[Prevalence of VRN1 Locus Alleles among Spring Common Wheat Cultivars Cultivated in Western Siberia].

With the use of allele-specific primers developed for the VRN1 loci, the allelic diversity of the VRN-A1, VRN-B1, and VRN-D1 genes was studied in 148 spring common wheat cultivars cultivated under the conditions of Western Siberia. It was demonstrated that modern Western Siberian cultivars have the VRN-A1a allele, which is widely distributed in the world (alone or in combination with the VRN-B1a and VRN-B1c alleles). It was established that the main contribution in acceleration of the.seedling-heading time is determined by a dominant VRN-A1a allele, while the VRN-A1b allele, on the contrary, determines later plant heading. Cultivars that have the VRN-A1b allele in the genotype are found with a frequency of 8%. It was shown that cultivars with different allele combinations of two dominant genes (VRN-A1a + VRN-B1c and VRN-A1a + VRN-B1a) are characterized by earlier heading and maturing.

[Chromosome composition of wheat-rye lines and the influence of rye chromosomes on disease resistance and agronomic traits].

Identification of the chromosomal composition of common wheat lines with rye chromosomes was carried out using genomic in situ hybridization and 1RS- and 5P-specific PCR markers. It was demonstrated that wheat chromosomes 5A or 5D were substituted by rye chromosome 5R in the wheat-rye lines. It was established that one of the lines with complex disease resistance contained rye chromosome 5R and T1RS.1BL, while another line was found to contain, in addition to T1RS.1BL, a new Robertsonian translocation, T5AS.5RL. Substitution of the wheat chromosome 5A with the dominant Vrn-A1 gene for the Onokhoiskaya rye chromosome 5R led to lengthening of the germination-heading period or to a change in the type of development. A negative influence of T1RS.1BL on SDS sedimentation volume and grain hardness was demonstrated, along with a positive effect of the combination of T1RS. BL and 5R(5D) substitution on grain protein content. Quantitative traits of the 5R(5A) and 5R(5D) substitution lines were at the level of recipient cultivars. A line with two translocations, T1RS.1BL + T5AS.5R1, appeared to be more productive as compared to the line carrying T1RS.1BL in combination with the 5R(5D) substitution.

[Influence of Vrn-B1a and Vrn-B1c alleles on length of developmental phases of substitution and near-isogenic lines of common wheat].

The influence of Vrn-B1a and Vrn-B1c alleles on the length of developmental phases in lines of winter cv. Sava with intervarietal substitution of chromosomes 5B and near-isogenic lines (NILs) with these loci in the genetic background of winter cv. Bezostaya 1 is studied. We have confirmed that effects of Vrn genes appear on the tillering phase and that the response to vernalization and shortening of day length can change the duration of this phase. We have shown that, after vernalization and under short-day conditions, the Vrn-B1a allele has the strongest effect on the length of the tillering phase. After vernalization, in the late substitution line Sava (Diamant II 5B) with the Vrn-B1a allele, the length of the tillering decreased more strongly after 6 days than in the earlier Sava line (Saratovskaya 29 5B) with the Vrn-B1c allele. After the length of the day shortens, in late NIL i:Bez1 Vrn-B1a, the length of the tillering phase and period of stem elongation--heading increased more strongly for 13 and 5 days, respectively than in the early i:Bez1 Vrn-B1c line. The study of F1 hybrids between substitution and isogenic lines, the growth habits of which are determined by both Vrn-B1a and Vrn-B1c alleles, had shown the dominance of the trait lateness, which is determined by the line with the Vrn-B1a allele. In F1 hybrids, between substitution lines, the length of tillering was similar to that of the line with Vrn-B1a and, in F1 hybrids between NILs, the length of tillering was intermediate between the parental lines.

[Characterization of puroindolines in the control of endosperm texture in common wheat lines with substitutions of homeologous group-5 chromosomes].

The genetic control of grain hardness and its association with the specific friabilin content on starch granules of common wheat cultivars and lines with intervarietal substitutions of homeologous group-5 chromosomes were studied. A significant correlation was revealed between the technological parameters of grain hardness (mean size of flour particles) and the specific content of puroindolines on the starch surface estimated in terms of starch doses. The results obtained allowed the method of starch doses to be used to identify soft and hard wheat cultivars and lines based on an analysis of a single grain. The biochemical analysis confirmed the previously obtained estimates of flour-grinding properties of wheat cultivars and substitution lines, which allowed specific genotypes to be characterized according to the composition of puroindolines. The influence of chromosomes 5D and 5A of donor wheat cultivars on the activity of the Ha loci of recipient cultivars was revealed and found to be associated with the composition of PIN products and with the expression of the Pina-D1 and Pinb-D1 genes.

