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Special Issue "Assessment of Plant Genetic Diversity"

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A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2010) | Viewed by 66805

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Dr. Mario A. Pagnotta

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Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, Tuscia University, Via S. C. de Lellis, snc, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
Interests: plant population genetics; plant evolution and domestication; in situ and ex situ conservation of plant germplasm; molecular characterization; molecular markers; molecular evolution; plant breeding
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Dear Colleagues,

Convention on the Biological Diversity and the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy define biodiversity as the variety of life and its processes. Biodiversity is generally recognized on three levels:
· Genetic diversity - the variety of genetic building blocks found among individual representatives of a species;
· Species diversity – the variety of living organisms found in a particular place;
· Ecosystem diversity - the variety of species and ecological functions and processes, both their kind and number, that occur in different physical settings.

In this Diversity’s special issue we focus on the first level “genetic diversity” restricting it to the Plant aspects since the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources are essential to the sustainable development of agricultural production. Plant genetic resources comprise the diversity of genetic material contained in traditional varieties and modern cultivars, as well as crop wild relatives and other wild plant species that can be used, now or in the future, for food and agriculture, including resources which contribute to people’s livelihoods by providing food, medicine, feed for domestic animals, fibre, clothing, shelter, energy and a multiple of other products and services.

In this special issue will be published contributions assessing the genetic diversity in Plant species as well as contributions focusing on the aspect connected with this such as statistical methods and tools used.

Mario A. Pagnotta
Guest Editor

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Genes - an Open Access journal of genetics and genomics.

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Open AccessArticle

Genetic Diversity of the Pm3 Powdery Mildew Resistance Alleles in Wheat Gene Bank Accessions as Assessed by Molecular Markers

Navreet K. Bhullar

Michael Mackay

and

Beat Keller

Diversity 2010, 2(5), 768-786; https://doi.org/10.3390/d2050768 - 19 May 2010

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 9393

Abstract

Genetic resources of crop plants are essential for crop breeding. They are conserved in gene banks in form of a large numbers of accessions. These accessions harbor allelic variants of agronomically important genes and molecular tools allow a rapid assessment of this allelic diversity. Here, we have screened a collection of 1005 wheat gene bank accessions for powdery mildew resistance and a molecular characterization for functional alleles at the wheat powdery mildew resistance locus Pm3 was carried out mostly on the resistant accessions. The two analyzed sets of accessions consisted of 733 accessions originating from 20 different countries and 272 landraces originating specifically from Afghanistan. The Pm3 haplotype (indicating the presence of a Pm3-type of gene, susceptible or resistant) was found to be abundantly present in both sets. The accessions with a Pm3 haplotype were further screened for the presence of the functional Pm3a to Pm3g alleles using allele-specific molecular markers. Pm3b and Pm3c were the most frequently found alleles while the other five alleles were detected only in few accessions (Pm3d, Pm3e, Pm3f) or not detected at all (Pm3a, Pm3g). The data further showed that Pm3b is the major source of Pm3-mediated powdery mildew resistance in wheat accessions from Afghanistan. Susceptible allelic variants of Pm3 were found to be widespread in the wheat gene pool. The presented molecular analysis of Pm3 alleles in a diverse set of wheat accessions indicates that several alleles have defined geographical origins. Possibly, the widespread Pm3b and Pm3c alleles evolved relatively early in wheat cultivation, allowing their subsequent diffusion into a broad set of wheat lines. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessment of Plant Genetic Diversity)

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Open AccessArticle

Genetic Variability of Macedonian Tobacco Varieties Determined by Microsatellite Marker Analysis

and

Diversity 2010, 2(4), 439-449; https://doi.org/10.3390/d2040439 - 24 Mar 2010

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 9143

Abstract

Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) is an important agricultural crop plant for the economy of many countries. Assessment of the genetic diversity of cultivated tobacco varieties is of importance for long-term tobacco improvement. Microsatellite markers are currently the marker system of choice for genetic analysis of allopolyploid plants. In this study, we evaluated the use of 30 microsatellite markers for identification of 10 varieties of cultivated tobacco in the Republic of Macedonia. We found 24 of the microsatellite markers to be polymorphic and sufficient for identification of these varieties. Cluster analysis showed that Macedonian tobacco varieties are classifiable into three distinct groups. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessment of Plant Genetic Diversity)

