Molecular approach to assess the origin of cv. Marzemino

DNA marker analysis was used to determine the varietal identity of Marzemino accessions in public collections and private Italian vineyards; relationships among this varietal group and Vertzami, a traditional Greek cultivar, were also investigated through SSR and AFLP approaches. Molecular results strongly support the relationship among Vertzami cultivars growing in Greece, Marzemino and several Italian accessions selected on the basis of etymological similarity. SSR data exclude a direct descent of Marzemino, or other related Italian varieties, from Vertzami; on the other hand the level of similarity among Vertzami, Marzemino and some related varieties indicates a possible common ancestor. None of the accessions is considered as common ancestor but on the basis of genomic variability in the Marzemino group and of the relationships with the other Italian cultivars a probable Italian ancestor is supposed.

Crop changes from the XVI century to the present in a hill/mountain area of eastern Liguria (Italy)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Chronological information on the composition and structure of agrocenoses and detailed features of land cover referring to specific areas are uncommon in ethnobotanical studies, especially for periods before the XIX century. The aim of this study was to analyse the type of crop or the characteristics of soil cover from the XVI century to the present.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This diachronic analysis was accomplished through archival research on the inventories of the Parish of St. Mary and those of the Municipality of Pignone and from recent surveys conducted in an area of eastern Liguria (Italy).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Archival data revealed that in study area the primary means of subsistence during the last five centuries, until the first half of the XX century, was chestnuts. In the XVIII and XIX centuries, crop diversification strongly increased in comparison with previous and subsequent periods. In more recent times, the abandonment of agricultural practices has favoured the re-colonisation of mixed woodland or cluster-pine woodland.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Ancient documents in the ecclesiastic or municipal inventories can be a very useful tool for enhancing the knowledge of agricultural practice, as well as of subsistence methods favoured by local populations during a particular time and for reconstructing land use change over time.</p

Guida Botanica al Parco Alto Garda Bresciano

Un invito a scoprire le splendide attrattive botaniche del Parco Alto Garda Bresciano, dal lago alle cime più alte. Dopo una colloquiale introduzione sulle peculiarità della vita vegetale, si prosegue osservando l’affascinante interazione tra le piante, l’uomo e le caratteristiche fisiche e climatiche del territorio, fino a delineare una sintesi paesaggistica che pone in relazione la varietà di habitat con l’eccezionale ricchezza floro-vegetazionale del Parco Alto Garda Bresciano. Più di 900 illustrazioni aiuteranno a riconoscere le piante e le comunità vegetali delle diverse unità di paesaggio. Le note escursionistiche consentiranno, inoltre, di osservare direttamente tutte le tipologie vegetazionali descritte, nonché tutte le piante più rappresentative dell’Alto Garda Bresciano

Was Charles Darwin right in his explanation of the ‘abominable mystery’?

The site and time of origin of angiosperms are still debated. The co-occurrence of many of the early branching lineages of flowering plants in a region somewhere between Australia and the SW Pacific islands suggests a possible Gondwanan origin of angiosperms. The recent recognition of Zealandia, a 94% submerged continent in the east of Australia, could explain the discrepancy between molecular clocks and fossil records about the age of angiosperms, supporting the old Darwinian hypothesis of a “lost continent” to explain the “abominable mystery” regarding the origin and rapid radiation of flowering plants

HOST-MICROBIOTA INTERACTIONS: ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS AFFECTING CELL-WALL PROTEIN EXPRESSION IN BIFIDOBACTERIUM SPP.

A potential role of gastrointestinal microbiota in irritable bowel syndrome, obesity, food antigen-related adverse responses and diabetes has been indicated. In many diseases an altered gastrointestinal microbiota is related to the reduction of the population of bifidobacteria. Predicting the distribution and colonization of bifidobacteria in the gastrointestinal tract is increasingly warranted. The interacting strain-inherent and cultivation-dependent effects on microbial cell surface behavior may have broad consequences for the fate and ecology of bifidobacteria, therefore surface properties may determine an isolate's physical fate. In bifidobacteria the effects of environmental factors on the variability of cell-wall protein expression (BIFOP) and gastrointestinal tract adhesion properties have been studied.We have verified in vitro that environmental factors, which can possibly be present in vivo, are able to modify BIFOPs expression and the adhesion potential of bifidobacterial species, suggesting their important role in modulating the co