The passport database of VIR’s bean collection as a tool for systemizing bean genetic diversity, studying the collection’s history, and monitoring the crop’s worldwide breeding (an overview)

The main document attesting the composition of a collection is the passport database (DB), which contains basic information about every accession: its name, status, origin, the year of its placement into the collection, etc. The effort to include every detail of such information into the database opens up a number of possibilities for structuring and exploring the diversity available. For the bean collection, the history of its systemization has had several stages. In 1923, systemic recording of bean accessions that entered the collection started with their registration in special journals, called catalogues. Since the middle of the 1960s, computer aids have been used for data logging and processing. In the 1990s, the DBs thus developed were transferred to personal computers. Today, such data are formatted as a computerized passport database, unified in accordance with modern international standards and consisting of 35 fields. Analysis of the Phaseolus passport database has shown that the bean collection consists of 6586 accessions, registered in the permanent catalogue. These accessions represent four cultivated species of different breeding status from 102 countries of the world. The largest percentage in the collection belongs to the accessions of European origin (61%). The accessions from North and South Americas (over 600 and 460 entries, respectively) make up 17% of the collection, while the gene pool of Asian countries, 16%. The biggest replenishments of VIR’s bean collection in its entire long history happened in the times of the USSR (2129 entries). The passport DB also makes it possible to conduct worldwide monitoring of the breeding work with beans, because it provides a comprehensive overview of the history of bean breeding and its present-day status in foreign countries, the ex-USSR republics and the Russian Federation. The purpose of this article has been to analyze the passport database of VIR’s bean collection and the information stored in it, and produce a retrospective essay on the documentation of the Phaseolus germplasm holdings at VIR

Alkaloids of narrow-leaved lupine as a factor determining alternative ways of the crop’s utilization and breeding

Narrow-leaved lupine (Lupinus angustifolius L.), a valuable leguminous crop adapted to a wide range of climatic conditions, has a very short history of domestication. For many centuries it was used mainly as a green manure, since the success and prospects of the multi-purpose use of the species depend on its breeding improvement, in particular, on a particular concentration of alkaloids in seeds and green mass. The first varieties of scientific breeding were created only in the 1930s after the appearance of low-alkaloid mutants. Despite wide prospects for use in various areas of the national economy, unstable productivity and susceptibility to diseases hinder the production of this crop. Obviously, breeders deal only with a small part of the gene pool of the species and limited genetic resources, using mainly low-alkaloid (sweet) genotypes to create new varieties. The genetic potential of the species can be used more efficiently. At the same time, it is rational to create highly alkaloid (bitter) varieties for green manure, while food and feed varieties should not lose their adaptive potential, in particular, resistance to pathogens, due to the elimination of alkaloids. In this regard, it seems to be a productive idea to create ‘bitter/sweet’ varieties combining a high content of alkaloids in the vegetative organs and low in seeds, which can be achieved by regulating the synthesis/transport of alkaloids in the plant. The paper discusses the current state of use of the species as a green manure, fodder, food plant. Information is given on the quantity and qualitative composition of narrow-leaved lupine alkaloids, their applied value, in particular, fungicidal, antibacterial, insecticidal, the use of lupine alkaloids as active principles of drugs. Along with promising breeding considerations, the possibility of using technologies for processing raw high-alkaloid materials with the accompanying extraction of valuable ingredients for pharmaceuticals is discussed. Information is briefly presented about the genomic resources of the species and the prospects for their use in marker-assistant selection and genome editing

Alkaloid content variability in the seeds of narrow-leafed lupine accessions from the VIR collection under the conditions of the Russian Northwest

Alkaloid content was assessed in the seeds of 59 narrow-leafed lupine (Lupinus angustifolius L.) accessions from the VIR collection in the environments of Leningrad Province. The selected set included accessions of different statuses (wild forms, landraces, and advanced cultivars) and different years of introduction to the collection. Alkaloids were analyzed using gas-liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Concentrations of main alkaloids: lupanine, 13-hydroxylupanine, sparteine, angustifoline and isolupanine, and their total content were measured. The total alkaloid content variability identified in the seeds of the studied set of accessions was 0.0015 to 2.017 %. In most cases, the value of the character corresponded to the accession’s status: modern improved cultivars, with the exception of green manure ones, entered the group with the range of 0.0015–0.052 %, while landraces and wild forms showed values from 0.057 to 2.17 %. It is meaningful that the second group mainly included accessions that came to the collection before the 1950s, i. e., before the times when low-alkaloid cultivars were intensively developed. Strong variability of the character across the years was observed in the accessions grown under the same soil and climate conditions in both years. In 2019, the average content of alkaloids in the sampled set was 1.9 times higher than in 2020. An analysis of weather conditions suggested that the decrease in alkaloid content occurred due to a significant increase in total rainfall in 2020. Searching for links between the content of alkaloids and the type of pod (spontaneously non-dehiscent, or cultivated, spontaneously dehiscent, or wild, and intermediate) showed a tendency towards higher (approximately twofold in both years of research) total alkaloid content in the accessions with the wild pod type and the nearest intermediate one compared to those with the pod non-dehiscent without threshing. The correlation between the average total alkaloid content and seed color, reduced to three categories (dark, or wild, light, or cultivated, and intermediate), was significantly stronger in the group with dark seeds (5.2 times in 2019, and 3.7 times in 2020). There were no significant differences in the percentage of individual alkaloids within the total amount either between the years of research or among the groups with different pod types or the groups with different seed coat colors

