No abstract

In order to increase access to nutritious foods around the world, innovative technologies need to be developed and integrated into agricultural production systems. The new plant breeding techniques developed offer many advantages for making modifications in the plant genome. CRSPR/Cas9, one of the genome editing technologies, is an efficient system with high potential that allows the formation of target-oriented mutations in many agricultural products and allows the mutation of new and desired characters to be obtained through breeding programs without the use of foreign genetic elements. In this review, we have summarize the discovery, evalution, functionality, genome editing studies of plants and the strong potentials of CRSPR/Cas9 technology for plant breeding.

No abstract

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is a tropical and subtropical climate plant with high economic value and nutritional content. Having valuable phytochemicals in terms of health caused an increase in demand for pomegranate consumption and this situation accelerated pomegranate production. However, global warming and climate changes are among the factors limiting the production of pomegranate. Especially abiotic stress factors caused by adverse ecological conditions cause significant economic losses in pomegranate production. Drought stress, which is one of these negativities, causes fruit cracking problem, which is one of the important problems in pomegranate production. Minimizing the fruit cracking problem, which causes economic losses, is possible by breeding varieties that are resistant to under non-irrigated conditions. Determining the resistance of the cultivars to be used in breeding programs against fruit cracking will allow the development of elite cultivars. For this purpose, it was aimed to determine the fruit cracking rates of 30 different pomegranate genotypes in the Pomegranate Genetic Collection of Çukurova University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Horticulture, under non-irrigated conditions. A correlation was made between the cracking rates of the genotypes and the amount of soluble solids content (SSC). According to the correlation analysis between the cultivars, there is no statistically significant difference between the SSC and the cracking rate. However, a weak negative correlation was determined between SSC-cracking rate (-0,1132). In the light of the pomological data obtained, it was determined that 8 pomegranate genotypes grown under non-irrigated conditions had a fruit cracking rate of 40 % - 85 %, cracking rates were below 10 % in 8 pomegranate genotypes and no fruit cracking was observed in 6 genotypes. As a result of the analysis, it was observed that drought stress was effective on the fruit cracking rate or the exacerbation of the fruit cracking rate, but the resistance level of some genotypes against the fruit cracking problem was high.

The Myrtle plant (Myrtus communis L.) is a plant species of the Myrtaceae family and a member of the maquis community, which naturally spreads in Mediterranean regions. Being resistant to arid conditions, the ecological distribution areas of the myrtle plant have been allowed to expand. The myrtle plant has been used of medicinal and aromatic plants, having interesting and beautiful flowers, and rich nutrient content of the fruit in terms of valuable phytochemicals, in particular, the nutritional content of its fruits and valuable metabolites have allowed the myrtle plant to be among the healthier foods. Antioxidant activity, which neutralizes reactive oxygen species (ROS), which causes many medical problems, is one of the most important features of the myrtle plant. Investigation of the biosynthesis of anthocyanin, which leads to antioxidant activity, and determination of the biosynthesis in different tissues and genotypes is important, especially in the development of production activities. Furthermore, this study aimed to investigate the anthocyanin biosynthesis in different genotypes with white and black fruits and various tissues of genotypes. For this purpose, the expression levels of CHS, CHI, F3H and PAL genes, which are involved in the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway, were determined by qRT-PCR. In the study, it was determined that there was an increase in the level of genes related to the biosynthesis of anthocyanin in the leaf and fruit tissues of the genotype with white fruits. It was determined that the expression level of genes related to the biosynthesis of anthocyanin was observed to be higher in the leaf and fruit tissues of the genotype with black fruits, and the highest gene expression level was found in black fruits. It was observed that anthocyanin biosynthesis was synthesized in different tissues of the plant, and anthocyanin biosynthesis was higher in fruits compared to leaves.