Elena K Khlestkina

N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Research Institute of Plant Genetic Resources

Drought is one of the major environmental factors that limit crop growth and yield. Development of new wheat genotypes carrying introgressions from other cereal species is widely applied to improve the complex stability of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The aim of this study was to estimate the effect of alien genetic material (derived from Ae...

Breeding of cereals with anthocyanin-rich grains is promising for health food production. Here, we transferred genes responsible for activation of anthocyanin biosynthesis in the grain pericarp (Ant1 and Ant2) and aleurone (HvMyc2) to elite barley cultivars Aley, Tanay, and Vorsinsky-2 by marker-assisted backcrossing. Donors were Bowman lines BW648...

Functional foods enriched with plant polyphenol anthocyanins attract particular attention due to their health-promoting properties, including antitumor activity. We evaluated the effects of a grain diet rich in anthocyanins in a mouse model of Lewis lung carcinoma. Mice of the C57BL/6 strain were fed with wheat of near-isogenic lines differing in t...

Antioxidant properties, betalain profiles and biochemical composition were studied in table beets with maroon and yellow root colors. Features of dynamic changes during the growing season were described. Significant differences in antioxidant activity were found in table beet accessions with differently colored roots. Negative dynamics of antioxida...

Hordeum vulgare genes NUD (HvNUD) and WIN1 (HvWIN1) play a regulatory role in cuticle organization. Because the cuticle is a key evolutionary acquisition of plants for protection against environmental factors, a knockout (KO) of each gene may alter their ability to adapt to unfavorable conditions. A potential pleiotropic effect of HvNUD or HvWIN1 g...

Climate change, growing world population and increasing food demand require higher yields and adaptability of crops, including spring bread wheat. Modern plant breeding based on achievements of genetics has a significant impact on plant resistance to diseases, climate variability and other factors. Genome wide association studies (GWAS) is one of g...

Tea has historically been one of the most popular beverages, and it is currently an economically significant crop cultivated in over 50 countries. The Northwestern Caucasus is one of the northernmost regions for industrial tea cultivation worldwide. The domestication of the tea plant in this region took approximately 150 years, during which plantat...

The transition from seed to seedling represents a critical developmental step in the life cycle of higher plants, dramatically affecting plant ontogenesis and stress tolerance. The release from dormancy to acquiring germination ability is defined by a balance of phytohormones, with the substantial contribution of abscisic acid (ABA), which inhibits...

The genetic base of compactness has been an area of active research in recent years, with several genes and mutations identified to be associated with the appearance of dwarf phenotypes. Understanding the functions of these genes and the underlying mechanisms of dwarfism in cucurbit crops is essential for developing new cultivars with improved yiel...

Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) is an oxidoreductase. In damaged plant tissues, it catalyzes enzymatic browning by oxidizing o-diphenols to highly reactive o-quinones, which polymerize producing heterogeneous dark polymer melanin. In intact tissues, functions of PPO are not well understood. The aim of the study was to investigate the barley PPO gene famil...

The program and conference materials of the Scientific and Practical Conference “To the 100th Anniversary of Northern Agriculture”, dedicated to the Centennial of the Polar Experiment Station of VIR, are published. The Conference was held in Apatity, Murmansk Province, on August 10–11, 2023 (hereinafter referred to as the Event/Conference). Promoti...

Transitions from seed to seedling represent a critical developmental step in the life cycle of higher plants, dramatically affecting plant ontogenesis and stress tolerance. The release from dormancy to acquiring the germination ability is defined by a balance of phytohormones, with a substantial contribution of abscisic acid (ABA), which inhibits g...

In recent years, there has been a focus on breeding wheat with high anthocyanin levels in order to improve food quality and human health. The objective of this study was to examine the antioxidant and geroprotective properties of wheat bran extracts using both in vitro and in vivo research methods. Two wheat lines were used: one with uncolored peri...

The intensively pigmented legumes belonging to Phaseolus and Vigna spp. are valued as an essential component of healthy nutrition due to their high content of flavonoids. In this context, we used the accessions of Vigna unguiculata with different colors of seed coats from the N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources collection...

A series of events in honor of the centenary of the Polar Experiment Station of VIR founded by Nikolay Ivanovich Vavilov, was opened by the Second Scientific Conference “Genetic Resources and Genetic Technologies for the Development of Northern Territories”, which took place on March 13-15, 2023. The objective of the Conference was to provide a reg...

