Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) is an important ROS molecule (Reactive oxygen species) that serves as a signal of oxidative stress and activation of signaling cascades as a result of the early response of the plant to biotic stress. This response can also be generated with the application of elicitors, stable molecules that induce the activation of transduction cascades and hormonal pathways, which trigger induced resistance to environmental stress. In this work, we evaluated the endogenous H₂O₂ production caused by salicylic acid (SA), chitosan (QN), and H₂O₂ elicitors in Capsicum annuum L. Hydrogen peroxide production after elicitation, catalase (CAT) and phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) activities, as well as gene expression analysis of cat1, pal, and pathogenesis-related protein 1 (pr1) were determined. Our results displayed that 6.7 and 10 mM SA concentrations, and, 14 and 18 mM H₂O₂ concentrations, induced an endogenous H₂O₂ and gene expression. QN treatments induced the same responses in lesser proportion than the other two elicitors. Endogenous H₂O₂ production monitored during several days, showed results that could be an indicator for determining application opportunity uses in agriculture for maintaining plant alert systems against a stress.

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a leguminous in high demand for human nutrition and a very important agricultural product. Production of common bean is constrained by environmental stresses such as drought. Although conventional plant selection has been used to increase production yield and stress tolerance, drought tolerance selection based on phenotype is complicated by associated physiological, anatomical, cellular, biochemical and molecular changes. These changes are modulated by differential gene expression. A common method to identify genes associated with phenotypes of interest is the characterization of Single Nucleotide Polymorphims (SNPs) to link them to specific functions. In this work, we selected two drought-tolerant parental lines from Mesoamerica, Pinto Villa and Pinto Saltillo. The parental lines were used to generate a population of 282 families (F 3:5 ) and characterized by 169 SNPs . We associated the segregation of the molecular markers in our population with phenotypes including flowering time, physiological maturity, reproductive period, plant, seed and total biomass, reuse index, seed yield, weight of 100 seeds and harvest index in three cultivation cycles. We observed 83 SNPs with significant association (p < 0.0003 after Bonferroni correction) with our quantified phenotypes. Phenotypes most associated were days to flowering and seed biomass with 58 and 44 associated SNPs respectively. Thirty-seven out of the 83 SNPs were annotated to a gene with a potential function related to drought tolerance or relevant molecular/biochemical functions. Some SNPs such as SNP28 and SNP128 are related to starch biosynthesis, a common osmotic protector; and SNP18 is related to proline biosynthesis, another well-known osmotic protector.

A germin-like gene (CchGLP) cloned from geminivirus-resistant pepper (Capsicum chinense Jacq. Line BG-3821) was characterized and the enzymatic activity of the expressed protein analyzed. The predicted protein consists of 203 amino acids, similar to other germin-like proteins. A highly conserved cupin domain and typical germin boxes, one of them containing three histidines and one glutamate, are also present in CchGLP. A signal peptide was predicted in the first 18 N-terminal amino acids, as well as one putative N-glycosylation site from residues 44–47. CchGLP was expressed in E. coli and the recombinant protein displayed manganese superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD) activity. Molecular analysis showed that CchGLP is present in one copy in the C. chinense Jacq. genome and was induced in plants by ethylene (Et) and salicylic acid (SA) but not jasmonic acid (JA) applications in the absence of pathogens. Meanwhile, incompatible interactions with either Pepper golden mosaic virus (PepGMV) or Pepper huasteco yellow vein virus (PHYVV) caused local and systemic CchGLP induction in these geminivirus-resistant plants, but not in a susceptible accession. Compatible interactions with PHYVV, PepGMV and oomycete Phytophthora capsici did not induce CchGLP expression. Thus, these results indicate that CchGLP encodes a Mn-SOD, which is induced in the C. chinense geminivirus-resistant line BG-3821, likely using SA and Et signaling pathways during incompatible interactions with geminiviruses PepGMV and PHYVV.

As a recently explored agricultural practice, the controlled elicitation of plants offers high potential in multiple crop needs as growth promotion, activation of defenses and the production of specific metabolites. Extracellular DNA has been identified as a plant immune system elicitor but some aspects of the plant response have not been explored. In the present work, five DNA treatments were applied in tomato plants and the response of catalase, superoxide dismutase, phenylalanine ammonia lyase activities, hydrogen peroxide, total phenolics and flavonoid contents in leaves were spectrophotometrically measured. Treatments differed by the source and concentration of DNA and plant phenological stage of application. Furthermore, mathematical modeling and principal component analysis were performed to explore the behavior of each variable and their interaction. The most effective treatment was the self-DNA application in young plants based on the intensity and duration of immune system activation. The information given by the measured variables correlated positively with the phenylpropanoid pathway markers and negatively with catalase and superoxide dismutase activities. Results reported here propose an easy way to evaluate plant immune response activation by DNA and any other elicitor and provide useful information for future development of controlled elicitation strategies in crop production.

Introducción. Conocer la diversidad a nivel genético, químico y morfológico que existe entre individuos y poblaciones, es de gran utilidad en los programas de mejoramiento genético, ya que facilita la organización del material y la selección adecuada de genotipos superiores para el desarrollo de una población mejorada. Objetivo. El objetivo del presente trabajo fue caracterizar genética, química y agronómicamente líneas avanzadas de tomate de cáscara (Physalis ixocarpa Brot.), del programa de mejoramiento de hortalizas del Campo Experimental Bajío (CE-Bajío) del Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP), México. Materiales y métodos. Durante la temporada primavera-verano y otoño-invierno de 2017, se cuantificó la variabilidad genética con marcadores moleculares de ADN de tipo AFLP (Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism); se determinaron los compuestos fenólicos y tomatidina en fruto, y en lo agronómico el porcentaje de germinación, número de frutos por planta, peso del fruto, diámetro ecuatorial y polar, y el rendimiento. Resultados. Se obtuvo un promedio general de similitud entre los genotipos de 0,86. De acuerdo con las relaciones genéticas, se detectaron las líneas 4 y 70 como posibles progenitores de híbridos y un patrón geográfico en los agrupamientos. La diversidad química indicó que el mayor contenido de flavonoides (51,1 mg EAG/100 g) se presentó en la L-86, de fenoles y antocianinas (396, 8 y 7,22 mg EAG/100 g, resp.) en la L-182, y de taninos (188,4 mg EAG/100 g) en la L-97, mientras que la tomatidina fue mayor en frutos verdes (2,23-3,81 mg EAG/100 g) que en morados. El intervalo de rendimiento de las líneas fue de 11,4 a 47,6 t/ha, donde el 20% de las líneas superaron la media de rendimiento nacional (40 t/ha). Se destacó la L-37 con 47,6 t/ha, que además produjo mayor número de frutos por planta, diámetro ecuatorial y polar, y una tasa de germinación de 93,3%. Conclusión. Las líneas 37, 25, 27 y 167, tienen potencial para ser validadas para uso comercial y como líneas parentales.