Study of morphological and anatomical traits of female flower and fruit development in pistachio (Pistacia vera)

Pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) with high cultivation in Iran has economic and nutrition importance. In this investigation, the morphological and anatomical traits of the female flower, development of endosperm and cotyledons were studied with cyto-histological techniques and light microscopy. In addition, fruit development was studied in different developmental stages. The results showed each of female flowers in panicle florescence has three-lobed stigma, a large pistil that attached to stigma with short style. One small bract is below 5 sepals in all flowers. Anatomical study reported the pistil have one carpel with single inverse ovule at its ovary. The endosperm is free nuclear firstly and then becomes cellular. Finally, this tissue replaces with cotyledons during embryo development. During the fruit development, the structure of the pericarp differentiated as exo-mesocarp and endocarp. Endocarp development continued until 95 days after full bloom (middle of May), and became hard and lignified in this time.The kernel show no abvious growth at this time but its growth increase after this time and completed in 145 DAF (last of July). Finally, fruit ripening continued and was cmpleted at 165 DAF (last of August) concurrent with harvesting time

Sequencing and phylogenetic study of APETALA1 homologous gene in garden cress (Lepidium sativum L.)

The flowering process in plants proceeds through the induction of an inflorescence meristem triggered by several pathways. Many of the genes associated with these pathways encode transcription factors of the MADS domain family. The MADS-domain transcription factor APETALA1 (AP1) is a key regulator of flower development. The first step to understand the molecular mechanisms under the function of each gene in a plant is identification, sequencing and phylogeny analysis of that gene. For this purpose, total RNA was isolated from flower bud of garden cress (Lepidium sativum L.) and was used for cDNA synthesis. The specific primers were designed based on nucleotide sequence alignment of AP1 homologus genes from plants of the same family Brassicaceae and were used in RT-PCR. After observing its electrophoretic pattern and ensuring the quality of PCR product, the amplicon was sent for sequencing. After receiving the results of sequencing, the sequence examined with BLAST, MUSCLE, Gene Runner and MEGA6 softwares. The results indicated amplification of 787 nucleotides fragment that named LsAP1 and was recorded by accession number KP070728 in NCBI database. The studies show high similarity and overlapping of gene bank sequences with LsAP1 illative protein. According to these results, LsAP1 may play a similar role as AP1 in flower induction and could act as a flower meristem identity gene in Lepidium sativum L

Sequence and functional analysis of a TERMINAL FLOWER 1 homolog from Brassica juncea: a putative biotechnological tool for flowering time adjustment

Flowering time is an important agricultural trait of the oil crop Brassica juncea (B. juncea), as accelerated flowering enables avoidance of terminal drought leading to increased yields. One gene known to control flowering time is TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (TFL1), which belongs to a family of phosphatidylethanolamine binding proteins, which can either repress or promote flowering time. Here, a TFL1 homolog, named BjTFL1, has been isolated from B. juncea, which shared 95% amino acid identity with TFL1 from Arabidopsis thaliana. Sequence analysis predicts the BjTFL1 protein contains the ligand-binding site, conserved motifs and other amino acid residues that are critical for TFL1 function. Confirming this as a functional TFL1 orthologue, overexpression of BjTFL1 under the control of the constitutive 35S promoter in Arabidopsis delayed flowering time. As a proof-of concept to investigate its utility to shorten flowering time, an RNAi construct containing a partial sequence of BjTFL1 was transformed into Arabidopsis. Transcript analysis demonstrated the downregulation of endogenous AtTFL1. Moreover, the RNAi BjTFL1 transgenic lines were early flowering and had fewer rosette and cauline leaves compared to wild-type. Therefore, this BjTFL1 RNAi transgene could be used as a biotechnological tool to reduce flowering time in Brassica juncea in a bid to improve agricultural performance

Study of some abnormalities of ovule development to seed in Pistacia vera L.

