Use of Genuine Sources of Ergot Resistance in Species of the \u3ci\u3edilatata\u3c/i\u3e Group of \u3ci\u3ePaspalum\u3c/i\u3e

Paspalum dilatatum Poir. (dallisgrass) is an excellent C4 forage for summer production, highly productive with a wide distribution within warm-temperate regions. P. dilatatum is native to South America with special relevance for milk and meat production since its forage quality is superior to that of other C4 forage grasses and it shows tolerance to frost and water stress. In situations of temperate and warm temperate climate, the presence of these species plays a key role in the ecological stability of the system due to the complementarity of the growth cycles between winter and summer grasses. Claviceps paspali (ergot) is a fungus that mainly parasitizes Paspalum spp., generating a structure called sclerotia, in which indole-diterpenoid alkaloids are isolated. Despite the excellent forage characteristics of Paspalum species, there is a need for the generation of varieties able to overcome two major limitations that were identified early on in this species, such as ergot susceptibility and seed production. With this objective, selected genotypes were crossed between apomictic and sexual species of different ploidy using P. malacophyllum as a source of immunity. Immunity to ergot has been evaluated in the field for two years in different representative regions of Uruguay and the accessions that did not get sick were selected as pollen donors. Crosses made with P. flavescens showed a germination percentage ranging between 1.7 and 7.09, while in P. dilatatum var. Chirú the range was reduced between 0.99 and 1.25 according to the employed parents. The hybrid nature of the progeny is being verified by microsatellites and functional markers associated with immunity and DNA content estimated by flow cytometry. This work aims to generate the basis to transfer immunity from P. malacophyllum in selected genotypes of Paspalum species predominant in Pampa biome and to improve seed production

Efficient optimization framework for L-PBF fatigue enhanced Ti6Al4V lattice component

Industries today face challenges in incorporating metallic additively manufactured lattice structures in critical components subjected to fatigue loading. This work explores the relationship between fatigue properties and the printing orientation of Laser-Powered Bed Fusion (LPBF) lattice structures. This relation is at the base of a cost-effective and time-efficient optimization workflow able to determine the optimal lattice printing orientation for improved fatigue life. Fatigue resistance is tested under uniaxial conditions on miniaturized specimens that mimic the lattice sub-unit elements: struts and nodes. The collected data is used as input for the optimization algorithm to determine the specimen orientation that maximizes fatigue life. The optimized specimens are manufactured, tested under three-point-bending conditions, and analysed using metrological x-ray computed tomography to verify the improvement. The proposed workflow is able to produce a 24 % increase in specimen fatigue life by simply adjusting the orientation on the printing plane

RNAi in Piezodorus guildinii (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae): transcriptome assembly for the development of pest control strategies.

Red-banded stink bug Piezodorus guildinii (P. guildinii) has been described as the most damaging stink bug regarding soybean crops, leading to seed injury, low germination percentages, and foliar retention, at low population densities. In recent years, RNA interference (RNAi), a conserved eukaryote silencing mechanism has been explored to develop species-selective pesticides. In this work, we evaluated RNAi in P. guildinii to develop new pest-control strategies. For this, we assembled and annotated a P. guildinii transcriptome from a pool of all developmental stages. Analysis of this transcriptome led to the identification of 56 genes related to the silencing process encompassing siRNA, miRNA, and piRNA pathways. To evaluate the functionality of RNAi machinery, P. guildinii adults were injected with 28 ng/mg of body weight of double stranded RNA (dsRNA) targeting vATPase A. A mortality of 35 and 51.6% was observed after 7 and 14 days, respectively, and a downregulation of vATPase A gene of 84% 72 h post-injection. In addition, Dicer-2 and Argonaute-2 genes, core RNAi proteins, were upregulated 1.8-fold 48 h after injection. These findings showed for the first time that RNAi is functional in P. guildinii and the silencing of essential genes has a significant effect in adult viability. Taken together, the work reported here shows that RNAi could be an interesting approach for the development of red-banded stink bug control strategies

Elementos para la evaluación de riesgo ambiental en papa-Efr modificada genéticamente. [Resumen]

La Evaluación de Riesgo Ambiental (ERA) es una metodología que recopila información sobre el peligro y la exposición de una actividad humana específica para determinar el impacto ambiental. El programa de mejoramiento genético de INIA ha incorporado en papa mediante ingeniería genética el gen efr de Arabidopsis thaliana, para contribuir al desarrollo de genotipos resistentes a marchitez bacteriana causada por Ralstonia solanacearum

Additively manufactured Ti\u20136Al\u20134V thin struts via laser powder bed fusion: Effect of building orientation on geometrical accuracy and mechanical properties

Porous metal lattice structures have a very high potential in biomedical applications, setting as innovative new generation prosthetic devices. Laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) is one of the most widely used additive manufacturing (AM) techniques involved in the production of Ti6Al4V lattice structures. The mechanical and failure behavior of lattice structures is strongly affected by geometrical imperfections and defects occurring during L-PBF process. Due to the influence of multiple process parameters and to their combined effect, the mechanical properties of these structures are not yet properly understood. Despite the major commitment to characterize and better comprehend lattice structures, little attention has been paid to the impact that single struts have on the overall lattice properties. In this work, the authors have investigated the tensile strength and fatigue behavior of thin L-PBF Ti6Al4V lattice struts at different building orientations (0\ub0, 15\ub0, 45\ub0, and 90\ub0). This investigation has been focused on the effect that microstructural defects (particularly porosity) and actual surface geometry (including surface texture and geometrical errors such as varying cross-section shape and size) have on the mechanical performances of the struts in relation to their building direction. The results have shown that there is a tendency, particularly for low printing angles, of fatigue life to decrease with decreasing of the building angle. This is mainly due to the surge in surface texture and loss in cross-sectional regularity. On the other hand, the monotonic tensile test results have shown a low sensitivity to these factors. The strut failure behavior has been examined employing dynamic digital image correlation (DIC) of tensile tests and scanning electron imaging (SEM) of the fracture surfaces

Evaluación de eventos de tomate con el gen EFR para el control de bacterias patógenas. [p22].

El receptor EFR de Arabidopsis thaliana desencadena resistencia basal al reconocer el factor de elongación EF-Tu, un patrón molecular asociado a patógenos

Insights into Claviceps paspali secretome: a first approach into effector molecules expressed during Claviceps paspali-Paspalum dilatatum interaction. [Abstract]

The ascomycete Claviceps paspali is a biotrophic flower pathogen of Paspalum spp. genus. This fungus has become a serious problem threatening the forage potential of some susceptible species like P. dilatatum. Infections with this pathogen lead to the formation of a sclerotia instead of seed in the infected flower, drastically reducing the seed production of these plants almost to no commercial use. This study provide new insights that will provide a basis for a better understanding of this pathosystem

Nuevas estrategias para la introducción de resistencia a Ralstonia solanacearum en papa - introducción del receptor EFR de Arabidopsis thaliana. [Resumen]

La papa comercial (Solanum tuberosum L.) representa el tercer cultivo alimenticio a nivel mundial. Su producción se ve comprometida por la marchitez bacteriana (BW) causada por Ralstonia solanacearum (Rs). El objetivo de este trabajo es caracterizar el efecto de AtEFR en la respuesta de defensa frente a BW