PremiseLeaf morphology is dynamic, continuously deforming during leaf expansion and among leaves within a shoot. Here, we measured the leaf morphology of more than 200 grapevines (Vitis spp.) over four years and modeled changes in leaf shape along the shoot to determine whether a composite leaf shape comprising all the leaves from a single shoot can better capture the variation and predict species identity compared with individual leaves.MethodsUsing homologous universal landmarks found in grapevine leaves, we modeled various morphological features as polynomial functions of leaf nodes. The resulting functions were used to reconstruct modeled leaf shapes across the shoots, generating composite leaves that comprehensively capture the spectrum of leaf morphologies present.ResultsWe found that composite leaves are better predictors of species identity than individual leaves from the same plant. We were able to use composite leaves to predict the species identity of previously unassigned grapevines, which were verified with genotyping.DiscussionObservations of individual leaf shape fail to capture the true diversity between species. Composite leaf shape—an assemblage of modeled leaf snapshots across the shoot—is a better representation of the dynamic and essential shapes of leaves, in addition to serving as a better predictor of species identity than individual leaves.

One of the factors determining drug quality in bitter fennel is the types and quantities of fatty acids stored in the seeds. We measured the fatty acid content of 50 Iranian fennel landraces. Fatty acid concentration of the 50 fennel landraces ranged from 9.5 to 23% of seed mass, and the highest amounts of fatty acid content among the early maturing races belonged to Hamedan and Arak (19.5 and 18.5%, respectively), among the medium maturing races to Marvdasht, Kohn and Meshkin Shahr (23, 20.5 and 19%, respectively), and among the late-maturing races to Sari (21%). The highest fatty acid yields belonged to Fasa (65.3 ml/m2) among the early maturing races, Meshkin Shahr and Moqhan (92.5 and 85.4 ml/m2) among the medium maturing races, and Sari (71.4 ml/m2) among the late-maturing races. The main compositions of fatty acids, measured in twelve of the landraces, were oleic acid (52-64%), linoleic acid (26-39%), palmitic acid (0.3-4.1%), stearic acid (1.3-2.4%), linolenic acid (0.6-3.6%) and myristic acid (0.35-1.07%). It was observed that landraces with high oleic acid content originated from regions with a dry and warm climate, while landraces with high linoleic acid content originated from regions with a humid and cool climate. Understanding relationships between the fatty acid profile and landrace origin climate may improve the efficiency of identifying landraces with specific fennel chemotypes. In conclusion, these results indicate that some of these fennel landraces have the potential to be complementary sources of certain fatty acids, such as oleic and linoleic acids.

Premise of studyLeaf morphology is dynamic, continuously deforming during leaf expansion and among leaves within a shoot. We measured leaf morphology from over 200 vines over four years, and modeled changes in leaf shape along the shoot to determine if a composite “shape of shapes” can better capture variation and predict species identity compared to individual leaves.MethodsUsing homologous universal landmarks found in grapevine leaves, we modeled various morphological features as a polynomial function of leaf node. The resulting functions are used to reconstruct modeled leaf shapes across shoots, generating composite leaves that comprehensively capture the spectrum of possible leaf morphologies.ResultsWe found that composite leaves are better predictors of species identity than individual leaves from the same plant. We were able to use composite leaves to predict species identity of previously unassigned vines, which were verified with genotyping.DiscussionObservations of individual leaf shape fail to capture the true diversity between species. Composite leaf shape—an assemblage of modeled leaf snapshots across the shoot—is a better representation of the dynamic and essential shapes of leaves, as well as serving as a better predictor of species identity than individual leaves.

Fennel is a member of the Umbelliferae family and one of the most important and commonly used medicinal herbs. Because plant cultivar registration and protection is now confined to a small number of morphological features, the adoption of molecular approaches as complementing tools is unavoidable. In this investigation, the researchers employed ten start codon targeted (SCoT) markers to identify and distinctiveness three synthetic fennel cultivars and eight parental ecotypes. Ten SCoT primers obtained a total of 54 amplified fragments, of which 44 were polymorphic. SC14 and SC2 primers with 9 bands had the most bands, whereas SC17 primers with 5 bands had the least bands. SC29, SC31, and SC2 primers have the greatest polymorphic information content (PIC), Resolving Power (RP), and Marking Index (MI). The genetic similarity of the genotypes analyzed using the Jaccard similarity coefficient varied from 0.31 to 0.76, with an average similarity of 0.54. Genotypes were distinct from one another and split into five categories using cluster analysis, the results of primary coordinate analysis (PCoA) corroborated these findings. These markers proved to be valuable tools for identifying and distinctiveness fennel cultivars due to their good separation of cultivars and independence from environmental effects. As a result, the markers utilized in this research are appropriate for distinction fennel cultivars.