A TILLING allele of the tomato Aux/IAA9 gene offers new insights into fruit set mechanisms and perspectives for breeding seedless tomatoes

Parthenocarpy is a desired trait in fruit crops; it enables fruit set under environmental conditions suboptimal for pollination, and seedless fruits represent a valuable consumer product. We employed TILLING-based screening of a mutant tomato population to find genetic lesions in Aux/IAA9, a negative regulator of the auxin response involved in the control of fruit set. We identified three mutations located in the coding region of this gene, including two singlebase substitutions and one single-base deletion, which leads to a frame shift and premature stop codon. The transcription of IAA9 was strongly reduced in the frame-shift mutant, and partial loss of mutated protein activity was evidenced by an in vitro transactivation assay. Whereas missense mutations were predicted to be tolerated and did not cause mutant phenotypes, the frame-shift mutation-induced phenotypes expected for a loss of IAA9 function, including altered axillary shoot growth, reduced leaf compoundness and a strong tendency to produce parthenocarpic fruits. Mutant flowers showed pleiotropic anther cone defects, a phenotype frequently associated with parthenocarpy in tomato and other species. Mutant fruits were larger than those of the seeded control, with higher bri

EXAFS, DFT, light-induced nucleobase binding, and cytotoxicity of the photoactive complex cis-[Ru(bpy)2(CO)Cl]+

The aqueous photochemistry of cis-[Ru(bpy)2(CO)Cl]+ (1) was investigated at 310 K and under visible light (white) irradiation by NMR and ESI-HR-MS. Complex 1 releases a Cl ligand, coordinates a solvent molecule, and forms the complex cis-[Ru(bpy)2(CO)(H2O)]2+ (2). Also, irradiation experiments were performed in the presence of the nucleobase derivatives 9-ethylguanine (9-EtG) and 9-ethyladenine (9-EtA). Formation of Ru-9-EtG adducts was observed after 3 h irradiation by NMR and HR-MS, while only very small amounts of a Ru-9-EtA adduct could be detected by HR-MS. Solution structural data were obtained by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) for both 1 and 2. EXAFS gave a Ru−Cl distance of 2.416(7) Å for 1 and a Ru−OH2O distance of 2.102(6) Å for 2. DFT and TDDFT were employed to study the photophysical and photochemical properties of 1. Calculations show that dissociative metal-centered states can be related to the light-induced release of a Cl ligand and subsequent coordination of a solvent molecule. The compound showed no antiproliferative activity in three human carcinoma cell lines (lung, bladder, pancreas) under the testing conditions, either with or without irradiation with UV light

Stimulation of node and lateral shoot formation in micropropagation of olive ( Olea europaea L.) by using dikegulac

Dikegulac, a growth regulator, was shown to stimulate in vitro shoot multiplication of olive cultivars Canino, Frantoio, Moraiolo, but not cultivars Rosciola and Piantone di Moiano. The Rugini Olive Medium including zeatin (4.5 lM) was used supplemented with a range of dikegulac concentrations (0–133.4 lM). An optimal result in number of shoots and nodes was obtained on cultivars Canino, Frantoio and Moraiolo at 66.7 lM dikegulac. Higher concentrations did not stimulate additional shoot and node formation and resulted in a drastic reduction in height of shoots. Elongated shoots were rooted and acclimatised and showed normal development compared to control plants.L'articolo è disponibile sul sito dell'editore http://www.springerlink.co

Evaluating Scalability of a Cloud Based Platform for Biological Networks Analysis

Research centers performing biomedical research collide with the problem of the treatment of large amounts of data. Several scientific fields in biomedical adopt technologies that can analyze samples in a more accurate way thanks to the high granularity which the current equipment provide the results. The cloud computing technology allows to create scalable and flexible infrastructures and data management services. In recent years the number of solutions that can be included within the phenomenon of cloud computing has increased. There are many cases of distributed solutions with high storage and processing capacity and the possibility of serving a large number of users. In this paper authors describe a biological networks modeling tool, implemented with the aid of MapReduce algorithms that works on a cluster in a cloud computing infrastructur

Is the Loggerhead Caretta caretta a good indicator of plastic ingestion also at local scale?

