Chromatin Characterization in Dasypyrum

An open pollinated natural population and an inbred line of Dasypyrum villosum were cytologically examined. Nuclear DNA content, chromosomal distribution of the C-banded heterochromatin and the chromosomal site of action of restriction endonucleases were investigated. The results demonstrate that in D. villosum two classes of heterochromatin exist with different chromosomal location and reacting properties. One fraction of heterochromatin appears to be more affected by individual variation than the other. Preliminary examination of the chromosomal characteristics of D. breviaristatum indicate that the evolution of this latter species involved a more complicated process than the simple duplication of its chromosome number

Nanoparticles and higher plants

Abstract Nanomaterials and nanotechnology have been widely applied in the world in this last decade. Nanotechnology provides the tool and the technological platforms for the study and transformation of biological systems. Few studies have focused on the effects and mechanisms of nanomaterials on plants. The results of these studies have been reported with the aim to provide further insight into connections between plants and nanomaterials

Flavonoids analysis of Vicia species of Narbonensis complex: V. kalakhensis Khatt., Maxt. & Bisby and V. eristalioides Maxt.

A qualitative and quantitative analysis of flavonoids has been carried out for first time in Vicia eristalioides Maxt. and in Vicia kalakhensis Khatt., Maxt. & Bisby. Free agly- cones were consistently absent from both species while kaempferol derivatives were pre dominant in V. kalakhensis; a more complex mixture of flavonoid glycosides,(kaempferol and quercetin glycosides) was present in V. eristalioides. Therer was no evidence of flavones glycosides.The flavonoid patterns of V. kalakhensis and V. eristalioides were compared with that of V. narbonensis which is considered to be the ancestor of the Narbonensis complex. The results indicate that qualitative and quantitative flavonoid data may be used in the study of the organization and evolution of the Narbonensis complex

The Weather Radar Observations Applied to Shallow Landslides Prediction: A Case Study From North-Western Italy

In northern Italy rainfall-triggered shallow landslides are recurrent hazardous phenomena that cause casualties and extensive damages. In the last decades several early warning systems (EWSs) have been developed based on rainfall intensity–event duration (I-D) thresholds derived by long rain gages time series. However, rain gages density and their representativeness limit reliability of such EWSs. In the past decades, several studies explored successfully the usefulness of reliable quantitative precipitation estimates (QPEs) by weather radar. The availability of high spatial and temporal resolution QPEs with short latency of the data makes those observations appealing as input data to automatic EWSs. Nevertheless, weather radar based QPEs can be affected by several sources of errors and uncertainties (miscalibration, partial beam blocking, overhanging precipitation, and so on). Analyzing the heavy precipitations that hit Piemonte, north-western Italy, on November 2016, causing floods and triggering widespread shallow landslides, this work presents a fruitful case study of operational weather radar application in shallow landslides early warning system