Grapes and strawberries are major fruit crops with a dynamic, fast-growing global market. In addition to conventional techniques, biotechnological tools allow the preservation of valuable genotypes of both crops and the large-scale propagation of high-quality material. We have developed new protocols for expeditious and reliable micropropagation of grapes and strawberries cultivated in south Russia. In vitro cultivation on semisolid media was combined with rapid propagation in bioreactors. A six-week cycle of propagation in a bioreactor resulted in a 300-fold increase in fresh mass, with a propagation rate of ~5 in grapes and ~20 in strawberries. Genetic analysis using the inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) DNA fingerprinting technique confirmed the full uniformity of the regenerants. The results of this research will support the local horticultural industry with fast and efficient propagation systems of new breeding lines, introduced varieties, and elite cultivars.

It is assumed that changes in the number of copies that belong to the basic mechanisms that control the expression of genes are important for malignization. Therefore, the characterization of these genes and the precise assessment of the number of copies are important for understanding the molecular basis of tumor emergence and progression in the human organism, as well as for the identification of predictive markers of malignization. In the present study, the relative number of copies of 19 loci (BAX, GSTP1, CASP3, CASP8, HIF1A, OCT4, C-MYC, SOX2, BCL2, CASP8/FADD, NANOG, P53, CASP9, IL-10, NFKB1, HV2, and ACTB) in cancerous and conventionally healthy tissues from 25 residents of southern Russia with a histologically confirmed diagnosis of adenocarcinoma (stages G1-G2 and G3) or signet cell gastric cancer were determined by quantitative real-time PCR. Changes in the number of copies of the gene were shown to be specific to particular histological types of cancer, as well as to depend on the stage of tumor cell differentiation. The data suggest that the number of copies of changes in the BAX, CASP3, CASP8, OCT4, C-MYC, SOX2, BCL2, NANOG, CASP9, NFKB1, HV2, ACTB, MKI67, IL-10, GSTP1, and P53 genes play an important role in the malignization of gastric tissue.

Background. The personalized approach implies an individual choice of medicines and their doses for the patient, providing the most effective and safe pharmacotherapy. Objective: analysis of the frequencies of UGT1A1 and DPYD polymorphisms and comparison of genotyping data with irinotecan and 5-fluorouracil-induced toxicity, respectively.Materials and Methods. Venous blood of 94 Caucasian patients (46 men and 48 women, median age 61 years). The *6 and *28 UGT1A1 alleles were identified by pyrosequencing, and the *2А DPYD allele was identified by Real-time PCR.Results. The genotyping of 94 patients with colon cancer did not reveal the *2A SNP in the DPYD gene. The frequency rate of the *6 and *28 alleles of the UGT1A1 gene was 0.346 and 0.016, respectively. 24 % of patients receiving chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil developed side effects associated with the circulatory system and the gastrointestinal tract. Hematological and nonhematological toxic reactions were noted in 48 % and 50 % of patients receiving irinotecan. Severe bilirubinemia was associated with the *28/*28 UGT1A1 genotype. The presence of a high-risk genotype (*28/*1, *28/*28 UGT1A1) correlated with the development of side effects (p=0.040).Conclusion. The absence of carriers of the *2А DPYD allele in the sample with a significant proportion of pronounced adverse toxic reactions to 5-fluorouracil causes the need for the inclusion of new polymorphisms of the DPYD gene in pharmacogenetic testing. The inclusion of genotyping of UGT1A1 polymorphisms into a complex of preliminary examination is advisable when planning treatment with irinotecan.