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A high priority in rose (Rosa spp.) breeding research is the transfer of disease resistance, especially to black spot (Diplocarpon rosae Lib.), from wild diploid Rosa species to modern rose cultivars. To this end, amphidiploids (2n = 4x = 28) were induced with colchicine from five interspecific diploid (2n = 2x = 14) hybrids involving the black spot resistant diploid species R. wichuraiana Crép, R. roxburghii Thratt., R. banksiae Ait., R. rugosa rubra Hort., and R. setigera Michaux. Two application procedures (agitation of excised nodes in colchicine solution or tissue culture of shoots on medium with colchicine), five colchicine concentrations (0.0, 1.25, 2.50, 3.76, and 5.01 mmol), and five durations (2, 3, 5, 8, and 10 d) were used. After colchicine treatment, the materials were cultured in vitro and the surviving explants were examined for the “gigas” characteristics typical of doubled diploids. Chromosome counts of morphologically suspect genotypes confirmed 15 amphidiploids among 1109 plants that survived colchicine treatment. Although the effect of colchicine treatment varied some among interspecific hybrids, 2.50 mmol for 48 h of node agitation or 1.25 mmol for at least 5 d of shoot culture were optimal.
An objective of our rose breeding research is to transfer resistance to blackspot and other diseases from wild diploid species to modern rose cultivars. Interspecific hybrids among blackspot-resistant diploid species were chosen for chromosome doubling to produce fertile amphidiploids that could be hybridized to the tetraploid commercial germplasm. Five such F1 interspecific hybrids were treated with colchicine. The study included two different application procedures (shake in colchicine solution or colchicine in media), four colchicine concentrations (0.05%, 0.1%, 0.15%, and 0.20%), and five treatment periods (1, 3, 5, 8, and 10 days). After colchicine treatment, all the materials were cultured in vitro. One thousand-thirty-seven surviving explants were selected for typical “gigas” characteristics of doubled diploids. Chromosome counts on shoot tips of these selected genotypes confirmed 15 amphidiploids. The best colchicine treatment varied among the interspecific hybrids. Higher colchicine concentrations or duration reduced growth rating, rooting, and percent survival. The recognition of amphiploids and ploidy chimeras from young seedlings will also be discussed.
Exposure of young pepper plants to chilling temperatures delays the development of terminal flower buds to flowering during post-stress growth. Degree of adverse influence depends on chilling intensity, exposure duration and varietal sensitivity. `Ma Belle' pepper plants were grown in a greenhouse (GH) during winter months on the St. Paul campus, No supplemental lighting was provided. When plants were at the 2- to 3-leaf stage, they were foliar sprayed with mefluidide (Technical grade) at 0, 5, 10 and 15 ppm. One day after treatment, some plants were transferred from GH to a cold room (3° ∼4°C day/night) with 12-h photoperiod. Treatad plants remaining in the GH served as the control. Plants were chilled for 1, 2, 4 and 6 days and then brought back to the GH for post-stress growth and development observation. Treated and untreated plants grown in the GH showed no difference in days to flowering, and reached 50% flowering at about 62 days after treatment. When untreated plants were chilled for 1,2,4 and 6 days, they showed a delay of 8, 18, 30 and 34 days, respectively, to flowering, If not killed, as compared to the control The long delay to flowering was due to the injury of the terminal flower buds. After 4 and 6 days of chilling, most terminal flower buds were killed. However, when plants were treated with mefluidide and subsequently chilled days to flowering were significantly shortened. A difference of 10-12 days was observed between chilled untreated plants and chilled treated plants. Concentrations of 5 to 15 ppm were equally effective in protection against chilling.
Exposure of young pepper plants to chilling temperatures delays the development of terminal flower buds to flowering during post-stress growth. Degree of adverse influence depends on chilling intensity, exposure duration and varietal sensitivity. `Ma Belle' pepper plants were grown in a greenhouse (GH) during winter months on the St. Paul campus, No supplemental lighting was provided. When plants were at the 2- to 3-leaf stage, they were foliar sprayed with mefluidide (Technical grade) at 0, 5, 10 and 15 ppm. One day after treatment, some plants were transferred from GH to a cold room (3° ∼4°C day/night) with 12-h photoperiod. Treatad plants remaining in the GH served as the control. Plants were chilled for 1, 2, 4 and 6 days and then brought back to the GH for post-stress growth and development observation. Treated and untreated plants grown in the GH showed no difference in days to flowering, and reached 50% flowering at about 62 days after treatment. When untreated plants were chilled for 1,2,4 and 6 days, they showed a delay of 8, 18, 30 and 34 days, respectively, to flowering, If not killed, as compared to the control The long delay to flowering was due to the injury of the terminal flower buds. After 4 and 6 days of chilling, most terminal flower buds were killed. However, when plants were treated with mefluidide and subsequently chilled days to flowering were significantly shortened. A difference of 10-12 days was observed between chilled untreated plants and chilled treated plants. Concentrations of 5 to 15 ppm were equally effective in protection against chilling.
Several rose species (Rosa rugosa, R. wichuraiana, R. setigera, R. laevigata, R. banksiae, R. roxburghii, R. odorata and hybrids) were employed to establish the appropriate nutrient media for shoot multiplication and root initiation of cultured shoots and to describe a procedure for the successful transfer to soil of plants obtained in vitro. Cultured shoot tips and lateral buds from different genotypes proliferated multiple shoots on a basal medium (MS salt, vitamins, glycine, sucrose and agar) supplemented with 0mg/l to 6mg/l 6-benzylamino purine (BA) and 0mg/l to 0.5 mg/l naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). Most rose species cultured in a modified MS medium supplemented with 2mg/l BA showed good growth and shoot proliferation. The buds nearest the apex exhibited the slowest rate of bud development. Root development was enhanced and shoot development inhibited by lowering the concentration of MS salts to quarter- and half-strength. With difficult-to-root species, rooting was improved by supplementing the media with auxin or giving them 3-7days of dark treatment.
