New insights into the anatomy of an endemic Hladnikia pastinacifolia Rchb.

We studied the anatomy of a rare narrow endemic species belonging to the Slovenian flora – Hladnikia pastinacifolia Rchb. Hladnikia is a monotypic genus with distinct taxonomic position within the Apiaceae family. The anatomical characteristics revealed by light and fluorescence microscopy provided new insights regarding the pollen, leaf and root characteristics of H. pastinacifolia, improving the understanding of its biology and ecology. Pollination, drought tolerance, life cycle and unattractiveness to herbivores explain the species’ persistence in time. Autofluorescence localized bioactive substances within secretory ducts and oil ducts

Germination behavior of the extremely rare Hladnikia pastinacifolia Rchb. (Apiaceae) – a Pleistocene in situ survivor

The present-day diversity of European flora in temperate mountain ranges was mainly formed by the negative effects of Pleistocene glaciation, which caused extinctions, restricted survival in situ, and subsequent re-colonization. Only rarely can we find species that have retained the molecular information of in situ survival. One such example is the extremely rare H. pastinacifolia Rchb., a monotypic genus and a narrow endemic of a mountain plateau south-east of the Julian Alps (Slovenia). We investigated the germination behavior and dispersal indications, which are often closely related to rarity and persistence and thus valuable for species conservation. Additionally, results about H. pastinacifolia help us to understand better what kind of species survived glaciations in Europe in situ. Our results show that these seeds have an underdeveloped embryo and require an ecologically relevant moist chilling period of about 100 days. The temperature sequence of the colder period that H. pastinacifolia seeds received in nature was 20/15 °C (52 days), 10/5 °C (40 days), 5/0 °C (65 days), 10/0 °C (45 days), 15/5 °C (21 days). The germination rate was high, significantly increased by scarification, and therefore revented long-term seed bank establishment. We found cryptic seed differences expressed by two types of dormancy, each related to the order of the umbel: simple and complex morphophysiological dormancy for the lateral and the main umbel, respectively. Seed dispersal was very much influenced by precipitation in autumn. The germination and dispersal characteristics could explain the rarity and at the same time the persistence of H. pastinacifolia

Drought Stress Response in Agricultural Plants: A Case Study of Common Bean (<em>Phaseolus vulgaris</em> L.)

Drought is one of the major threats to common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), affecting its growth and productivity and, thus, contributing to considerable losses in yield in many regions worldwide. The development of varieties tolerant of drought stress has, therefore, become one of the primary goals in many common bean breeding programs. Plants have developed various mechanisms of their adaptation, to a greater or lesser extent, to drought. These are expressed, on the molecular level, by changes of gene expression and of protein content, together with responses at physiological and morphological levels. The response of common bean to drought is still not sufficiently well characterized due to its genetic complexity and its diverse, often ambiguous, phenotypic effects. Understanding these mechanisms is thus of fundamental importance for developing varieties that are better adapted to such stress conditions. In this chapter, we present research that provides an insight into the morpho-physiological adaptation and its underlying molecular changes in common bean plants exposed to drought. We include our contribution to establishing the basis for breeding of common bean with greater tolerance to this abiotic stress that uses molecular markers and identification of quantitative trait loci (QTLs)

Evaluation of the Balkan Phaseolus coccineus L. genetic resources

In the last decade several thousand accessions were collected in different parts of Europe and are stored in national gene banks; at present the Phaseolus Database as part of the EURISCO Web catalogue contains aver 46000 records. Main objective of the study (ECPGR_SMARTLEG project) was proper phenotypic and genetic evaluation of European Phaseolus accessions with emphasis to Phaseolus coccineus germplasm providing new data to EURISCO and AEGIS. During the project, we provided three different types of datasets including morpho-agronomic traits of plants, morphometric seed characteristics and genetic profiles of P. coccineus accessions from eight European geographic origins; Slovenia, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Italy, Slovakia, Macedonia and Austria

Genetic diversity of the autochtonous Phaseolus bean germplasm originating from five South east European countries

Genetic differentiation of 167 Phaseolus vulgaris L. accessions originating from five South east European countries was performed using 13 SSR markers. Analysis included 21 accessions from Bosnia and Herzegovina, 15 accessions from Croatia, 73 accessions from Macedonia, 38 accessions from Serbia and 20 accessions from Slovenia. Calculated mean number of alleles per locus was 9.8. The average polymorphic information content over all loci reached value of 0.710 where the most informative locus was GATS91 (0.926). These results showed that selected set of SSR markers are highly informative and applicable for studies of genetic diversity within germplasm collected in the five South east European countries, which was also confirmed with the calculated value of probability of identity (1.831x10). High mean value of expected heterozygosity (0.731) and Shannon’s information index (1.486) reflects high genetic diversity within accessions from five countries, where accessions from Macedonia are genetically the most uniform, due to 17completely identical accessions included

Proteomic studies of drought stress response in Fabaceae

<p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: SL; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;" lang="EN-GB">Drought stress is a serious threat to crop production that influences plant growth and development and subsequently causes reduced quantity and quality of the yield. Plant stress induces changes in cell metabolism, which includes differential expression of proteins. Proteomics offer a powerful approach to analyse proteins involved in drought stress response of plants. Analyses of changes in protein abundance of legumes under drought stress are very important, as legumes play an important role in human and animal diet and are often exposed to drought. The presented results of proteomic studies of selected legumes enable better understanding of molecular mechanisms of drought stress response. The study of drought stress response of plants with proteomic approach may contribute to the development of potential drought-response markers and to the development of drought-tolerant cultivars of different legume crop species.</span></p

New insights into the anatomy of an endemic Hladnikia pastinacifolia Rchb.

We studied the anatomy of a rare narrow endemic species belonging to the Slovenian flora - Hladnikia pastinacifolia Rchb. Hladnikia is a monotypic genus with distinct taxonomic position within the Apiaceae family. The anatomical characteristics revealed by light and fluorescence microscopy provided new insights regarding the pollen, leaf and root characteristics of H. pastinacifolia, improving the understanding of its biology and ecology. Pollination, drought tolerance, life cycle and unattractiveness to herbivores explain the species\u27 persistence in time. Autofluorescence localized bioactive substances within secretory ducts and oil ducts