Host plant resistance of tomato plants to western flower thrips

This thesis explores the resistance of tomato plants to WFT. At first an overview about tomato, WFT and their interactions is presented (this chapter). This is followed by 5 experimental chapters. The first experiment comprises a comparison of thrips resistance between major tomato cultivars and wild tomatoes. Wild species of crops are important sources of genes for resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. In this study, we explored the natural variation in WFT resistance of the genus Lycopersicon by performing bioassays and comparing thrips damage on some wild species and cultivated lines to determine the chemical and mechanical resistance factors in these plants. All plants were subjected to NMR metabolomic analysis to correlate thrips resistance to plant secondary metabolites (Chapter 2). Invasion of pests may lead to rapid local adaptation and the development of biotypes specialized to different hosts. Therefore, host plant adaptation of thrips was studied by observing variation in genetics and performance of Dutch WFT populations (Chapter 3). In this chapter genetic differences between Dutch WFT populations collected on different hosts were analysed with AFLP and the existence of possible cryptic species was tested using mitochondrial barcoding. Feeding damage and reproduction of thrips were examined in different thrips bioassays. A negative effect of CGA in chrysanthemum on WFT has been reported earlier. To study the effects of CGA level in tomato on thrips resistance, transgenic tomatoes with increased amounts of CGA were subjected to thrips infestation and feeding damage was monitored (Chapter 4). Introgression lines (ILs), represent an excellent platform to explore the genetics of multiple biological and chemical traits of agronomical importance. The wild tomato, S. pennellii was highly resistance to WFT (Chapter 2). A set of 76 introgression lines between the S. pennellii and the cultivated tomato S. lycopersicum was used to detect QTLs associated with WFT resistance, secondary metabolites and their co-localization (Chapter 5). Sugars have acted as plant hormones that control gene expression and development processes in plants and sugar spraying of leaves has been used in pest management of different plants. Potentially, it can, therefore be used as a new and more environmentally friendly method of crop protection. We used sugar-sensing, applying sprays of sucrose, fructose and glucose to increase resistance to WFT in a susceptible tomato cultivar (Chapter 6). The summary and conclusions of this thesis are given in chapter 7.UBL - phd migration 201

Identification and characterization of metabolite quantitative trait loci in tomato leaves and comparison with those reported for fruits and seeds

Introduction: To date, most studies of natural variation and metabolite quantitative trait loci (mQTL) in tomato have focused on fruit metabolism, leaving aside the identification of genomic regions involved in the regulation of leaf metabolism. Objective: This study was conducted to identify leaf mQTL in tomato and to assess the association of leaf metabolites and physiological traits with the metabolite levels from other tissues. Methods: The analysis of components of leaf metabolism was performed by phenotypying 76 tomato ILs with chromosome segments of the wild species Solanum pennellii in the genetic background of a cultivated tomato (S. lycopersicum) variety M82. The plants were cultivated in two different environments in independent years and samples were harvested from mature leaves of non-flowering plants at the middle of the light period. The non-targeted metabolite profiling was obtained by gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF-MS). With the data set obtained in this study and already published metabolomics data from seed and fruit, we performed QTL mapping, heritability and correlation analyses. Results: Changes in metabolite contents were evident in the ILs that are potentially important with respect to stress responses and plant physiology. By analyzing the obtained data, we identified 42 positive and 76 negative mQTL involved in carbon and nitrogen metabolism. Conclusions: Overall, these findings allowed the identification of S. lycopersicum genome regions involved in the regulation of leaf primary carbon and nitrogen metabolism, as well as the association of leaf metabolites with metabolites from seeds and fruits.Fil: Nunes Nesi, Adriano. Max Planck Institute Of Molecular Plant Physiology; Alemania. Universidade Federal de Viçosa.; BrasilFil: Alseekh, Saleh. Center Of Plant Systems Biology And Biotechnology; Bulgaria. Max Planck Institute Of Molecular Plant Physiology; AlemaniaFil: de Oliveira Silva, Franklin Magnum. Universidade Federal de Viçosa.; BrasilFil: Omranian, Nooshin. Max Planck Institute Of Molecular Plant Physiology; Alemania. Center Of Plant Systems Biology And Biotechnology; BulgariaFil: Lichtenstein, Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica; ArgentinaFil: Mirnezhad, Mohammad. Leiden University; Países BajosFil: Romero González, Roman R.. Leiden University; Países BajosFil: Sabio y Garcia, Julia Veronica. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias Castelar. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Biotecnología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Conte, Mariana. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias Castelar. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Biotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Leiss, Kirsten A.. Leiden University; Países BajosFil: Klinkhamer, Peter G. L.. Leiden University; Países BajosFil: Nikoloski, Zoran. University of Potsdam; Alemania. Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology; AlemaniaFil: Carrari, Fernando Oscar. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias Castelar. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Biotecnología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias; ArgentinaFil: Fernie, Alisdair R.. Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology; Alemania. Center of Plant System Biology and Biotechnology; Bulgari

