Wild cereal grain consumption among Early Holocene foragers of the Balkans predates the arrival of agriculture

Forager focus on wild cereal plants has been documented in the core zone of domestication in southwestern Asia, while evidence for forager use of wild grass grains remains sporadic elsewhere. In this paper, we present starch grain and phytolith analyses of dental calculus from 60 Mesolithic and Early Neolithic individuals from five sites in the Danube Gorges of the central Balkans. This zone was inhabited by likely complex Holocene foragers for several millennia before the appearance of the first farmers ~6200 cal BC. We also analyzed forager ground stone tools for evidence of plant processing. Our results based on the study of dental calculus show that certain species of Poaceae (species of the genus Aegilops) were used since the Early Mesolithic, while ground stone tools exhibit traces of a developed grass grain processing technology. The adoption of domesticated plants in this region after ~6500 cal BC might have been eased by the existing familiarity with wild cereals.

Wild grasses as the reservoirs of infection of rust species for winter soft wheat in the Northern CaucasusWild grasses as the reservoirs of infection of rust species for winter soft wheat in the Northern Caucasus

Common winter wheat is the main grain crop cultivated in the North Caucasus. Rust disease damage is one of the factors limiting wheat productivity. There are three species of rust in the region: leaf (Puccinia triticina), stem (P. graminis) and stripe rust (P. striiformis), and their significance varies from year to year. The most common is leaf rust, but in the last decade the frequency of its epiphytotic development has significantly decreased. At the same time, an increase in the harmfulness of stripe rust (P. striiformis) is noted. Stem rust in the region is mainly absent or observed at the end of the wheat growing season to a weak degree. Only in some years with favorable weather conditions its mass development is noted on susceptible cultivars. It is believed that the sources of infection with rust species in the North Caucasus are infested soft wheat crops, wild-growing cereals and exodemic infection carried by air currents from adjacent territories. In the North Caucasus, forage and wild grasses are affected by Puccinia species almost every year. Depending on weather conditions, the symptom expression is noted from late September to December and then from late February to May–June. Potentially, an autumn infection on grasses can serve as a source for infection of winter soft wheat cultivars sown in October. The purpose of these studies is to characterize the virulence of P. triticina, P. graminis, P. striiformis on wild cereals and to assess the specialization of causative agents to winter wheat in the North Caucasus. Infectious material represented by leaves with urediniopustules of leaf, stem and stripe rusts was collected from wild cereals (Poa spp., Bromus spp.) in the Krasnodar Territory in October–November 2019. Uredinium material from P. triticina, P. striiformis, and P. graminis was propagated and cloned. Monopustular Puccinia spp. isolates were used for virulence genetics analysis. In experiments to study the specialization of rust species from wild-growing cereals on common wheat, 12 winter cultivars were used (Grom, Tanya, Yuka, Tabor, Bezostaya 100, Yubileynaya 100, Vekha, Vassa, Alekseich, Stan, Gurt, Bagrat). These cultivars are widely cultivated in the North Caucasus region and are characterized by varying degrees of resistance to rust. Additionally, wheat material was inoculated with Krasnodar populations of P. triticina, P. striiformis, P. graminis from common wheat. In the virulence analysis of P. triticina on cereal grasses, four phenotypes (races) were identified: MCTKH (30 %), TCTTR (30 %), TNTTR (25 %), MHTKH (15 %), and five were identified in P. graminis (RKMTF (60 %), TKTTF, RKLTF, QKLTF, LHLPF (10 % each). Among P. striiformis isolates, three phenotypes were identified using the International and European sets of differentiating cultivars – 111E231 (88 %), 111E247 (6 %) and 78E199 (6 %). Using isogenic Avocet lines, 3 races were also identified, which differed among themselves in virulence to the Yr1, Yr11, Yr18 genes (with the prevalence of virulent ones (94 %)). Composite urediniums’ samples (a mixture of all identified races) of grass rust of each species were used to inoculate winter wheat cultivars. The most common winter wheat cultivars (75 %) were characterized by a resistant response when infected with P. graminis populations from common wheat and cereal grasses. All these cultivars were developed using donors of the rye translocation 1BL.1RS, in which the Lr26, Sr31, and Yr9 genes are localized. The number of winter wheat cultivars resistant to leaf rust in the seedling phase was lower (58 %). At the same time, all the studied cultivars in the seedling phase were susceptible to P. striiformis to varying degrees. The virulence analysis of the leaf, stem and stripe rust populations did not reveal significant differences in the virulence of the pathogens between wild-growing cereals and soft wheat. Urediniomaterial of all studied rust species successfully infested soft wheat cultivars. The results obtained indicate that grasses are rust infection reservoirs for common wheat crops in the North Caucasus.

