Oil crops breeding at IFVCNS – new tools for tackling changing environment and market demands

Oil crops breeding at Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops (IFVCNS) has a successful 50-year long tradition that resulted in collection of 7000 sunflower inbred lines, as well as collection of wild sunflowers and substantial collections of genetic resources of rapeseed, pumpkins and 24 minor oil crops. Creation of new oil crop varieties using classical breeding methods is a long-term process, sometimes not efficient enough to meet demands of changing environment and market demands of 21st century

Effect of climatic variables and sowing date on winter rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) development and yield

Climate change differentially affects crops, since the effects are caused by combination of changes in growing conditions and the timing of phenological phases. Winter rapeseed is vulnerable to local climatic conditions because of its lengthy growth period and overwintering ability. The information on the cultivar x environment interaction provides valuable data to plant breeders and agronomists for the identification of superior cultivars in specific environments, and defines site-specific best management practices. A further step in the cultivar (C) and year (Y) interaction analysis (C x Y) for rapeseed, would be to investigate the effect of specific climatic variables throughout developmental stages. Such data could be used to dissect the year effect and determine which variables are the most significant for an optimal plant development at each growth stage. The effect of climatic variables on the winter rapeseed developmental stages and yield in Southeast Europe has not yet been analysed simultaneously, although their interaction is important to breeders and growers

Molecular diversity of autumn garlic genotypes using SSR markers

Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is one of the most important Allium species in terms of worldwide production and various usages in human nutrition, medicine, pharmacy and cosmetics. Basic method of garlic propagation is vegetative and creation of new varieties is mainly achieved by clonal selection. The characterization and preservation of samples in germplasm collections is of crucial importance in plant breeding, as well as availability of information about number and characteristics of samples in gene banks. Since pheotypic traits can vary significantly under the influence of environmental factors the characterization is more reliable by using DNA markers. Effective characterization of samples in collections and identification of duplicates is important from the economic aspect, ie. space saving and maintenance costs. The garlic collection of the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops in Novi Sad (IFVCNS) includes 63 samples of autumn and 67 samples of spring garlic. These genotypes represent a valuable genetic pool for the selection of clones with appropriate characteristics, highly adapted for the production in the agro-climatic conditions of Serbia. Molecular characterization will provide more complete insight into diversity of samples, identification of potential duplicates and enable breeders more efficient selection and development of new cultivars

Application of mutation breeding in creation of climate resilient cereal crops

In a global climate change scenario crop varieties with increased tolerance to drought, heat and other abiotic stresses are needed. So far, at the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops many different studies for testing the existing varieties to these stresses were performed, but there was no breeding program for active development of tolerant varieties. Using mutation breeding we will try to develop wheat and barley varieties with incorporated drought and heat tolerance in order to be more adaptive to the changing climate

Cognitive Stimulation Induces Differential Gene Expression in Octopus vulgaris: The Key Role of Protocadherins

Octopuses are unique invertebrates, with sophisticated and flexible behaviors controlled by a high degree of brain plasticity, learning, and memory. Moreover, in Octopus vulgaris, it has been demonstrated that animals housed in an enriched environment show adult neurogenesis in specific brain areas. Firstly, we evaluated the optimal acclimatization period needed for an O. vulgaris before starting a cognitive stimulation experiment. Subsequently, we analyzed differential gene expression in specific brain areas in adult animals kept in tested (enriched environment), wild (naturally enriched environment), and control conditions (unenriched environment). We selected and sequenced three protocadherin genes (PCDHs) involved in the development and maintenance of the nervous system; three Pax genes that control cell specification and tissue differentiation; the Elav gene, an earliest marker for neural cells; and the Zic1 gene, involved in early neural formation in the brain. In this paper, we evaluated gene expression levels in O. vulgaris under different cognitive stimulations. Our data shows that Oct-PCDHs genes are upregulated in the learning and lower motor centers in the brain of both tested and wild animals (higher in the latter). Combining these results with our previous studies on O. vulgaris neurogenesis, we proposed that PCDH genes may be involved in adult neurogenesis processes, and related with their cognitive abilities

Sensorial Hierarchy in Octopus vulgaris's Food Choice: Chemical vs. Visual

Octopus vulgaris possesses highly sophisticated sense organs, processed by the nervous system to generate appropriate behaviours such as finding food, avoiding predators, identifying conspecifics, and locating suitable habitat. Octopus uses multiple sensory modalities during the searching and selection of food, in particular, the chemosensory and visual cues. Here, we examined food choice in O. vulgaris in two ways: (1) We tested octopus's food preference among three different kinds of food, and established anchovy as the preferred choice (66.67%, Friedman test p < 0.05); (2) We exposed octopus to a set of five behavioural experiments in order to establish the sensorial hierarchy in food choice, and to evaluate the performance based on the visual and chemical cues, alone or together. Our data show that O. vulgaris integrates sensory information from chemical and visual cues during food choice. Nevertheless, food choice resulted in being more dependent on chemical cues than visual ones (88.9%, Friedman test p < 0.05), with a consistent decrease of the time spent identifying the preferred food. These results define the role played by the senses with a sensorial hierarchy in food choice, opening new perspectives on the O. vulgaris' predation strategies in the wild, which until today were considered to rely mainly on visual cues

Molecular characterization of cell types in the squid Loligo vulgaris.

Cephalopods are set apart from other mollusks by their advanced behavioral abilities and by the complexity of their nervous systems. Because of the great evolutionary distance that separates vertebrates from cephalopods, it is evident that higher cognitive features have evolved separately in these clades despite the similarities that they share. Alongside their complex behavioral abilities, cephalopods have evolved specialized cells and tissues, such as the chromatophores for camouflage or suckers to grasp prey. Despite significant progress in genome and transcriptome sequencing, the molecular identities of cell types in cephalopods remain largely unknown. We here combine single-cell transcriptomics with in situ gene expression analysis to uncover cell type diversity in the European squid Loligo vulgaris. We describe cell types that are conserved with other phyla such as neurons, muscles, or connective tissues but also cephalopod-specific cells, such as chromatophores or sucker cells. Moreover, we investigate major components of the squid nervous system including progenitor and developing cells, differentiated cells of the brain and optic lobes as well as sensory systems of the head. Our study provides a molecular assessment for conserved and novel cell types in cephalopods and a framework for mapping the nervous system of L. vulgaris