Vegetative Habitus and Fruit Production of Self-rooted Cherry Cultivar ‘Hedelfingen’ Wild Type and Somaclonal Grafted on ‘Gisela 6’ and ‘Colt’ Rootstock

The study considers the morphological and physiological behaviour of self-rooted sweet cherry CV (Cultivar) \u2018Hedelfinger\u2019 wild type (H) and somaclonal (HS) grafted on \u2018Gisela 6\u2019 and \u2018Colt\u2019 rootstock. The somaclonal showed reduced vegetative vigour without any variation of the natural tree\u2019s architecture. The rootstock \u2018Gisela 6\u2019 caused change in genotype habitus inducing a spreading shape, while \u2018Colt\u2019 increased trunk diameter and height. Fruit quality and size were not affected by genotype nor rootstock. \u2018Gisela 6\u2019, from these preliminary data, had proved the most suitable rootstock for both genotypes since it reduced the tree size and vigor and induced early bearing and the production of a greater number of fruiting spurs

Shoot Regeneration, in Vitro Performances of Regenerated Shoots and Transient Expression in Morphogenic Explants in Prunus avium cultivar 'Burlat C1'

Biotechnology may represent alternative ways to genetic improvement of sweet cherry exploiting somaclonal variation and genetic transformation. In this paper a method to induce efficient shoot regeneration from somatic explants of \u2018Burlat C1\u2019 is reported: 52.0 % caulogenesis was obtained from basal callus formed after culturing shoot apical portions in the dark. Considering the significant onset of adventitious shoots showing variegated leaves their in vitro performances have been evaluated as compared to green (normal) shoots. The influence of cefotaxime, cefotaxime plus vancomycin and timentin was assessed both for decontamination and regeneration efficiency prior transforming morphogenic masses with A. tumefaciens (C58C1 pDN3514), carrying the rolABC genes from A. rhizogenes, p35GUS-intron visible marker and nptII antibiotic resistance gene. GUS test indicated the presence of transient expression in shoot primordia nevertheless it was not possible to recover transgenic shoots probably due to the formation of chimeric meristem

Class II Phosphoinositide 3-Kinases Contribute to Endothelial Cells Morphogenesis

PMCID: PMC3539993This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

A PRELIMINARY APPROACH TO ASSESS PEACH FRUIT TEXTURE BY TIME-RESOLVED SPECTROSCOPY (TRS)

Most fruits can be modeled for their internal composition as a diffusive medium at visible and near-infrared wavelengths. The low absorption in this spectral range allows exploiting VIS/NIR spectroscopic techniques to probe non-destructively the internal food properties. Time-resolved reflectance spectroscopy (TRS), in particular, allows the separate, but simultaneous estimation of absorption and scattering coefficients. Absorption and scattering properties give very different information about the medium investigated. The possibility of applying TRS to assess the texture type of peach fruit was tested. To this purpose, an instrument for TRS developed at Politecnico di Milano-Department of Physics, was exploited. At least two cultivars for each peach flesh phenotype (melting, non-melting, stony hard and slow melting) and a total of 30 fruits for each cultivar were analyzed over the spectral range 540-940 nm. The absorption spectra exhibit high values around 550 nm due to the anthocyanins' absorption features. Furthermore, an absorption peak is visible at 670 nm, linked to the chlorophyll a content and then gives an idea about the fruit ripeness (a high chlorophyll content corresponds to a less ripe fruit). With the exception of the cultivar 'Iride', particularly rich in anthocyanins, and 'Ghiaccio', anthocyaninless, the absorption spectra of all of the samples were similar. Concerning the scattering properties of peaches, by considering the equivalent density and the scatter power Mie parameters, it was possible to discriminate between three out of four texture types (melting, slow melting and stony hard). Further improvements may lead to a full discrimination in the future

Integrative genomics approaches validate PpYUC11-like as candidate gene for the stony hard trait in peach (P. persica L. Batsch)

Texture is one of the most important fruit quality attributes. In peach, stony hard (SH) is a recessive monogenic trait (hd/hd) that confers exceptionally prolonged firm flesh to fully ripe fruit. Previous studies have shown that the SH mutation affects the fruit ability to synthesize appropriate amounts of indol-3-acetic acid (IAA), which orchestrates the ripening processes through the activation of system 2 ethylene pathway. Allelic variation in a TC microsatellite located within the first intron of PpYUC11-like (a YUCCA-like auxin-biosynthesis gene) has been recently proposed as the causal mutation of the SH phenotype

Stone formation in peach fruit exhibits spatial coordination of the lignin and flavonoid pathways and similarity to Arabidopsis dehiscence

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Lignification of the fruit endocarp layer occurs in many angiosperms and plays a critical role in seed protection and dispersal. This process has been extensively studied with relationship to pod shatter or dehiscence in <it>Arabidopsis</it>. Dehiscence is controlled by a set of transcription factors that define the fruit tissue layers and whether or not they lignify. In contrast, relatively little is known about similar processes in other plants such as stone fruits which contain an extremely hard lignified endocarp or stone surrounding a single seed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here we show that lignin deposition in peach initiates near the blossom end within the endocarp layer and proceeds in a distinct spatial-temporal pattern. Microarray studies using a developmental series from young fruits identified a sharp and transient induction of phenylpropanoid, lignin and flavonoid pathway genes concurrent with lignification and subsequent stone hardening. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction studies revealed that specific phenylpropanoid (phenylalanine ammonia-lyase and cinnamate 4-hydroxylase) and lignin (caffeoyl-CoA O-methyltransferase, peroxidase and laccase) pathway genes were induced in the endocarp layer over a 10 day time period, while two lignin genes (<it>p-</it>coumarate 3-hydroxylase and cinnamoyl CoA reductase) were co-regulated with flavonoid pathway genes (chalcone synthase, dihydroflavanol 4-reductase, leucoanthocyanidin dioxygen-ase and flavanone-3-hydrosylase) which were mesocarp and exocarp specific. Analysis of other fruit development expression studies revealed that flavonoid pathway induction is conserved in the related Rosaceae species apple while lignin pathway induction is not. The transcription factor expression of peach genes homologous to known endocarp determinant genes in <it>Arabidopsis </it>including <it>SHATTERPROOF</it>, <it>SEEDSTCK </it>and <it>NAC SECONDARY WALL THICENING PROMOTING FACTOR 1 </it>were found to be specifically expressed in the endocarp while the negative regulator <it>FRUITFU</it>L predominated in exocarp and mesocarp.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Collectively, the data suggests, first, that the process of endocarp determination and differentiation in peach and <it>Arabidopsis </it>share common regulators and, secondly, reveals a previously unknown coordination of competing lignin and flavonoid biosynthetic pathways during early fruit development.</p

