Agronomy

The program "External link to Genetics and Modern Technologies of Crops Open in new window" (External link to P4-0077 Open in new window) is carried out at the Department of Agronomy, Biotechnical Faculty in the cooperation with the Slovenian External link to Institute of Hop Research and Brewing Open in new window from Žalec, Slovenia. In 2018, the research group consists of 12 researchers, 5 young researchers and 4 technicians.

The research activities of the External link to P4-0077 Open in new window program are divided into several sets that complement or intertwine with each other and are comprised of:

• improvement of breeding procedures of agricultural plants and selected plant species through biotechnological processes, within which we explore the possibilities of genome editing in selected species from the genus Brassica by the introduction of plasmid DNA or the ribonucleoprotein complexes of the Cas9 enzyme and in vitro transcribed sgRNA. Our research is also focused on medical cannabis and we have started to develop biotechnological approaches appropriate for its breeding. In addition, we perform the breeding of hops and cabbage, where we use breeding and selection procedures using molecular markers.
• research work of biotic stress caused by the plant/pathogen interaction. In this set, we obtained a multi-layered overview of responses to the infection by Verticillium nonalfalfae in susceptible and resistant hop cultivars on transcriptome level; we study pathogenicity mechanisms of V. nonalfalfae by analyzing predicted fungal secretions and functionally characterize candidate secreted effector genes that manipulate host immunity to allow infection or trigger resistance response of the plant, and examine the impact of resistance hop genes to this fungus.
• the study of non-coding RNA sequences in plant disease states is focused on the viroid/hop interaction, where we study the role of viroid derived small RNAs in the pathogenicity mechanism of viroids and their interactions in the plant. We also perform de-novo small RNA identification in the plants and in phytopathogenic fungus V. nonalfalfae.
• diagnostic procedures; where we introduce new procedures for identifying plant pathogens based on the determination of nucleotide sequences using next generation sequencing technology (NGS). Recently, we have analyzed the virome of autochthonous cultivars of old vines, thus identifying viruses and viroids with the aim of their long-term elimination and further cultivation and clonal selection procedures. In the framework of research related to the diagnosis of the Verticillium wilt, we have developed the LAMP method for the detection and identification of specific pathotipes from the Verticillium genus. Additionally, we are simultaneously developing a PCR and quantitative PCR approach for the detection of several viroids causing severe hop stunting.
• the development of the next generation molecular markers; where we have been introducing NGS technique related methodologies for the vine and hops with the purpose to obtain a large number of data of polymorphic sites in the genome, useful for gene mapping studies, selection by the help of markers, and in the breeding in general.

Among the most important publications in the last two years (2016-2018), the following work can be highlighted: the study of the interactions of simultaneous infections of viroids in the hops (External link to Matoušek in sod., 2017 Open in new window), the characterization of the hop resistance Ve1 gene (External link to Song in sod., 2017 Open in new window), the transcriptomic response of hops to infection with Verticillium nonalfalfae (External link to Progar in sod., 2017 Open in new window), research on the viroid-hops interaction (External link to Pokorn in sod., 2017 Open in new window), labeling of plants with a DNA molecule for the purpose of cultivar protection (External link to Ljubič Fister in sod., 2017 Open in new window), the study of new CRISPR enzyme variants for genome editing (External link to Murovec in sod., 2017 Open in new window), diagnostic procedures for the detection of viroids (External link to Guček in sod. 2017 Open in new window), identification and characterization of micro-RNA in hops (External link to Mishra in sod., 2016 Open in new window), identification of new virulence-related proteins released by Verticillium nonalfalfae in the xylem of hop plants during the colonization (External link to Flajšman in sod., 2016 Open in new window), the study of the hops response to the drought stress (External link to Kolenc in sod., 2016 Open in new window), genomics of Verticillium nonalfalfae (External link to Jelen in sod., 2016 Open in new window, External link to Jakše in sod., 2018 Open in new window). During this period, the program team registered new varieties of buckwheat 'Trdinova' (External link to Luthar in Kreft 2018 Open in new window), tartar buckwheat 'Zlata' (External link to Kreft in Luthar 2018 Open in new window), hops 'Styrian Dragon' (External link to Čerenak in sod., 2018 Open in new window), 'StyrianFox' (External link to Čerenak in sod., 2018 Open in new window), 'Styrian Kolibri' (External link to Čerenak in sod., 2017 Open in new window), 'Styrian Cardinal' (External link to Čerenak in sod., 2016 Open in new window), 'Styrian Wolf' (External link to Čerenak in sod., 2016 Open in new window) and a cabbage hybrid 'Presnik' F1 (External link to Rudolf Pilih in sod., 2016 Open in new window).