scholarly journals Revision of Alnus (Betulaceae) in Iran using molecular ITS markers and morphological characteristics

Biologija ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tahereh Gholamiterojeni ◽  
Fariba Sharifnia ◽  
Taher Nejadsattari ◽  
Mostafa Assadi ◽  
Seyed Mohammad Mehdi Hamdi

Alnus (Alder) is a genus of Betulaceae, which comprises more than 29 species in the world. According to different classifications of flora, eight taxa of the genus naturally grow in Iran and are distributed along the northern slope of Albourz Mountains in Iran (Hyrcanian forests). In the current research, we investigated morphological characteristics and phylogenetic relationships of 31 populations of the genus in Iran. Twenty-eight qualitative and quantitative traits were studied for morphological evaluation and ITS molecular marker was investigated for molecular study. We used MVSP, SPSS, MrBayes, RAXMLGUI, Mesquite 2.71, Modeltest 3.7 software packages for statistical analyses. Morphological features varied widely among the studied taxa and ANOVA test revealed significant difference for most of them. Moreover, the angle of leaf base, the leaf margin shape, the length and width of the leaf blade, fruits length, and the presence of hair on the petioles, young twigs, and buds were more variable morphological traits. The studied taxa were clustered separately in the UPGMA tree, PCA and PCO plots using morphological traits. In addition, CA-joined plot showed each taxon to have distinct morphological trait(s), which is useful in the identification of the taxa. Phylogeny analysis revealed that Alnus genus is a monophyletic group. Furthermore, the studied taxa were clustered separately in phylogenetic dendrogram. According to morphological and ITS data, we listed ten taxa of the genus in Iran and introduced A. hyrcana and A. longiflorescentia as two new species from Hyrcanian forests of Iran.

Agronomy ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ranjita Thapa ◽  
Matthew Blair

Amaranthus L. is genus of C4 dicotyledonous herbaceous plants comprising approximately 70 species, with three subgenera, which contains both cultivated and wild types, where cultivated ones are used for food grains, leafy vegetables, potential forages and ornamentals. Grain amaranth are pseudocereals from three species domesticated in North and South America and are notable for containing high amount of protein and minerals and balanced amino acid in their small seeds. Genetic diversity analysis of amaranths is important for development of core set of germplasm with widely diverse population and effective utilization of plant genetic resources. In this study, we evaluated a germplasm collection of 260 amaranth accessions from United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) and 33 accessions from Seed Savers’ Exchange (SSE). We evaluated morphological traits like blade pigmentation, blade shape, petiole pigmentation, branching index, flower color, stem color, inflorescence density, inflorescence shape, terminal inflorescence attitude, plant height and yield characteristics across all 293 accessions. We compared clustering within the USDA and SSE collection and across both collections. Data analysis of morphological data showed significant difference of petiole pigmentation, stem color, blade pigmentation, blade shape and flower color across different clusters of accessions of USDA unlike among different clusters of SSE where we found significant difference of only blade pigmentation, blade shape and flower color. The relationship depicted by neighbor-joining dendogram using the morphological markers was consistent with some but not all of the differences observed between species. Some divisions were found between cultivated and weedy amaranths that was substantiated by morphological characteristics but no separation of South and Central American species was observed. Substantial phenotypic plasticity limits the use of morphological analysis for phylogenetic analysis but does show that important morphological traits such as inflorescence type and plant architecture can cross species boundaries. Similarly, color variants for leaves, flowers and seeds are not exclusive to one cluster in our study nor to one species and can be used widely for breeding any of the cultigens, but not to species identification. Our findings will help in germplasm conservation of grain amaranths and facilitate in this crop’s improvement. It will also help on developing effective breeding programs involving different plant characteristics and morphological traits of Amaranths.


