Ocurrence of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Philophthalmus gralli</Emphasis> (Trematoda: Philophthalmidae) in farmed ostriches in Brazil

This paper reports the occurrence of parasitism by the Oriental eye-fluke, Philophthalmus gralli in ostriches reared in a commercial flock from the State of Minas Gerais State, Southeastern Brazil. The two affected birds presented lacrimation, inflammatory reaction and loss of body condition. After physical examination the birds revealed, 17 and 15 trematodes each, only in the right eyes. The economic impact of this parasite on Brazilian ostrich industry is still undetermined, requiring further studies.     

Avian tuberculosis of zoonotic importance at a zoo on the Bogotá Andean plateau (Sabana), Colombia

Given that exposure to captive wild animals at circuses or zoos can be a source of zoonotic infection, a case and control study was carried out with a collection of exotic fowl at a zoo in Bogotá, Colombia. The presence of Mycobacterium avium-II was directly related to the death of birds kept in the original enclosure, and of 50% of a group of sentinel birds. Failure to detect the organism in a control group of birds outside the enclosure indicated that the infection was limited to the original enclosed area. We demonstrated that M. gordonae-IV was disseminated in all organs from 1 bird with macroscopic granulomatous lesion, a finding which has not been reported previously. We emphasize the importance of establishing handling norms to reduce the risk of zoonotic transmission.     

Sublethal effects of propiconazole on the metabolism of lambari Deuterodon iguape (Eigenmann 1907), a native species from Brazil

Fish Physiology and Biochemistry - The objective of this study was to analyze the sublethal effects of propiconazole on Deuterodon iguape, a native fish common in Brazil, which has potential for...     

Modulation of the innate immune response,antioxidant system and oxidative stress during acute and chronic stress in pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus)

Fish Physiology and Biochemistry - Stress is an energy-demanding process, as well as the responses of the innate immune system, that impose a metabolic overload on cellular energy production, which...     

QTL mapping for the cooking time of common beans

The decrease in the per capita consumption of beans has been partially attributed to their lengthy cooking time and the aggregated capital costs of their preparation. The aim of this study was to map microsatellite (SSR) markers linked to quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that govern the cooking time of common beans. An F₂ generation consisting of 140 families was generated from a cross between lines CNFM7875 and Laranja. The cooking time of the F_2:4 and F_2:5 generations was then evaluated, and the latter generation was tested in two environments. The analysis of variance found a significant effect for the interactions between the families (P < 0.01) in both the F_2:4 and F_2:5 generations, as well as for the group analyses performed in the two environments. The experimental coefficient of variation varied from 9.42 to 17.94%. The Pearson’s correlation test indicated no significant association between water absorption and cooking time. The heritability coefficients had values of 0.532 and 0.739 for the F_2:5 families evaluated at the two different locations, and the group analysis of the F_2:5 generation indicated that there was a significant genotype × environment interaction. Of the 105 polymorphic SSRs evaluated, 91 mapped to 12 linkage groups with an estimated map size of 1,303.7 cM. Six significant QTLs were detected in both environments, and the percentage of the phenotypic variation that was explained by these loci ranged from 11.54 to 21.63%. As the genetic control was oligogenic, the identification of QTLs should serve as an optimal starting point for the implementation of a selection program.     

Ulvan effect on conidial germination and appressoria formation of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides

Ulvan is an algal polysaccharide known for its ability to induce resistance to plant diseases such as the Glomerella leaf spot of apple caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporiodes. This study was aimed at investigating microscopically, in tests in vitro and in vivo, whether ulvan interferes in the development of pre-infective structures of C. gloeosporioides. Conidial germination and appressoria formation were monitored hourly on agar and cellophane, and at 48 h on water- and ulvan-treated susceptible as well as resistant apple leaves. Amendment of agar with ulvan (10 mg ml^?1) enhanced the germination and resulted in longer germ tubes at 7 h of incubation. On cellophane it significantly delayed appressoria formation up to 8 h, but later after 14 h increased the number of appressoria per conidium. Spraying of susceptible leaves with ulvan 6 days before inoculation decreased disease severity by 50%. This was associated with inhibition of appressoria formation and stimulus in growth of germ tubes, without interfering with conidial germination, when compared with both water-treated control and resistant plants. Appressorium formation occurred preferentially on anticlinal walls of epidermal cells and its location was not influenced by host resistance or by ulvan treatment. This study suggests a new mode of action for ulvan interfering with appressorium formation that could protect apple plants against C. gloeosporioides infection.     

