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The article discusses a study which undertakes a genetic diversity analysis of Portuguese bread wheat cultivars and tests the reliability of the internal transcribed spacer ribosomal deoxyribonucleic acid polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (ITS rDNA PCR-RFLP) for defining phylogenies among bread wheat botanical varieties. It notes that the bread wheat collection comprises an excellent repository of germplasm in Portugal. It says that the ITS PCR-RFLP markers were less polymorphic compared to other DNA based markers.

A collection of 18 landraces of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) from northern Portugal was evaluated for both phaseolin pattern and a set of qualitative and quantitative traits. The phaseolin Contender and Tendergreen types were the most commonly occurring, with Boyaca and Huevo de Huanchaco present, but rare. The colour of the flower standard and wing, and seed shape, colour and size were all highly variable. On the basis of morphological traits, the landraces and testers clustered into two main groups. No relationship was found between phaseolin profile and any of the quantitative traits measured. Based on phaseolin patterns, the origin of Portuguese common bean populations was probably the Andean region of South America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analytical results concerning the identifications of four different chromatographic profiles of Sambucus nigra based on HPLC analysis of the anthocyanins present in the berries are described. That information can be used to select the best plants for anthocyanin pigments production and also to determine the best harvest time. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A collection of 63 bread wheats (Triticum aestivum L.) and 21 durum wheats (Triticum durum Desf.) commonly grown in Portugal since 1982 were characterized for the composition of wheat storage proteins (WSP), high molecular weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS), low molecular weight glutenin subunits (LMW-GS) and ω-gliadins. The composition of HMW-GS, LMW-GS and ω-gliadins, encoded at loci Glu-1, Glu-3 and Gli-1, respectively, was revealed by sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. WSP allelic compositions of bread and durum wheat patterns were given. In the bread wheats, a total of 24, 24 and 18 patterns were observed for HMW-GS, LMW-GS and ω-gliadins, respectively. Forty-two different alleles were identified for the nine loci studied, Glu-A1 (3), Glu-B1 (7), Glu-D1 (4), Glu-A3 (5), Glu-B3 (7), Glu-D3 (2), Gli-A1 (2), Gli-B1 (8) and Gli-D1 (4). In the case of durum wheats, 19 alleles were identified: one allele at Glu-A1, two at Glu-B3, Glu-B2 and Gli-A1, three at Glu-B1, four at Glu-A3 and five at Gli-B1. For HMW-GS, LMW-GS and ω-gliadins, three, six and six different patterns were revealed, respectively. This study represents the first attempt to discriminate the bread and durum wheat varieties commonly grown in Portugal by the allelic variation of storage proteins. The database is useful for varietal identification and for plant breeders who seek to devise effective programmes aimed at improving wheat quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B27 is the mostly known major histocompatibility complex (MHC) gene associated with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Nonetheless, there is substantial evidence that other MHC genes appear to be associated with the disease, although it has not yet been established whether these associations are driven by direct associations or by linkage disequilibrium (LD) mechanisms. We aimed to investigate the contributions of HLA class I and II alleles and B27-haplotypes for AS in a case-control study. A total of 188 HLA-B27 AS cases and 189 HLA-B27 healthy controls were selected and typed for HLA class I and II by the Luminex polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific oligonucleotide probe (PCR-SSOP) method. Allelic and haplotypic distributions were estimated by maximum likelihood method using Arlequin v3.11 and statistical analysis were performed by Stata10.1. No associations were found between non-HLA-B27 loci and AS susceptibility, but several associations were observed for phenotypic features of the disease. DRB1*08 was identified as a risk factor for uveitis and DQB1*04 seems to provide protection for AS severity (functional, metrological and radiological indexes). A*02/B27/C*02/DRB1*01/DQB1*05 [P<0.0001; odds ratio (OR) = 39.06; 95% confidence interval (CI) (2.34-651)] is the only haplotype that seems to confer susceptibility to AS. Moreover, the haplotype A*02/B27/C*01/DRB1*08/DQB1*04 seems to provide protection for disease functional and radiological repercussions. Our findings are compatible with the hypothesis that other genes within the HLA region besides HLA-B27 might play some role in AS susceptibility and severity., (© 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The variation at the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the ribosomal DNA has been correlated with the number of nucleolar organizer regions (NORs) in some plant species. Besides, the number of NORs might influence the rate of homogenization of the rDNA repeats. In recent studies, ITS length variants were detected in bread wheat cultivars but no reports about their presence in durum wheat were found. In the present study, we localized and identified the NORs of 51 old Portuguese durum wheat cultivars by using sequential silver staining and fluorescence in situ hybridization performed with the pTa71 rDNA probe. We also detected ITS length variants by PCR-RFLP. No variation at the number of Ag-NORs per metaphase was found among the 51 durum wheat cultivars, but the PCR-RFLP technique carried out with the restriction enzyme HpaII, allowed the detection of ITS length variants among them. The molecular data was used in order to establish the genetic relationships among cultivars and botanical varieties of durum wheat. The knowledge of this feature could be useful for future design of breeding strategies, involving this collection that constitutes an excellent repository of germplasm in Portugal.

