TRANSCRIPTIONAL ANALYSIS OF EIGHT MAGIC MAIZE PARENTAL LINES INFECTED WITH FUSARIUM VERTICILLIOIDES

Maize (Zea mays L.) is among the most important crops worldwide for food, feed, biofuels, and industrial applications. Its cultivation faces significant constraints due to Fusarium species that affect the quality and quantity of maize products. Among these, Fusarium verticillioides is responsible for severe diseases including seedling blights, stalk rot, and ear rot. The impact of the fungus is worsened by the fact that chemical and agronomic measures used to control Fusarium infection are often inefficient. Hence, genetic resistance is considered the most reliable resource to reduce damages caused by F. verticillioides. This study aims to elucidate the genetic basis of resistance to this fungus in maize. Young seedlings of eight divergent maize lines, founder of the MAGIC population, were artificially inoculated with a F. verticillioides strain using the rolled towel assay method. Total RNA was extracted from both control and treated samples after 72 hours of artificial inoculation and underwent paired-end sequenced with Illumina technology. Here we report the use this large transcriptomic dataset to identify the early transcriptional changes and the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) involved in fungal infection. The analysis identified several hundred DEGs, whose functions were explored through Gene Ontology enrichment analysis. A co-expression network analysis further refined the set of genes with potential implications in disease response. The results identify a limited set of genes that might play an important roles in maize resistance to F. verticillioides providing new insights into the molecular resistance mechanisms against the pathogen

EVOLUTION OF THE FUSION LIKE PROCESS AROUND THE FERMI ENERGY

The study of evaporation residue from the Ne + Ag system shows that there is qualitative change in the reaction mechanism in the Fermi energy domain. At 20 MeV/u the projectile is mostly absobered by the target, while at 30-37 MeV/u a continious range of mass transfer with a large transverse momentum is observed

Enhancing plant defense using rhizobacteria in processing tomatoes: a bioprospecting approach to overcoming Early Blight and Alternaria toxins

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) with antagonistic activity toward plant pathogenic fungi are valuable candidates for the development of novel plant protection products based on biocontrol activity. The very first step in the formulation of such products is to screen the potential effectiveness of the selected microorganism(s). In this study, non-pathogenic rhizobacteria were isolated from the rhizosphere of tomato plants and evaluated for their biocontrol activity against three species of mycotoxin-producing Alternaria. The assessment of their biocontrol potential involved investigating both fungal biomass and Alternaria toxin reduction. A ranking system developed allowed for the identification of the 12 best-performing strains among the initial 85 isolates. Several rhizobacteria showed a significant reduction in fungal biomass (up to 76%) and/or mycotoxin production (up to 99.7%). Moreover, the same isolates also demonstrated plant growth-promoting (PGP) traits such as siderophore or IAA production, inorganic phosphate solubilization, and nitrogen fixation, confirming the multifaceted properties of PGPRs. Bacillus species, particularly B. amyloliquefaciens and two strains of B. subtilis, showed the highest efficacy in reducing fungal biomass and were also effective in lowering mycotoxin production. Isolates such as Enterobacter ludwigii, Enterobacter asburiae, Serratia nematodiphila, Pantoea agglomerans, and Kosakonia cowanii showed moderate efficacy. Results suggest that by leveraging the diverse capabilities of different microbial strains, a consortium-based approach would provide a broader spectrum of effectiveness, thereby signaling a more encouraging resolution for sustainable agriculture and addressing the multifaceted nature of crop-related biotic challenges

Mapping of Genes Involved in Glutathione, Carbohydrate and COR14b Cold Induced Protein Accumulation during Cold Hardening in Wheat

Using some of the chromosome substitution lines developed from the crosses of the donor Cheyenne to Chinese Spring we showed that the accumulation of water soluble carbohydrates during different stages of hardening was time dependent. Moreover there was a significant correlation between the rate of carbohydrate accumulation and the frost tolerance. The expression and regulation of a wheat gene homologous to the barley cold regulated cor14b gene was compared in frost sensitive and frost tolerant wheat genotypes at different temperatures. Studies made with chromosome substitution lines showed that the threshold induction temperature polymorphism of the cor14b wheat homologous gene was controlled by loci located on chromosome 5A of wheat, while cor14b gene was mapped, in Triticum monococcum, onto the long arm of chromosome 2Am. Our study on the effect of cold hardening on glutathione (GSH) metabolism showed that chromosome 5A of wheat has an influence on the GSH accumulation and on the ratio of reduced and oxidised glutathione as part of a complex regulatory function during cold hardening. In addition, the level of increase in GSH content during hardening may indicate the degree of the frost tolerance of wheat

Hyperspectral imaging characterization of agricultural topsoil copper concentration

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