List of recently published papers on plant flow cytometry - October and November

As I told in the previous post, I've had limited time to dedicate to the blog. Because of that I bring you the list of the recently published papers of the two last months, October and November. There are some very interesting papers in this package... so, I wish some nice readings.

Genome size:
Palomino G, Hernandez LT, Torres ED. Nuclear genome size and chromosome analysis in Chenopodium quinoa and C. berlandieri subsp. nuttalliae. Euphytica (2008) 164: 221-230.

Robert ML, Lim KY, Hanson L, Sanchez-Teyer F, Bennett MD, Leitch AR, Leitch IJ. Wild and agronomically important Agave species (Asparagaceae) show proportional increases in chromosome number, genome size, and genetic markers with increasing ploidy. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society (2008) 158: 215-222.

Achigan-Dako EG, Fuchs J, Ahanchede A, Blattner FR. Flow cytometric analysis in Lagenaria siceraria (Cucurbitaceae) indicates correlation of genome size with usage types and growing elevation. Plant Systematics and Evolution (2008) 276: 9–19.

Costa IR, Dornelas MC, Forni-Martins ER. Nuclear genome size variation in fleshy-fruited Neotropical Myrtaceae. Plant Systematics and Evolution (2008) 276: 209–217.

Rosado TB, Clarindo WR, Carvalho CR. An integrated cytogenetic, flow and image cytometry procedure used to measure the DNA content of Zea mays A and B chromosomes. Plant Science 176 (2009) 154–158.

Temsch EM, Greilhuber J, Hammett KRW, Murray BG. Genome size in Dahlia Cav. (Asteraceae–Coreopsideae). Plant Systematics and Evolution (2008) 276:157–166.

Ploidy level:
Ecology
Arvanitis L, Wiklund C, Ehrlen J. Plant ploidy level influences selection by butterfly seed predators. Oikos (2008) 117: 1020-1025.

Biosystematics
Singliarová B, Chrtek J, Mráz P. Loss of genetic diversity in isolated populations of an alpine endemic Pilosella alpicola subsp. ullepitschii: effect of long-term vicariance or long-distance dispersal? Plant Systematics and Evolution (2008) 275: 181-191.

Fortune PM, Schierenbeck K, Ayres D, Bortolus A, Catrice O, Brown S, Ainouche ML. The enigmatic invasive Spartina densiflora: A history of hybridizations in a polyploidy context. Molecular Ecology (2008) 17: 4304-4316.

Ricca M, Beecher FW, Boles SB, Temsch E, Greilhuber J, Karlin EF, Shaw AJ. Cytotype variation and allopolyploidy in North American species of the Sphagnum subsecundum complex (Sphagnaceae). American Journal of Botany (2008) 95: 1606-1620.

Biotechnology
Perera PIP, Perera L, Hocher V, Verdeil JL, Yakandawala DMD, Weerakoon LK. Use of SSR markers to determine the anther-derived homozygous lines in coconut. Plant Cell Reports (2008) 27: 1697-1703.

Astarini IA, Plummer JA, Lancaster RA, Yan G. Identification of 'Sib' plants in hybrid cauliflowers using microsatellite markers. Euphytica (2008) 164: 309-316.

Apomixis
Kaushal P, Malaviya DR, Roy AK, Pathak S, Agrawal A, Khare A, Siddiqui SA. Reproductive pathways of seed development in apomictic guinea grass (Panicum maximum Jacq.) reveal uncoupling of apomixis components. Euphytica (2008) 164: 81-92.

Cell cycle:
Bagniewska-Zadworna A. The root microtubule cytoskeleton and cell cycle analysis through desiccation of Brassica napus seedlings. Protoplasma (2008) 233:177–185.

Functional studies:
Zonno MC, Vurro M, Lucretti S, Andolfi A, Perrone C, Evidente A. Phyllostictine A, a potential natural herbicide produced by Phyllosticta cirsii: In vitro production and toxicity. Plant Science (2008) 175: 818–825.