This study discusses the genetic mutations that have a significant association with economically important traits that would benefit tea breeders. The purpose of this study was to analyze the leaf quality and SNPs in quality-related genes in the tea plant collection of 20 mutant genotypes growing without nitrogen fertilizers. Leaf N-content, catech...

: To accelerate breeding new varieties of bread wheat that accumulate anthocyanins in grain, we have previously developed intragenic DNA markers to the regulatory genes Pp and Ba controlling anthocyanin biosynthesis in pericap and aleurone layer of grain, respectively. In the current work these markers together with the linked microsatellite marker...

The success of genome editing of crops using the CRISPR/Cas system largely depends on the correct choice of target genes, for which directed changes will increase yield and improve the quality of plant raw materials and resistance to biotic and abiotic stress factors. This work systematizes and catalogs data on target genes used to improve cultivat...

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is one of the most commonly cultivated cereals worldwide. Its local varieties can represent a valuable source of unique genetic variants useful for crop improvement. The aim of this study was to reveal loci contributing to spike productivity traits in Siberian spring barley and to develop diagnostic DNA markers for marke...

Introduction Low temperatures and drought are two main environmental constraints reducing the yield and geographical distribution of horticultural crops worldwide. Understanding the genetic crosstalk between stress responses has potential importance for crop improvement. Methods In this study, Illumina RNA-seq and Pac-Bio genome resequencing were...

Successful application of the CRISPR/Cas genome editing system to various crops largely depends on the correct choice of target genes that may be purposefully changed to improve yield, quality, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stressors. The objective of this work was systematizing and cataloguing the information on the confirmed target genes f...

Citation: Gerasimova, S.V.; Kolosovskaya, E.V.; Vikhorev, A.V.; Korotkova, A.M.; Hertig, C.W.; Genaev, M.A.; Domrachev, D.V.; Morozov, S.V.; Chernyak, E.I.; Shmakov, N.A.; et al. WAX INDUCER 1 Regulates β-Diketone Biosynthesis by Mediating Expression of the Cer-cqu Gene Abstract: Plant surface properties are crucial determinants of resilience to ab...

Enrichment of grains with anthocyanins is considered a feasible approach to improving the nutritional properties of bread wheat. Here, two black-grained substitution lines with either 4B or 4D chromosomes substituted by wheatgrass (Thinopyrum ponticum) 4Th were created via marker-assisted combining the anthocyanin biosynthesis regulatory genes Pp-1...

Vigna unguiculata (cowpea) is a species widely cultivated in southern countries, it occupies the third place in the world in terms of cultivation area among leguminous crops. Cowpea is distinguished by its resistance to drought and infertile lands, productivity, nutritional value and excellent culinary qualities of pods and seeds. In recent years i...

Background . Dark color of barley grain ( Hordeum vulgare L.) can be caused by the synthesis and accumulation of two types of polyphenolic pigments – anthocyanins and melanins, which perform important functions in plant life, participating in the regulation of growth and development, and protecting plants from adverse environmental conditions. The...

The genes NUD and WIN1 play a regulatory role in cuticle organization in barley. A knockout (KO) of each gene may alter plant mechanisms of adaptation to adverse environmental conditions. A putative pleiotropic effect of NUD or WIN1 gene mutations in barley can be assessed in a series of experiments in the presence or absence of a provoking factor....

Nine separate scientific conferences and school-conferences dedicated to the conservation, development, study and practical use of biological collections of various types were held under the auspices of the First Scientific Forum “Genetic Resources of Russia”, which took place in Saint Petersburg on 21-24 June 2022. A total of more than 300 oral pr...

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) grain pigmentation is caused by two types of phenolic compounds: anthocyanins (which are flavonoids) give a blue or purple color, and melanins (which are products of enzymatic oxidation and polymerization of phenolic compounds) give a black or brown color. Genes Ant1 and Ant2 determine the synthesis of purple anthocyanin...

The first scientific forum «Genetic Resources of Russia» took place in Saint Petersburg on 21-24 June 2022. The Forum brought together more than 500 specialists from more than 100 research institutions and universities of the Russian Federation. A round table «Regulations and standards of work with bio-resource collections» was organized within the...

The seed-to-seedling transition is a crucial step in the plant life cycle. The transition occurs at the end of seed germination and corresponds to the initiation of embryonic root growth. To improve our understanding of how a seed transforms into a seedling, we germinated the Pisum sativum L. seeds for 72 h and divided them into samples before and...

