Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:28:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2007-05-10Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:34:57Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 passador_mm_me_botfca.pdf: 1114277 bytes, checksum: dbed231b6e9273ff1d6a2ceda569bce9 (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / No presente trabalho, verificou-se a capacidade de produção de basidiosporos produzidos pelos teliossoros telióides de Puccinia pampeana. Avaliou-se a inibição da germinação de esporos de três agentes causais de ferrugem pelas substâncias auto-inibidoras, presentes nas paredes dos teliosporos telióides, e a suscetibilidade de espécies de Capsicum e também outras solanáceas, como jiló e berinjela. Foi constatado, que choques de temperatura (35ºC e 8ºC) por 3 horas, em seguida temperatura continua de 12ºC, não inviabilizam os teliossoros telióides, apenas provocam diferenças no início da produção de basidiosporos. Quando mantidos a 12ºC, e com lavagens diárias dos soros, são capazes de produzir basidiosporos por um período de até 5 meses. Extratos aquosos de esporos (EAE1, EAE2, EAE3, EAE4) preparados com 20 mg de teliosporos telióides, continham quantidades de autoinibidor capazes de inibir teliosporos aecidióides de P. pampeana, e urediniosporos de Coleosporium plumierae e de Hemileia vastatrix, sendo este efeito inibidor na germinação, comprovado mesmo após 6 horas em contato com os extratos. Nos testes de inoculação observou-se, que nem todas as espécies dentro do gênero Capsicum, são suscetíveis, pois algumas apresentaram reação de hipersensibilidade. Como é o caso de C.annuum (pimenta cayenne) e C. chinense (pimenta habañero), que após a formação dos espermogônios (11 dias), aos 15 dias da inoculação, apresentou manchas necróticas na região periférica aos espermogônios, interrompendo a infecção. Também foi observada reação de hipersensibilidade, de forma mais moderada em C. annuum (pimenta serrano) e C. baccatum (chapéu-de-frade) nas folhas, as hastes de ambas as espécies apresentavam estruturas do fungo. Nas outras solanáceas inoculadas: Solanum gillo (jiló) e Solanum melongena (berinjela), não foram... / In the present work, we studied the basidiospore production capacity of telioid teliosori of Puccinia pampeana. We evaluated the spore germination inhibition of three rust causal agents by self-inhibiting substances present in the walls of telioid teliospores, as well as the susceptibility of Capsicum species and other solanaceous plants, such as jiló and eggplant. It was observed that telioid teliosori submitted to temperature shocks (35ºC and 8ºC) for 3 hours and then maintained at 12ºC did not become unviable. The shocks only caused differences in the beginning of basidiospore production. When maintained at 12ºC, with the sori washed daily, they were capable of producing basidiospores for a period of up to 5 months. With regard to spore aqueous extracts (EAE1, EAE2, EAE3, EAE4) prepared with 20 mg of telioid teliospores, they contained quantities of the self-inhibitor that were capable of inhibiting P. pampeana aecidioid teliospores and Coleosporium plumierae and Hemileia vastatrix urediniospores. This inhibiting effect on germination was demonstrated even after 6 hours of contact with the extracts. In inoculation tests, it was observed that not all species within the genus Capsicum are susceptible, since some of them showed a hypersensitivity reaction, such as C. chinense (datil pepper), which, after spermogonia formation (11 days), showed necrotic spots in the peripheral region of the spermogonia at 15 days from inoculation, interrupting the infection. A milder hypersensitivity reaction was also observed in leaves of C. annuum (chili pepper) and C. baccatum (chapéu-de-frade); the stalks of both species showed structures of the fungus. No symptoms or signs of infection were observed in other solanaceous plants inoculated - Solanum gillo (jiló) and Solanum melongena (eggplant) - which demonstrates the specificity of this rust to Capsicum spp.