SPECIES DIVERSITY OF THE VIR COLLECTION OF GRAIN LEGUME GENETIC RESOURCES AND ITS USE IN DOMESTIC BREEDING

The world’s genebanks hold 7.5 million germplasm accessions of plant genetic resources (PGR). One of the qualitative characteristics of the PGR collections is the species diversity, in particular, the presence of crop wild relatives (CWR), which makes it possible to widen the use of gene pools in the breeding process. The collection of the Vavilov Institute (VIR) is one of the most diverse holdings in the number of plant species. A survey is provided here of the species diversity in VIR’s grain legume collection, and its use in domestic breeding practice is analyzed. Comparison of this diversity with the state of PGR exploitation in the world makes it possible to assess the prospects of more efficient utilization of gene pool potential, especially for species that are unjustifiably cultivated on a too small scale or even neglected as crops in this country. The VIR collection of grain legumes incorporates 196 species from 9 genera of the family Fabaceae. This number includes cultigens and CWR. The cultivars of 21 species of grain legumes listed in the State Register of Breeding Achievements (2018) are adapted to the soil and climate conditions of this country. However, the species diversity of the collection could be used more efficiently in domestic plant breeding and crop production. This concerns both underutilized crops in Russia (broad beans, lima beans and grass pea) and those whose adaptive potential is adjusted only to certain and limited areas of the Russian Federation (Tepary beans and Vigna spp.). It is also necessary to exploit more efficiently species of the wild flora, both for direct utilization as pastures, green manure or phytoremediation crops and for introgressive breeding and domestication (Vicia benghalensis L., V. narbonensis L., Lathyrus sylvestris L., Lupinus hartwegii Lindl., etc.). Incorporation of crop wild relatives into the breeding process is promising for crop improvement in a number of aspects: for example, to increase resistance to diseases, pests, abiotic stressors, etc

Methodological approaches for producing doubled haploids in sugar beet and red beet (Beta vulgaris L.)

The in vitro production of doubled haploids is a biotechnological path of an accelerated development of parental lines in F1-hybrid breeding programs. Unlike the traditional inbreeding method requiring 5 to 6 generations to reach a suf­ficient homozygosity of lines, the number of generations to produce pure lines of beet by haploid technologies is reduced to 2. The production of doubled haploids by gynogenesis is the most common biotechnological approach in sugar and red beets. Protocols for the production of doubled haploids for B. vulgaris species are few and have been developed mainly for sugar beets. There are no protocols for the production of doubled haploids for red beet (B. vulgaris convar. esculenta Salisb.), and the protocols developed for sugar beet (B. vulgaris convar. saccharifera Alef.) are ineffective for red beet, even though these two crops belong to the same species. The greatest success has been achieved in the production of doubled haploids by gynogenesis through isolated ovule culture, especially in sugar beet. Studies on the production of doubled haploids by androgenesis were actively carried out in the 1970s and 1980s and did not lead to the production of regenerated plants. However, at present, there is renewed interest among researchers in this approach, and scientists in different countries are conducting studies of Beta vulgaris androgenesis through isolated microspore culture. This article provides an overview of studies devoted to the production of doubled haploids, addressing the main problems of doubled haploid technologies, and methods to increase the frequency of embryogenesis and doubled haploid plant formation in B. vulgaris crops

Impact of weather and climate on seed protein and oil content of soybean in the North Сaucasus