Inheritance of high oleic acid content in safflower

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) oil with high oleic acid content (>75%) has a great value for both food and non-food uses. The trait has been reported to be environmentally stable and controlled by recessive alleles at one single gene Ol, even though the influence of modifying genes has been suggested. Additionally, germplasm with higher oleic acid content (>85%) has been reported. The objective of the present research was to study the inheritance of high oleic acid content in genetic sources with both levels of high oleic acid content (>75 and >85%, respectively). A genetic study was conducted by crossing the nuclear male-sterile line CL1 (18% oleic acid) and the high oleic acid lines CR-6 (80%) and CR-9 (87%). The evaluation of the F₁ and F₂ seed generations of the crosses CL1 × CR-6 and CL1 × CR-9 indicated that in both cases the high oleic acid trait was controlled by partially recessive alleles at a single locus. The observation of F₂, F₃, and F₄ segregants with high oleic acid phenotype but lower oleic acid levels than the parents revealed the presence of modifying genes affecting the trait. Crosses between the two high oleic acid lines produced no transgressive segregation other than that caused by the mentioned modifying genes, suggesting that the high oleic acid lines CR-6 and CR-9 share the same alleles at the Ol locus. Differences for oleic acid content between both lines were hypothesized to be produced by the accumulation of genes with a minor effect on the trait.     

Utilization of trehalose, benzoate, valerate, and seed and root exudates by genotypes of 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol producing Pseudomonas fluorescens

Isolates of Pseudomonas fluorescens producing the antibiotic 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol (2,4-DAPG) are effective biocontrol agents against soilborne pathogens. A previous study showed that the superior (“premier”) root colonizer P. fluorescens Q8r1-96 (genotype D) utilized trehalose, benzoate and valerate as sole carbon sources but average colonizers Q2-87 (genotype B) and 1M1-96 (genotype L) did not. We tested the utilization of these three carbon sources by a collection of 55 2,4-DAPG-producing P. fluorescens strains from 17 genotypes and found no correlation between a strain's ability to utilize these carbon sources and superior rhizosphere competence on wheat and pea. Of the strains tested, 73%, 48% and 69% were able to utilize trehalose, benzoate and valerate as sole carbon sources, respectively. With some exceptions, we found a correlation between the utilization of these compounds and previous groupings of these strains by BOX-PCR; genotype D strains utilized all three compounds. Twenty-three strains grew efficiently on root and seed exudates from wheat and pea, with doubling times between 0.9 and 1.6 h generation⁻¹ and lag phases between 5 and 8 h, comparable to growth on glucose as a sole carbon source. Only 10 strains, including those with “premier” (Q8r1-96) and “average” (Q2-87) rhizosphere competence, showed slower growth in wheat root exudates, with lag phases between 16 and 22 h. Results were the same when soil was added to the culture medium. Growth of four strains in media containing glucose or wheat or pea seed exudates as a sole carbon source was not influenced by whether the bacterial cells used as inoculum were harvested from wheat seeds or broth culture. We conclude that the superior ability of some strains to colonize the roots of certain crops cannot be explained by the utilization of the carbon sources tested in our study.     

Analysis of the contribution of Mesoamerican and Andean gene pools to European common bean (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Phaseolus vulgaris</Emphasis> L.) germplasm and strategies to establish a core collection

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) was introduced in Europe from both Mesoamerican and Andean centres of origin. In this study, a collection including 544 accessions from all European regions showed that the Andean phaseolin types ‘T’ (45.6%) and ‘C’ (30.7%) prevailed over the Mesoamerican ones ‘S’ (23.7%), and accessions with cuboid seed shape (34.9%), maroon coat darker colour seed (44.3%), uniform seed colour (69.6%) were the most frequent. European accessions with phaseolin ‘S’ showed a significantly larger average seed size compared to those from America in the same phaseolin class while those presenting ‘T’ and ‘C’ phaseolin did not. This suggests that, during crop expansion in Europe, sampling or selection favoured the large-seeded races within the Mesoamerican ‘S’ gene pool or, possibly, introgression from Andean germplasm did occur. A core collection was developed using sampling approaches based on the information available in the genebank databases and on phaseolin patterns. Four sampling strategies were used: simple random sampling, and three random-stratified samplings, by logarithm of frequency of accessions by country, by European region, and by phaseolin pattern, respectively. Two sampling strategies resulted in core collections significantly different for phaseolin electrophoretic patterns from the whole collection. Stratification by phaseolin patterns increased the frequency of ‘S’ types (‘C’ type = 33%, ‘T’ type = 5.7% and ‘S’ type = 31.3%). The core collections were validated using seven seed characters, and no significant difference was observed in all strategies. This first developed European bean core collection will help to assess the contribution of the two American gene pools to the European germplasm and their relative importance for breeding purposes.