Plant Disease ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 98 (5) ◽  
pp. 691-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. H. Jeon ◽  
W. Cheon

Worldwide, Japanese yew (Taxus cuspidata Sieb. & Zucc.) is a popular garden tree, with large trees also being used for timber. In July 2012, leaf blight was observed on 10% of Japanese yew seedling leaves planted in a 500-m2 field in Andong, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, South Korea. Typical symptoms included small, brown lesions that were first visible on the leaf margin, which enlarged and coalesced into the leaf becoming brown and blighted. To isolate potential pathogens from infected leaves, small sections of leaf tissue (5 to 10 mm2) were excised from lesion margins. Eight fungi were isolated from eight symptomatic trees, respectively. These fungi were hyphal tipped twice and transferred to potato dextrose agar (PDA) plates for incubation at 25°C. After 7 days, the fungi produced circular mats of white aerial mycelia. After 12 days, black acervuli containing slimy spore masses formed over the mycelial mats. Two representative isolates were further characterized. Their conidia were straight or slightly curved, fusiform to clavate, five-celled with constrictions at the septa, and 17.4 to 28.5 × 5.8 to 7.1 μm. Two to four 19.8- to 30.7-μm-long hyaline filamentous appendages (mostly three appendages) were attached to each apical cell, whereas one 3.7- to 7.1-μm-long hyaline appendage was attached to each basal cell, matching the description for Pestalotiopsis microspora (2). The pathogenicity of the two isolates was tested using 2-year-old plants (T. cuspidata var. nana Rehder; three plants per isolate) in 30-cm-diameter pots filled with soil under greenhouse conditions. The plants were inoculated by spraying the leaves with an atomizer with a conidial suspension (105 conidia/ml; ~50 ml on each plant) cultured for 10 days on PDA. As a control, three plants were inoculated with sterilized water. The plants were covered with plastic bags for 72 h to maintain high relative humidity (24 to 28°C). At 20 days after inoculation, small dark lesions enlarged into brown blight similar to that observed on naturally infected leaves. P. microspora was isolated from all inoculated plants, but not the controls. The fungus was confirmed by molecular analysis of the 5.8S subunit and flanking internal transcribed spaces (ITS1 and ITS2) of rDNA amplified from DNA extracted from single-spore cultures, and amplified with the ITS1/ITS4 primers and sequenced as previously described (4). Sequences were compared with other DNA sequences in GenBank using a BLASTN search. The P. microspora isolates were 99% homologous to other P. microspora (DQ456865, EU279435, FJ459951, and FJ459950). The morphological characteristics, pathogenicity, and molecular data assimilated in this study corresponded with the fungus P. microspora (2). This fungus has been previously reported as the causal agent of scab disease of Psidium guajava in Hawaii, the decline of Torreya taxifolia in Florida, and the leaf blight of Reineckea carnea in China (1,3). Therefore, this study presents the first report of P. microspora as a pathogen on T. cuspidata in Korea. The degree of pathogenicity of P. microspora to the Korean garden evergreen T. cuspidata requires quantification to determine its potential economic damage and to establish effective management practices. References: (1) D. F. Farr and A. Y. Rossman, Fungal Databases, Syst. Mycol. Microbiol. Lab. Retrieved from http://nt.ars-grin.gov/fungaldatabases/ (2) L. M. Keith et al. Plant Dis. 90:16, 2006. (3) S. S. N. Maharachchikumbura. Fungal Diversity 50:167, 2011. (4) T. J. White et al. PCR Protocols. Academic Press, San Diego, CA, 1990.


Plant Disease ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanxiang Qi ◽  
Yanping Fu ◽  
Jun Peng ◽  
Fanyun Zeng ◽  
Yanwei Wang ◽  
...  

