Plant Germplasm Genetic Integrity

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Diversity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 6661

Special Issue Editors

National Centre for Plant Genetic Resources, Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute (IHAR)—National Research Institute, 05-870 Radzików, Poland
Interests: plant genetic resources; biodiversity; population genetics; NGS; genomics; transcriptomics; cereals; seed aging; cryopreservation; gene bank
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
National Centre for Plant Genetic Resources, Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute (IHAR)—National Research Institute, 05-870 Radzików, Poland
Interests: plant genetic resources; gene bank; taxonomy of cultivated plants; intraspecific classification; maintenanence of genetic integrity; core collections

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Evidence of rapid climate change in the past indicates that patterns of biodiversity may change across landscapes on timescales as short as decades. Facing this problem, the concept of diversity protection for ecosystems and their communities as we know them today may soon become obsolete. Ex situ conservation is crucial to slow down the global loss of biodiversity during the extinction crisis. For plants, various types of germplasm such as seeds, pollen, seedlings, buds, rhizomes, in vitro cell cultures, or live specimens can be preserved. Their selection depends on the species specificity and the protection purpose and scope. Accessions maintained in any type of ex situ collections should remain as genetically similar to the initial material as possible. However, even with careful handling of accessions, genetic integrity can be lost during long-term storage or multiple regeneration cycles. This occurs due to genetic drift, unintended selection, pollen contamination, seed contamination, mislabeling, or somaclonal variation. Therefore, routine testing systems are required to monitor genetic identity when handling ex situ collections. In the past, these tests comprised checking morphological traits against standard descriptor lists and comparing traits in each generation with the original phenotype or population. Current molecular tools provide the ability to monitor genetic integrity at the genotype level and laboratory tests are available to determine any change in genetic identity.

This Special Issue will focus on every aspect of genetic integrity maintenance and loss. Papers describing the scale of the problem, the magnitude of the observed changes, case studies, and methods used to monitor genetic integrity in any type of ex situ collection and any type of plant germplasm will be welcomed.

Dr. Maja Boczkowska
Dr. WiesŁaw Podyma
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • ex situ conservation
  • gene bank
  • plant germplasm
  • cryopreservation
  • in vitro cultures
  • botanical gardens
  • phenotypic variation
  • biochemical variation
  • genetic variation
  • epigenetic changes
  • somaclonal variation
  • duplicates

