Vsevolod L. Vitkovsky (1928–2005): dedication to his 95th birthday

In 2023, the 95th anniversary has been commemorated since the birth of Professor Vsevolod L. Vitkovsky, Doctor of Biological Sciences, a prominent scientist and fruit expert, one of the eldest staff members of the Department of Fruit Crop Genetic Resources at the Vavilov Institute

Genetic resources and genetic technologies for the development of the Northern Territories: on the results of the Second Conference (March 13–15, 2023)

A series of events in honor of the centenary of the Polar Experiment Station of VIR founded by Nikolay Ivanovich Vavilov, was opened by the Second Scientific Conference “Genetic Resources and Genetic Technologies for the Development of Northern Territories”, which took place on March 13-15, 2023. The objective of the Conference was to provide a regular platform for the exchange of experience, consolidation of efforts and development of interdisciplinary approaches between specialists – geneticists, resource scientists and biotechnologists, as well as specialists from related areas of biology, medicine and other sciences, whose joint efforts are aimed at increasing the demand for bio-resource collections and the role of genetic technologies in the development of the northern regions of the country. The Conference was organized by the Federal Research Centre the N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR), the Vavilov Society of Geneticists and Breeders (VOGiS), the Russian Geographical Society (RGS), Scientific Council on Genetics and Breeding of the RAS, Scientific Council of RAS for the Studies of the Arctic and Antarctic, and the Russian Botanical Society (RBS). The Conference was held online. The program of the Conference included three sections: “Effective Development of Northern Agriculture: Genetic Resources of Agricultural Plants and Microorganisms, Genetic Technologies and Interdisciplinary Research”; “Farm Animals, Marine Mammals and Commercial Fish in the Far North: Conservation and Study of Genetic Resources, Breeding and Interdisciplinary Research”; “Health and Longevity of the Population in Northern Territories: Genetic and Interdisciplinary Studies (Including Model Organisms)”, as well as a Round Table “Expeditionary Research in the Arctic and Northern Regions of Russia: Experience of Young Scientists”. Altogether, five plenary presentations, one evening lecture and 23 section reports were made. Genetic, genomic and omics research using valuable genetic resources of plants, animals and microorganisms, as well as human biomaterials, including bio-resource ex situ collections from regions with extreme nature and climate conditions is the basis for acquiring knowledge, creating a set of tools and developments that contribute to socio-economic development and security in the Arctic, addressing health-saving issues, improving the quality of life of the population and partial food self-sufficiency of the regions of the North and the Arctic. The development of these aspects is important for the implementation of the State scientific and technical policy of the Russian Federation, considering the Presidential Decrees 164 of March 5, 2020, and 645 of October 26, 2020. The article presents the main trends announced at the Conference and publishes the Resolution adopted by the Conference

Efficiency of <i>in vitro</i> culture techniques applied to soybean (<i>Glycine max (L.) Merr.</i>) accessions from the VIR collection

Using a wide range of modern biotechnologies and genetic techniques to study plant germplasm accessions held by VIR makes it possible to procure valuable results, required for the development of new high-yielding cultivars adapted to adverse environmental conditions and possessing specified technological properties, particularly to identify and mark new genes and alleles useful for plant breeding. This research trend is in line with Presidential Decree No. 680 “Concerning the development of genetic technologies in the Russian Federation”. Soybean is among the key crops in agricultural production, but the use of next-generation breeding tools to obtain new soybean cultivars with desired properties is still limited. Successful application of novel methods also requires new approaches to studying soybean accessions, specifically their ability to regenerate and produce calluses for subsequent inclusion in biotechnological programs.Ten soybean accessions of various origin, contrasting in ripening schedules, were selected to study the possibility of effective introduction into in vitro culture and further assessment of their ability to produce calluses and regenerate in in vitro culture. The work included evaluating the effects of different seed sterilization techniques (one-step sterilization, using a commercial bleach, and two-step one, combining the impacts of a chlorine-containing preparation and hydrogen peroxide), types of explants (epicotyls, hypocotyls, cotyledon nodes, and cotyledon leaf segments), and phytohormone composition of nutrient medium: (1) MS + 1.13 mg/L BAP + 0.5 mg/L HA, and (2) MS +1 mg/L BAP + 0.1 mg/L IAA).The assessment results showed that the option of two-step seed sterilization was the most effective for soybean at the stage of in vitro culture initiation, while hypocotyls, epicotyls, and cotyledon nodes had the highest callus formation ability in both types of nutrient media

A modified droplet vitrification method for cryopreservation of shoot tips from <i>in vitro</i> potato plants