For a targeted search of initial breeding material for the quality of soybean seeds, it is necessary to know the patterns of the dependence of the corresponding seed characters on the weather and climatic conditions in a particular region. Global climatic change, the concretization of which is relevant, has a share in this dependence. Thus, the aim of this work was to identify the relationship between the variability of protein and oil content in soybean seeds with climatic parameters in the North Caucasus as well as trends in this variability over a long time period. The study of 1 442 soybean accessions from VIR collection in the Krasnodar region during 1987–2015 had been carried out and the tendencies of the variability of protein and oil content in seeds in this environment were estimated. The regression analysis in differences with forward stepwise selection of variables has been used to construct models for the dependence of the protein and oil content on generalized agrometeorological indices. During 1987–2015, for the period with temperatures above 10 °C, the sums of active temperatures increased by 218 °C/10 years and precipitation decreased by 20.9 mm/10 years. In the dynamics of protein content, a trend has been revealed as an increase by 2.5 % over 10 years, while there is no reliable trend in oil content. The maximum average mean of oil content and the smallest protein were in the middle-maturing accessions (22.2 and 38.8 %), and a relatively high protein content was detected, on average, in the early- (21.6 and 40.0 %) and late-maturing (20.2 and 39.9 %) varieties. The protein content had been increasing with a growth of the duration of the period with temperatures above 22 °C and decreasing with a raise in precipitation over a period of temperatures above 18 °C. The accumulation of oil in seeds was promoted by an increase of the hydrothermal coefficient over the period with temperatures above 19 °C, and, in late-maturating varieties, prevented by a prolonged autumn period with temperatures below 15 °C. Long-term growth in protein content is due to both climatic change and genetic improvement of varieties

УСПЕШНОЕ УДАЛЕНИЕ В-КЛЕТОЧНОЙ ЛИМФОМЫ ПРАВЫХ ОТДЕЛОВ СЕРДЦА И ПРОТЕЗИРОВАНИЕ ТРИКУСПИДАЛЬНОГО КЛАПАНА У ВИЧ-ИНФИЦИРОВАННОГО ПАЦИЕНТА

ABSTRACT. Primary B-cell lymphoma of the heart is an extremely rare disease. We report a case of successful removal of the right heart B-cell lymphoma and the tricuspid valve replacement in a hIV-infected patient. The use of modern diagnostic procedures and aggressive surgical management allow clinical effect in this category of patients to be achieved. РЕЗЮМЕ. Первичная В-клеточная лимфома сердца относится к редким опухолям. В статье представлен клинический случай успешного хирургического удаления первичной лимфомы правых отделов сердца у ВИЧ-инфицированного пациента. Использование современных диагностических методов исследования и агрессивной хирургической тактики позволяют достичь клинического эффекта у указанной категории пациентов.

УСПЕШНОЕ УДАЛЕНИЕ В-КЛЕТОЧНОЙ ЛИМФОМЫ ПРАВЫХ ОТДЕЛОВ СЕРДЦА И ПРОТЕЗИРОВАНИЕ ТРИКУСПИДАЛЬНОГО КЛАПАНА У ВИЧ-ИНФИЦИРОВАННОГО ПАЦИЕНТА

ABSTRACT. Primary B-cell lymphoma of the heart is an extremely rare disease. We report a case of successful removal of the right heart B-cell lymphoma and the tricuspid valve replacement in a hIV-infected patient. The use of modern diagnostic procedures and aggressive surgical management allow clinical effect in this category of patients to be achieved. РЕЗЮМЕ. Первичная В-клеточная лимфома сердца относится к редким опухолям. В статье представлен клинический случай успешного хирургического удаления первичной лимфомы правых отделов сердца у ВИЧ-инфицированного пациента. Использование современных диагностических методов исследования и агрессивной хирургической тактики позволяют достичь клинического эффекта у указанной категории пациентов.

Standing stock of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba Dana, 1850) (Euphausiacea) in the Southwest Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean, 2018–19

Estimates of the distribution and density of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba Dana, 1850) were derived from a large-scale survey conducted during the austral summer in the Southwest Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean and across the Scotia Sea in 2018–19, the ‘2018–19 Area 48 Survey’. Survey vessels were provided by Norway, the Association of Responsible Krill harvesting companies and Aker BioMarine AS, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Republic of Korea, and China. Survey design followed the transects of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources synoptic survey, carried out in 2000 and from regular national surveys performed in the South Atlantic sector by the U.S., China, Republic of Korea, Norway, and the U.K. The 2018–19 Area 48 Survey represents only the second large-scale survey performed in the area and this joint effort resulted in the largest ever total transect line (19,500 km) coverage carried out as one single exercise in the Southern Ocean. We delineated and integrated acoustic backscatter arising from krill swarms to produce distribution maps of krill areal biomass density and standing stock (biomass) estimates. Krill standing stock for the Area 48 was estimated to be 62.6 megatonnes (mean density of 30 g m–2 over 2 million km2) with a sampling coefficient variation of 13%. The highest mean krill densities were found in the South Orkney Islands stratum (93.2 g m–2) and the lowest in the South Georgia Island stratum (6.4 g m–2). The krill densities across the strata compared to those found during the previous survey indicate some regional differences in distribution and biomass. It is currently not possible to assign any such differences or lack of differences between the two survey datasets to longer term trends in the environment, krill stocks or fishing pressure