List of recently published papers on plant flow cytometry - September

September issues have been quite generous for flow cytometry related works... This month will contemplate 8 highlights from many different areas... A sign that flow cytometry is being more and more applied in different fields of plant sciences.

Genome size:
Fuchs J, Jovtchev G, Schubert I. The chromosomal distribution of histone methylation marks in gymnosperms differs from that of angiosperms. Chromosome Research (2008) 16:891–898.

Smarda P, Bures P, Horová L, Rotreklová O. Intrapopulation genome size dynamics in Festuca pallens. Annals of Botany (2008) 102:599–607.

Ploidy level:
Biotechnology
Lim WS, Earle ED. Effect of in vitro and in vivo colchicine treatments on pollen production and fruit set of melon plants obtained by pollination with irradiated pollen. Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture (2008) 95:115-124.

Weber J, Georgiev V, Pavlov A, Bley T. Flow cytometric investigations of diploid and tetraploid plants and in vitro cultures of Datura stramonium and Hyoscyamus niger. Cytometry (2008) 73A:931-939.

Biosystematics

Consaul LL, Gillespie LJ, Waterway MJ. Systematics of three North American polyploid arctic alkali grasses (Puccinellia, Poaceae): morphology, ploidy, and AFLP markers. Botany (2008) 86:916-937.

Flow sorting:
Kofler R, Bartos J, Gong L, Stift G, Suchánková P, Simková H, Berenyi M, Burg K, Dolezel J, Lelley T. Development of microsatellite markers specific for the short arm of rye (Secale cereale L.) chromosome 1. Theoretical and Applied Genetics (2008) 117:915–926.

Algae physiological studies:
Li Y, Huang J, Sandmann G, Chen F. Glucose sensing and the mitochondrial alternative pathway are involved in the regulation of astaxanthin biosynthesis in the dark-grown Chlorella zofingiensis (Chlorophyceae). Planta (2008) 228:735–743.

List of recently published papers on plant flow cytometry - June, July and August

Exceptionally, due to my recent busy times exposed in a previous post, this highlight of the recently published articles on Plant Flow Cytometry will include the months of June, July and August.

Genome size:
Thompson JN, Merg KF. Evolution of polyploidy and the diversification of plant-pollinator interactions. Ecology (2008) 89:2197-2206.

de Abreu IS, Carvalho CR, Clarindo WR. Chromosomal DNA content of sweet pepper determined by association of cytogenetic and cytometric tools. Plant Cell Reports (2008) 27:1227-1233.

Brito G, Loureiro J, Lopes T, Rodriguez E, Santos C. Genetic characterisation of olive trees from Madeira Archipelago using flow cytometry and microsatellite markers. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution (2008) 55:657-664.

Consaul LL, Gillespie LJ, Waterway MJ. Systematics of North American Arctic diploid Puccinellia (Poaceae): Morphology, DNA content, and AFLP markers. Systematic Botany (2008) 33:251-261.

Garcia S, Canela MA, Garnatje T, Mcarthur ED, Pellicer J, Sanderson SC, Valles J. Evolutionary and ecological implications of genome size in the North American endemic sagebrushes and allies (Artemisia, Asteraceae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society (2008) 94:631-649.

Stahlberg D, Hedren M. Systematics and phylogeography of the Dactylorhiza maculata complex (Orchidaceae) in Scandinavia: insights from cytological, morphological and molecular data. Plant Systematics and Evolution (2008) 273:107-132.

Eilam T, Anikster Y, Millet E, Manisterski J, Feldman M. Nuclear DNA amount and genome downsizing in natural and synthetic allopolyploids of the genera Aegilops and Triticum. Genome (2008) 51:616–627.

Ploidy level:
Biotechnology
Izumikawa Y, Takei S, Nakamura I, Mii M. Production and characterization of inter-sectional hybrids between Kalanchoe spathulata and K. laxiflora (= Bryophyllum crenatum). Euphytica (2008) 163:123-130.