Starch is one of the most demanded renewable feedstock in the world. The degree of phosphorylation of native potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) starch is a practically important quantitative trait, significantly influencing its physical and chemical properties. In this study, we evaluated the genetic diversity of the population of potato varieties and q...

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] is produced in 93 countries of the world on 120.5 million hectares. The production area of the crop is located between 56N. (Russian Federation) and 35-37S (Argentina). In the gene pool of the crop, there is a wide variety of genotypes of different maturity groups, which every has a relatively narrow latitudinal ada...

Nikolai Alexandrovich Kolchanov is known primarily as the founder of Russian bioinformatics and systems computer biology, a recognized world-class specialist in this field. Distinctive features of the strategy chosen by Academician Kolchanov in relation to fundamental and practical tasks are a comprehensive view of the problem and the ability to fo...

Flavonoids are a diverse group of secondary plant metabolites that play an important role in the regulation of plant development and protection against stressors. The biosynthesis of flavonoids occurs through the activity of several enzymes, including chalcone isomerase (CHI) and flavanone 3-hydroxylase (F3H). A functional divergence between some c...

Plant melanin is a dark polymerized polyphenolic substance that can by synthesized in seed tissues. Unlike well-defined enzymatic browning reaction leading to melanin synthesis in senescent and damaged plant tissues, melanin formation in intact tissues was not studied properly. Recently, melanin synthesis was demonstrated in chloroplast-derived mel...

Grapevine is one of the world’s most economically important fruit crops. It is known that Vitis vinifera is a host for a large number of pathogenic agents, which significantly reduce the yield and berry quality. This forces the agronomists to use a huge amount of fungicides. Over the last few decades, alternative methods for solving this problem ha...

Anthocyanins and melanins are phenolic pigments of plants and accumulate in seed envelopes of the barley grain, thereby giving them a blue, purple, or black color. To explore the effects of combined accumulation of anthocyanins and melanins in the grain, a barley near-isogenic line (NIL), characterized by simultaneous accumulation in both pigments,...

Wart (a disease caused by Synchytrium endobioticum) and golden cyst potato nematode (Globodera rostochiensis), which parasitize the roots of the host plant, cause significant damage to potato crop. Both of these disease factors are quarantined in the Russian Federation, and each registered variety is tested for resistance to their most common races...

Fruit and berry crops, as well as grapes, are important parts of the human diet and, at the same time, significant objects of genetic, breeding, biochemical and nutritional research. Traditional approaches of crop research and improvement are now complemented by effective modern genetic technologies. In this review, we analyze and summarize the ach...

The colored grain of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) contains a large number of polyphenolic compounds that are biologically active ingredients. The purpose of this work was a comparative metabolomic study of extracts from anthocyaninless (control), blue, and deep purple (referred to here as black) grains of seven genetically related wheat lines devel...

Transition from seed to seedling is one of the critical developmental steps, dramatically affecting plant growth and viability. Before plants enter the vegetative phase of their ontogenesis, massive rearrangements of signaling pathways and switching of gene expression programs are required. This results in suppression of the genes controlling seed...

Nutrition is a source of energy, and building material for the human organism. The quality of food has an effect on the quality of individual life. Minerals and vitamins participate in various catalytic and regulatory functions of the main metabolic processes: absorption, transport, redox and biosynthesis of organic compounds, genetic information t...

The type of stem growth is one of the key features in determining plant architectonics. Stem growth type is an economically important trait. It interconnects with stem length, flowering duration, yield, resistance to lodging, and suitability of mechanized cultivation. Mutations in the TFL1 gene and its homologs have been demonstrated to change meri...

Among the natural pigments, anthocyanins are assumed to represent one of the most studied groups. Starting with the f irst studies on the physicochemical properties of anthocyanins carried out in the 17th century by British naturalist Robert Boyle, the science about these unique compounds has progressed substantially. To date, the structure and fun...

Cereal grains provide half of the calories consumed by humans. In addition, they contain important compounds beneficial for health. During the last years, a broad spectrum of new cereal grain-derived products for dietary purposes emerged on the global food market. Special breeding programs aimed at cultivars utilizable for these new products have b...

Functional foods enriched with plant polyphenols and anthocyanins in particular attract special attention due to multiple beneficial bioactive properties of the latter. We evaluated the effects of a grain diet rich in anthocyanins in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease induced by amyloid-beta (Aβ) and a transgenic mouse model of Parkinson’s diseas...

