Нordein polymorphism between spring barley cultivars by SDS-PAGE electrophoresis

Abstract. In this study reserve endosperm proteins, hordeins of seven spring barley cultivars with different origin: Zernogradskii (Russia), Bodega, Fink, Scarlett and Barke (Germany), Josefin and Astoria (France) were fractionated and characterized by SDS-PAGE electrophoresis. On the basis of the obtained spectra 19 bands (D + C + B) with different relative electrophoretic mobility and intensity were identified. The electrophoresis profiles of the groups D-, C- and B- hordein are designated as separate types (models) using the index corresponding to hordein blocks. We have established one profile type for D-hordein (D1), two- for C-hordein (C1, C2), and five – for B-hordein (B1, B2, B3, B4, B5). Based on these results hordein formulas (configurations) of accessions are constructed, which enable the expression of specific varietal characteristics and prove the existence of the inter allelic variation (hordein polymorphism) due to the presence or absence of protein components and their different electrophoretic mobility in the profiles of D-, C- and B-hordein

Detecting wine adulterations employing robust mixture of factor analyzers

An authentic food is one that is what it claims to be. Nowadays, more and more attention is devoted to the food market: stakeholders, throughout the value chain, need to receive exact information about the specific product they are commercing with. To ascertain varietal genuineness and distinguish potentially doctored food, in this paper we propose to employ a robust mixture estimation method. Particularly, in a wine authenticity framework with unobserved heterogeneity, we jointly perform genuine wine classification and contamination detection. Our methodology models the data as arising from a mixture of Gaussian factors and depicts the observations with the lowest contributions to the overall likelihood as illegal samples. The advantage of using robust estimation on a real wine dataset is shown, in comparison with many other classification approaches. Moreover, the simulation results confirm the effectiveness of our approach in dealing with an adulterated dataset

Pepper as a target object of SEE-ERA.NET project

Pepper (Capsicum annuum var. annuum L.) is one of the most important and wide spread vegetables in the Balkan region. A great number of local populations with specific characteristics for shape, color, taste, biological value and type of use are grown in different Balkan countries together with the main commercial cultivars. Partially the old native forms are not within attention of the sort maintenance selection, but they are preserved in limited area and are valuable genetic resources. A SEE-ERA. NET project started in 2010 setting the task to investigate pepper as target species. The strategic objectives are: i) to collect, describe and explore the existing Capsicum biodiversity in the partner countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia and Serbia) related to valuable traits; ii) to create work and basic collections of local accessions and the respective database for more detailed and profound future collaborative investigations and breeding programs. Methods for description and maintenance of the collected material have been standardized in order to create a uniform description of existing local germplasm of pepper. First joint collecting expeditions have been carried out. Local expedition trips for expanding the national collections of old cultivars and domestic landraces have also been organized. Preparation of work and basic collections in the National Seed Genebank, Sadovo, Bulgaria, has started. The data will be publicly launched in the European Search Catalogue for Genetic Resources, EURISCO (www.eurisco.ecpgr.org). The data generated from this study, knowledge and collections will serve as a solid basis for effective preservation, management and exploitation of Balkan pepper germplasm biodiversity. The discovery of new sources of genetic variation and identification of accessions with valuable traits as pest resistance will be used in future pepper-breeding programs