Danas Baniulis

Development of the Northern European Ribes core collection based on a microsatellite (SSR) marker diversity analysis

The purpose of the study was to support the selection process of the most valuable currant and gooseberry accessions cultivated in Northern Europe, in order to establish a decentralized core collection and, following the selection, to ensure sufficient genetic diversity in the selected collection. Molecular analyses of the material from nine project partners were run at seven different laboratories. The results were first analysed for each partner separately, and then combined to ensure sufficient genetic diversity in the core collection.

Cold acclimation efficiency of different Prunus and Fragaria species and cultivars in vitro@@@Įvairių Prunus ir Fragaria rūšių bei veislių augalų užsigrūdinimo in vitro efektyvumas

Winter hardiness is one of the main traits affecting survival, productivity and cultivar choice for important horticultural plants in a temperate climatic zone. Given the complexity of the trait and the often fluctuating winter weather, extensive field testing over many years would be required to gain reliable results. Testing for cold tolerance under controlled conditions to grade genotypes has been used in several plant breeding programs to identify superior genotypes of different species. The aim of the present study was to investigate cold tolerance of microshoots of different genotypes of the genera Prunus and Fragaria after 7, 14, 28 and 56 days of cold acclimation, by measuring ion leakage and evaluating the critical temperature (CT50) after freezing in vitro. Genotypes of Rosacea family demonstrated distinct patterns of CT50 change during cold acclimation. Cold acclimation for 56 days decreased the CT50 value by 1.3–2.0°C for Prunus microshots and by 0.8–2.1°C for Fragaria microshoots in comparison to nonacclimated plants. The results of cold acclimation and freezing treatments of Rosacea family plants in vitro show that for maximal cold hardiness, acclimation for 56 days or longer is required. Sour cherry (Prunus cerasus) cv. ‘Orkolija’, garden strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) cv. ‘Melody’, Virginia strawberry (F. virginiana) and musk strawberry (F. moschata) were the most winterhardy after 56 days’ cold acclimation. The data obtained in the study can be used to improve breeding and cryopreservation technologies of Rosacea plants, and lay the foundation for identification of genes responsible for efficient cold acclimation and low temperature tolerance.

Computational analysis of thaumatin-II allergenicity and prediction of antigenic elements of thaumatin-like family proteins@@@Taumatino II alergeniškumo įvertinimas ir antigeniškumo elementų nustatymas bioinformatikos metodais

Thaumatin-II is an intense sweet tasting protein isolated from fruits of Thaumatococcus daniel lii. Thaumatin is a member of the pathogenesis-related protein family referred to as thaumatinlike proteins (TLPs). Expression of thaumatin-II in plants was associated with an enhanced resistance against pathogens. In addition, thaumatin was used to provide the sweet taste quality to plant products. Thus, TLP proteins have a potential application for improving plant stress resistance and taste qualities using the recombinant DNA technology. However, several members of the TLP family were characterized as food allergens. The allergenic properties of thaumatinII have not been characterized. In this study, a putative allergenicity of thaumatin-II was established using computational analysis of sequence similarity with known human allergens. Antigenicity analysis and multiple sequence alignment of related TLP sequences identified six putative allergenic epitopes. The residues Thr12, Leu74, Gln133 and Thr161 of thaumatin-II or equivalent residues of other TLPs were proposed as a target for mutagenesis aimed to develop protein isoforms with reduced allergenicity.

Patterns of low temperature induced accumulation of dehydrins in Rosaceae crops—Evidence for post-translational modification in apple

Important crop plants of Rosaceae family are often damaged during winter due to the lack of acclimation and cold hardiness. One of the cellular responses of plants to cold stress is the accumulation of dehydrin proteins. We studied the expression of dehydrins in several Rosaceae species during low temperature treatment in vitro. Microshoots of Pyrus communis, Malus×domestica, Fragaria vesca, Fragaria×ananassa, Prunus cerasus and Prunus avium cultivars were grown in low temperature conditions. Genotype -specific accumulation of dehydrins was detected by immunoblot analysis of the extracted proteins. Untargeted difference gel electrophoresis of Malus x domestica microshoots revealed an extensive accumulation of three dehydrins. In a protein phosphatase assay, MdDHN2 and MdDHN4, but not MdDHN6 proteins were found to be extensively phosphorylated. In terms of the amount of protein synthesized, dehydrins are a major protein-level adaptation mechanism to low temperature in M. x domestica. In addition to dehydrins, the induction of proteins involved in the response for oxidative stress were observed. Additionally, a Xero2 -like dehydrin of F. vesca was detected by difference gel electrophoresis and identified by nano LC-MS/MS.