Banana (Musa acuminate L.) is an important tropical fruit in China. During 2019-2020, a new leaf spot disease was observed on banana (M. acuminate L. AAA Cavendish, cv. Formosana) at two orchards of Chengmai county (19°48ʹ41.79″ N, 109°58ʹ44.95″ E), Hainan province, China. In total, the disease incidence was about 5% of banana trees (6 000 trees). The leaf spots occurred sporadically and were mostly confined to the leaf margin, and the percentage of the leaf area covered by lesions was less than 1%. Symptoms on the leaves were initially reddish brown spots that gradually expanded to ovoid-shaped lesions and eventually become necrotic, dry, and gray with a yellow halo. The conidia obtained from leaf lesions were brown, erect or curved, fusiform or elliptical, 3 to 4 septa with dimensions of 13.75 to 31.39 µm × 5.91 to 13.35 µm (avg. 22.39 × 8.83 µm). The cells of both ends were small and hyaline while the middle cells were larger and darker (Zhang et al. 2010). Morphological characteristics of the conidia matched the description of Curvularia geniculata (Tracy & Earle) Boedijn. To acquire the pathogen, tissue pieces (15 mm2) of symptomatic leaves were surface disinfected in 70% ethanol (10 s) and 0.8% NaClO (2 min), rinsed in sterile water three times, and transferred to potato dextrose agar (PDA) for three days at 28°C. Grayish green fungal colonies appeared, and then turned fluffy with grey and white aerial mycelium with age. Two representative isolates (CATAS-CG01 and CATAS-CG92) of single-spore cultures were selected for molecular identification. Genomic DNA was extracted from the two isolates, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), large subunit ribosomal DNA (LSU rDNA), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF1-α) and RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (RPB2) were amplified and sequenced with universal primers ITS1/ITS4, LROR/LR5, GPD1/GPD2, EF1-983F/EF1-2218R and 5F2/7cR, respectively (Huang et al. 2017; Raza et al. 2019). The sequences were deposited in GenBank (MW186196, MW186197, OK091651, OK721009 and OK491081 for CATAS-CG01; MZ734453, MZ734465, OK091652, OK721100 and OK642748 for CATAS-CG92, respectively). For phylogenetic analysis, MEGA7.0 (Kumar et al. 2016) was used to construct a Maximum Likelihood (ML) tree with 1 000 bootstrap replicates, based on a concatenation alignment of five gene sequences of the two isolates in this study as well as sequences of other Curvularia species obtained from GenBank. The cluster analysis revealed that isolates CATAS-CG01 and CATAS-CG92 were C. geniculata. Pathogenicity assays were conducted on 7-leaf-old banana seedlings. Two leaves from potted plants were stab inoculated by puncturing into 1-mm using a sterilized needle and placing 10 μl conidial suspension (2×106 conidia/ml) on the surface of wounded leaves and equal number of leaves were inoculated with sterile distilled water serving as control (three replicates). Inoculated plants were grown in the greenhouse (12 h/12 h light/dark, 28°C, 90% relative humidity). Necrotic lesions on inoculated leaves appeared seven days after inoculation, whereas control leaves remained healthy. The fungus was recovered from inoculated leaves, and its taxonomy was confirmed morphologically and molecularly, fulfilling Koch’s postulates. C. geniculata has been reported to cause leaf spot on banana in Jamaica (Meredith, 1963). To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. geniculata on banana in China.


2021 ◽  
Vol 100 (6) ◽  
pp. 633-639
Author(s):  
Vladimir V. Kolomin ◽  
Natalya I. Latyshevskaya ◽  
Vladimir. S. Rybkin ◽  
Irina A. Kudryasheva