Background It is well-documented that (bio)chemical reaction capacity of raw potato starch depends on crystallinity, morphology and other chemical and physical properties of starch granules, and these properties are closely related to gene functions. Preparative yield, amylose/amylopectin content, and phosphorylation of potato tuber starch are star...

One hundred years ago N.I. Vavilov formulated the Law of homologous series in hereditary variability. Among the broad range of examples that encouraged N.I. Vavilov to make this important generalization, homologous series in plant height variability were mentioned. In the current review, we compare data collected over the century on genetic basis a...

The fungal pathogen Cochliobolus sativus Drechs. Ex Dastur, anamorph Bipolaris sorokiniana (Sacc.) Shoemaker is one of the most common barley pathogens worldwide and causes spot blotch and root rot in barley. Spot blotch is considered to be the major biotic stress hampering the commercial production of barley. During high disease severity, which oc...

In wheat, anthocyanin pigments can be accumulated in pericarp tissues (under control of the Pp genes) resulting in purple-colored grain. In the current study, a strategy, based on the use of molecular and morphological markers, was applied to create purple-grained bread wheat cultivars adapted to the West Siberian region. The breeding scheme starte...

Background The naked caryopsis character in barley is a domestication-associated trait defined by loss-of-function of the NUD gene. The functional NUD gene encodes an Apetala 2/Ethylene-Response Factor (AP2/ERF) controlling the formation of a cementing layer between pericarp and both lemma and palea. The downstream genes regulated by the NUD transc...

Background Globodera rostochiensis belongs to major potato pathogens with a sophisticated mechanism of interaction with roots of the host plants. Resistance of commercial varieties is commonly based on specific R genes introgressed from natural populations of related wild species and from native potato varieties grown in the Andean highlands. Inves...

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is one of the most important food crops in the world. The genome of this potato species is autotetraploid and has a high level of heterozygosity, also this potato species is a cross-pollinated plant. These characteristics complicate the genetic analysis and breeding process. The tuber’s eye depth is an important trait...

Conservation of plant genetic diversity, including economically important crops, is the foundation for food safety. About 90 % of the world’s crop genetic diversity is stored as seeds in genebanks. During storage seeds suffer physiological stress consequences, one of which is the accumulation of free radicals, primarily reactive oxygen species (ROS...

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is the one of the most important cereal species used as food and feed crops, as well as for malting and alcohol production. At the end of the last century, traditional breeding techniques were complemented by the use of DNA markers. Molecular markers have also been used extensively for molecular genetic mapping and QTL a...

The word “melanin” refers to a group of high molecular weight, black, and brown pigments formed through the oxidation and polymerization of phenolic compounds. This pigment is present in all kingdoms of living organisms, but it remains the most enigmatic pigment in plants. The poor solubility of melanin in particular solvents and its complex polyme...

Problems of the conservation and use of plant resources in the context of climate change and socioeconomic challenges are considered. Particular attention is paid to the conservation of crop wild relatives and traditional crop varieties as sources of genetic diversity, which had been lost by the modern gene pool of cultivated plants first in the pr...

Allotetraploid cotton Gossypium hirsutum L. is not only an important crop, but also a model organism used to study such processes as polyploidization, plant genome evolution and the influence of polyploidy on gene expression. The present article provides a review of studies devoted to the taxonomy of the genus Gossypium, the evolution of the genome...

Flax (Lnum usitatssimum L.) is an important oil and fiber crop. Using modern methods for flax breeding allows accelerating the introduction of some desired genes into the genotypes of future varieties. Today, an important condition for their creation is the development of research, that is based on next-generation sequencing (NGS). This review summ...

Microsatellite (SSR) markers with known precise intrachromosomal locations are widely used for mapping genes in rye and for the investigation of wheat-rye translocation lines and triticale highly demanded for mapping economically important genes and QTL-analysis. One of the sources of novel SSR markers in rye are microsatellites transferable from t...

Precise editing of the genes of plant organisms with complex genomes has long been a difficult task. The CRISPR/Cas technology developed in the last decade has become one of the preferred tools for site-directed mutagenesis of plant genes and has quickly replaced the ZFN and TALEN systems. However, while the CRISPR/Cas system has proven to be an ef...

Melanins are a class of darkly pigmented biopolymers which are widely distributed among living organisms. The molecular and cellular mechanisms adopted by bacteria, fungi and animals to synthesize melanin, have been well described, but less is known regarding their production in plants. Here, a pair of barley near isogenic lines, bred to differ wit...