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Plant Pathology / Eduard Akhunov / The fungus Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt) is the causal agent of the wheat stem rust disease. Wheat stem rust has attracted a lot of attention after the emergence of the Ug99 race group, which at the time of its origin was virulent on most of the wheat varieties cultivated around the world. The evolution and spread of the Pgt isolates from the Ug99 race group posed a serious threat to worldwide wheat production. To mitigate the potential impact of new rust epidemics in major wheat production areas, it remains critical to identify new strategies for breeding durable resistance traits. A detailed understanding of the plant-pathogen interaction mechanisms in the wheat-Pgt pathosystem should be the foundation of these strategies. The interaction between the matching pair of resistance (R) and avirulence (Avr) genes, an important element of the plant-pathogen interactions, is described by the broadly documented gene-for-gene model. The cloning of the Sr35 gene, which confers near immunity against all isolates from the Ug99 race group provided a unique opportunity to investigate the molecular mechanisms of resistance to stem rust in wheat. The goals of the present study were: (1) to determine whether the Sr35 gene alone is sufficient for conferring resistance against Ug99, (2) to assess the Sr35 transcript levels during the time course of infection, and (3) to identify and validate the corresponding Avr gene interacting with Sr35. The cloning of Avr genes from the biotrophic fungi represents a substantial challenge due to the variability, redundant nature, the lack of similarity to known proteins, and lack of adequate functional tools to validate them. To overcome these limitations, we performed a comparative genomic analysis using multiple Sr35-avirulent and Sr35-virulent races, including 15 chemically mutagenized Pgt strains that acquired virulence on the Sr35 gene. Whole genome shotgun sequencing of the Pgt mutants identified a single candidate gene, which carried strong effect mutations in each mutant strain. The Avr gene candidate (AvrSr35) was expressed at early stages of infection and had a signal peptide indicating that the gene product is secreted. Comparative microscopic analysis of the infected tissues at different time points after infection indicated that AvrSr35 secretion occurs before haustoria formation. The re-sequencing of the AvrSr35 candidate gene in a panel of Sr35-virulent and Sr35-avirulent isolates including isolates from the Ug99 race group, revealed the presence of a mobile DNA element inserted into the coding sequence of virulent isolates. This insertion resulted in a premature termination codon and explains the origin of Pgt field isolates virulent in the presence of the Sr35 gene. Co-expression of AvrSr35 with the Sr35 in N. benthamiana leaves induced a specific hypersensitive response confirming the avirulence function of the candidate effector gene. Subcellular localization, bi-molecular fluorescence complementation, and co-immunoprecipitation assays in N. benthamiana leaves revealed that the AvrSr35 and Sr35 proteins interact and are likely associated with the endoplasmic reticulum and plasma membrane. Thus, this study identified and functionally characterized the first matching pair of Avr/R genes for cereal rusts.

A maioria das plantas consegue defender-se contra infecções fúngicas por meios naturais, que podem ser induzidos por uma série de elicitores bióticos ou abióticos. O silício (Si) solúvel tem mostrado que é capaz de induzir resistência em várias espécies de plantas contra inúmeros patógenos. Neste trabalho foi proposta a avaliação dos compostos contento Si na redução dos sintomas da ferrugem causada pelo fungo biotrófico Hemileia vastatrix em plantas de cafeeiros suscetíveis bem como avaliar os parâmetros bioquímicos envolvidos nos processos de resistência. Primeiramente, foram estudadas duas fontes de Si (silicato de Ca/Mg e silicato de potássio) em cinco doses para padronizar uma dose/fonte para os experimentos futuros. Foi possível observar que as plantas de cafeeiros não tiveram diferença significativa nos parâmetros de desenvolvimento como altura das plantas, área foliar, número de folhas para nenhuma das fontes e doses analisadas. Porém quando se tratava da contagem do número de lesões por cm2, a fonte silicato de potássio na dose de 5mM conseguiu suprimir em até 60% o desenvolvimento das lesões causadas pelo fungo. Com a fonte e dose estabelecidas, o segundo passo do trabalho foi avaliar quais os processos bioquímicos envolvidos na resistência conferida pelo Si em plantas de cafeeiro. Foram analisadas as atividades das enzimas relacionadas ao estresse oxidativo (peroxidases guaiacol e ascorbato, catalases, e superóxido desmutases) e relacionadas à defesa (glucanase, quitinase e PAL). As folhas foram coletadas para a obtenção do extrato protéico em diferentes intervalos de tempo após a inoculação com o fungo: as 24, 48, 72 e 96 horas após a inoculação e como controle foi utilizado o tempo zero (sem inoculação). Nesta fase foi possível observar que a atividade das enzimas CAT, SOD, APX foi maior em plantas tratadas indicando que o Si parece estimular uma resposta mais rápida ao estresse oxidativo. O mesmo ocorreu com as enzimas relacionadas à defesa. A partir destes resultados podemos afirmar