Introduction. The purpose of the study was to scientifically substantiate the unification of methods for analyzing the morbidity of the population, and comparative analysis of the morbidity of the child population at the interregional level within the framework of social and hygienic monitoring. Objective. The scientific substantiation of the feasibility of an inter-regional comparative analysis of the incidence of the population in the constituent entities of the Russian Federatio to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of management decisions developed as part of social and hygienic monitoring. Material and methods. A comparative analysis of the incidence in the regions of the Southern Federal District, the occurrence and development of which is associated with air pollution, was carried out. Statistical data processing was performed by linear regression using the Statgraphics and Microsoft Excel software packages. The calculation of the Pearson correlation coefficient r to evaluate the severity of the existing trend in the variation of the variation series and the determination coefficient (R2), taking into account the reliability coefficient p <0.05. Assessed approaches to the analysis of the incidence of children in the framework of socio-hygienic monitoring in the subjects. Results. The study revealed the lack of a unified approach to the analysis of the morbidity of the population in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation within the framework of socio-hygienic monitoring, both according to the criteria for determining the priority pathologies for the region, and the duration of the analyzed period. The comparative analysis of the morbidity of the child population at the interregional level showed a significant difference in the dynamics and levels of morbidity from ecologically caused pathologies in adjacent regions, with similar social and climatic parameters. The formation of human health takes place under the conditions of the multicomponent influence of various factors. The etiology of most of the nosological forms, the degree of their dependence on the state of the external environment have been scientifically established. The most determined by the components of the environment, ecologically caused pathologies, the nature of the incidence of which is considered by the authors as a possible manifestation of the impact of a specific factor that has a priority value in the occurrence and development of these diseases. Conclusions. The study shows the expediency of unifying methods for analyzing the incidence of the population, as well as conducting a comparative analysis of the incidence of the child population at the interregional level within the framework of socio-hygienic monitoring.


2013 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 1015-1025
Author(s):  
S.Z. Stamenkovic ◽  
Rada Matic

The correlation between trophic utilization and morphology was studied for two lizard species (Podarcis melisellensis and P. siculus) from two mainland localities in the eastern Adriatic area; this is the first report of trophic and morphometric data for P. melisellensis from mainland populations. Variance partitioning showed that most of the variation in morphological traits for the analyzed lizards was the result of differences between species, and to a lesser extent between sexes. Locality did not have a strong effect on the variation of morphological traits. Prey weight is the only characteristic of prey that generally exhibits correlations with morphological characteristics rather than prey size. The pattern of correlations is generally weaker for P. melisellensis than for P. siculus. Optimal foraging theory predictions were generally confirmed: P. siculus is more constrained by trophic resource availability, with a premium on larger and heavier prey consumed in the less productive locality (SM), which can be relaxed in more productive regions (KL). P. melisellensis shows such constraints only for males in the less productive region (SM). Females of both species consume heavier prey.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 287
Author(s):  
Ivan Kovačević ◽  
Đurađ Hajder ◽  
Danijela Kondić ◽  
Dragan Mandić ◽  
Desimir Knežević

Barley is a small grain cereal, tolerant to high temperatures and drought. Due to this characteristic, it can be regarded as a promising crop for production in dry conditions. Research on five spring landraces of two-rowed barley lasted two experimental years (2011 and 2012) in agro-ecological conditions of Banja Luka. In the experiment, the standard cropping practices were applied, without irrigation. The experiment was set as a complete randomized design with four replications. All measurements were performed in 10 plants per replication. Morphological characteristics included plant height (cm), spike length (cm), grain number per spike and grain weight per spike (g). Obtained data were subjected to two-way analysis of variance with landrace and growing season as main factors. Significant treatment or interaction effects were further analysed by Fisher's least significant difference (LSD) test, often utilized for pairwise comparisons among arithmetic means. In all tested traits the maximum average values were obtained in barley landrace AM2, i.e. the plant height (86.89 cm), the spike length (8.90 cm), the grain number per spike (24.74) and the grain weight per spike (1.17 g). Due to these facts, two-rowed barley landrace AM2 can be marked as the most productive in this research, bearing a potential for different crop breeding practices.


Plant Disease ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiulan Xu ◽  
Si-yi Liu ◽  
Yicong Lv ◽  
Qian Zeng ◽  
Yinggao Liu ◽  
...  