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 2594 KiB  
Article
Genotypic and Phenotypic Selection of Newly Improved Putra Rice and the Correlations among Quantitative Traits
by Samuel C. Chukwu, Mohd Y. Rafii, Yusuff Oladosu, Emmanuel O. Okporie, Ibrahim S. Akos, Ibrahim Musa, Senesie Swaray, Momodu Jalloh and Md. Al-Mamun
Diversity 2022, 14(10), 812; https://doi.org/10.3390/d14100812 - 28 Sep 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1511
Abstract
This experiment was conducted to genotypically and phenotypically select new rice lines pyramided with blast and bacterial leaf blight disease resistance genes after a marker-assisted backcross breeding programme. The inter-relationship among agro-morphological characteristics and their effect on yield was also studied. The polymorphic [...] Read more.
This experiment was conducted to genotypically and phenotypically select new rice lines pyramided with blast and bacterial leaf blight disease resistance genes after a marker-assisted backcross breeding programme. The inter-relationship among agro-morphological characteristics and their effect on yield was also studied. The polymorphic functional and microsatellite markers Xa21FR and pTA248 (Xa21), Xa13prom (xa13), RM21 (xa5), MP (Xa4), RM6836 (Pi2, Pi9 & Piz) and RM8225 (Piz) were first confirmed for the target genes. The selected markers were used for foreground selection of BC2F2 homozygous progenies with the target genes. Plants that had homozygous IRBB60 alleles for these markers were evaluated for their recovery of the recurrent parent genome. IRBB60 was used as the donor parent for bacterial blight resistance genes while Putra-1 served as a recipient/recurrent parent with background blast-resistance genes and high yield. After the foreground selection, 79 polymorphic simple sequence repeat markers identified from the marker polymorphism survey were used for marker-assisted background selection to determine the percentage recovery of the recurrent parent genome. In order to make a selection on a phenotypic basis, 14 agro-morphological traits were measured and recorded. The result obtained from the study showed that 16 lines received the seven resistance genes in sufficiently varied numbers and were selected. The distribution of yield per hectare showed that about 50% of the selected lines had yields as high as 5 t/ha and above. Some of the lines produced as high as 8.4 t/ha. These lines demonstrated the potential of recording uniform 8t/ha upon recombination at BC2F2. The study also indicated that the number of panicles per hill correlated strongly, significantly and positively with the number of tillers (r = 0.962 **), total grain weight per hill (r = 0.928 **) and yield per hectare (r = 0.927 **). It was concluded that the newly improved resistant lines which were selected have the capability to compete with Putra-1 in terms of its productivity and yield. The newly developed lines would be useful in future breeding programmes as donors for bacterial leaf blight and blast resistance genes. These lines are recommended for release to farmers in Malaysia and other rice-growing agro-ecologies for commercial cultivation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Germplasm Genetic Integrity)
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14 pages, 3072 KiB  
Article
Diversity in Morphometric, Pomological, and Fruit-Quality Traits of Apricot (Prunus armeniaca) Traditional Varieties: Implications for Landrace Differentiation at Regional Scale
by Boris Basile, Alessandro Mataffo, Marcello Forlani and Giandomenico Corrado
Diversity 2022, 14(8), 608; https://doi.org/10.3390/d14080608 - 28 Jul 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1470
Abstract
Traditional crop varieties are receiving increasing attention in sustainable agriculture, conservation genetics, and plant science because they offer significant and largely unexplored diversity. The DNA profiling of landraces is being applied to numerous crops, yet a detailed knowledge of morphological diversity is often [...] Read more.
Traditional crop varieties are receiving increasing attention in sustainable agriculture, conservation genetics, and plant science because they offer significant and largely unexplored diversity. The DNA profiling of landraces is being applied to numerous crops, yet a detailed knowledge of morphological diversity is often needed to increase the efficiency of both the conservation and exploitation of local germplasm. In this work, morphological, pomological, and fruit-quality traits (16 qualitative and 16 quantitative) were collected from 44 traditional apricot landraces cultivated in Campania, the Italian region with the highest number of traditional varieties. The aim was to assess varietal diversity and to highlight possible trends and phenotypes that may have driven the morphological differentiation. All traits were polymorphic, and each variety had a distinctive phenotype. The qualitative and quantitative traits provided different classifications of the varieties. Nonetheless, the Factorial Analysis of Mixed data indicated that, for both categories of variables, the fruit traits were the most influential for landrace classification. Interestingly, some easily discernible color phenotypes of the fruits mostly contributed to the discrimination of the analyzed apricot germplasm. We conclude that these specific, commercially relevant features of the fruit were important drivers of the differentiation of the cultivated apricot material at regional scale. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Germplasm Genetic Integrity)
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34 pages, 14698 KiB  
Article
Prioritizing Plants around the Cross-Border Area of Greece and the Republic of North Macedonia: Integrated Conservation Actions and Sustainable Exploitation Potential
by Nikos Krigas, Eleftherios Karapatzak, Marina Panagiotidou, Virginia Sarropoulou, Ioulietta Samartza, Antonis Karydas, Christos K. Damianidis, Boris Najdovski, Aco Teofilovski, Dejan Mandzukovski, Viktorija Brndevska Stipanović, Katerina Papanastasi, Pantelitsa D. Kapagianni, Dimitrios Fotakis, Katerina Grigoriadou, Georgios Tsoktouridis, Vlatko Andonovski and Eleni Maloupa
Diversity 2022, 14(7), 570; https://doi.org/10.3390/d14070570 - 16 Jul 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2697
Abstract
Plants know no political borders and some of them are restricted to small geographical territories of different countries in which they are endemic. In this study, we prioritized plants (PPs) of the cross-border area of Greece and the Republic of North Macedonia that [...] Read more.
Plants know no political borders and some of them are restricted to small geographical territories of different countries in which they are endemic. In this study, we prioritized plants (PPs) of the cross-border area of Greece and the Republic of North Macedonia that are already threatened or nearly so (PPA), those which occur exclusively on either side of borderline and/or nearby countries (PPB), or those which are uncommon and rare in this region (PPC) with the aim to document in-situ the species-specific risks-threats; offer ex-situ conservation for them as a back-up solution for future re-introductions and sustainable exploitation; and raise public awareness and alertness about the importance of local biodiversity. In the framework of the project Conse-pp, 20 botanical expeditions were performed in 75 selected areas to collect samples and suitable propagation material from 130 PPs (147 accession numbers), also recording all types of threats-identified in-situ for each of them. No ex-situ conservation was detected for 40 PPs worldwide while for another 12 PPs only limited attempts have been made to date. The fully documented PPs are currently maintained under ex- situ conservation and acclimatization in the Balkan Botanic Garden of Kroussia (BBGK). In total, 156 propagation trials (sexual or asexual) have been made for these PPs to develop species-specific propagation protocols. Consequently, the production of new plant stocks raised ex-situ was achieved (n = 3254 individuals; first-time ex-situ conservation for 40 taxa), and this has enabled the establishment of three awareness-raising sites with PPs: (i) 1000 plants of 70 PPs in the newly designed Kardia Botanical Park in Thermi (Greece); (ii) 850 plants of 104 PPs in the phytodiversity awareness spot in BBGK and 130 individual PPs in the Garden of Environmental Awareness; and (iii) 42 plants of 14 PP taxa delivered to the botanic garden of Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. This project outlines the necessity of the development of common plant conservation strategies for threatened plants in cross-border areas of neighboring countries and presents an integrated approach allowing for sustainable development and future in-situ protection measures and actions in the studied cross-border area. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Germplasm Genetic Integrity)
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