Molecular characterization of old local grapevine varieties from South East European countries

South East European (SEE) viticulture partially relies on native grapevine varieties, previously scarcely described. In order to characterize old local grapevine varieties and assess the level of synonymy and genetic diversity from SEE countries, we described and genotyped 122 accessions from Albania, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H), Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Republika Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Romania on nine most commonly used microsatellite loci. As a result of the study a total of 86 different genotypes were identified. All loci were very polymorphic and a total of 96 alleles were detected, ranging from 8 to 14 alleles per locus, with an average allele number of 10.67. Overall observed heterozygosity was 0.759 and slightly lower than expected (0.789) while gene diversity per locus varied between 0.600 (VVMD27) and 0.906 (VVMD28). Eleven cases of synonymy and three of homonymy have been recorded for samples harvested from different countries. Cultivars with identical genotypes were mostly detected between neighboring countries. No clear differentiation between countries was detected although several specific alleles were detected. The integration of the obtained genetic data with ampelographic ones is very important for accurate identification of the SEE cultivars and provides a significant tool in cultivar preservation and utilization.

The Influence of the Type of Lime on the Hygric Behaviour and Bio-Receptivity of Hemp Lime Composites Used for Rendering Applications in Sustainable New Construction and Repair Works

The benefits of using sustainable building materials are linked not only to the adoption of manufacturing processes that entail reduced pollution, CO2 emissions and energy consumption, but also to the onset of improved performance in the building. In particular, hemp-lime composite shows low shrinkage and high thermal and acoustic insulating properties. However, this material also shows a great ability to absorb water, an aspect that can turn out to be negative for the long-term durability of the building. For this reason, the hygric properties of hemp-based composites need to be studied to ensure the correct use of this material in construction and repair works. The water absorption, drying and transpirability of hemp composites made with aerial (in the form of dry powder and putty) and hydraulic limes were investigated here and related to the microbial growth induced by the water movements within the material. Results show that hemp-natural hydraulic lime mixes exhibit the highest transpirability and drying rate, the lowest water absorption by immersion and capillary uptake and the least intense microbial attack and chromatic change. A microscopical study of the hemp shives also related their great ability to absorb water to the near-irreversible swelling of their structure under dry-wet conditions.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 326983 (NaturALiMe), and the Spanish project MAT-2012-34473 of the Ministerio de Ciencia y Competitividad. Author MB, owner of the CANNABRIC company, had some role in the design and preparation of mortar samples and in the preparation of this manuscript, but did not have any additional role in data collection and analysis

The European Vitis Database (www.eu-vitis.de) – a technical innovation through an online uploading and interactive modification system

The objective of the European Vitis Database is to safeguard and enhance germplasm by monitoring its preservation. Two issues are strongly related to that purpose: (1) participation of collections covering almost all grape biodiversity and (2) assessment of accessions trueness to type. In the scope of the European project GrapeGen06 efforts have been made towards both objectives. The 35 participating grape germplasm repositories are found between the Iberian Peninsula and Transcaucasia, thus covering a broad range of grape diversity. Altogether they maintain 32,410 accessions. However with respect to biodiversity, gaps are still evident and further collections need to be included and trueness to type assessment absolutely needs to be pursued to organize duplication of endangered genotypes. Within the GrapeGen06 project focus was laid on the establishment of a database conferring the collection holders a high degree of responsibility and independence. Hence for the first time in a European Central Crop Database an on-line uploading application and an interactive modification system for data administration was implemented. These innovations disburden the database manager and offer the curators of collections more flexibility. Prerequisites for data import, descriptors applied, access levels, database contents, uploading, export and search functions are described

Population structure and genetic diversity in a commercial maize breeding program assessed with SSR and SNP markers

Information about the genetic diversity and population structure in elite breeding material is of fundamental importance for the improvement of crops. The objectives of our study were to (a) examine the population structure and the genetic diversity in elite maize germplasm based on simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers, (b) compare these results with those obtained from single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers, and (c) compare the coancestry coefficient calculated from pedigree records with genetic distance estimates calculated from SSR and SNP markers. Our study was based on 1,537 elite maize inbred lines genotyped with 359 SSR and 8,244 SNP markers. The average number of alleles per locus, of group specific alleles, and the gene diversity (D) were higher for SSRs than for SNPs. Modified Roger’s distance (MRD) estimates and membership probabilities of the STRUCTURE matrices were higher for SSR than for SNP markers but the germplasm organization in four heterotic pools was consistent with STRUCTURE results based on SSRs and SNPs. MRD estimates calculated for the two marker systems were highly correlated (0.87). Our results suggested that the same conclusions regarding the structure and the diversity of heterotic pools could be drawn from both markers types. Furthermore, although our results suggested that the ratio of the number of SSRs and SNPs required to obtain MRD or D estimates with similar precision is not constant across the various precision levels, we propose that between 7 and 11 times more SNPs than SSRs should be used for analyzing population structure and genetic diversity

Genetic diversity in cultivated carioca common beans based on molecular marker analysis

A wide array of molecular markers has been used to investigate the genetic diversity among common bean species. However, the best combination of markers for studying such diversity among common bean cultivars has yet to be determined. Few reports have examined the genetic diversity of the carioca bean, commercially one of the most important common beans in Brazil. In this study, we examined the usefulness of two molecular marker systems (simple sequence repeats – SSRs and amplified fragment length polymorphisms – AFLPs) for assessing the genetic diversity of carioca beans. The amount of information provided by Roger’s modified genetic distance was used to analyze SSR data and Jaccards similarity coefficient was used for AFLP data. Seventy SSRs were polymorphic and 20 AFLP primer combinations produced 635 polymorphic bands. Molecular analysis showed that carioca genotypes were quite diverse. AFLPs revealed greater genetic differentiation and variation within the carioca genotypes (Gst = 98% and Fst = 0.83, respectively) than SSRs and provided better resolution for clustering the carioca genotypes. SSRs and AFLPs were both suitable for assessing the genetic diversity of Brazilian carioca genotypes since the number of markers used in each system provided a low coefficient of variation. However, fingerprint profiles were generated faster with AFLPs, making them a better choice for assessing genetic diversity in the carioca germplasm