Photinia × fraseri is a well-known green plant mainly distributed in the Yangtze River and Yellow River Basin, east and southwest of China (Guan et al. 2013). In October 2020, typical leaf blight symptoms on roughly 10% leaves in a Photinia × fraseri shrub were observed in the campus of Sichuan Agricultural University (30°42′19″ N, 103°51′29″ E). Initially, chlorotic lesions with brown margins occurred on the leaf margin, then the large patches formed to cause leaves necrotic, finally lesions to dry and acervulus bred in 2–4 months later. Five single conidium isolates were carried out (Chomnunti et al. 2014) cultured on potato dextrose agar (PDA) at 25 ℃. All isolates shared similarly morphological characteristics, which was white and thin, and the reverse were yellowish. Mycelium was hyaline, sparsely septate, measuring 1–4 μm in diam. Conidiogenesis formed after 7 days. Conidiogenous cells were discrete, lageniform, smooth, thin-walled, colorless. Conidia were fusiform, straight to slightly curved, 4-septate, 21–30 × 5–7 μm (x ̅= 27 × 6.0 μm, n=30); basal cells were obconic with truncate base, hyaline, thin- and smooth-walled, 4–7 μm long (x ̅= 5.5 μm, n=30); three median cells were doliiform with thick walls, concolorous, olivaceous, constricted at the septa, and septa and periclinal walls were darker than the rest of the cell, 14–20 μm long (x ̅= 17 μm, n=30); apical cells were hyaline, conic to cylindrical, 3.0–6.5 μm long (x ̅= 4.5 μm, n=30), with 2–4 (mostly 3) tubular apical appendages arising from the upper portion, rarely branched, 7.5–18 μm long (x ̅= 12 μm, n=50); basal appendage was single, unbranched, 3–10 μm long (x ̅= 6.5 μm, n=30). DNA was extracted from the representative strain (SICAUCC 21-0012), and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, the large subunit of the nrDNA (LSU), translation elongation factor 1-alpha (tef1-α), and partial sequences of β-tubulin (tub2) were amplified by polymerase chain reaction and sequenced with primers ITS5/ITS4, LR0R/LR5, 728F/1567R, and Bt2a/Bt2b, respectively (Zhang et al. 2012, Ariyawansa & Hyde 2018). The sequences were deposited in GenBank, viz. MZ453106, MZ453108, MZ467300, MZ467301, respectively. The nucleotide blast showed 99% (ITS, 0 gaps), 100% (tub2, 0 gaps), 100% (tef1-α, 0 gaps) identities with the ex-type Pestalotiopsis trachicarpicola Yan M. Zhang & K. D. Hyde (IFRDCC 2440). The fungus was identified as P. trachicarpicola combined with phylogeny and morphology (Maharachchikumbura et al. 2012, Zhang et al. 2012). To conduct Koch’s postulates, five healthy 6-year-old P. × fraseri were inoculated with 10 µl spore suspension (106 conidia/ml) onto the wounded sites (five leaves per plant, ~1 to 2 years old) via sterile pin, and five healthy plants treated with sterile dH2O as controls (Yang et al. 2021). The plants were placed in a greenhouse at 25°C with relative humidity >80%. After 2 months, leaf blight symptoms gradually emerged on inoculated leaves, and the controls were symptomless. Fungal isolates from symptomatic plants showed similar morphological characteristics as SICAUCC 21-0012, and the pathogen was not isolated from asymptomatic plants. To our knowledge, this is the first report of leaf blight caused by P. trachicarpicola on Photinia × fraseri in China. Disease management should be adopted properly to restore and improve its ornamental value.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-207
Author(s):  
Carolina Nisa Ramiro ◽  
Renato Sousa Recoder ◽  
Miguel Trefaut Rodrigues

Geographic variation in the morphology of the sand-dwelling lizard Nothobachia ablephara (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae). Nothobachia ablephara is a small microteiid lizard with an elongated body and reduced limbs; it occurs in isolated dune felds in the state of Bahia (Xique-Xique and Alagoado) and small sandy patches in northeastern Brazil. A previous molecular study found a marked mtDNA divergence between populations of N. ablephara from Alagoado and Xique-Xique dunes, suggesting that the two populations diverged from one another between 3 and 4 million years ago. Given this isolation, it is interesting to explore whether morphological traits of the lizards refect the reported genetic divergence of the populations. Scale counts of the sexes and the populations differ signifcantly, but there is considerable overlap of values. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed signifcant morphometric variation between sexes and populations; however, this is mostly explained by size differences. Females are larger than males in all characters that are sexually dimorphic, and individuals from Xique-Xique are larger than those from Alagoado in all characters that vary geographically. The sample from Alagoado has more sexually dimorphic characters than the one from Xique-Xique. Although N. ablephara displays some geographical variation, the two populations could not be unequivocally distinguished by scale counts and morphometric data.


