Key message: Wheat and its close relatives have large and complex genomes, making gene cloning difficult. Nevertheless, developments in genomics over the past decade have made it more feasible. The large and complex genomes of cereals, especially bread wheat, have always been a challenge for gene mapping and cloning. Nevertheless, recent advances in genomics have led to significant progress in this field. Currently, high-quality reference sequences are available for major wheat species and their relatives. New high-throughput genotyping platforms and next-generation sequencing technologies combined with genome complexity reduction techniques and mutagenesis have opened new avenues for gene cloning. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the genes cloned in wheat so far and discuss the strategies used for cloning these genes. We highlight the advantages and drawbacks of individual approaches and show how particular genomic progress contributed to wheat gene cloning. A wide range of new resources and approaches have led to a significant increase in the number of successful cloning projects over the past decade, demonstrating that it is now feasible to perform rapid gene cloning of agronomically important genes, even in a genome as large and complex as that of wheat.

In this mini-review we present insight to the non-nuclear transposable elements and in silico analysis of miniature inverted transposable elements (MITEs) in the grapevine mitochondrial genome. Here we report the identification of 17 truncated sequences in grapevine ( Vitis vinifera L.) mitochondrial genome which expectedly belongs to the four ancient transposon families (hAT, Tc1Mariner, Mutator and PIF/Harbinger). Some sequences with a high rate of homology in chloroplast and nuclear genomes were also identified. Thus, it suggests the intercellular gene transfer between these three organelles. These partial sequences showed a high level of similitude with full MITE sequences, and they were found in their inner region, supporting their MITE origin. Further analysis revealed these sequences in other life kingdoms (including eubacteria and archaea), which indicates their ancient origin. Further research showed that 13 out of the 17 sequences are conserved domains of the genes where they are located, suggesting their contribution to gene evolution. Therefore, we suppose that more studies of nature, origin and functional meaning of these sequences and their fusion with genes are necessary. In the light of our observations it will be useful for further studies of V. vinifera genome organizing and systematics, as well as for other species.

Bacillus velezensis Krd-20 strain with antifungal activity was isolated from the wheat rhizosphere. This strain is used to suppress fungi of the Fusarium sp. when growing oyster mushroom ( Pleurotus ostreatus ). Genome assembling resulted in 44 contigs with a total length of 3939663 bp were obtained, the GC content is 46.4%.

Winter barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is an important crop with great impact on the nutrition of the world population. Many of the barley varieties used in industry are obtained from private and public seed collection organizations. Understanding the relationships among barley genotypes within these collections is crucial for breeding and maintenance. The objective of this study was to determine the genetic diversity in winter barley from the Kuban State Agrarian University collection by using DNA-profiling polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods based on a single primer complementary to the primer binding site (PBS) region downstream of the long terminal repeat (LTR) for retrotransposons. In total, 1293 PCR amplicons were identified, of which 646 were polymorphic. Barley genotypes from this collection were mainly divided into two populations based on their geographical origin. Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) results indicated a high level of genetic diversity among the barley genotypes (83%). Relationships of the studied barley genotypes and their ancestry were established using clustering and Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) analysis. The results of PCoA and clustering were similar and close genetic relationships of selected accessions were confirmed. Surprising results were obtained for Timofei and Vasya genotypes that are not supposed to be closely related, but were positioned together. Similar unexpected results were shown for Samson and Iosif varieties. Nevertheless, obtained data can be useful for planning of future crossing by breeders using distantly related crossing pairs.

A hyperparasite was observed on Venturia inaequalis during a survey in Krasnodar region, South Russia. Morphological characterization using light microscopy and molecular characterization by sequencing ITS region of nuclear ribosomal DNA and phylogenetic analysis revealed the identity of the pathogen as Trichothecium roseum. This is the first record of hyperparasite Trichothecium roseum on Venturia inaequalis from Russia.

The Lactobacillus amylovorus KSAU strain was isolated from the chyme of the intestinal cecum of an industrial pig. Genes encoding the synthesis of bacteriocins were annotated and suggest their potential to improve the preparation and production of probiotics for pigs.