use of visualization tools for QTLsearch and haplotype inference
Full text linkThe FEM grapevine crossbreeding program for resistance to the main ampelopathies: towards climate-resilient varieties.
Full text linkThe technique of crossing, whether free or controlled, has always been a source of variability allowing the selection of new varieties with improved fitness. Therefore, one promising strategy towards a sustainable viticulture is crossbreeding for resistance traits to biotic stresses under climate change conditions to reduce pesticide usage and improve resilience. With this awareness and vision, the Edmund Mach Foundation (FEM) began its grapevine genetic improvement program in the 1990s. Later, in 2010 with the exploration of the genetic pool of resistance loci to downy and powdery mildew, a group of accessions was selected as donors. Next, genotypes with stacked (“pyramided”) loci were generated through marker-assisted parental selection (MAPS) with up to seven loci combining resistance to both mildews. Then, upon protocol optimization a highly efficient marker-assisted seedling selection (MASS) was established, allowing since 2019 to overcome phenotypic screening and revealing inter- and intra-population effects. Upon multi-year agronomic surveys, grape quality composition and wine tastings, in 2018 four new varieties were registered for their novel organoleptic characteristics and tolerance to grey mould. In 2020 four (mid)-resistant varieties to mildews were patented and in 2025 other four are in the process. At the same time, the resistance to other “emergent” ampelopathies, as black rot, is being introgressed. Various collaborations are in place across the national territory for the exploitation of the superior parental lines. Lately, the genetic and phenotypic characterization of the FEM germplasm (ca. 3,000 accessions) has been completed, so that the scouting process within such biodiversity is continuously ongoing towards the development of varieties coupling disease resistance with climate resilienc
High-level phylogenetic relationships within Pezizomycotina revisited
Full text linkHere, we re-examine the high level phylogeny of Pezizomycotina with special attention to the recently proposed phylogenomic hypothesis (Díaz-Escandón et al. 2022) that “morphologically hyperdiverse” Candelariomycetes, Coniocybomycetes, Geoglossomycetes, Lichinomycetes, Sareomycetes and Xylonomycetes (henceforth referred to as classes sensu stricto (s.s.)) should be united in a class Lichinomycetes (henceforth referred to as Lichinomycetes sensu lato (s.l.)), based on their common origin. Our examination revealed that the orthology of the aligned character states in the data used to produce this result is questionable due to the presence of poorly-aligned, indel-rich vertical alignment partitions, missing data and heterogeneous sequences. Our analyses of a thoroughly curated phylogenomic dataset and its subset with reduced compositional heterogeneity indicated that the fungi included in the Lichinomycetes s.l. form six independent lineages, of which two correspond to Geoglossomycetes s.s. and Candelariomycetes s.s. and others do not correspond to the taxonomic delimitations of the previously defined classes. Based on the results obtained here, we propose to revise the class Lichinomycetes to include Lichinomycetes s.s., Coniocybomycetes s.s. plus some incertae sedis genera (Caeruleum, Thelocarpon, Piccolia, Sarcosagium and Vezdaea). In our analysis, Xylona (Xylonomycetes s.s.) plus Sarea (Sareomycetes s.s.) were found to form an early diverging lineage within the branch also subtending Arthoniomycetes plus Dothideomycetes, which warrants the conclusion to include these two genera in a single class, whereas Symbiotaphrina, initially assigned to Xylonomycetes s.s., was found to split off the tree backbone earlier and, thus, should be treated as a separate lineag
Volatile 2‐phenylethanol and β‐cyclocitral trigger defense‐related transcriptional and metabolic changes in grapevine leaves against downy mildew
Full text linkVolatile organic compounds (VOCs) are produced by grapevine leaves in response to phytopathogen infection. In particular, 2-phenylethanol and β-cyclocitral were triggered by Plasmopara viticola inoculation in downy mildew-resistant genotypes, but no information is available on their involvement in plant resistance induction. This study aimed to clarify transcriptional and metabolic changes associated with VOC-induced resistance activated by 2-phenylethanol and β-cyclocitral treatments against P. viticola. Both VOCs decreased downy mildew severity on grapevine leaf disks by complex reprogramming of the grapevine transcriptome at 1 and 6 days post inoculation. RNA-Seq analysis showed the modulation of transcripts related to defense (chitinases, defense-related proteins, and pathogenesis-related proteins), oxidative stress (glutathione S-transferases and peroxidases), secondary metabolism (nitrilases, stilbene synthases, and terpene synthases), signal transduction (e.g., kinases, receptor kinases, and calmodulins), and transcription (bHLH, ERF, MYB, NAC, and WRKY transcription factors) in leaf disks treated with 2-phenylethanol and β-cyclocitral. VOC treatments also caused changes in the leaf metabolome, and pathway analysis of metabolic features with significant changes in abundance in 2-phenylethanol- and β-cyclocitral-treated leaf disks revealed the reprogramming of amino acid, carbohydrate, flavonoid, phenylpropanoid, and terpenoid metabolism. In particular, compounds with increases in abundance belonged to putative carbohydrates, carboxylic acids, and phenylpropanoids in 2-phenylethanol-treated samples, or carboxylic acids and terpenoids in β-cyclocitral-treated samples, including molecules possibly associated with plant defense against pathogens, such as 3-dehydroquinic acid, 4-thujanol, aromadendrin, camphor, p-coumaryl alcohol, and perillaldehyde. Correlation analysis between transcriptomic and metabolomic data indicated that 2-phenylethanol and β-cyclocitral act as resistance inducers against downy mildew in grapevin