Emerging Genetic Technologies to Improve Crop Productivity

Global food security is threatened by reduction of agricultural resources and by an increasing world-wide population. Given this future context, traits relating to yield stability and sustainability are the major focus of plant breeding. Nowadays, plant breeding represents a key component involved in global food security. The process of plant breeding is theoretically simple, but its power resides in the fact that it creates novelty where to select. Crop productivity is a quantitative trait and, as such, bases on a complex genetic mechanism and on a strong environment influence. From the simple plant sexual crossing, the way to enhance crop productivity has been subject to profound innovations giving birth to the molecular plant breeding, a discipline that integrates molecular biology, biotechnology and genomic research and support plant breeders to enhance complex traits. Here, we describe all the emerging genetic technologies that can be used to study and exploit genetic diversity in relation to crop productivity enhancement. In particular, we gave a general view on the genetic basing crop productivity, the traditional methods used for its study and the reasons that lead researchers to develop newer technologies

The antioxidant properties of plant flavonoids: their exploitation by molecular plant breeding

Flavonoids are a large group of plant secondary metabolites that have a high popularity as nutraceuticals. Further, they contribute to food quality, acting as preservatives, pigments and strong antioxidants. Flavonoids also play an important role in plant stress tolerance, with consequent contribution to crop productivity. The enhancement of flavonoid content is an alluring goal that meets the food requirements of an increasing and more demanding world population. After illustrating the relevance of flavonoids for human nutrition, food technology and plant protection, this review covers breeding and molecular strategies used to exploit flavonoid biodiversity present among plant species. Highlighted here are also recent advances in genome sequencing and -omics tools that facilitate the identification of genetic regions influencing flavonoid production in relevant agricultural species. Finally, the review outlines established and new biotechnological techniques which can help to functionalize and use flavonoid genes to improve both the quality and the quantity of these outstanding compounds. The final message of this review is that flavonoids can be an interesting target for molecular plant breeding that can greatly impact both primary agricultural products and food technology

Specialized metabolites and valuable molecules in crop and medicinal plants:The evolution of their use and strategies for their production

Plants naturally produce a terrific diversity of molecules, which we exploit for promoting our overall well-being. Plants are also green factories. Indeed, they may be exploited to biosynthesize bioactive molecules, proteins, carbohydrates and biopolymers for sustainable and large-scale production. These molecules are easily converted into commodities such as pharmaceuticals, antioxidants, food, feed and biofuels for multiple industrial processes. Novel plant biotechnological, genetics and metabolic insights ensure and increase the applicability of plant-derived compounds in several industrial sectors. In particular, synergy between disciplines, including apparently distant ones such as plant physiology, pharmacology, ‘omics sciences, bioinformatics and nanotechnology paves the path to novel applications of the so-called molecular farming. We present an overview of the novel studies recently published regarding these issues in the hope to have brought out all the interesting aspects of these published studies

The wild side of potato: insights into the genome sequence of the stress-tolerant S. commersonii Dun

Solanum commersonii is a potato species native to Central and South America. Despite being genetically isolated from cultivated potato, in the past few years it has garnered significant research interest because it exhibits high tolerance to both biotic and abiotic stresses. Among the abiotic stresses, particularly interesting are its freezing tolerance and capacity to cold acclimatize. Little is understood of the genetic determi- nants and mechanisms beyond its resistance traits. This is partially due to the lack of genomic resources for potato germplasm. The group at the University of Naples has recently decoded, for the first time, the genome of S. commersonii, ushering in a new era of whole-genome sequencing of wild potato relatives. After illustrating the genome structure and organization of this species and its intrigffuing evolutionary roots, this chapter describes findings relative to the identification of the candidate genes for cold stress tolerance. The genome sequence of S. commersonii will pave the way to an understanding of the molecular dynamics that have given this species so many adaptive characteristics

Dicer-like and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase gene family identification and annotation in the cultivated Solanum tuberosum and its wild relative S. commersonii

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Functional characterization of DcMYB11, an R2R3 MYB associated with the purple pigmentation of carrot petiole

