The structure of the ear is one of the most important features of cereals associated with such agronomically important traits as productivity, resistance to environ mental factors and pests, threshebility. Ears differ in shape, size, density, awnedness, color, etc. Analysis of the ear traits requires visual inspection, manual measurements and is very timeconsuming. The ef fec tiveness of ears' phenotyping can be improved by the introduction of an automated image process ing technology, storage of information in databases, use of machine learning algorithms to analyze this information. This paper presents a new approach for collecting, storing and analyzing of information about morphometric characteristics of ears of wheat. Two protocols for obtaining digital images of the ear have been developed. The computeraided information system SpikeDroidDB has been developed, which allows you to store digital images of the ear, annotate their phenotypic features (14 features, including plant variety description, links to parent genotypes, genera tion, planting number, ear morphology description). The interface provides a flexible query system to access the data. SpikeDroidDB represents an intercon nected representation between genotype, phenotype, location, and growing conditions. The web interface of SpikeDroidDB is available at http://spikedroid.biores. cytogen.ru/ and allows you to work with the system as with desktop computers or mobile devices. We used SpikeDroidDB for the digitization and annotation of a collection of ears of F 2 hybrids from crosses between the Australian cultivar of common wheat Triple Dirk and accession KU506 of Chinese wheat Triticum yunnanense. This experiment includes analysis of 104 plants, 230 spike images. The analysis of the variability of ears in form, length, and other traits allowed determination of the type of their genetic control: compactness is controlled by two recessive genes, awn type and hairi Структура колоса -один из важнейших признаков злаков, связан ный с такими их хозяйственно ценными качествами, как продук тивность, устойчивость к факторам внешней среды и вредителям, легкость обмолота. Колосья различаются по форме, размерам, плотности, остистости, цвету и т. д. Оценка характеристик колоса выполняется экспертом на основании визуального анализа и тре бует существенных затрат времени. Эффективность фенотипиро вания колосьев можно повысить за счет внедрения компьютерных технологий, организации хранения информации в базах данных, использования алгоритмов машинного обучения для анализа по лученной информации. В настоящей работе представлен новый подход для сбора, хранения и анализа информации о морфомет рических характеристиках колоса пшеницы. Разработано несколь ко протоколов получения цифровых изображений колоса. Созда на компьютерная информационная система SpikeDroidDB, которая позволяет хранить цифровые изображения колоса, аннотировать их фенотипические характеристики (всего 14 признаков), предо ставляет гибкую систему запросов для доступа к данным. В систе ме SpikeDroidDB для...

The 3D organization of the genome is tightly connected to its biological function. The Hi-C approach was recently introduced as a method that can be used to identify higher-order chromatin interactions genome-wide. The aim of this study was to determine genome-wide chromatin interaction frequencies using the Hi-C approach in mouse sperm cells and embryonic fibroblasts. The obtained results demonstrated that the 3D genome organizations of sperm and fibroblast cells show a high degree of similarity both with each other and with the previously described mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells. Both A- and B-compartments and topologically associated domains (TADs) are present in spermatozoa and fibroblasts. Nevertheless, sperm cells and fibroblasts exhibited statistically significant differences between each other in the contact probabilities of defined loci. Tight packaging of the sperm genome resulted in an enrichment of long-range contacts compared with the fibroblasts. However, only 30% of the differences in the number of contacts are based on differences in the densities of their genome packages; the main source of the differences is the gain or loss of contacts that are specific for defined genome regions. An analysis of interchromosomal contacts in both cell types demonstrated that the large chromosomes showed a tendency to interact with each other more than with the small chromosomes and vice versa. We found that the dependence of the contact probability P(s) on genomic distance for sperm is in a good agreement with the fractal globular folding of chromatin. The similarity of the spatial DNA organization in sperm and somatic cell genomes suggests the stability of the 3D structure of genomes through generations.