que o Si estimula uma resposta de defesa mais rápida em plantas de café suscetíveis à ferrugem quando inoculadas com o fungo patogênico / Most plants can defend themselves against fungal infections by natural means, which can be induced by a number of biotic and abiotic elicitors. Soluble silicon (Si) has been shown to induce resistance in a number of plant species against several pathogens. The objective of this work was to assess the influence of silicon application of symptoms caused by the biotrophic fungus Hemileia vastatrix in susceptible coffee plants and evaluate the biochemistry process involved in defense mechanism. First of all, were studied two Si sources (Ca/Mg silicate and potassium silicate) in five doses to standardize dose/source for the future experiments. The statistical analysis showed that no difference was observed in relation to plant height, leaf area and number of leaves. However, the number of lesions reduced 60% in the higher silicon dose when compared to the number of lesions in control plants. Infected plants were found to have a linear decrease of lesions with the increase of silicate concentration. The lowest number of lesions per leaf area was observed in plants that received 5 M of Si from potassium silicate. This result indicates the use of silicon as an alternative for an ecological management system for coffee disease protection. The second step of this work was to evaluate the biochemistry process involved in resistance induced by Si in susceptible coffee plants. The activity of the enzymes related to oxidative stress (peroxidases, catalase, and superoxide desmutase) and related to defense (glucanase, chitinase, PAL) was evaluated. The leaves were collected in different time intervals after the fungus inoculation (24, 48, 72 e 96 hours after the fungus inoculation) in order to obtain the protein extract. It was possible to observe that the activity of CAT, SOD and APX was higher in Si-treated coffee plants suggesting that Si could stimulate a faster response to oxidative stress. The same situation occurred to the defense related enzymes. By the results obtained here it is possible to verify that Si can stimulate a faster defense response in susceptible coffee plants when inoculated with coffee leaf rust fungus

O controle químico é uma das medidas mais empregadas no manejo de doenças de plantas, sendo imprescindível em inúmeros patossistemas agrícolas. Portanto, compreender a dinâmica das interações entre os produtos e a planta tem grande importância prática, pois poderá embasar ajustes nas estratégias de controle. O trabalho teve por objetivo estudar a tenacidade e a sistemicidade dos fungicidas epoxiconazol, piraclostrobina e fluxapiroxade em plantas de soja e videira. Para avaliar a tenacidade dos produtos foram simuladas chuvas de diferentes intensidades e intervalos após a aplicação. Procedeu-se a inoculação dos patógenos, Phakopsora pachyrhizi e Phakopsora euvitis, e avaliou-se a severidade e a área abaixo da curva de progresso das doenças. Para os estudos de absorção e translocação, utilizaram-se as moléculas radiomarcadas, 14C-epoxiconazol, 14C-piraclostrobina e 14C-fluxapiroxade, que foram diluídas com suas respectivas formulações comerciais. As variáveis foram avaliadas as 3, 9, 24, 48 e 72 horas após a aplicação (HAA). Especificamente para o fungicida fluxapiroxade foram avaliados os efeitos de sua associação ao adjuvante óleo mineral e ao fosfito de potássio em plantas de soja, e sua absorção e translocação em folhas novas e velhas de videira. Em geral, a eficiência dos fungicidas foi crescente com o aumento do intervalo entre a aplicação e a simulação da chuva. A adição do adjuvante aumentou a tenacidade do fluxapiroxade e o fosfito de potássio não teve o mesmo efeito. A sistemicidade na soja foi alta para o epoxiconazol, intermediária para o fluxapiroxade e baixa para a piraclostrobina. Na videira a piraclostrobina foi a mais absorvida, seguida pelo epoxiconazol e o fluxapiroxade. Os fungicidas epoxiconazol e fluxapiroxade translocaram-se predominantemente no sentido acropetal e a piraclostrobina não apresentou translocação a longas distâncias. A adição de adjuvante ao fluxapiroxade promoveu maior e mais rápida absorção e translocação nas plantas de soja, enquanto que, o fosfito de potássio teve efeito antagônico, que resultou em 53% de redução na absorção. Não houve diferença na absorção e translocação do fluxapiroxade em folhas velhas e novas de videira, porém a redistribuição foi maior nas folhas novas. O fluxapiroxade mostrou-se ser um fungicida com potencial protetor e curativo. Protetor, pois grande quantidade do produto (>65%) permanece na parte externa das folhas da soja e videira até as 72 HAA, e curativo pois mostrou