The certification of olive oil has led to the definition of Protected Denomination of Origin (PDO) producing regions in European countries. PDO products should be protected, and a solution could be by using DNA fingerprinting. In this work we evaluate the efficiency of RAPD, ISSR, and SSR molecular markers for olive oil varietal identification and their possible use in certification purposes. Twenty-three Portuguese olive oil samples (11 obtained monovarietal and 12 purchased commercial oils) were screened by means of two RAPD, four ISSR, and four SSR markers. The quality of amplified products was used to evaluate the reproducibility and the level of polymorphism. Principal component analysis was performed with DCENTER using unweighted pair group mathematical average (UPGMA) that allowed group formation according to olive oil varietal geographic origin.

POU1F1 (PIT-1/GHF-1) is a transcription factor with critical role in the transcriptional regulation of multiple genes in the pituitary and also important for the survival, differentiation and proliferation of three pituitary cell types. To understand the regulation of POU1F1 gene in Ovis aries we report its cloning, sequencing and characterization. The sequenced 5787 bp included six exons and two complete introns. Ovine POU1F1 gene has a high level of conservation with its bovine, human and rat counterparts showing 98.2%, 91.2% and 86.2% of similarity at the coding level, respectively. All six exons were analyzed for polymorphism detection in 100 animals of the Portuguese indigenous ovine breed 'Churra da Terra Quente'. One polymorphism was found at codon 58 in exon 2, in one allele of 4 animals leading to a change from cysteine to tyrosine (2% allelic frequency). In exon 3 two polymorphisms were detected: a G to A transition altering a glycine to an asparagine at codon 89 in one allele of one animal (0.5% allelic frequency) and another G to A transition at codon 105 converting an alanine into a threonine in one allele of 3 animals (1.5% allelic frequency). These polymorphisms might change the structure of the POU1F1 protein and modify gene-expression. In intron 4, an A to G transition was detected in one allele of six animals (3% allelic frequency). Exons 1, 4 and 6 showed no polymorphisms.

Background and Aims: Landrace populations represent an important intra-crop reservoir of biodiversity and source of novel gene alleles for use in breeding programmes. Here the aim was to measure the diversity of a wheat landrace, 'Barbela', from the north of Portugal., Methods: DNA was extracted from 59 accessions of Barbela collected across its geographical range. Diversity was measured by microsatellite length polymorphisms using 27 primer pairs amplifying 34 polymorphic microsatellite loci., Key Results: High levels of polymorphism were found, with an average polymorphism information content of 0.52; an average of 4.77 alleles (range 2-11) were present at each locus, and half of these loci showed an additional allele in the reference variety 'Chinese Spring'., Conclusions: 'Barbela' is maintained from seeds collected by farmers, but it maintains high allelic variation, and no groupings of accessions were detected when analysed by geographical region, farm or climate, indicating that the wheat landrace is a homogeneous entity. The diversity within the farmer-maintained landrace demonstrates the importance of characterization and maintenance of landrace collections before valuable genetic combinations are lost as uniform commercial crops are introduced.