The characterization of plant genetic resources is a precondition for genetic improvement and germplasm management. The increasing use of molecular markers for DNA-based genotype signature is crucial for variety identification and traceability in the food supply chain. We collected 75 Sicilian hazelnut accessions from private and public field collections, including widely grown varieties from the Nebrodi Mountains in north east Sicily (Italy). The germplasm was fingerprinted through nine standardized microsatellites (SSR) for hazelnut identification to evaluate the genetic diversity of the collected accessions, validating SSR discrimination power. We identified cases of homonymy and synonymy among acquisitions and the unique profiles. The genetic relationships illustrated by hierarchical clustering, structure, and discriminant analyses revealed a clear distinction between local and commercial varieties. The comparative genetic analysis also showed that the Nebrodi genotypes are significantly different from the Northern Italian, Iberian, and Turkish genotypes. These results highlight the need and urgency to preserve Nebrodi germplasm as a useful and valuable source for traits of interest employable for breeding. Our study demonstrates the usefulness of molecular marker analysis to select a reference germplasm collection of Sicilian hazelnut varieties and to implement certified plants' production in the supply chain.

The historical cultivation of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) has resulted in the development of local populations/cultivars in restricted Italian rural areas. Many common bean landraces, still cultivated in small mountain areas from Sicily, have become outdated and endangered due to the commercial varieties spreading. These accessions are poorly known but often represent a genetic heritage to be preserved and enhanced. The ex situ conservation of fifty-seven Sicilian common bean landraces was carried out at the "Living Plants Germplasm Bank" at Ucria (Messina, Italy), founded by the Nebrodi Regional Park, together with the "Sicilian Plant Germplasm Repository" of University of Palermo (SPGR/PA). To assess the germplasm genetic diversity, nineteen morphological traits and eight Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) were used. Genetic distances among landraces were calculated to construct a clustering tree by using unweighted pair group method arithmetic (UPGMA). Seed germplasm diversity of Sicilian common bean varied from 80.7% to 93.3%, based on six seed descriptors and six leaf, flower, and pod descriptors, respectively, while cluster genetic analysis depicted a clear separation among all the 57 landraces. Principal coordinates (PCoA) and STRUCTURE analyses showed a prevalent rate of admixture between Mesoamerican and Andean gene pools in Sicilian common bean collection, confirming its heterogeneity. The observed high level of diversity evidenced the needs to adopt accurate criterion to plan a definitive ex situ germplasm collection to share agrobiodiversity with local farmers and to avoid any further loss of genetic resources in rural and protected areas.

Recently, the management of Palermo Botanical Garden and Herbarium Mediterraneum -which has historically and traditionally led the scientific education and research in the field of botany -has been transferred to a newly created athenaeum museum system "SiMuA, Centro Servizi Sistema Museale", whose main aim is to rationalize and advertise university-related museums of all disciplines, and promoting their fruition to a wider audience.Within this context, the fate and scientific mission of SPGR/PA has become uncertain, and a concrete risk of losing both the biological assets and the invaluable scientific expertise and know-how built over the past 20 years has come to light.

Halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) are natural nanomaterials that are biocompatible and available in large amounts at low prices. They are emerging nanomaterials with appealing properties for applications like support for metal nanoparticles (NPs). The potential environmental impacts of NPs can be understood in terms of phytotoxicity. Current research has been focusing on HNT applications in cell or animal models, while their use in plants is limited so their ecotoxicological impact is poorly documented. To date there are no studies on the phytotoxic effects of functionalized halloysites (functionalized-HNTs). To develop a quantitative risk assessment model for predicting the potential impact of HNT-supported palladium nanoparticles (HNT-PdNPs) on plant life, an investigation was undertaken to explore their effects on seed germination, seedling development, and mitotic division in root tip cells of 2 lots of Raphanus sativus L. with different vigor. The results showed that exposure to 1500mg/L of HNTs, functionalized-HNTs, and HNT-PdNPs had no significant influence on germination, seedling development, xylem differentiation, or mitotic index in both lots. Cytogenetic analyses revealed that treatments with functionalized-HNT significantly increased the number of aberrations in low-vigor seeds. These results suggest that low-vigor seeds represent a model for a stress test that would be useful to monitor the effects of NPs. Moreover the present study offers scientific evidence for the use of halloysite for environmental purposes, supporting the biological safety of HNT-PdNPs. Environ Toxicol Chem 2016;35:2503-2510. (c) 2016 SETAC

The Mediterranean Basin is one of the most significantly altered World Biodiversity Hotspots with extensive habitat loss and fast genetic population erosion, for which urgent biodiversity reconnaissance and preservation actions are required. In particular, Sicily has about 600 taxa classified as threatened or near-threatened. The correct recognition and identification of such biodiversity is required for supporting further activities. The objective of this work is to assess the ability of the DNA barcoding approach to identify different taxonomic groups from a collection of the most threatened plant taxa, throughout natural Sicilian populations. The evaluation of the DNA barcoding core markers, rbcL and matK, was carried out on 30 taxa belonging to 13 families. DNA barcode fragments were recovered from all taxa (100%). The rbcL gene was recovered from 97% of the taxa and matK gene from 73%. In this test, 19 taxa overall (63%) were totally resolved at the specific or subspecific level, by at least one of the core markers. Fourteen of the 17 most threatened taxa (EN, CR) included in this work were totally discriminated. The matK and rbcL locus, respectively, resolved 64% and 48% of the taxa successfully sequenced. The matK gene expressed the highest genetic distance (K2P value), from 0.4% to 8.6%, against a range of 0.1–2% of rbcL gene. However, the rbcL gene appeared a good compromise between PCR, sequencing success and species-level resolution. Cryptic groups suggest the implementation of additional barcoding markers or different primer combinations, particularly for matK, in order to increase the performances. However, this preliminary result confirms the potential of the barcoding approach for quick identification of unknown and heterogeneous plant groups to generate a dedicated reference data-set of the threatened Sicilian flora for a wide range of applications.