Monitoraggio della sintesi di etilene e composti fenolici durante la morfogenesi in vitro di Prunus avium cv Lapins

Lo stress indotto dalle manipolazioni in vitro stimola la produzione da parte degli espianti di varie sostanze volatili tra le quali, quella relativamente pi\uf9 studiata, \ue8 l'etilene il cui ruolo nelle diverse fasi della coltura in vitro \ue8 alquanto controverso. \uc8 stata valutata la variazione degli eventi di rigenerazione indotti in porzioni apicali di colture asettiche di germogli di ciliegio cv Lapins trattate con ethylsorb, rispetto al controllo non trattato. A tal fine \ue8 stato creato un sistema che permettesse l\u2019assenza di scambi gassosi con l\u2019atmosfera esterna garantendo, al contempo, il mantenimento della sterilit\ue0 del materiale vegetale. La presenza di etilene \ue8 stata monitorata giornalmente mediante gascromatografia e gli eventi di rigenerazione a partire dalla seconda settimana dopo il pre-trattamento dei germogli al buio. Al primo rilievo i campioni trattati con ethylsorb hanno mostrato percentuali di rigenerazione significativamente maggiori rispetto al controllo che ha posticipato il conseguimento della stessa efficienza rigenerativa al rilievo successivo. Al fine di verificare l\u2019effetto dell\u2019etilene sulle attivit\ue0 enzimatiche ossidative correlabili alla senescenza e agli imbrunimenti che si manifestano durante la morfogenesi, \ue8 stata determinata, mediante HPLC, la concentrazione di composti derivanti dalla via biosintetica dei fenilpropanoidi in tessuti indotti alla morfogenesi e mantenuti in presenza di etilene o di ethylsorb. I prelievi dei campioni per le valutazioni erano effettuati a differenti stadi di sviluppo delle colture per monitorare le variazioni sia qualitative che quantitative dei polifenoli durante l\u2019induzione della morfogenesi. Il profilo dei composti oggetto di studio subiva modificazioni nel corso del processo morfogenico e le variazioni pi\uf9 significative hanno riguardato i flavanoli (catechina) e gli acidi idrossicinnamici (caffeico, ferulico) che mostravano andamenti differenti in relazione alla presenza di ethylsorb. In particolare, quando le colture trattate con ethylsorb presentavano la minima concentrazione di flavanoli, quelle in cui era presente etilene raggiungevano il loro massimo; stesso comportamento si verificava con gli acidi idrossicinnamici anche se in termini pi\uf9 ridotti. Una diminuzione della produzione di etilene potrebbe essere responsabile di un decremento dell\u2019attivit\ue0 della PAL (Kevers et al., 1984) l\u2019enzima a monte del pathway di biosintesi dei flavanoli e idrossibenzoici. Esperienze condotte su colture cellulari di t\ue8 (Bagratishvili and Zaprometov, 1988) evidenziano che la presenza dell\u2019etilene favorisce la crescita delle colture e influenza la sintesi di fenoli ed in particolar modo la concentrazione di flavanoli (catechina + procianidina)

Morphological and physiological behaviour of sweet cherry 'somaclone' HS plants in field

The somaclonal variant HS (HS), regenerated from Prunus avium `Hedelfinger\u2019 (H) leaf explants, had previously been molecularly and physiologically characterized both in vitro and in early ex vitro condition showing reduced apical dominance. Somaclone HS, here assessed for several morphological and physiological field performances showed reduced vegetative vigour as determined by trunk circumference and tree height nevertheless natural architecture of the tree was preserved. HS canopy was less crowded compared to H as leaves were shorter with a shorter petiole, they were better spaced out as indicated by internodes length and they had a significantly thinner cuticle and wax layer compared to that found on H leaves surface. Leaf histological analysis also evidenced that HS had thicker mesophyll and palisade the latter composed of more than one layer which, together with increased stomatal density, are distinguishing signs of extensively sun exposed leaves. HS showed a reduction in leaf chlorophyll b and \u3b2-carotene content. On the other hands no significant differences were found between the two genotypes in terms of net photosynthesis, intercellular CO2 concentration, leaf transpiration and water use efficiency. HS flowered one year later than H and fertility parameters such as floral buds and number of flowers per bud were reduced. In consideration of the fact that the large size of trees has contributed to make P. avium commercial cultivars unpopular with modern orchardists, HS could be used as either germplasm in breeding programs aiming to reduce tree vigour or a rootstock

Rigenerazione e trasformazione del pesco : risposte varietali

Shoot regeneration ability and competence to A. tumefaciens genetic transformation of four peach cultivars were investigated. A significant role of both genotype and culture condition was found