Skrlep K, Bergant M, De Winter GM, Bohanec B, Zel J, Verpoorte R, Van Iren F, Camloh M. Cryopreservation of cell suspension cultures of Taxus x media and Taxus floridana. Biologia Plantarum (2008) 52:329-333.

Jin SX, Mushke R, Zhu HG, Tu LL, Lin ZX, Zhang YX, Zhang XL. Detection of somaclonal variation of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) using cytogenetics, flow cytometry and molecular markers. Plant Cell Reports (2008) 27:1303-1316.

Yang XM, An LZ, Xiong YC, Zhang JP, Li Y, Xu SJ. Somatic embryogenesis from immature zygotic embryos and monitoring the genetic fidelity of regenerated plants in grapevine. Biologia Plantarum (2008) 52:209-214

Zdravkovic-Korac S, Calic-Dragosavac D, Uzelac B, Janosevic D, Budimir S, Vinterhalter B, Vinterhalter D. Secondary somatic embryogenesis versus caulogenesis from somatic embryos of Aesculus carnea Hayne.: developmental stage impact. Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture (2008) 94:225-231.

Biosystematics
Lubinsky P, Cameron KM, Molina MC, Wong M, Lepers-Andrzejewski S, Gomez-Pompa A, Kim SC. Neotropical roots of a Polynesian spice: The hybrid origin of Tahitian vanilla, Vanilla tahitensis (Orchidaceae). American Journal of Botany (2008) 95:1040-1047.

Mereda P, Hodalova I, Martonfi P, Kucera J, Lihova J. Intraspecific variation in Viola suavis in Europe: Parallel evolution of white-flowered morphotypes. Annals of Botany (2008) 102:443-462.

Schenk MF, Thienpont CN, Koopman WJM, Gilissen LJWJ, Smulders MJM. Phylogenetic relationships in Betula (Betulaceae) based on AFLP markers. Tree Genetics & Genomes (2008) 4:911-924.

Apomixis
Siena LA, Sartor ME, Espinoza F, Quarin CL, Ortiz JPA. Genetic and embryological evidences of apomixis at the diploid level in Paspalum rufum support recurrent auto-polyploidization in the species. Sexual Plant Reproduction (2008) 21:205-215.

Plant breeding
Martinez-Reyna JM, Vogel KP. Heterosis in switchgrass: Spaced plants. Crop Science (2008) 48:1312-1320.

Endoreduplication:
Teyssier E, Bernacchia G, Maury S, Kit AH, Stammitti-Bert L, Rolin D, Gallusci P. Tissue dependent variations of DNA methylation and endoreduplication levels during tomato fruit development and ripening. Planta (2008) 228:391-399.

Cell Cycle:
Da Silva EAA, Toorop PE, Van Lammeren AAM, Hilhorst HWM. ABA inhibits embryo cell expansion and early cell division events during coffee (Coffea arabica 'Rubi') seed germination. Annals of Botany (2008) 102:425-433.

Short resume of the Xth Symposium of the International Organization of Plant Biosystematics

Before updating all the usual sections of the blog, I want to leave you a very short overview of the Xth Symposium of the International Organization of Plant Biosystematics. Overall, the Symposium was a success both in organization and scientific value. The venue was held on the beautiful High Tatras which was another positive aspect.

Flow cytometry speaking it was nice to see that there are more and more researchers using this technique to help solving byosystematic and taxonomy problems. The number of posters where flow cytometry was used exceeded the 20 and several talks also referred its usefulness and potential for large scale ploidy level and genome size analyses. The only regret was the unexpected cancelling of D. Soltis talk due to passport issuing problems. Maybe next time...

Finally, Jan Suda wonderfully and enthusiastically presented a talk addressing all the potentialities that the technique has in the field of Biosystematics, which was a sure highlight of the congress's second day.