The chemical composition of the essential oils isolated from the aerial parts of Anthemis pignattiorum Guarino, Raimondo & Domina and A. ismelia Lojac . and the aerial parts and flowers of Anthemis cupaniana Tod . ex Nyman , three endemic Sicilian species belonging to the section Hiorthia , was determined by GC‐FID and GC/MS analyses. ( Z )‐Muurola‐4(14),5‐diene (27.3%) was recognized as the main constituent of the A. pignattiorum essential oil, together with isospathulenol (10.6%), sabinene (7.7%), and artemisyl acetate (6.8%), while in the oil obtained from the aerial parts of A. ismelia , geranyl propionate (8.8%), bornyl acetate (7.9%), β ‐thujone (7.8%), neryl propionate (6.5%), and τ ‐muurolol (6.5%) prevailed. α ‐Pinene was the main compound of both the aerial part and flower oils of A. cupaniana (18.4 and 13.2%, resp.). Also noteworthy are the considerable amounts of artemisyl acetate (12.7%) and β ‐thujone (11.8%) found in the oil from the aerial parts and those of tricosane (9.8%) and sabinene (7.6%) evidenced in the flower oil. Furthermore, an update on the main compounds identified in the essential oils of all the Anthemis taxa studied so far was presented, and cluster analyses were carried out, to compare the essential oils of these taxa.

Under stress integrated germination test (SIGT), seeds undergo osmo-saline stresses, which enable to detect differences in vigour of long-term stored seeds with high germination percentage (G

Recent studies on the genetic structure of the Italian populations of Quercus ilex demonstrated their high diversity, particularly in the Sicilian metapopulation.In order to check if the holm oak stands in the mountains of NW Sicily could have some relationship with Q. ilex subsp.ballota (distributed in Spain and NW Africa), 26 specimens from the Sicilian most distinctive Q. ilex populations have been compared with some representative populations of the Italian Peninsula, North Africa and Spain, by means of the ISSR technique.Even if the results are too preliminary to confirm or reject the initial hypothesis, they confirmed an high level of genetic variability, well distributed among the analyzed specimens.In particular, the metapopulations from the Sicilian mountains (Quacella, Vallone Canna) revealed some genetic affinity with those of the Moroccan mountains (Marrakech/Oukaimeden and Ifrane).These populations, on their turn, resulted to be quite distant from the sample from SE-Spain (Sierra de Javalambre).Moreover, a certain genetic distance has been detected from the comparison of the mountain populations of Sicily with those of coastal sites of this Island (Scopello, Castellammare) and Capri (Villa Jovis).

Fraxinus angustifolia is used for afforestation and for production of both valuable timber and manna, a substance with pharmacological applications. The aim of this research was to establish the optimized condition for cryopreservation of F. angustifolia seeds, in order to protect the germplasm of this species. Germination percentage and mean time of germination of non-treated seeds (control) and liquid nitrogen-treated seeds were established in water or in 10-6 M gibberellic acid (GA3). The seeds could be cryopreserved with 3% of moisture content (MC) and germinated easily in water (70.0 ± 5.0%), while seeds cryopreserved with 6% MC showed a physiological dormancy. This state could be efficiently removed by addition of GA3, which increased germination to 76.0 ± 2.4%. Liquid nitrogen did not impair embryo viability, allowing a successful cryopreservation of seeds. The results are particularly useful for both germplasm conservation programs and in narrow leaved ash nurseries. Key words: Fraxinus angustifolia, germination, germplasm conservation, seed cryopreservation.

The essential oils from flowers, leaves and stems hydrodistilled from Pimpinella tragium Vill, subsp. glauca were characterised by GC and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis. The C-12 nor-sesquiterpenes are the principal class of metabolites (56.6-70.6%) among which geijerene (28.9÷49.3%) and pregeijerene (10÷19.1%) predominate. Antimicrobial and antioxidant activities were evaluated. The minimum inhibitory concentration values indicate that oil obtained from the stems is the most active for antimicrobial activities and the sample with the biggest antioxidant capacity is the flower oil.

Seeds of Raphanus sativus L. subjected to accelerated ageing were investigated for reactive oxygen species (ROS) release and for content of vitamin E (tocopherol, TOC, and tocotrienol, TOC-3), fatty acids and phytosterols in seed coats, cotyledons and embryonic axes during germination. In unaged seeds, ROS release occurred mainly in seed coats of non-imbibed seeds and in seedlings (48 h of imbibition). TOC and TOC-3 were mainly represented by the γ-isoform, abundant in embryonic axes. Fatty acids were mainly found in cotyledons. In seed coat and embryonic axis, phytosterols consisted mainly of sitosterols. The effects of ageing were mainly visible in embryonic axes at 48 h of imbibition. Deterioration was associated with a decrease in fresh weight increase percentage, germination percentage, α-TOC and total fatty acid content. An increase in ROS release from seed coats and in γ-TOC, δ-TOC, γ-TOC-3 content in embryonic axis was also observed. The use of γ-TOC and total fatty acids in embryonic axis as parameters of seed quality evaluation during storage was suggested.

Brassica rupestris Raf. is a chasmophyte species that includes two subspecies, both endemic to Central-Western Sicily (Italy). Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers were used to detect genetic diversity within and among eight populations representative of the species' distribution range. High levels of genetic diversity were revealed both at the population (PPB = 53.88