2017 ◽  
Vol 268 ◽  
pp. 254-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Shafawati Rosli ◽  
Azhar Abdul Rahman ◽  
Azlan Abdul Aziz ◽  
Shaharum Shamsuddin ◽  
Nurul Sabihah Zakaria

Ultrastructural characteristic and morphological changes of untreated and treated breast cancer MCF-7 cells were observed by energy-filtered transmission electron microscope (EFTEM). Morphological observation of MCF-7 after being treated with 13 nm, 50 nm, and 70 nm AuNPs, were looking unhealthy and dying out of the populace, the observed cells were more reduced and dying as treatment with 50 nm and 70 nm AuNPs. Cells detachment, clumping, shrunken, and dispersed cells in the culture medium and floating cells were also observed. The observed morphological changes increase in 50 nm and 70 nm AuNPs than in 13 nm AuNPs, which is less toxic to MCF-7 cells. The presented morphological analysis has established that 13 nm AuNPs showed less toxic to MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Whereas, control cells of MCF-7 were treated with only complete culture media, despite the duration of treatment, whereby the cells maintained most of their morphological features and observed to have a typical morphology of healthy cells that are well attached to the surface. These results indicate that AuNPs were clustered in the cells and there was no significant difference between images of different sizes of AuNPs observed in the cells, because the AuNPs always clustered together inside the cells.


Author(s):  
Keli Cristina Dos Santos ◽  
Gentil Carneiro Gabardo ◽  
Jackson Kawakami ◽  
Aline Genú ◽  
Sara Passos ◽  
...  

Aims: Estimate the morphological characteristics of potato genotypes grown with different doses of NPK fertilizer 4-14-8. Study Design: The experiment was conducted in randomized blocks with subdivided plots and three replicates. Place and Duration of Study: The experiment was carried out in the municipality of Guarapuava – PR, Brazil, during the growing seasons of 2013/2014 and 2014/2015. Methodology: In the main plots the doses of 0, 2, 4 and 6 t ha-1 of NPK fertilizer 4-14-8 were arranged and in the subplots the genotypes (Ágata, BRS Camilla and clone C0205). Were evaluated: The leaf area index (LAI), percentage of light absorption, number of tubers, fresh mass of tubers. In the first agricultural year the evaluations were performed at 25 and 45 days after the emergency (DAE) and in the second seasson at 28 and 48 DAE. Interaction between potato genotypes and fertilizer rates for LAI was observed at 45 DAE in 2013/14 and absorbance at 25 DAE in 2013/14. For the seasson 2013/14, the genotypes showed a significant difference for LAI, absorbance, number of tubers and fresh mass of tubers at 25, LAI and fresh mass of tubers at 45 DAE, clone C0205 presented the largest differences for these characteristics. Fertilizer doses did not influence LAI, absorbance at 25 DAE and 45 DAE in 2013/14 and, at 2014/15 at 28 DAE, there was no response for tuber number and LAI, and at 48 DAE for tuber number, absorbance. There was no significant interaction between fertilizer doses and potato plant genotypes for the data on number of primary stems and number of secondary stems in both seassons The genotypes responded to NPK fertilizer doses 4-14-8 for LAI, and clone C0205 presented the best results. The genotypes responded to the light absorption percentage, with C0205 presenting the best results, so that plants with greater leaf area presented greater light absorption. The genotype C0205 presents greater productive capacity when compared to the Agata and Camila genotypes, being evident the greater number and fresh mass of tubers produced.


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