I leave you some other pictures from the Tatras journey:

Xth Symposium of the International Organization of Plant Biosystematics

The next Symposium of the International Organization of Plant Biosystematics will occur next week (from the 2nd to the 4th of July) in Visoké Tatry, Slovakia. This year the meeting will be devoted to the evolution of plants in montainous and alpine habitats. The impact that flow cytometry has been having in this area is well patent in the Symposium Scientific Programme as there will be one talk totally dedicated to it (Jan Suda, Praha - From individuals to populations: the impact of flow cytometry on understanding polyploid evolution in mountain plants) and some more talks that will certainly focus on data obtained using this powerful and high throughput technique.

The main topics that will be focused are:
PHYLOGEOGRAPHY
BIOGEOGRAPHY
EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES IN EUROPEAN MOUNTAIN RANGES
POLYPLOIDY
MOLECULAR APPROACHES IN PLANT EVOLUTION
ECOLOGICAL FACTORS IN PLANT EVOLUTION
EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES IN EXTRA-EUROPEAN MOUNTAINS
ROLE OF APOMIXIS IN PLANT EVOLUTION

There is still the possibility to register on site, so do not miss this opportunity to, besides enjoying a Symposium with a rather interesting programme (which should be the main purpose!), discover this beautiful mountain area of Slovakia.

I hope to see you there.

ISAC Congress - Plant FCM Workshop Presentations

Despite that the Congress was already over almost one month ago, we are still summarizing some of the plant related events. Now, it is time to provide you with the presentations given in the plant FCM workshops (click on each image for download). The presentations may be used without copyright restrictions except for commercial or for profit use, provided there is some credit to the author and reference to this blog.

Workshop - Plant genome structure and gene expression - organized by David Galbraith and Jaroslav Dolezel











Presentations available by Jan Suda (Preparation and storage of plant samples for DNA flow cytometry), João Loureiro (The effect of cytosol on quantitative staining of nuclear DNA), Johann Greilhuber (Standardization and Standards), Jaroslav Dolezel (Chromosome analysis and sorting) and David Galbraith (Analysis of gene expression, including flow analysis and sorting of organelles and large cells)

Workshop - Plant evolutionary biology, biosystematics and ecology - organized by Brian Husband and Jan Suda







Presentations available by Jan Suda (The impact of FCM on plant Biosystematics and Taxonomy), Paul Kron (Flow Cytometry: Applications in the Study of Plant Reproductive Systems) and Brian Husband (Flow Cytometry and The Evolutionary Dynamics of Polyploids).

We hope that you enjoy the presentations.

ISAC Congress - Day 5

And so the last day of the XXIV ISAC Congress came, and since the morning we could see the difference in the number of participants that were present in the Budapest Sportsarena. After 4 long days, the exhaustion was already felt, personally speaking, but there was still time for some last chatting with the commercial exhibiters and most importantly, to profit from another interesting workshop dedicated to the plant sciences. Jan Suda, Brian Husband and Paul Kron brought for the first time the world of plant evolutionary biology, biosystematics and ecology to the ISAC Congress, and I was very happy to witness that at least a dozen participants were interested. As expected, the workshop was very good with the speakers presenting several examples on the potentialities that flow cytometry has on such fields together with some "controversy" related topics on best practices.

Then was time to relax, drink some hungarian beers in a local pub and eat some typical food, before going to rest with the idea that everything was done to fulfil the objectives of the Congress. Of course, we leave the evaluation for the participants... and we hope that they have enjoyed as much as I did.

List of recently published papers on plant flow cytometry - April

As a usual section of our blog, you can find below the list of papers that came to our hands/knowledge during the month of April.

Genome size:
Nucleotypic effect
Francis D, Davies MS, Barlow PW. A strong nucleotypic effect on the cell cycle regardless of ploidy level. Annals of Botany (2008) 101:747-757.

Ecology
Sweigart AL, Martin NH, Willis JH. Patterns of nucleotide variation and reproductive isolation between a Mimulus allotetraploid and its progenitor species. Molecular Ecology (2008) 17:2089-2100.

Ploidy level:
Biotechnology
Ochatt SJ, Sangwan RS. In vitro shortening of generation time in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (2008) 93:133-137.

Zale J, Ohnoutkova L, West D, Sams C, Biggerstaff J, Le Pull M. Micropropagation of field-grown perennial teosinte from node culture. Crop Science (2008) 48:651-655.

