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Background: Canine parvovirus (CPV) and feline panleukopenia (FPV) cause severe intestinal disease and leukopenia. Objectives: In Korea, there have been a few studies on Korean FPV and CPV-2 strains. We attempted to investigate several genetic properties of FPV and CPV-2. Methods: Several FPV and CPV sequences from around world were analyzed by Bayesian phylo-geographical analysis. Results: The parvoviruses strains were newly classified into FPV, CPV 2-I, CPV 2-II, and CPV 2-III genotypes. In the strains isolated in this study, Gigucheon, Rara and Jun belong to the FPV, while Rachi strain belong to CPV 2-III. With respect to CPV type 2, the new genotypes are inconsistent with the previous genotype classifications (CPV-2a, -2b, and -2c). The root of CPV-I strains were inferred to be originated from a USA strain, while the CPV-II and III were derived from Italy strains that originated in the USA. Based on VP2 protein analysis, CPV 2-I included CPV-2a-like isolates only, as differentiated by the change in residue S297A/N. Almost CPV-2a isolates were classified into CPV 2-III, and a large portion of CPV-2c isolates was classified into CPV 2-II. Two residue substitutions F267Y and Y324I of the VP2 protein were characterized in the isolates of CPV 2-III only. Conclusions: We provided an updated insight on FPV and CPV-2 genotypes by molecular-based and our findings demonstrate the genetic characterization according to the new genotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern technologies and accurate information on genetic diversity and structure are contributing to improve the plant breeding, in particular for all the minor species with a lack of data. Genetic diversity of 139 different Ficus carica L. genotypes collected from Italy and Croatia, and divided into two subgroups: uniferous (only main crop) and biferous (breba and main crop), was investigated using 49 microsatellite markers. A total of 70 alleles were generated, of which 64 (91.4%) showed a polymorphic pattern indicating high level of genetic diversity within the studied collection. The mean heterozygosity over the 64 single locus microsatellites was 0.33 and the expected and observed averaged variance were 16.50 and 184.08, respectively. The 139 fig genotypes formed two clusters in the PCoA analysis, suggesting a division between Italian and Croatian genotypes. Moreover, the fig accessions could be divided into two main clusters based on the STRUCTURE analysis according to the biological type, uniferous or biferous, with partly overlapping varieties. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that molecular markers were able to discriminate among genotypes and useful for the authentication of fig tree varieties (homonymies and synonymies). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ‘Pomodoro di Sorrento’, originating from Southern Italy, represents one of the most important and remunerative Italian tomato landraces for “fresh market”. Despite its outstanding organoleptic and nutritional qualities scanty information still exists on the structural variation of this traditional tomato. Here we report the evaluation of ten accessions of the ‘Pomodoro di Sorrento’ tomato at phenotypic and molecular levels in order to provide a basis to unequivocally distinguish them from those belonging to the other most famous similar landraces grown in Italy. Morphological characterization based on 13 descriptors highlighted the presence of a significant level of variation for puffiness, green color and green shoulder of unripe fruits, allowing distinguishing two ‘Sorrento’ morphotypes. Genome-wide SNP genotyping was carried out using the ILLUMINA Infinium tomato array and revealed a genetically well defined structure of the ‘Sorrento’ landrace with respect to the other multilocular landraces most widespread in Italy. In particular, 1450 SNPs resulted polymorphic among 20 tested genotypes, and one clearly distinguishes the ‘Sorrento’ from other similar landraces. Finally, resistance assay to Verticillium wilt allowed the identification of promising ‘Sorrento’ accessions. Interestingly two markers localized into the Ve2 gene showed a strong association with the resistance/susceptibility trait. Taken as whole, our results provide a description of ‘Pomodoro di Sorrento’ landrace diversity, which provide useful information for its utilization in breeding programs as well as for its direct use in quality markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The third EMBO Conference on Plant Molecular Biology, which focused on 'Plant development and environmental interactions', was held in May 2012 in Matera, Italy. Here, we review some of the topics and themes that emerged from the various contributions; namely, steering technologies, transcriptional networks and hormonal regulation, small RNAs, cell and tissue polarity, environmental control and natural variation. We intend to provide the reader who might have missed this remarkable event with a glimpse of the recent progress made in this blossoming research field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A group of olive varieties, commonly cultivated in the sub-coastal area of the Emilia-Romagna region, in Italy's northern olive cultivation area limit, were described using both morphological and molecular approaches. The morpho-biological characters of each accession were collected according to the UPOV's descriptor list (International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants). Biometric indexes of inflorescence, leaf, fruit, and stone, measured using the Video Image Analysis (VIA), were compared to the molecular data obtained on the same set of cultivars using AFLP (Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism) and SSR (Simple Sequence Repeat) markers. The morphological and molecular data led to similar representations of the cultivar relationships. However, only the AFLP and SSR data were able to characterize specific olive varieties and identify erroneous denominations and cases of synonymy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]