White rust (causative pathogen Puccinia horiana) is a destructive disease of commercial chrysanthemum crops. A panel of 19 accessions of commercial chrysanthemum near-relatives (four Ajania species, 11 Chrysanthemum species including five accessions of Chrysanthemum indicum) were screened for their reaction to white rust infection in separate greenhouse trials carried out at two independent sites in eastern China, one in 2010 and the other in 2012. The reaction of the accessions to artificial inoculation ranged from immune to highly susceptible. Accessions of Chrysanthemum indicum, C. yoshinaganthum, C. makinoi var. wakasaense, C. nankingense, C. vestitum, C. lavandulifolium, C. crassum, and Ajania tripinnatisecta were immune, and strong resistance was present in C. japonense, C. × shimotomaii, and A. przewalskii. Most of the accessions behaved similarly in the two trials, but two of the C. indicum accessions produced inconsistent results, each being highly resistant in one trial but susceptible in the other. Because wide crosses are relatively easy to achieve in the chrysanthemum complex, these immune and highly resistant accessions represent promising germplasm for white rust resistance breeding.
Dwarfing rootstocks can improve the plant architecture of apple trees and increase production. Gibberellins (GAs) are crucial for plant growth and dwarfing traits. The receptor, GIBBERELLIN INSENSITIVE DWARF1 (GID1), plays an important role in the regulation pathway. However, the growth regulatory mechanism of GID1 in dwarf apple rootstock seedlings is not clear. In this study, we selected dwarf apple rootstock ‘SH6’ and its cross parents as materials to clone the GA receptor gene GID1c. There were two different sites in the alpha/beta hydrolase domain. The expression of GID1c in ‘SH6’ was lower than that in Malus domestica cv. Ralls Janet, with the decrease of GA content. We further conducted GA3 treatment and overexpression of GID1c in tissue culture seedlings of ‘SH6’, and the results showed that the expression of GID1c and biosynthesis genes increased and promoted the accumulation of hormone contents, which ultimately regulates the growth of ‘SH6’ dwarf apple rootstock seedlings. Our results suggest that GID1c may affect the plant architecture and dwarf traits of dwarfing rootstock and accelerate its application in orchards.
Although tolerance to high temperature is crucial to the summer survival of Iris germanica cultivars in subtropical areas, few physiological studies have been conducted on this topic previously. To remedy this, this study explored the physiological response and expression of heat shock factor in four I. germanica cultivars with varying levels of thermotolerance. The plants’ respective degrees of high-temperature tolerance were evaluated by measuring the ratio and area of withered leaves under stress. Several physiological responses to high temperatures were investigated, including effects on chlorophyll, antioxidant enzymes, proline, and soluble protein content in the leaves of four cultivars. CaCl2 was sprayed on ‘Gold Boy’ and ‘Royal Crusades’ considered being sensitive to high temperatures to study if Ca2+ could improve the tolerance, and LaCl3 was sprayed on ‘Music Box’ and ‘Galamadrid’ with better high-temperature tolerance to test if calcium ion blocker could decrease their tolerance. Heat shock factor genes were partially cloned according to the conserved region sequence, and expression changes to high-temperature stress with CaCl2 or LaCl3 treatments were thoroughly analyzed. Results showed that high temperature is the primary reason for large areas of leaf withering. The ratio and area of withered leaves on ‘Music Box’ and ‘Galamadrid’ were smaller than ‘Gold Boy’ and ‘Royal Crusades’. CaCl2 slowed the degradation of chlorophyll content and increased proline and soluble protein in ‘Gold Boy’ and ‘Royal Crusades’ but had no significant effect on activating peroxidase or superoxide to improve high-temperature tolerance. Genetic expression of heat shock factor in ‘Gold Boy’ and ‘Royal Crusades’ was upregulated by Ca2+ at later stages of leaf damage under high-temperature stress. LaCl3 down-regulated the physiological parameters and expression level of heat shock factor in ‘Music Box’ and ‘Galamadrid’. These results suggest that different I. germanica cultivars have varying high-temperature tolerance and furthermore that Ca2+ regulates their physiological indicators and expression level of heat shock factor under stress.
Cold stress is a key factor limiting resource use in bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon). Under cold stress, bermudagrass growth is severely inhibited and the leaves undergo chlorosis. Therefore, rigorous investigation on the physiological and molecular mechanisms of cold stress in this turf species is urgent. The objective of this study was to investigate the physiological and molecular alteration in wild bermudagrass under cold stress, particularly the changes of transpiration rate, soluble sugar content, enzyme activities, and expression of antioxidant genes. Wild bermudagrass (C. dactylon) was planted in plastic pots (each 10 cm tall and 8 cm in diameter) filled with matrix (brown coal soil:sand 1:1) and treated with 4 °C in a growth chamber. The results displayed a dramatic decline in the growth and transpiration rates of the wild bermudagrass under 4 °C temperature. Simultaneously, cold severely destabilized the cell membrane as indicated by increased malondialdehyde content and electrolyte leakage value. Superoxide dismutase and peroxidase activities were higher in the cold regime than the control. The expression of antioxidant genes including MnSOD, Cu/ZnSOD, POD, and APX was vividly up-regulated after cold stress. In summary, our results contributed to the understanding of the role of the antioxidant system in bermudagrass’ response to cold.