The effect of two differentially expressed wheat VRN-B1 alleles on the heading time is associated with structural variation in the first intron.

We measured the level of VRN-B1 transcripts within near-isogenic lines of Triticum aestivum cultivar 'Bezostaya 1' carrying two VRN-B1 alleles from cultivars 'Saratovskaya 29' and 'Diamant 2' (VRN-B1c and VRN-B1a, respectively). Both lines have similar kinetics of VRN-B1 transcript accumulation at the third to fifth leaf stages. However, quantitative PCR analysis at the third leaf stage showed that the VRN-B1c allele was transcribed 10 times faster than the VRN-B1a allele. The F1 hybrid between the lines is more similar to the line carrying the VRN-B1a allele with regard to the level of VRN-B1 transcription. The difference in the transcript levels of the VRN-B1 alleles appears to be due to the previously identified structural changes in the first intron of VRN-B1c (deletion of 0.8 kb and duplication of 0.4 kb) as compared with VRN-B1a, as no other differences were revealed in the present study. We suggested that the first intron structural changes in the VRN-B1c allele as compared with VRN-B1a result in a higher level of VRN-B1 transcripts and an earlier heading time. We confirmed that the expression of the dominant VRN-1 gene induces transcription of the recessive homoeoalleles, coupled with the reduction of the transcript level of a flowering repressor VRN-2.

[Spatial structure of acid properties of litter in the succession row of swamp birch woods ].

The general potential, exchange, and actual (pH) acidities were investigated in the litter of the succession row of swamp birch woods. Their variabilities constitute, respectively, 75.9-174.4, 3.7-25.8 mmol (+)/100 g of the sampling, 3.7-5.5. For the first time, using the methods ofgeostatistics, their spatial variability was analyzed and the contributions of the trend, autocorrelation component, and the radius of the spatial correlation were estimated. It was established that in combination with the tree waste, which is uniformly distributed along the ecological profile, the specific composition of the grass-moss tier, which corresponds to the humidity of edaphon, forms the picture of the spatial structure of acid properties of the litter. It was noted that the prime cause of variability consists in the particularities of the water regime of the habitats of swamp birch woods.

[A cytogenetic study of the blue-grain line of the common wheat cultivar Saratovskaya 29].

The chromosome composition of the blue-grain line i:S29Ba of the cultivar Saratovskaya 29 was identified by cytological, GISH, and microsatellite analyses and C-banding. It was found that common wheat chromosome 4B of the cultivar Saratovskaya 29 was substituted with the Agropyron elongatum Host. chromosome carrying the gene for blue grain (s:S294Ag(4B)) during the construction of this nearly isogenic line. The blue-grain line was tested for productivity. The substitution of total chromosome 4B of the cultivar Saratovskaya 29 by Ag. elongatum chromosome 4 did not significantly affect the spike productivity parameters and grain quality with the exception of spike length (plus effect), spike density, and vitreousness (minus effects). The blue-grain line with s:S294Ag(4B) can be used in further studies associated with chromosome engineering in cereals and wheat breeding.

[The role of chromosomes from homeologous group 5 in regulation of grain hardness and protein content in substitution lines of common wheat cultivar Saratovskaya 29].

Genetic regulation of grain hardness and protein content in intervarietal substitution lines for chromosomes of homeologous group 5 was examined. Common wheat cultivar Saratovskaya 29 with high bread-backing properties served as the recipient. Donors of chromosomes 5A and 5D were 18 cultivars with variable traits examined, including high-protein cultivars (Atlas 66 and Diamant 2), and soft-grain cultivars (Ul'yanovka and Chinese Spring). Analysis of substitution lines pointed to a substantial effect of chromosome 5D on the regulation of both traits. It was demonstrated that as a result of intervarietal substitution for chromosome 5D from donor cultivars Ul'yanovka and Chinese Spring, the endosperm softness was increased compared to the recipient cultivar Saratovskaya 29. Substitution lines Saratovskaya 29/Atlas 66 5D and Saratovskaya 29/Diamant 2 5D were characterized by high grain protein content, as well as by high endosperm softness. In addition, the line Saratovskaya 29/Novosibirskaya 67 5D, characterized by grain hardness higher than in Saratovskaya 29, was isolated. In the lines with intervarietal substitution of chromosome 5A, grain protein content was found to be lower than in recipient cultivar Saratovskaya 29.

[Analysis of spike productivity traits in near-isogenic lines of the common wheat cultivar Saratovskaya 29 carrying alien marker genes].

