Rapid Alkalinization Factor (RALF) peptides regulate plant growth and cell wall signaling, but their roles in fruit development remain unclear. Here, we characterized tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) fruit-associated RALF peptides and their interactions with leucine-rich repeat extensins (LRXs). Expression analyses identified SlRALF5, SlRALF7, and SlRALF10 as the main fruit-expressed RALFs. SlRALF10 was associated with early fruit development, whereas SlRALF5 and SlRALF7 remained expressed during ripening. Sequence analyses showed that SlRALF5/7 retain conserved motifs of canonical RALFs, while SlRALF10 displays divergent structural features and altered charge distribution. Synthetic SlRALF5 and SlRALF7 inhibited root growth and induced extracellular alkalinization, whereas SlRALF10 lacked both activities. Co-immunoprecipitation assays showed that all three peptides interact with the fruit-expressed proteins SlLRX2 and SlLRX5. Structural modeling predicted distinct electrostatic properties for the SlLRX5/SlRALF10 complex compared with SlRALF5. These results reveal structural and functional specialization among tomato fruit RALF peptides and suggest that distinct SlRALFs may differentially respond to cell wall remodeling during fruit development and ripening.
Increasing consumer demand for food produced using biodiversity-friendly practices may create market incentives that support biodiversity conservation. However, there is limited understanding of consumer perspectives regarding the perceived biodiversity aspects of such products. This study represents an empirical approach to investigate how consumers perceive biodiversity-related attributes of regional products and how these perceptions influence purchase motivation in the context of the Swabian Alb Biosphere Reserve. Regional product criteria related to biodiversity protection and prevalence within the Swabian Alb Biosphere Reserve were assessed through a literature review. The Q-method was applied to determine their influence on consumer purchase motivation. Key findings include the determination of three prevalent consumer perspectives consisting of Traditional Regionalists valuing local community support and cultural identity, Environmental Pragmatists appreciating criteria with direct environmental protection benefits and Quality Seekers being motivated by concerns of food safety and transparency in the food industry. The regional product criteria were revisited regarding their importance for the individual consumer perspectives, providing insights into how each group relates to criteria associated with perceived biodiversity benefits. Equal to future research prospects extending on the relevance of demographic and economic variables, these insights suggest potential pathways for adapting and expanding the offering of biodiversity-friendly regional products, in combination with consumer-oriented communication and marketing approaches.
Food production is a major cause of biodiversity loss, but this loss can be mitigated by biodiversity-friendly food products. However, the market potential for these products and the characteristics of relevant consumer target groups remain unclear. This study develops a conceptual framework of potential barriers to biodiversity-friendly consumption to identify consumer target groups in Germany. Using a representative survey sample (N = 1093) and latent profile analysis, five distinct consumer profiles are identified according to their product acceptance and dominant barriers. Three profiles – the Biodiversity Enthusiasts (8%), the Environmentally Concerned (40%), and the Low-Efficacy Supporters (6%) – demonstrate high levels of acceptance for biodiversity-friendly food products and together constitute over half of German consumers, indicating substantial market potential. The remaining two profiles – the Disinterested (36%) and the Price Conscious (11%) – are less suitable as immediate target groups. Across all target groups biodiversity-friendly product attributes are associated with higher stated willingness to pay making communication, wording, and credible labelling decisive for market success. The profiles are interpreted using the public typology to develop tailored marketing and communication approaches. Our results highlight the importance of marketing measures tailored to the specific barriers and characteristics of each target group.
Due to their high state dimension, semidiscretized systems represent a critical computational bottleneck in the analysis, as well as real-time monitoring and control of bioprocess systems. To overcome this problem, model order reduction techniques can be employed. The present work investigates the application of such techniques to a cell population balance model coupled with a Crabtree effect-based kinetic model for growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast. The cell average method and finite difference discretization are here compared in terms of computational efficiency, state reconstruction quality, and associated system stability properties, the latter being assessed through eigenvalue analysis of the linearized operators around non-trivial steady states. A reduction of the full order state dimension by a factor of 11 allowed to observe a computational time saving up to a factor of 2.6 with respect to the corresponding full order model, while preserving high reconstruction accuracy of the cell number density (L2 error on the order of 10-3 for 200 mass nodes discretization) and the local stability of the system. These results support the use of reduced-order models as efficient and stability-preserving surrogates for the analysis, monitoring and control of complex distributed biological systems.
Ergot, caused by the fungus Claviceps purpurea, is a major disease in rye, leading to yield loss and contamination with ergot alkaloids that pose food safety risks. Against the background that the EU has significantly tightened the acceptable limits for ergot sclerotia since 1 July 2025 from 0.05% to 0.02% sclerotia according to the EU Commission Regulation 2021/1399, the susceptibility of varieties to ergot is becoming an increasingly important decision criterion for farmers. Therefore, the purpose of our research was to determine the influence of variety type (population, hybrid with Rfp1 (Rfp1 +) and hybrid without Rfp1 (Rfp1-) restorer gene) on variation in ergot susceptibility under conditions of natural infection. Additionally, we sought to determine whether the susceptibility to ergot of naturally infected variety types aligns with the descriptions of susceptibility published in the Descriptive List of Varieties. The dataset used is a long-term on-farm dataset, collected between 2006 and 2024, derived from the annual assessment of the processing quality of German bread cereals. We conclude that population varieties under natural infection conditions were more resistant to ergot than hybrid variety types with and without Rfp1 restorer gene. Furthermore, we show that optimising pollination through Rfp1 genes is a more effective way of minimising ergot severity and incidence in hybrid rye breeding than blending 5-10% population rye into commercial hybrid cultivars (Rfp1-). Interestingly, we could demonstrate that some Rfp1- varieties that were rated as performing worse after artificial inoculation showed significantly better resistance under natural field conditions. These results suggest amending the procedures to optimise the rating of a candidate variety's performance in this respect. Overall, our research provides new insights into the importance of variety choice as an effective tool for farmers in minimizing and managing ergot in rye cultivation.