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Open AccessArticle

Intraspecific Variation in Commiphora wightii Populations Based on Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2) Sequences of rDNA

Inamul Haque

Rajib Bandopadhyay

and

Kunal Mukhopadhyay

Diversity 2009, 1(2), 89-101; https://doi.org/10.3390/d1020089 - 26 Oct 2009

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 9356

Abstract

Commiphora wightii is an endangered, endemic species found in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan, India and adjoining areas of Pakistan. The populations of this plant are rapidly dwindling due to overexploitation for their medicinally important resin. Analysis of nucleotide sequences of the internal transcribed spacer of rDNAs revealed low genetic diversity (π = 0.03905; θ_w = 0.05418) and high population structure (ϕ_ST = 0.206). Parsimony based assessment and Bayesian analyses were conducted on the dataset. Mantel’s test showed a statistically significant positive correlation between genetic and geographic distance (r² = 0.3647; p = 0.023). Anthropogenic overexploitation of C. wightii for its natural resources has resulted in population fragmentation. Initiatives should be taken immediately to preserve the diversity of this important plant species. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessment of Plant Genetic Diversity)

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Review

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Open AccessReview

Italian Common Bean Landraces: History, Genetic Diversity and Seed Quality

Angela R. Piergiovanni

and

Lucia Lioi

Diversity 2010, 2(6), 837-862; https://doi.org/10.3390/d2060837 - 27 May 2010

Cited by 49 | Viewed by 10361

Abstract

The long tradition of common bean cultivation in Italy has allowed the evolution of many landraces adapted to restricted areas. Nowadays, in response to market demands, old landraces are gradually being replaced by improved cultivars. However, landraces still survive in marginal areas of several Italian regions. Most of them appear severely endangered with risk of extinction due to the advanced age of the farmers and the socio-cultural context where they are cultivated. The present contribution is an overview of the state of the art about the knowledge of Italian common bean germplasm, describing the most important and recent progresses made in its characterization, including genetic diversity and nutritional aspects. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessment of Plant Genetic Diversity)

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Open AccessReview

Assessing Plant Genetic Diversity by Molecular Tools

Linda Mondini

Arshiya Noorani

and

Mario A. Pagnotta

Diversity 2009, 1(1), 19-35; https://doi.org/10.3390/d1010019 - 06 Aug 2009

Cited by 269 | Viewed by 27621

Abstract

This paper is an overview of the diverse, predominantly molecular techniques, used in assessing plant genetic diversity. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the application of molecular genetic methods for assessing the conservation and use of plant genetic resources. Molecular techniques have been applied in the analysis of specific genes, as well as to increase understanding of gene action, generate genetic maps and assist in the development of gene transfer technologies. Molecular techniques have also had critical roles in studies of phylogeny and species evolution, and have been applied to increase our understanding of the distribution and extent of genetic variation within and between species. These techniques are well established and their advantages as well as limitations have been realized and described in this work. Recently, a new class of advanced techniques has emerged, primarily derived from a combination of earlier, more basic techniques. Advanced marker techniques tend to amalgamate advantageous features of several basic techniques, in order to increase the sensitivity and resolution to detect genetic discontinuity and distinctiveness. Some of the advanced marker techniques utilize newer classes of DNA elements, such as retrotransposons, mitochondrial and chloroplast based microsatellites, thereby revealing genetic variation through increased genome coverage. Techniques such as RAPD and AFLP are also being applied to cDNA-based templates to study patterns of gene expression and uncover the genetic basis of biological responses. The most important and recent advances made in molecular marker techniques are discussed in this review, along with their applications, advantages and limitations applied to plant sciences. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessment of Plant Genetic Diversity)

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