Lexical Botany in Amarakośa

Sanskrit literature abounds in lexicons. Amarakośa is the most celebrated and authoritative ancient thesaurus of Sanskrit. There are references to various lexicons in many ancient Sanskrit texts, but none of these except for Dhanvantari’s and Amarasiṃha’s are extant. Between the two, the latter’s work Nāmaliṇgānuśāsana popularly known as Amarakośa is very familiar to every student of Sanskrit. The actual name of the book ‘Nāmaliṇgānuśāsana’ means instruction concerning nouns and gender. It is divided into three kāṇḍas (volumes). Eachkāṇḍa is divided into Vargas depending on the subject they deal with. A list of more than 220 plants is mentioned with all the synonyms in the four Vargas. The plants that are revealed in the Amarakośacan be classified into huge trees, edible fruit trees, shrubs, herbs, creepers, water plants, grasses, pulses, cereals, wild cereals and others. Plants that are generally used for incensing, perfumery and cosmetics for human consumption are mentioned in the Manuṣhya Varga. In the Vaiśyavarga crops of commercial value are included.

Parasitic micromycetes of the Poaceae family in the Chui Valley and the northern slope of the Kirghiz ridge

The article presents data on parasitic micromycetes on representatives of Poaceae family. On cultivatedand wild plants of 26 genera of the Poaceae family in the Chui valley and on the northern slope of the Kyrgyz mountainrange 66 species of parasitic fungi from 25 genera have been registered, many of which cause great economic losses.Marsupial mushrooms are represented by 30 species from 17 genera of 3 classes; Dothideomycetes, Sordariomycetes andLeotiomycetes. Basidial fungi constitute 36 species from 8 genera of 2 classes; Ustilagomycetes, Pucciniomycetes. Themost susceptible fungal diseases are wild cereals: Agropyrum – 12 species of fungi, Poa – 12, Dactylis – 9, Bromus – 8,Festuca – 7. Representatives of the genera Agrostis, Cynodon, Eremopyrum, Stipa, Taenistherum, Trisetum are affectedby 1–2 species of fungi.

Biochemical and molecular-genetic markers of adaptability and quality of genotypes in cultural and wild cereal plants

We proved that plants A. cylindrica, T. spelta, T. turgidum, T. sphaerococcum, T. vavilovii, T. persicum, T. araraticum, T. aestivum var. barbarossa, and T. aestivum var. ferrugineum, owning high drought resistance, have a stable high productive potential and quality indicators of grain (protein, gluten, dietary fiber content), that allows use them in the production of products functional purpose (bakery, confectionery, sour-dairy products, including yoghurts, and dessert cheese). Implementation mechanisms are disclosed adaptive potential plants of cultural and wild cereals by biochemical (protein content, gluten, starch in seeds, the presence of gliadin proteins (Glі-1В1, Glі-6D2, Glі-6D3, Glі-6В2), molecular-genetic markers (allele genes of drought resistance – Dreb А1, Dreb В1, Dreb D1; glutenins Glu-D1) and morphological-ontogenetic criteria. For the first time for successful address introduction cultural and wild cereal plants suggested by the criteria of mechanisms drought resistance to rank plants by potential ecological valence regarding the unfavorable hydrothermal regime. Differentiation of genotypes based on elements of plant strategies: features of their ontogeny, morphological characteristics, physiological and biochemical parameters, biochemical and molecular-genetic markers. In this connection, genotypes of cultural and wild cereal plants in conditions in sіtu by sensitivity on the effect of hydrothermal stress are divided into xerophytic, mesophytic and intermediate – xerophytic-mesophytic types of development. That's it ranking underlying on the principles of autecological approach, manifestation of a multi-level system of answers plant organisms at different levels of integration, as adaptive reactions. In particular, mechanisms such as: functional stability (stipulated structural and functional features of plants), morphological tolerance (the ability of plants to resist damage without reducing performance), ontogenetic evasion (stability due to features ontogenetic development), ecological plasticity of the organism and plant populations as a whole. The obtained results of the biochemical and molecular genetic markers of adaptability and quality indicators of genotypes cultural (wheat, triticale, rye) and wild cereals (A. cylindrica, T. spelta, T. turgidum and others) are important in breeding and successive targeted use in the food industry are given.

Primary Structure Analysis of Antifungal Peptides from Cultivated and Wild Cereals

Cereal-derived bioactive peptides with antimicrobial activity have been poorly explored compared to those from dicotyledonous plants. Furthermore, there are a few reports addressing the structural differences between antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) from cultivated and wild cereals, which may shed light on significant varieties in the range and level of their antimicrobial activity. We performed a primary structure analysis of some antimicrobial peptides from wild and cultivated cereals to find out the features that are associated with the much higher antimicrobial resistance characteristic of wild plants. In this review, we identified and analyzed the main parameters determining significant antifungal activity. They relate to a high variability level in the sequences of C-terminal fragments and a high content of hydrophobic amino acid residues in the biologically active defensins in wild cereals, in contrast to AMPs from cultivated forms that usually exhibit weak, if any, activity. We analyzed the similarity of various physicochemical parameters between thionins and defensins. The presence of a high divergence on a fixed part of any polypeptide that is close to defensins could be a determining factor. For all of the currently known hevein-like peptides of cereals, we can say that the determining factor in this regard is the structure of the chitin-binding domain, and in particular, amino acid residues that are not directly involved in intermolecular interaction with chitin. The analysis of amino acid sequences of alpha-hairpinins (hairpin-like peptides) demonstrated much higher antifungal activity and more specificity of the peptides from wild cereals compared with those from wheat and corn, which may be associated with the presence of a mini cluster of positively charged amino acid residues. In addition, at least one hydrophobic residue may be responsible for binding to the components of fungal cell membranes.