Screening of Georgian grapevine germplasm for susceptibility to downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola)

Downy mildew, caused by the obligate biotrophic parasite Plasmopara viticola, is one of the most serious grapevine diseases with worldwide distribution. Resistant grapevines can be used to reduce damages caused by the pathogen, recently different levels of susceptibility to P. viticola were detected in some Georgian autochthonous varieties.  The aim of the present work was to classify additional Georgian autochthonous varieties into different groups according to their susceptibility to the downy mildew agent in the framework of COST Action FA1003 "East-West Collaboration for Grapevine Diversity Exploration and Mobilization of Adaptive Traits for Breeding". The leaf disk assay defined by the OIV 452-1 protocol was used for screening 61 native varieties of Georgia. Screened varieties showed different degree of resistance: very high – 7 accessions, high - 13, medium - 15, low – 23, and very low - 3 accessions. The results suggest that further resistant genotypes are likely to be found within more than 500 Georgian grapevine cultivars

Sanitary status of the Eurasian wild grapevine in the South Caucasian region

A prospecting on the sanitary status of the aerial organs and roots of the Eurasian wild grapevine, Vitis vinifera L. ssp. sylvestris (Gmelin) Hegi, was carried out on 14 natural populations situated along river bank forests, floodplains and colluvial positions in Georgia (Marneuli, Mtskheta and Gori districts, Gardabani Protected area and Lagodekhi Reserve), Armenia (Akhtala and Tavoush regions) and Azerbaijan (Quba region). These zones are included within the Holarctic kingdom, Eurosiberian region, and to the Caucasian, Euxine and Hyrcanian biogeographical provinces. The results of study indicate that roots are free of symptoms caused by phylloxera, rot fungi and root-knot nematodes. Symptoms caused by the erineum strain of Colomerus vitis (Pagenstecher) and Calepitrimerus vitis (Nalepa) (Acari, Eriophyidae) are frequent. On the other hand, damages caused by powdery and downy mildews, Erysiphe necator (Schweinitz) Burrill and Plasmopara viticola (Berkeley and Curtis) Berlease and de Toni), respectively, show an irregular intensity on leaves belonging to different vines from each location

Contrasting Roles of Islet Resident Immunoregulatory Macrophages and Dendritic Cells in Experimental Autoimmune Type 1 Diabetes

The innate immune system critically shapes diabetogenic adaptive immunity during type 1 diabetes (T1D) pathogenesis. While the role of tissue-infiltrating monocyte-derived macrophages in T1D is well established, the role of their tissue-resident counterparts remains undefined. We now demonstrate that islet resident macrophages (IRMs) from non-autoimmune mice have an immunoregulatory phenotype and powerfully induce FoxP3+ Tregs in vitro. The immunoregulatory phenotype and function of IRMs is compromised by TLR4 activation in vitro. Moreover, as T1D approaches in NOD mice, the immunoregulatory phenotype of IRMs is diminished as is their relative abundance compared to immunostimulatory DCs. Our findings suggest that maintenance of IRM abundance and their immunoregulatory phenotype may constitute a novel therapeutic strategy to prevent and/or cure T1D

Description of the Vitis vinifera L. phenotypic variability in eno-carpological traits by a Euro-Asiatic collaborative network among ampelographic collections

The grapevine intra-specific variability captured an increasing interest during the last decades, as demonstrated by the number of recently funded European projects focused on the grapevine biodiversity preservation. However, nowadays, crop plants are mainly characterized by genotyping methods. The present work summarizes the phenotype data collected among 20 ampelographic collections spread in 15 countries, covering mostly of the viticultural areas in the Euro-Asiatic range: from Portugal to Armenia and from Cyprus to Luxembourg. Together with agro-climatic characterization of the experimental site, in two years, about 2400 accessions were described, following a common experimental protocol mainly focused on the carpological and oenological traits, obtaining a general overview of the distribution of the considered phenotypic traits in the cultivated Vitis vinifera species. The most replicated cultivars were selected and, for the subset of these reference cultivars, their behavior in the different environmental conditions over sites and years was described by ANOVA methods

Description of the vitis vinifera L. Phenotypic variability in eno-carpological traits by a Euro-Asiatic collaborative network among ampelographic collections

The grapevine intra-specific variability captured an increasing interest during the last decades, as demonstrated by the number of recently funded European projects focused on the grapevine biodiversity preservation. However, nowadays, crop plants are mainly characterized by genotyping methods. The present work summarizes the phenotype data collected among 20 ampelographic collections spread over 15 countries, covering most of the viticultural areas in the Euro-Asiatic region: from Portugal to Armenia and from Cyprus to Luxembourg. Together with agro-climatic characterization of the experimental site, over two years about 2,400 accessions were described. A common experimental protocol mainly focused on the carpological and oe-nological traits was followed, obtaining a general overview of the distribution of the considered phenotypic traits in the cultivated Vitis vinifera species. The most replicated cultivars were selected and, for the subset of these reference cultivars, their behavior in the different environmental conditions over sites and years was described by ANOVA methods