Seed production in some crops like pistachio is limited by some abnormalities in ovule development stages. In this study, the ovule developmental stages as well as abnormalities of these stages were investigated. Pistacia vera ovule is single, fullynucellate, monotegumental and converse (anatrope) and is set in an ovary with basic placement and the Polygonum type embryo sac is organized in it one week after complete dehiscence. After pollination and fertilization of egg cell, after 6 weeks of complete dehiscence, the pericarpe was grown to final size and even the lignifications of endocarpe started but the zygote cell was in a dormant state and in 6-8 weeks after complete dehiscence the zygote cell division along an increase in endosperm division occured so that cotyledonary embryo was formed in 10-12 weeks after complete dehiscence and the cotyledons attained their final size in 3 weesks after that, namely 15 weeks after complete dehiscence and at this time, the seedless and filled fruits were completely distinguished. During the ovule development stages, some abnormalities were observed such as lack of embryo sac formation, embryo sac degeneration, small and abnormal embryo sac formation, vascular band collapse inside the funicule, presence of zygote without endosperm and presence of endosperm without zygote, and these abnormalities caused lack of enough ovule growth and seedless or semiseedless fruit formation in pistachio

The morphological and anatomical studies of inflorescence and male flower in Pycnocycla nodiflora Decne. ex Boiss. (Apiaceae)

In this research, morphology and anatomy of male flower structure in Pycnocycla nodiflora Decne. ex Boiss. belonging to family Apiaceae were studied.. Application of some characteristics such as inflorescence, umbel florets and fruits in the classification of members of this family have paved the way for studies focusing on the flower structure. Morphological and cytohistological studies were performed by stereo- and light-microscopy using fixation and sectioning. Some morphological specificities of flower in this species included compound umbel inflorescences composed of 3-5 umbellules, involucre with 5 short and triangular bracts, 7 flowers in an umbellule, swollen peduncle in male flowers, heteromorphous sepals, color combination of white and purple of petals. Ttrichoms were abundantly observed on most flower parts. Anthers were dorsifix and structures with wrinkled edges were seen in the middle of male flower receptacles. Anatomical studies demonstrated the presence of secretory ducts with shizogenous development in sepal and petal structures. Hair formation on the epidermis of these structures was increased during maturation. Middle layer was transient and tapetum was of secretory type. Simultaneous cytokinesis produced tetrahederal tetrads. Anther dehiscence was longitudinal and released pollen grains were dumbbell shape. Some anthers in flower as well as some pollen sacs in an anther developed insimultaneously

The effect of climate on water content, dormancy and dehydrins expression pattern in pistachio seeds

The environmental conditions which the parent plant has undergone during seed development can affect many properties of the seeds such as degree of dormancy, weight and the amount of their compounds. In this study, mature pistachio seeds of Ahmadaghaei cultivar, collected from the two cities of Rafsanjan and Shahrbabak located in Kerman Province (Iran), were compared. It was found that the seeds collected from Shahrbabak being a cooler and wetter region had a longer dormancy, although the water content of the two seed series were similar. Dehydrin proteins generally play a role in protecting plant cells against dehydration stress. Dehydrin contents of the cotyledons and embryonic axes of the two seed series were compared by western blot method using an antibody against the conserved K segment in dehydrin proteins. It was found that the cotyledons had five dehydrin versions with molecular weights of 23, 25, 32, 39 and 48 kDa, the expression of which not being influenced by environmental factors. It was found that the embryonic axes had seven other versions of dehydrin with weights of 17, 19, 20, 28, 67, 77 and 98 kDa in addition to those five versions. This shows higher protection of embryonic axes compared with the cotyledons. The 25 and 28 kDa versions had higher expression levels in embryonic axes of Shahrbabak seeds, while the 39 kDa version had a higher expression level in embryonic axes of Rafsanjan seeds

Evaluating the Toxic Impacts of Cadmium Selenide Nanoparticles on the Aquatic Plant <em>Lemna minor</em>

Cadmium selenide nanoparticles (CdSe NPs) were synthesized by an easy and simple method and their properties were assessed by XRD, TEM and SEM techniques. The effects of CdSe NPs as well as Cd2+ ions on Lemna minor plants were investigated. The absorption of CdSe NPs by the plants had some adverse consequences that were assessed by a range of biological analyses. The results revealed that both CdSe NPs and the ionic form of cadmium noticeably caused toxicity in L. minor. Morphological parameters as well as peroxidase (POD) activity were deteriorated. In contrast, the activities of some other antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT)) as well as the contents of total phenol and flavonoids went up. Taken all together, it could be implied that CdSe NPs as well as Cd2+ were highly toxic to plants and stimulated the plant defense system in order to scavenge produced reactive oxygen species (ROS)