Six near-isogenic lines of the wheat cultivar Saratovskaya 29 carrying five marker genes from different species (Triticum compactum L., T. polonicum L., T. petropavlovskyi Udacz. et Migusch., Aegilops elongatum Host. and Secale cereale L.) were studied. It was shown that the introduced marker genes of taxonomic significance, C and P, have strong pleiotropic effects on quantitative traits of the spike productivity.

[Production of alloplasmic and euplasmic wheat-barley ditelosomic substitution lines 7H(1)Lmar(7D) and analysis of the 18S/5S mitochondrial repeat in these lines].

Alloplasmic lines of common wheat with disomic substitution of chromosome 7D for telocentric chromosome 7H(1)Lmar of barley H. marinum subsp. gussoneanum Hudson were isolated from the plants of generation BC3, produced as a result of backcrossing of barley-wheat hybrids H. marinum subsp. gussoneanum (2n = 28) x x T. aestivum (2n = 42), Pyrotrix, cultivar, with 28 common wheat cultivars Pyrotrix 28 and Novosibirskaya 67. Chromosome substitution pattern was determined using SSR analysis and C-banding. In preliminary genomic in situ hybridization experiments, telocentric chromosomes were assigned to wild barley was established. In the BC3F8-generations of three alloplasmic lines with the 7H(1)Lmar(7D) substitution type the differences in fertility manifestation were observed: most of the L-32(1) plants were sterile, in line L-32(2) only sporadic plants were sterile, and line L-32(3) was fertile. Simultaneously with these experiments, using self-pollinated progeny of the hybrids obtained in crosses of common wheat cultivar Saratovskaya 29 (2n = 41), monosomic for chromosome 7D, with common wheat cultivar Pyrotrix 28 with addition of pair of telocentric chromosomes 7H(1)Lmar(7D) of barley H. marinum subsp. gussoneanum, euplasmic wheat-barley ditelosomic substitution 7H(1)Lmar(7D) lines were isolated. The lines obtained had normal fertility. PCR analysis of the 18S/5S mitochondrial repeat (hereafter, mtDNA sequence) in alloplasmic and euplasmic ditelosomic substitution lines 7H(1)Lmar(7D) was performed. In the plants from alloplasmic sterile line L-32(1), the sequences only of the barley (maternal) type were revealed, while the plants from alloplasmic fertile lines L-32(2) and L-32(3) demonstrated heteroplasmy (the presence of barley- and wheat-like sequences within one individual). In euplasmic ditelosomic substitution lines the presence of only wheat-like 18S/5S mitochondrial repeat sequences was observed. The results indicate that the presence of barley-like mtDNA sequences in alloplasmic substitution lines was not associated with the presence of barley chromosomes in their nuclear genomes.

[Oxidoreductase activity of peat soils as an indicator of the degree of biochemical transformation of drained and forested bogs in west Siberia].

Multivariate analysis unambiguously demonstrated the differentiation of oxidoreductase activity (catalase, peroxidase, and dehydrogenase) in peat soils after a 20-25-year period of bog drainage and afforestation. The enzyme activity depended on the drainage depth. A statistical model has been developed to predict the degree of humification of peat organic matter from peroxidase activity and moisture of drained soils. Soil peroxidase activity can be an important indicator of the degree of biochemical transformation of drained and forested bogs.

[Genetic analysis of anthocyanin of the anthers and culm pigmentation in common wheat].

Anthocyanin pigmentation of various organs develops during plant ontogeny in response to adverse and damaging abiotic and biotic stressors (environmental factors). Using the monosome method, the genes responsible for anther and culm anthocyanin pigmentation (Pan1 and Pc2, respectively) were localized to 7D chromosome in introgressive lines from crosses between common wheat Triticum aestivum L. and the species Triticum timopheevii Zhuk. Genetic analysis of ten common wheat genotypes using testers carrying genes Pan1, Pn1, and Pn2 showed that these genotypes contained Pan1 and Pn2 genes. Visual examination of plants from 70 and 76 varieties of respectively winter and spring common wheat revealed anthocyanin pigmentation of anthers and culms in 36 varieties. Pan1 and Pn2 genes were presumably introduced into common wheat from Aegilops tauschii (Fig.) Tzvel., a donor of the D genome.

[Resistance to fungal diseases in hybrid progeny from crosses between common wheat variety Saratovskaia 29 and the amphidiploid Triticum timopheevii/Triticum tauschii (AAGGDD)]. / Izuchenie ustoichivosti k gribnym bolezniam potomstv gibridov ot skreshchivaniia sorta miagkoi pshenitsy Saratovskaia 29 s amfidiploidom--Triticum timopheevii/Triticum tauschii (AAGGDD).