Towards eco-friendly crop protection: natural deep eutectic solvents and defensive secondary metabolites

Plant science

Genotyping and antibiotic resistance of Acinetobacter baumannii strains isolated from patients hospitalized in teaching hospitals of Shahrekord by Pulsed- Field Gel Electrophorsis

Introduction: Acinetobacters especially Acinetobacter baumannii causing nosocomial infections in hospitals intensive care units and can cause a variety of hospital infections such as bacteremia, meningitis, pneumonia and urinary tract infections. There are several molecular techniques for microbial genotyping, among them Pulsed- Field Gel Electrophoreses is introduced as the gold standard for sub typing of bacteria. The aim of this study  was investigating the molecular typing of A. baumannii strains with PFGE as well as the relationship between common types available and their antibiotic resistance. Methods: In this descriptive - analysis study, 50 Acinetobacter baumannii were confirmed with cultivation methods and biochemical tests. Then, bacteria were detected using PFGE typing and the results were compared with the results of antibiotic resistance. Results: The results showed that all isolates had multiple resistance. The highest sensitivity was observed for tobramycin (52%), gentamicin (36%) and moropenem (32%).The results of this study showed that A. baumannii strains isolated from Shahrekord hospitals were in seven different genetic patterns that two of these patterns were sporadic and the genetic patterns were different in each hospital. Conclusion: Although variations among strains of Acinetobacter baumannii were observed by using PFGE in Shahrekord, but no epidemic strain was detected among them. In terms of resistance to commonly used antibiotics were also different patterns

Urban heat island mitigation strategies: a state-of-the-art review on Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Hong Kong

Observing the rapid urban expansions and numerous infrastructure developments in the East-Asian context, many cities are suffering the urban heat island (UHI) effect and its associated environmental and social challenges. Moreover, the lack of sufficient attention to the application of effective heat mitigation strategies in current urban development in these cities can drastically intensify the eventual impacts of UHI. Therefore, many governmental sectors and policy makers have been implementing operative solutions for cooling cities. Nevertheless, this study argues that in Kuala Lumpur, despite the growing attention to this matter, there is still a need for more rigorous consideration by the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) professionals as well as more scholarly studies to reflect sustainable solutions to the UHI effect. As a result, today, some of the dense urban areas in Kuala Lumpur are characterized with the use of thermally massive building materials, urban surfaces with low albedo, complex urban morphology, waste heat, and low density of vegetation. On the other hand, recent studies demonstrate that there has been a rapidly increasing interest in studies related to UHI in other East Asian regions such as Singapore and Hong Kong. Hence, this study develops a comparative analysis to provide a state-of-the-art review of the recent attempts towards mitigating the UHI effect in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Among several available UHI mitigation strategies, this study is limited to the analysis of the environmental impacts of urban vegetation (green roofs, green facades, vertical greeneries and green pavements). Findings reveal that in general, urban greening can significantly mitigate the UHI intensity, both directly and indirectly, resulting in the decrease of global air temperature and mean radiant temperature up to 4 °C and 4.5 °C respectively. Overall, the study develops new practical guidelines, discusses the public benefits and elaborates on the future directions of UHI studies