Screening of Georgian grapevine germplasm for susceptibility to downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola)

Downy mildew, caused by the obligate biotrophic parasite Plasmopara viticola, is one of the most serious grapevine diseases with worldwide distribution. Resistant grapevines can be used to reduce damages caused by the pathogen, recently different levels of susceptibility to P. viticola were detected in some Georgian autochthonous varieties. The aim of the present work was to classify additional Georgian autochthonous varieties into different groups according to their susceptibility to the downy mildew agent in the framework of COST Action FA1003 "East-West Collaboration for Grapevine Diversity Exploration and Mobilization of Adaptive Traits for Breeding". The leaf disk assay defined by the OIV 452-1 protocol was used for screening 61 native varieties of Georgia. Screened varieties showed different degree of resistance: very high \u2013 7 accessions, high - 13, medium - 15, low \u2013 23, and very low - 3 accessions. The results suggest that further resistant genotypes are likely to be found within more than 500 Georgian grapevine cultivars

Screening of the Georgian grape germplasm to susceptibility of downy mildew: preliminary results

Downy mildew of grapevine, caused by a fungal pathogen Plasmopara viticola (B. et C.) Berl. et de T., is one of the most widespread and destructive vineyard diseases all over the world. The degree of resistance or, on the contrary, susceptibility to P. viticola is usually very low in the different cultivars of Vitis vinifera. This research aimed at evaluating the degree of resistance to downy mildew causal agent in Georgian autochthonous grapevine cultivars in the framework of COST Action FA1003 ("East-West Collaboration for Grapevine Diversity Exploration and Mobilization of Adaptive Traits for Breeding"). The laboratory leaf disk technique according to OIV 452-1 descriptor was used for screening 50 different native cultivars of Georgia (the Caucasus). Screened cultivars demonstrated different degree of resistance: very high resistance revealed 4 accessions, high - 13, medium - 12, little - 16 and very little - 5 accessions. These results give optimistic information to repeat the test in the next vegetative year for these selective accessions and continue the screening of new cultivars for searching resistant genotypes within the Georgian germplasm

Efficacy cardiotonic medicines on the bioenergetic processes and endothelial dysfunction under coupled of heart failure and systemic inflammatory syndroms in

The efficacy of cardiotonic drugs on the energy supply system and bioenergetic processes in failing myocardium under severe form heart failure (HF) coupled with systemic inflammatory response syndrom, has been studied in the randomized, controlled trial. It has been shown, that treatment with cardioprotector (NAD- and cardiac glycoside-containing) drug Adenocin® unlike inhibitors of phosphodiesterase, amrinone and levosimendan, abolished the progression of bioenergetics failure and mitochondrial remodeling. Adenocin® occurs restoration of level of redox-potential NAD/NADH and cessates the release of cytochrome C from the mitochondries of cardiomyocyte. HF increased the content of ATP and creatinphosphate in left and right ventricle of myocardium, and restored the level of redox-potential NAD/NADH and cytochrome in mitochondria of cardiomyocytes, that leads in the basis of sharply decrease of ATP and creatinphosphate in myocardium, switch the lactate/pyruvate ratio to the increase of pyruvate (aerobic glycolysis). The linear positive correlation between redox-potential NAD/NADH in ventricular myocardium and blood and negative between level of cytochrome C in myocardium and blood has been shown

Sanitary status of the Eurasian wild grapevine in the South Caucasian region

A prospecting on the sanitary status of the aerial organs and roots of the Eurasian wild grapevine, Vitis vinifera L. ssp. sylvestris (Gmelin) Hegi, was carried out on 14 natural populations situated along river bank forests, floodplains and colluvial positions in Georgia (Marneuli, Mtskheta and Gori districts, Gardabani Protected area and Lagodekhi Reserve), Armenia (Akhtala and Tavoush regions) and Azerbaijan (Quba region). These zones are included within the Holarctic kingdom, Eurosiberian region, and to the Caucasian, Euxine and Hyrcanian biogeographical provinces. The results of study indicate that roots are free of symptoms caused by phylloxera, rot fungi and root-knot nematodes. Symptoms caused by the erineum strain of Colomerus vitis (Pagenstecher) and Calepitrimerus vitis (Nalepa) (Acari, Eriophyidae) are frequent. On the other hand, damages caused by powdery and downy mildews, Erysiphe necator (Schweinitz) Burrill and Plasmopara viticola (Berkeley and Curtis) Berlease and de Toni), respectively, show an irregular intensity on leaves belonging to different vines from each location