Soriano M, Cistue L, Castillo AM. Enhanced induction of microspore embryogenesis after n-butanol treatment in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) anther culture. Plant Cell Reports (2008) 27:805-811.

Leskovsek L, Jakse M, Bohanec B. Doubled haploid production in rocket (Eruca sativa Mill.) through isolated microspore culture. Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (2008) 93:181-189.

Biosystematics
Arndt S. Novelties in the Festuca valesiaca group (Poaceae) from the central Alps. Plant Systematics and Evolution (2008) 271:129-142.

Toxicology
Bakos F, Darkó E, Gáspár L, Ambrus H, Barnabás B. A cytological study on aluminium-treated wheat anther cultures resulting in plants with increased Al tolerance. Plant breeding (2008) 127:235-240.

ISAC - XXIV International Congress

The next congress of ISAC - International Society for Analytical Cytology will be held next May (17th to 21st) in Budapest. It is with great pleasure that we announce that a tutorial session and two workshops focused on plant flow cytometry were approved for presentation.

Scientific tutorial: Estimation of genome size in plants using flow cytometry
Tutors: Jan Suda, João Loureiro and Johann Greilhuber
Abstract: The last two decades have seen a significant increase in the use of flow cytometry for estimation of genome size in plants (either in absolute terms or in relative units, as an indicator of ploidy level), with the data being successfully utilized in various fields of plant sciences, including biosystematics, ecology, evolutionary biology and biotechnology. This tutorial will focus primarily on the biological significance of genome size variation in plants and on the methodological approaches used to analyse the nuclear DNA content of cells. A set of best practice rules will be presented, and special attention will be given to the strategies that may be employed to investigate recalcitrant plant material. The practical session will include basic protocols using several different isolation buffers and DNA-selective fluorochromes for staining intact plant nuclei. The effect of chemical additives (antioxidants, preservatives) on the quality of histograms will be demonstrated. The tutorial is aimed at newcomers in plant flow cytometry as well as at workers in other fields interested in learning more about specific features of plant material.

Workshop: The impact of flow cytometry on plant evolutionary biology, biosystematics and ecology
Organizers: Brian Husband and Jan Suda

Abstract: Since the 1980s, use of flow cytometry (FCM) in plant population and evolutionary biology, biosystematics, and ecology has expanded dramatically both in scope and frequency. With its ability to collect several quantitative parameters, simultaneously, for large numbers of particles, FCM is widening the diversity of attributes that can be explored on a population scale and the taxonomic, spatial, and temporal scope of these investigations. As a result, the technique has enabled large-scale comparative analyses of genome size evolution, taxonomic identification and delineation, and is advancing new research programs in polyploid evolution and reproductive biology. In combination with other methodological approaches, FCM promises qualitative advances in our understanding of genome multiplication and the population biology of vascular plants. Workshop facilitators will introduce some of the recent developments, problems and applications of FCM in plant population biology, biosystematics and evolution, and then lead a discussion on some or all topics. Two themes that will recur throughout these discussions are: (i) novel applications of flow cytometry as a result of the higher sample throughput and larger sample sizes possible compared to traditional methods; and (ii) the potential benefits of combining FCM with other, notably molecular, techniques.

Workshop: Plant genome structure and gene expression

Organizers: Jaroslav Dolezel and David Galbraith

Abstract: This 90 min workshop will comprise invited talks and talks selected from submitted abstracts. The talks will focus on the most advanced applications of flow cytometry in plants, with an emphasis on the analysis of plant genome structure and function. This includes, but is not restricted to, chromosome sorting for physical genome mapping and gene cloning, and global analysis of gene expression in specific cell types. This workshop is intended to attract a broad range of audience members, ranging from PhD students to senior researchers. To our knowledge, this will be the first scientific workshop at an international conference entirely devoted to advanced applications of flow cytometry in plants that focus on plant genome structure and function.

As soon as we know further details, we will update this post. So check regularly for updates.