The authors' studies on the organization and variation of plant genome with the use of molecular markers are briefly reviewed with special emphasis on random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR), sequence characterized amplified region (SCAR), and cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) markers detected with the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR). These markers have been demonstrated to be promising for identifying cultivars and determining the purity of genetic strains of pea. Genetic relationships between strains, cultivars, and mutants of pea have been studied. The role of molecular markers in molecular genetic mapping and localizing the genes of commercially important characters of pea has been shown. The possibility of the use of molecular markers for studying somaclonal variation and detecting mutagenic factors in plants during long-term spaceflights is considered. The prospects of using DNA markers for understanding the organization and variability of higher plant genomes are discussed.

BackgroundIt was previously shown that the MTHFR gene polymorphism correlated with an increased risk of migraine, particularly migraine with aura. The substitution of cytosine for thymine at the position 677 of the MTHFR gene leads to formation of the thermolabile form of the protein and development of hyperhomocysteinemia, which increases the probability of migraine. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the replacement of C677T in the gene MTHFR influenced any particular symptoms of the disease.MethodsWe have analyzed clinical and electrophysiological characteristics of 83 patients with migraine (migraine with aura (MA), 19 patients, and migraine without aura (MO), 64 patients, according to the ICHD-II (2003)) taking into account their genotypes of C677T variant of MTHFR.ResultsWe have shown that MA was significantly more prevalent among the T-allele carriers (37.2%), as compared to the СС genotype patients (0%), р < 0.0001. Patients with TT genotype were not only more likely to have accompanying symptoms (significant differences were found only for photophobia), but also more sensitive to migraine attack triggers. In RP-VEP test results we observed a trend that the T-allele carriers were presented with the decreased N75/P100 amplitudes and a positive habituation index, as compared to the СС genotype patients.ConclusionsThus, according to our data, the MTHFR genotypes are associated with several clinical and electrophysiological characteristics of migraine.

Early blight (EB) is a destructive disease affecting potato and tomato plants in Russia, caused by a heterogeneous group of plant pathogenic Alternaria fungi. The current species delimitation in Alternaria sect. Porri with medium to large conidia and a long (filamentous) beak is based on molecular data. In this study, the ITS, GAPDH, RPB2, TEF1, and Alt a 1 gene regions were analyzed in 41 large-spored Alternaria isolates obtained from diseased potato and tomato plants collected from 13 regions in Russia. Our data revealed five pathogenic species (A. alternariacida, A. grandis, A. linariae, A. protenta, and A. solani). Two species (A. solani and A. linariae) were found to be associated with early blight of tomato. Alternaria linariae and A. protenta were confirmed as the major causal agents of tomato and potato early blight, respectively. There were no phylogenetic groupings among tested Russian Alternaria isolates associated with their locality.

No abstract

No abstract