Collections of common potato maintained in the field genebanks suffer significant losses due to the impact of extreme environmental factors, diseases and pests. The solution of the problem of safe long-term preservation of common potato accessions is to create doublet in vitro and cryo-collections. Cryogenic collections are stored at ultra-low temperatures in cryobanks. Several methods of potato cryoconservation are known, of which the droplet vitrification method developed by B. Panis with colleagues in 2005 is the most widely used in genebanks. This paper provides a detailed description of the modified method of droplet vitrification, which is used for cryopreservation of apexes (shoot tips) of potato in vitro plants at the N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR). The method modified at VIR includes the main steps of the original droplet-vitrification method developed by B. Panis and colleagues: 1) preparation of plant material, 2) isolation of shoot tips, 3) treatment of explants with cryoprotector solutions, 4) freezing/immersion in liquid nitrogen, 5) thawing, 6) post-cryogenic recovery and evaluation of viability and regeneration capacity. The modifications of stages 1, 2 and 6 proposed at VIR lead to a significant reduction in the duration of cryopreservation experiments in comparison with the original method of B. Panis. This paper presents the results of cryopreservation of modern potato cultivars and South American landraces which were obtained using the method of droplet vitrification as modified at VIR. The majority (76.7 %) of the studied accessions of cultivated potato were characterized by high rates of postcryogenic recovery (40–95 %) and 23.3 % of the samples had the values of postcryogenic regeneration from 20 to 39 %, which corresponds to the minimal permissible values for long-term storage in a cryobank. Currently the modified droplet-vitrification method is used for further expanding of the VIR potato cryocollection

Fruits of the future: the results of the project ‘Fruits in line with science’

The paper covers the results of the civic science project that involved VIR partners – Russian Geographical Society, Russian Schoolchildren’s Movement and the Association of Communicators in Education and Science – as organizers and schoolchildren, students and their parents from different regions of Russia as participants. The project, started in 2020 with observations of a single crop – an apple tree, elicited a positive response from motivated schoolchildren and was continued in 2021–2022 with the inclusion of various fruit and berry crops. In the course of the three years of the project, a phenological database was replenished with 3340 entries made by 670 project participants

Investigation of the post-cryogenic regeneration ability of potato varieties under different cultivation conditions

Cryopreservation provides long-term storage of the gene pool of potato varieties in cryobanks at extremely low temperatures. Currently, droplet vitrification is the most widely used method for cryopreservation of potato varieties, which is constantly improving to increase the regeneration rates of the stored plant material. Different modifications of this method are used in the world’s leading potato genebanks. This paper presents the results of studying the effect of cultivation conditions after plunging into liquid nitrogen and thawing of shoots tips and axillary buds of in vitro plants on their postcryogenic recovery. The droplet-vitrification method modified at VIR was used for cryopreservation. The factor “prolonged dark incubation of explants” did not have a significant effect on the frequency of post-cryogenic regeneration of the studied varieties except for one variety (Krepysh), for which a significant increase in the regeneration rate was observed for the shoot tips cultivated in the darkness compared to the cultivation under the photoperiod 16/8 hours (light/darkness). The frequency of post-cryogenic regeneration of shoot tips was higher than that of the axillary buds for all varieties; however, these differences were significant (p &lt; 0.05) only in two cases: for the variety Udacha (a photoperiod of 16/8 hours) and for the variety Krepysh (the dark incubation). The results of two-factor analysis of variance indicate that there is no effect of interaction of factor 1 (prolonged dark incubation) and factor 2 (explant type) on the ability of varieties to post-cryogenic recovery. Taking into account the obtained results, the further cryopreservation of an extended subset of 9 varieties was carried out using shoot tips, which, after freezing-thawing, were cultivated under the photoperiod of 16/8 hours. The frequency of post-cryogenic regeneration of these varieties varied from 30 to 60 %. A significant effect of genotype on postcryogenic recovery has been established. The ability of varieties to regenerate shoots after freezing and thawing was not related to the values of morphogenic indices of in vitro plants. The age of the meriklons (2–4 years) did not significantly affect either the morphogenic indices or the frequency of post-cryogenic regeneration

On the results of the 5th Vavilov International Conference (November 21–25, 2022)