The accumulation of anthocyanin pigments can exhibit different patterns across plant tissues and crop varieties. This variability allowed the investigation of the molecular mechanisms behind the biosynthesis of these pigments in several plant species. Among crops, carrots have a well-defined anthocyanin pigmentation pattern depending on the genic background. In this work, we report on the discovery of DNA structural differences affecting the activity of an R2R3 MYB (encoded by DcMYB11) involved in anthocyanin regulation in carrot petiole. To this end, we first verified the function of DcMYB11 using heterologous systems and identified three different alleles which may explain differences in petiole pigmentation. Characterization of the DcMYB11 alleles at the 5' upstream sequence unveiled a sequence that functions as a putative enhancer. In conclusion, this study provides novel insight into the molecular mechanisms controlling anthocyanin accumulation in carrot. By these outcomes, we expanded our knowledge on the cis-regulatory sequences in plants.EEA La ConsultaFil: D’Amelia, Vincenzo. National Research Council. Institute of Bioscience and BioResources; ItaliaFil: D’Amelia, Vincenzo. University of Naples Federico II. Department of Agricultural Sciences; ItaliaFil: Curaba, Julien. North Carolina State University. Horticulture Science Department. Plants for Human Health Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Abid, Muhammad Ali. North Carolina State University. Horticulture Science Department. Plants for Human Health Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Esposito, Salvatore. CREA Research Centre for Cereal and Industrial Crops; ItaliaFil: Cavagnaro, Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina.Fil: Cavagnaro, Pablo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria La Consulta; Argentina.Fil: Carputo, Domenico. University of Naples Federico II. Department of Agricultural Sciences; ItaliaFil: Iorizzo, Massimo. North Carolina State University. Horticulture Science Department. Plants for Human Health Institute; Estados Unido

Abiotic Stresses Elicitation Potentiates the Productiveness of Cardoon Calli as Bio-Factories for Specialized Metabolites Production

Cultivated cardoon (Cynara cardunculus L. var altilis) is a Mediterranean traditional food crop. It is adapted to xerothermic conditions and also grows in marginal lands, producing a large biomass rich in phenolic bioactive metabolites and has therefore received attention for pharmaceutical, cosmetic and innovative materials applications. Cardoon cell cultures can be used for the biotechnological production of valuable molecules in accordance with the principles of cellular agriculture. In the current study, we developed an elicitation strategy on leaf-derived cardoon calli for boosting the production of bioactive extracts for cosmetics. We tested elicitation conditions that trigger hyper-accumulation of bioactive phenolic metabolites without compromising calli growth through the application of chilling and salt stresses. We monitored changes in growth, polyphenol accumulation, and antioxidant capability, along with transcriptional variations of key chlorogenic acid and flavonoids biosynthetic genes. At moderate stress intensity and duration (14 days at 50–100 mM NaCl) salt exerted the best eliciting effect by stimulating total phenols and antioxidant power without impairing growth. Hydroalcoholic extracts from elicited cardoon calli with optimal growth and bioactive metabolite accumulation were demonstrated to lack cytotoxicity by MTT assay and were able to stimulate pro-collagen and aquaporin production in dermal cells. In conclusion, we propose a “natural” elicitation system that can be easily and safely employed to boost bioactive metabolite accumulation in cardoon cell cultures and also in pilot-scale cell culture production

Biochemical Characterization and Effects of Cooking Methods on Main Phytochemicals of Red and Purple Potato Tubers, a Natural Functional Food

Potato is a staple food crop and an important source of dietary energy. Its tubers contain several essential amino acids, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals that contribute to the nutritional value of this important product. Recently, scientific interest has focused on purple and red potatoes that, due to the presence of anthocyanins, may be considered as natural powerful functional food. The aim of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of pigmented varieties, the types of anthocyanins accumulated and the level of both beneficial phytochemicals (vitamin C and chlorogenic acids, CGAs) and anti-nutritional compounds (glycoalkaloids) following various cooking methods. The analyses described the presence of a mix of several acylated anthocyanins in pigmented tubers along with high level of CGA. The amount of antioxidants was differently affected by heat treatments according to the type of molecule and the cooking methods used. In some cases, the beneficial compounds were made more available by heat treatments for the analytical detection as compared to raw materials. Data reported here describe both the agronomic properties of these pigmented varieties and the effects of food processing methods on bioactive molecules contained in this natural functional food. They may provide useful information for breeders aiming to develop new varieties that could include desirable agronomical and industrial processing traits