Важной технологией для неразрушающего мониторинга пигментного состава растений, который тесно связан с их физиологическим состоянием или заражением патогенами, является дистанционное зондирование при помощи гиперспектральных камер. В работе представлен опыт применения мобильной гиперспектральной камеры Specim IQ для исследований заболевания проростков четырех сортов пшеницы обыкновенной корневой гнилью (возбудитель – гриб Bipolaris sorokiniana Shoem.), а также для анализа мякоти клубней картофеля 82 линий и сортов. Для проростков были получены спектральные характеристики и по данным определены наиболее информативные спектральные признаки (индексы) для обнаружения корневой гнили. У проростков контрольных вариантов в видимой части спектра наблюдается возрастание отражательной способности с небольшим пиком в зеленой области (около 550 нм), затем идет понижение из-за поглощения света пигментами растений с экстремумом при длине волны около 680 нм. Анализ гистограмм значений вегетационных индексов показал, что индексы TVI и MCARI наиболее информативны для обнаружения патогена на проростках пшеницы по данным гиперспектральной съемки. Для образцов картофеля были выявлены участки спектра, соответствующие локальным максимумам и минимумам отражения. Показано, что спектры сортов картофеля имеют наибольшие различия в области длин волн 900–1000, 400–450 нм, что в первом случае может быть связано с уровнем содержания воды, а во втором – с формированием в клубнях меланина. По характеристикам спектра исследованные образцы разделились на три группы, каждая из которых содержит повышенные либо пониженные уровни интенсивности для указанных участков спектра. Кроме того, для ряда сортов были установлены минимумы в спектрах отражения, соответствующих хлорофиллу a. Результаты демонстрируют возможности камеры Specim IQ для проведения исследований гиперспектрального анализа растительных объектов.

A method for automation of imago quantifying and fecundity assessment in Drosophila with the use of mobile devices running Android operating system is proposed. The traditional manual method of counting the progeny takes a long time and limits the opportunity of making large-scale experiments. Thus, the development of computerized methods that would allow us to automatically make a quantitative estimate of D. melanogaster fecundity is an urgent requirement. We offer a modification of the mobile application SeedCounter that analyzes images of objects placed on a standard sheet of paper for an automatic calculation of D. melanogaster offspring or quantification of adult flies in any other kind of experiment. The relative average error in estimates of the number of flies by mobile app is about 2% in comparison with the manual counting and the processing time is 6 times shorter. Study of the effects of imaging conditions on accuracy of flies counting showed that lighting conditions do not significantly affect this parameter, and higher accuracy can be achieved using high-resolution smartphone cameras (8 Mpx and more). These results indicate the high accuracy and efficiency of the method suggested.

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. Investigation of molecular resistance mechanisms and screening the natural populations for novel R genes are important for both fundamental knowledge on plant pathogen interactions and breeding for durable resistance. Here we exploited the Solanum phureja accessions collected in South America with contrasting resistance to G. rostochiensis. Results The infestation of S. phureja with G. rostochiensis juveniles resulted in wounding stress followed by activation of cell division and tissue regeneration processes. Unlike the susceptible S. phureja genotype, the resistant accession reacted by rapid induction of variety of stress response related genes. This chain of molecular events accompanies the hypersensitive response at the juveniles’ invasion sites and provides high-level resistance. Transcriptomic analysis also revealed considerable differences between the analyzed S. phureja genotypes and the reference genome. Conclusion The molecular processes in plant roots associated with changes in gene expression patterns in response to G. rostochiensis infestation and establishment of either resistant or susceptible phenotypes are discussed. De novo transcriptome assembling is considered as an important tool for discovery of novel resistance traits in S. phureja accessions.

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Proline plays an important role in plant ontogenesis and stress response (Dar et al. 2016, Trovato et al. 2019. The proline content in plant cells increases manifold in response to an increase or decrease in temperature, to drought, soil salinity, nutrient deficiency, increased UV radiation, or exposure to heavy metals resulting in plant osmotic stress (Kuznetsov and Shevyakova 1999). An increase in cell proline leads to the modulation of cell pressure potential, thereby creating an osmotic balance, stabilizes cell membranes, protein and enzyme structures, preventing electrolyte leakage in the cell and oxidative stress. Thus, proline acts as a signalling molecule of stress response in plants (Hayat et al. 2012).Changes in proline content are just one of many plant stress responses: physiological, morphological, and anatomical (Hameed et al. 2010, Ilyas et al. 2020. One of the characteristic morphological changes is associated with leaf pubescence. Leaf pubescence is formed by

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