No abstract

Hairy vetch (Vicia villosa ssp. villosa Roth) is native of Europe and Western Asia and it is the second most cultivated vetch worldwide. Hairy vetch is used as forage species in semiarid environments and as a legume cover crop in sub-humid and humid regions. Being an incompletely domesticated species, hairy vetch can form spontaneous populations in a new environment. These populations might contain novel and adaptive traits valuable for breeding. Niche occupancy based on geographic occurrence and environmental data of naturalized populations in central Argentina showed that these populations were distributed mainly on disturbed areas with coarse soil texture and alkaline-type soils. Low rainfall and warm temperatures during pre-and post-seed dispersal explained the potential distribution under sub-humid and semiarid conditions from Pampa and Espinal ecoregions. Conversely, local adaptation along environmental gradients did not drive the divergence among recently established Argentinian (AR) populations. The highest genetic diversity revealed by microsatellite analysis was observed within accessions (72%) while no clear separation was detected between AR and European (EU) genotypes, although naturalized AR populations showed strong differentiation with the wild EU accessions. Common garden experiments were conducted in 2014-16 in order to evaluate populations' germination, flowering, and biomass traits. European cultivars were characterized by low physical seed dormancy (PY), while naturalized AR accessions showed higher winter biomass production. Detected variation in the quantitative assessment of populations could be useful for selection in breeding for traits that convey favorable functions within specific contexts.

Wild sunflower Helianthus annuus originates from North America and has naturalised in Argentina where it is considered invasive. The present study attempts to assess the genetic diversity using two different molecular marker systems to study the wild genetic patterns and to provide data applicable to conservation and breeding uses. Ten natural populations sampled throughout the wild range and six inbred lines were studied using inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) and simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers. A total of 64 ISSR bands and 29 SSR alleles were produced from 106 wild and cultivated plants. We found 9 ISSR private bands and 21 SSR private alleles in wild accessions, but no private bands/alleles were found in cultivated sunflowers. Molecular variability in wild populations was approximately 60% higher than in inbred lines. Local wild sunflowers kept considerable diversity levels in comparison with populations in the centre of origin (approximately 70%) and therefore they might possess a potential for adaptive evolutionary change. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated population structure with nearly 20% of genetic variability attributable to between-population differentiation. Principal coordinate analyses (PCO) grouped wild populations from different geographic locations, and a Mantel test showed low congruence between genetic distance (GD) and geographic distances (GGD); hence, molecular data could not rule out multiple wild introduction events. Low correlations were found between ISSR and SSR GD at individual and population levels; thus, divergent evolutionary groups were not evident in local wild sunflowers. Several genetic diversity criteria were utilised to assign conservation value and certain wild populations emerged as interesting sites for more extensive sampling.

Chemical characterization and in vitro antimicrobial activity of honeybee propolis and Scaptotrigona jujuyensis geopropolis against tomato pathogenic bacteriaCaracterização química e atividade antimicrobiana in vitro de própolis de abelhas e de geoprópolis de Scaptotrigona jujuyensis contra bactérias patogênicas do tomate