Under the auspices of the 5th Vavilov International Conference held in St. Petersburg on 21–25 November 2022, eight events were held on the conservation, development, study and practical use of plant genetic resources (PGR) collections, as well as on the scientific heritage of Nikolay Ivanovich Vavilov and the development of the scientific schools founded by him and the activities of his associates and followers. In view of the modern context of new trends in the development of science, fundamental knowledge, modern methods and technologies, as well as of climatic and economic challenges, the development of the scientific heritage of N.I. Vavilov plays a big role for scientific and technological development. A total of 185 oral presentations was made at the 5th Vavilov International Conference. Meetings of the Conference attracted over 330 participants. This publication reflects the main objectives and content of the performed activities and contains key recommendations emanating from the Conference, including (1) recommendations for the conservation, study and use of PGR, including those on the multidisciplinary basis; (2) recommendations on activities to ensure coordination in the field of conservation, research, breeding and seed production; (3) recommendations on the normative and legislative regulation in the sphere of breeding, seed production, development, maintenance and use of genetic resource collections; (4) recommendations on training, guidance and education. Presentations made at the Conference show that over the past five years there has been a significant increase in the use of modern methodical approaches, i.e. molecular-genetic, genomic and omics in the field of PGR research. All this provides a solid basis for the development of new breeding methods (Next-Generation Breeding). At the same time, it is emphasized that new breeding technologies based on the acquired knowledge, can lead to further progress not in isolation from, but in conjunction with the amassed heritage of classical breeding. Among the discussed and proposed issues, the Conference Resolution identifies those requiring special and urgent attention: (1) the need to legislate for the preservation and expansion of crop diversity in the State Register of Varieties and Hybrids of Agricultural Plants Approved for Use; (2) the inadmissibility of reducing the list of these crops; (3) the inadmissibility of reducing of the number of state variety testing sites; (4) the inadmissibility of reducing of time limits of state variety testing from three to two years or one year; (5) the need to bring the concepts of “genetic passportˮ and “genetic passportizationˮ used in legal and regulatory acts to the canonical understanding of “genetic passportˮ as a document reflecting individual genetic features of an organism (cultivar/hybrid/breed/strain), which make it possible to distinguish its genotype from that of other organisms (cultivars/hybrids/breeds/ strains) of a particular species and the need to carefully elaborate methods of genetic certification of each crop, taking into account all types of genetic markers (molecular-genetic markers (DNA markers), protein and morphological markers). The Conference also noted that under the conditions of the increasing climate change and its sudden unpredictable fluctuations, reliable conservation of valuable plant genetic resources in situ and ex situ is required in order to avoid the irreversible loss of part of plant agrobiodiversity. In addition, extensive expeditionary surveys should be undertaken in the nearest future in crop and CWR diversity centers, under-explored areas, as well as in the regions with extreme environmental conditions and those prone to anthropogenic impacts

On the results of the Second Scientific Forum “Genetic Resources of Russia”

The Second Scientific Forum “Genetic Resources of Russia” was held in St. Petersburg, June 26-28, 2023. Thе Forum comprised nine associated scientific conferences and conference schools dedicated to the establishment, formation, conservation, development, studying and utilization of biological (bioresource) collections as well as to the activities of bioresource centers, and a round table entitled “Statutory Legal Regulation and Standards for the Work with Bioresource Collections”. More than 700 researchers representing over a hundred scientific institutions and universities from Russia and other countries participated in the Forum. In total, more than 200 oral presentations were made during those events (including 16 talks at the Forum’s Plenary Session). The participants of the Forum events thoroughly discussed the results of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of Genetic Technologies for 2019-2030 associated with the establishment and development of bioresource collections for research in the field of genetic technologies, the prospects for the promotion of this sector, and the regulatory legal framework in the sphere of ensuring conservation and development of biological (bioresource) collections, establishment and functioning of bioresource centers, and their sustainable and rational utilization in scientific research and development activities. The outcome of those discussions is presented in this publication in the form of the Forum’s Resolution. Upon reviewing the results of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of Genetic Technologies for 2019-2030 pertaining to the establishment and development of bioresource collections for research in the field of genetic technologies, the Forum recognized them as successful. The Forum approved the draft of the legal act “On Bioresource Centers and Biological (Bioresource) Collections”, which is currently under consideration in the State Duma of the Russian Federation and emphasized the need for its soonest adoption

The new directions in genetics, breeding and biotechnology of ornamental and berry crops in the N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR)

The use of modern breeding methods, biotechnology, and molecular genetics makes it possible to identify promising accessions with specified economically important traits at early pre-breeding stages. The success of creating new varieties depends on the availability of unique collections of plant genetic resources, information about genomes, possibility of in vitro cultivation with high regenerative capacity, and practical skills and competencies in this area. One of the advanced methods for accelerating the breeding process is genome editing using the CRISPR/Cas system. This method allows the effective modification of genes in order to obtain varieties with desired traits. In 2022, a new youth laboratory of genetics, breeding, biotechnology of ornamental and berry crops was set up at VIR as part of the National Project "Science and Universities". It is noteworthy that this event coincided with the 135th anniversary of the birth of N.I. Vavilov. The work of the laboratory is aimed at obtaining lines with desired properties for the further breeding process; identifying target genes of economically important traits for obtaining new varieties, lines, and hybrids; as well as creating protocols for the accelerated reproduction of virus-free material of commercially demanded varieties oriented towards import substitution. This review discusses current trends in breeding of ornamental and berry crops: e.g., flower color change in snapdragon and peony; flower aroma improvement in rose; architectonics change in actinidia; and increase of resistance to stress factors in blackberries, strawberries, and grapes

<i>In vitro</i> regeneration of soybean (a review)

This is an overview of contemporary published works dedicated to the ability of soybean plants to regenerate in vitro and the techniques to achieve high regeneration rates, which is a necessary condition for the inclusion of soybean genotypes in genome editing programs. The main factors that determine the regenerative capacity of explants from various soybean accessions are considered. The greatest effect on the efficiency of regeneration is exerted by the conditions of in vitro culture initiation, type of explant, composition of the nutrient medium, shelf life of seeds, and genotypic characteristics of soybean accessions