The progeny of BC6F2-BC9F(2)-4 has been analyzed for resistance to brown rust (Lr genes) and powdery mildew (Pm genes). This progeny was obtained due to introgression of the alien material from the synthetic hexaploid wheat Triticum timopheevii/Aegilops squarrosa (= Triticum tauschii AAGGDD, 2n = 42) into the common wheat variety Saratovskaya 29. Against the background of natural infection, the lines resistant to both diseases and to either of them were developed. The brown-rust and powdery-mildew resistance is controlled by one/two effective independent genes Lr and Pm.

[Effect of the 5R(5A) alien chromosome substitution on the growth habit and winter hardiness of wheat]. / Vliianie chuzherodnogo zameshcheniia khromosom 5R(5A) na obraz zhizni i zimostoikost' pshenitsy.

The growth habit, ear emergence time, and frost tolerance of wheat/rye substitution lines have been studied in cultivars Rang and Mironovskaya Krupnozernaya whose chromosome 5A is substituted with chromosome 5R of Onkhoyskaya rye. Hybrid analysis has demonstrated that the spring habit of the recipient cultivars Rang and Mironovskaya Krupnozernaya is controlled by dominant gene Vrn-A1 located in chromosome 5A. Onokhoyskaya rye has a dominant gene for the spring habit (Sp1) located in chromosome 5R. It has been found that the resultant 5R(5A) alien-substitution lines have a winter type of development and ears do not emerge during summer in plants sown in spring. The change in growth habit has been shown to be related to the absence of the rye Spl gene expression in the substitution lines. The winter hardiness of winter 5R(5A) alien-substitution lines has been studied under the environmental conditions of Novosibirsk. Testing the lines in the first winter demonstrated that their winter survival is 20-27%. The possible presence of the frost resistance gene homeoallelic to the known genes Fr1 and Fr2 of the common wheat located on chromosomes 5A and 5D, respectively, is discussed.

[Construction of immune lines with complex resistance to leaf rust and powdery mildew in common spring wheat cultivar Saratovskaya 29]. / Sozdanie immunnykh linii sorta miagkoi pshenitsy Saratovskaia 29 s kompleksnoi ustoichivost'iu k gribam buroi rrhavchiny i muchinistoi rosy.

Immune lines resistant both to leaf rust and to powdery mildew were constructed on the basis of common wheat cultivar Saratovskaya 29. Synthetic wheat Triticum timopheevii/Aegilops squarrosa (AAGGDD, 2n = 42) of Savov (Bulgaria) was used as a source of resistance genes. Using cytological analysis of BC2, we selected resistant plants (21") free from meiosis 1 (M1) defects. With these plants and continuous selection, BC8-BC9 immune lines were obtained. The lines were shown to carry new resistance genes differing from the known ones, and were proposed as donors of immunity to the diseases.

[Comparative genetic analysis of the hexaploid wheat Triticum petropavlovskyi Udasz. et Migusch. and Triticum aestivum L]. / Sravnitel'no-geneticheskii analiz geksaploidnykh pshenits Triticum petropavlovskyi Udasz. et Migusch. i Triticum aestivum L.

A poorly studied species of hexaploid wheat Triticum petropavlovskyi Udacz. et Migusch. was compared with common wheat Triticum aestivum L. by means of monosomic and genetic analyses of F2 hybrids. Triticum petropavlovskyi was found to carry 13 dominant genes determining its morphological and physiological characters and regular bivalent conjugation of chromosomes. These genes were allelic to the respective genes of common wheat and were located in the same chromosomes. The modes of gene interaction were also the same. There was simple dominance for most genes studied and complementary interaction for the genes of hybrid dwarfism and hybrid necrosis. Triticum petropavlovskyi had the following dominant genes: Hg (downy glume); Rg1 (red glume color); Hl (downy leaf); Hn (downy node); Pa (pubescent auricles); Q (speltlike ears); D1 (grass-clump dwarfism); Ne1 (hybrid necrosis); Ph1 and Ph2 (genes of bivalent conjugation preventing homoeologous chromosomes from pairing); and Vrn1, Vrn2, Vrn3, and Vrn4 (genes of the spring habit). The gene Vrn1, which caused an increase in ear emergence time and a pronounced response to vernalization, was poorly expressed. T. petropavlovskyi was earlier demonstrated to have a species-specific gene P or Eg (elongated glume), which was not allelic to the gene Eg of the tetraploid T. polonicum L. The data obtained indicate that T. petropavlovskyi has originated from T. aestivum via mutations.