Breeding programs for purple wheat are underway in many countries but there is a lack of information on the effects of Pp (purple pericarp) genes on agronomic and quality traits in variable environments and along the product chain (grain-flour-bread). This study was based on unique material: two pairs of isogenic lines in a spring wheat cv. Saratov...

This review is devoted to the analysis of molecular genetic mechanisms of controlling the type of growth habit of grain legumes (pea, soybean, common bean, vigna); it provides information on the known homologous genes TFL1, LFY, AP1, FUL, FT, and FD. Significant changes in plant architecture were during domestication of grain legumes. Many wild rel...

Bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is an economically significant crop. Its fruits are a source of macro-, microelements, vitamins A and C, carotenoids, various acids, sugars, as well as polypheno-lic compounds, which attract special attention due to their antioxidant properties that are important for the prevention and treatment of various human dis...

There is growing interest in cereals with anthocyanins in grain as a source of natural biologically active compounds beneficial for human health. In bread wheat, anthocyanins accumulate in the pericarp, under control of Pp genes, and in the aleurone layer, under control of Ba. Breeding anthocyanin-rich wheat cultivars is possible through the transf...

The paper gives an overview about the past and present situation of the maintenance of plant genetic resources in ex-situ genebanks where seed storage is the prevailing way of conservation. Therefore, seed storability/longevity is of exceptional importance for germplasm conservation. Beside environmental influence on the trait a strong genetic comp...

Flavonoid biosynthesis in plants is regulated by a specific MBW protein complex, which is formed by the interaction of the R2R3-Myb, bHLH, and WD40 transcription factors. The genomes of the representatives of the Triticeae tribe are characterized by the presence of orthologous and homeologous copies of the flavonoid biosynthesis regulatory genes. T...

Today the range of crops, which are studied and improved with the help of genetic editing technologies, in particular with CRISPR/Cas system, is actively expanding. High accuracy, ease of editing tools application and relative cheapness allow the use of this method in research in various fi elds of biology. The present systematic review summarizes...

Main conclusion For the subsequent assessment of the genetic mechanisms responsible for the resistance of plants to chronic irradiation, the analysis of RAPD-cDNA with the subsequent isolation, cloning, and sequencing of expressed polymorphic sequences is a promising technique. A study was conducted on Bromopsis inermis populations that have been g...

Background: Net blotch caused by Pyrenophra teres f. teres is a major foliar disease of barley. Infection can result in significant yield losses of susceptible cultivars of up to 40%. Of the two forms of net blotch (P. teres f. teres and P. teres f. maculata), P. teres f. teres (net form of net blotch) is the dominant one in Russia. The goal of th...

Background The cultivated potato Solanum tuberosum L. is the fourth most important crop worldwide. Anthocyanins synthesis and accumulation in potato tissues are considered as one of important traits related to stress resistance and nutritional value. It is considered that the major regulatory gene for anthocyanin biosynthesis is R2R3 MYB-encoding g...

Background Flavonoid compounds are secondary plant metabolites, having a functional importance in plant development, protection from pathogens and unfavorable environmental factors. Chalcone synthase (CHS) is a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of flavonoids; it is involved in biosynthesis of all classes of flavonoid compounds. Nevertheless, the Chs g...

Background The natural variation of starch phosphate content in potatoes has been previously reported. It is known that, in contrast to raw starch, commercially phosphorylated starch is more stable at high temperatures and shear rates and has higher water capacity. The genetic improvement of phosphate content in potato starch by selection or engine...

With the advent of the new genome editing tool of target-specifically customizable endonucleases, a huge variety of novel opportunities have become feasible. The crop improvement is one of the main applications of genome editing in plant science and plant biotechnology. The amount of publications referring to genome editing and CRISPR/Cas system ba...

Genome editing using the CRISPR/Cas system is a breakthrough tech­nology in plant genetics and breeding. The most large-scale application of this new technology on crop species is observed for rice. This fact is explained not only by the significance of this crop, but also by the relatively high transformation amenability. Although the end result o...

Background: Myc-like regulatory factors carrying the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) domain belong to a large superfamily of transcriptional factors (TFs) present in all eukaryotic kingdoms. In plants, the representatives of this superfamily regulate diverse biological processes including growth and development as well as response to various stresse...

Background Anthocyanins are plants secondary metabolites important for plant adaptation to severe environments and potentially beneficial to human health. Purple colour of barley grain is caused by the pigments synthesized in pericarp. One or two genes determine the trait. One of them is Ant2 mapped on chromosome 2HL and is known to encode transcri...