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Annotation: Fonio millet (Digitaria exilis) is an orphan African cereal crop with a great potential for dryland agriculture. High-quality genomic resources were established to facilitate fonio improvement through molecular breeding. Creation of a chromosome-scale reference assembly and deep re-sequencing of 183 cultivated and wild Digitaria accessions enabled insights into genetic diversity, population structure, and domestication. Picture describtion:a . . .

Annotation: Our Centre is not only a place of excellent fundamental research. We also aim in helping breeders with their tasks. One of our last activity spans into the field of drought tolerance in forage grasses. Modelling of future climate indicates that this trait will be one of the key characteristics necessary to mitigate the impacts of climate change (especially the increased frequencies of summer drought periods). In collaboration with . . .

Annotation:  Climate change calls for new methods and plant materials to breed crops adapted to new environmental conditions. High-yielding ryegrasses (Lolium spp.), which are the most commonly used grass species, suffer during abiotic stresses, but introgression of drought and heat tolerance from closely related fescues (Festuca spp.) offers an opportunity to develop superior Festulolium (Festuca × Lolium) hybrid cultivars. In the last three . . .

Annotation:  The genetic information is embedded in chromatin, represented by complexes of DNA with structural and regulatory proteins, which orchestrate nuclear functions in time and space. In this review, the consortium of experts from the COST action Impact of Nuclear Domains On Gene Expression and Plant (INDEPTH), including the lead author Ales Pecinka from IEB, summarizes current knowledge on the organization of plant chromatin and the . . .

Annotation:  Hybrid vigor (or heterosis) is the overperformance of a hybrid over its parents in a specific trait or a set of traits. As such, hybrid breeding serves as a tool to efficiently trigger gains in breeding programs. In Swiss alpine swards, we observed frequent prevalence of triploid hybrids of Festuca pratensis x F. apennina with outstanding competitiveness relative to their parental species in the sites of sympatric occurrence . . .

European scientists reach out to the European Parliament and the European Commission to change legislation regarding the use of modern methods of plant genome editing, which will free them to carry out research to benefit agriculture, the economy, and society as a whole.

Annotation:  Polyploids are species with three or more sets of chromosomes. Polyploidy frequently occurs in plants and plays a major role in their evolution. Based on their origin, polyploid species can be divided into two groups: autopolyploids and allopolyploids. Having a polyploid constitution offers some fitness advantages, which could become evolutionarily successful. Nevertheless, polyploid species must develop mechanism(s) that control . . .

Annotation:  Grasses are an important source of food for domestic animals worldwide and perform important ecological and environmental functions. Here we report on characterization of repetitive DNA sequences in nuclear genomes of ten representatives of fescues (Festuca spp.) and ryegrasses (Lolium spp.). We performed global analysis of repetitive DNA sequences and characterized their abundance and variability after partial Illumina sequencing . . .

Annotation: In this paper, we compared the effects of several epigenetic inhibitors on transcriptional gene silencing, stability of DNA, chromatin, and chromosomes. We found that all drugs cause DNA damage, which is repaired by multiple pathways. Our study suggests a link between the formation of DNA damage and cytidine-analogs induced DNA demethylation.Link

Annotation: Research on the formation of mitotic chromosomes from interphase chromatin domains made significant progress in recent years. We summarized and compared several models of chromatin fiber folding to form mitotic chromosomes and discussed them in the light of the recent findings. We also compared available data on the role of condensins and cohesins, the major players in chromosome condensation, across lower and higher eukaryotes and pointed to . . .

Annotation:  Our review targets interspecific hybridization, one of the main mechanisms of plant speciation. Genomes of newly established interspecific hybrids undergo dramatic changes including chromosome rearrangements, amplifications of tandem repeats, activations of mobile repetitive elements and gene expression modifications. To ensure genome stability and proper transmission of chromosomes from both parental genomes into subsequent generations . . .

Annotation:  The identification of genes of agronomic interest in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is hampered by its allopolyploid nature and its considerable genome size,  largely covered by transposable elements. In this study, the 2C gametocidal chromosome from Aegilops cylindrica was used to develop a set of 113 deletion lines for chromosome 3D in the reference cultivar 'Chinese Spring'. Eighty-four markers were used to . . .

Annotation:  Microtubule-associated protein TPX2 is in plants represented by the whole TPX2-like gene family. In this study, we described functional differences of different TPX2-like subgroups. While group A proteins are localized mainly to the cell nucleus and are activators of Aurora kinase 1 in vitro, group B proteins lack Aurora kinase binding domain and are strictly localized on microtubules.Link

Annotation: Effect of cold hardening and drought treatment on the pattern of changes in phytohormone content and their homeostasis in double haploid lines of winter barley extremely differentiated in respect of freezing/drought tolerance level. The summary shows the correlation between the level of phytohormones, stress tolerance and the activity of nonspecific peroxidase (POX) and low molecular weight antioxidants (LMW AOX).Link

Annotation:  Oligo painting FISH was established to identify all chromosomes in banana (Musa spp.) and to anchor pseudomolecules of reference genome sequence of Musa acuminata spp. malaccensis “DH Pahang” to individual chromosomes in situ. The study demonstrates the potential of chromosome painting for comparative karyotype analysis and identification of structural chromosome changes that accompanied . . .