The European Commission drafted the 2008/56/EC Marine Strategy Framework Directive with the aim to achieve a Good Environmental Status (GES). In 2011 Italy promoted the Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta, Linnaeus 1758) as target species for monitoring the amount and composition of litter ingested by marine animals and then it has been accepted among MSFD Indicators and under the UNEP/MAP Barcelona Convention ecological objective, at sub-regional level. 120 death loggerhead CCL ranging from 21 to 80 cm (average = 54.9 cm) have been collected stranded or by-catch along Latium and Sardinian coasts, Italy (Western Mediterranean sub-Region). Plastic ingestion has been detected with a frequency of occurrence FO=54.2%. In total, 106.138 g (dry mass) and 1103 items (abundance) of marine litter were collected with an average value of 0.892 ± 0.196 g and 9.27 ± 1.95 items. Among the impacted turtles, parts of plastic bags and other sheet fragments (USE she) were the main categories in terms of abundance (17.23 ± 3.35 items). At local level, FO%, dry mass and number of items between the two areas (Latium: FO = 79.0%, average g= 1.553 ± 0.354, average n Items = 14.76 ± 3.53; Sardinia: FO = 27.6% average g=0.173 ± 0.059, average n Items= 3.30 ± 0.95) showed significant differences and groups structure was confirmed by nonhierarchical cluster analysis. This study shows that, even if sea turtles are migratory species and marine litter move according to the current and tide, the loggerhead can give information on plastic pollution also at local scale

Evaluation of Cadmium Effects on Six Solanum melongena L. Cultivars from the Mediterranean Basin

Cadmium (Cd) contamination is a severe problem in the environment and produces detrimental effects on crop productivity and quality. Characterization of crop performance at different Cd concentrations is crucial to identify pollution-safe cultivars with low translocation efficiency to aboveground organs to be used for food safety. Here, we estimated germination, survival, growth, photosynthetic pigments, Cd bioaccumulation, among-organs translocation, and ionic balance in six Solanum melongena L. (eggplant) cultivars from the central Mediterranean basin. On two cultivars, we also analyzed expression of genes involved in Cd uptake, i.e., heavy metal ATPases (HMAs) and metal tolerance proteins (MTPs). We found that Cd has a negative effect on all the investigated parameters but with relevant among-cultivar differences. Cd-treated plants showed a decrease in germination rate and survival. Photosynthetic pigments showed opposite trends, i.e., with increasing Cd contents, we observed a decrease in chlorophylls and an increase in carotenoids. The investigated cultivars showed high ability of sequestrating Cd in roots but a low translocation efficiency to the aboveground organs, suggesting a good potential for food safety. The response of plants to Cd was mediated by a different expression of the MTP and HMA gene families. Our study represents the first comprehensive investigation of Cd tolerance in eggplant varieties from the Mediterranean basin and highlights the importance of comparative studies to identify Cd-tolerant cultivars

Polymer composition assessment suggests prevalence of single-use plastics among items ingested by loggerhead sea turtles in the western mediterranean sub-region

The ingestion of plastic is becoming a major concern for various species and particularly for marine turtles across the globe. The loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) was recently chosen by the European Commission as a bio-indicator for plastic pollution within the Mediterranean basin. We further investigated which items this key species is more prone to ingest, following the standardised Marine Strategy Framework Directive protocols. Moreover, we integrated to this protocol the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, which allowed us to determine the polymer type of each item. We analysed samples from 226 sea turtles from 2008 to 2017 in two areas of the western Mediterranean sub-region (sensu MSFD). In the Lazio area we found a frequency of occurrence of plastic ingestion of 78.33%, while in Sardinia 41.79%. The analysis of the litter categories, among all individuals, highlights a prevalence of user-sheet (Use-She; 69.13%) and user-fragment plastics (Use-Fra; 20.84%). In addition, the polymer analysis showed a dominance of polyethylene (65.98%) and polypropylene (26.23%). As a result, by looking at other works that have investigated polymer types and items sources, we are able to infer that 77.25% of the objects ingested by the C. caretta individuals are attributable to disposable daily-life objects managed in an improper way. Therefore, C. caretta apart from being an efficient bio-indicator for plastic pollution, highlighting spatial and temporal concentration differences, it could also be used to verify the effectiveness of the Single-use Plastic Directive (EU 2019/904).</p