uma absorção crescente com o tempo, o que significa que há uma liberação contínua do produto para o interior das folhas. Os folíolos de soja absorveram mais os três fungicidas do que as folhas de videira. A translocação à longa distância em ambas as culturas foi baixa (<1%) para todos os fungicidas avaliados. A translocação do epoxiconazol e fluxapiroxade aumenta com o decorrer das horas nas plantas de soja e não em mudas de videira e a piraclostrobina tem uma translocação limitada e constante em ambas as culturas. Quanto maior e mais rápida for a absorção dos fungicidas, menores serão as perdas decorrentes das intempéries, e por consequência maior será a eficácia dos produtos. / The chemical control is one of the measures most used in the management of plant diseases, being essential in many agricultural pathosystems. Therefore, understanding the dynamics of the interactions between products and plants has great practical importance in providing knowledge that can support better the control strategies. The work has aimed to study the rainfastness and systemicity of the fungicides epoxiconazole, pyraclostrobin and fluxapyroxad in soybean and vine plants. The rainfall was simulated in different intensities and intervals after application in order to assess the rainfastness of the products.The pathogens, Phakopsora pachyrhizi and Phakopsora euvitis were inoculated and the severity and the area under the disease progress curve were assessed. For the uptake and translocation studies, it was used the radiolabeled molecules, 14C-epoxiconazole, 14C-pyraclostrobin and 14C-fluxapyroxad, which were diluted with their respective commercial formulations. The parameters were assessed at 3, 9, 24, 48 and 72 hours after application (HAA). In particular for the fluxapyroxad were assessed the effects of its association with adjuvant and potassium phosphite on soybean plants, and their absorption and translocation in old and new vine leaves. Overall, the fungicides efficiency were boosted with the increasing interval between the application and the rainfall simulation. The addition of adjuvant improved the rainfastness of fluxapyroxad and the phosphite did not have the same effect.The systemicity on soybeans was high for the epoxiconazole, intermediate for fluxapyroxad and low for pyraclostrobin. In vine, pyraclostrobin was more absorbed, followed by epoxiconazole and fluxapyroxad. The fungicides epoxiconazole and fluxapyroxad translocated mainly acropetally and pyraclostrobin did not show translocation to long distances. The addition of adjuvant to fluxapyroxad has promoted greater and more rapid uptake and translocation on soybean plants, while potassium phosphite had antagonistic effect, which resulted in 53% reduction in uptake. There was no difference in the absorption and translocation of fluxapyroxad in old and new vine leaves. Nevertheless, the redistribution was higher in young leaves. The fluxapyroxad proved to be a fungicide with protective and curative potential. Protective because large amount of product (>65%) remains outside of the soy and vine leaves up to 72 HAA and curative because it showed an increased absorption over the time, which means that there is a continuous release of the product into the leaves. The soybean leaflets absorbed more the three fungicides than the vine leaves. The translocation to long distances in both crops were low (<1%) for all evaluated fungicides. The translocation of epoxiconazole and fluxapyroxad increases with the course of time on soybean plants and not in nursery trees of vine and the pyraclostrobin has limited and constant translocation in both crops. In nutshell, as bigger and faster the absorption of fungicides smaller are the losses resulting from the weather and most effective will be the products.

Master of Science / Department of Agronomy / John P. Fellers / Allan K. Fritz / Water availability is commonly the most limiting factor to crop production, especially in drought prone areas like the Midwest. This study was conducted to map quantitative trait loci (QTL) involved in drought tolerance in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) to enable their use for marker assisted selection (MAS) in breeding. A population of 122 F[subscript]7 derived recombinant inbred lines from a cross between Dharwar Dry and Sitta, spring wheat lines with contrasting drought tolerances, was analyzed using the amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) technique and Diversity Array Technology (DArT) markers to create a QTL map. Of the 256 AFLP primer combinations evaluated, 151 were found to be polymorphic between the parents and were used to screen the population. A linkage map of 48 groups was created from the combined DArT markers, AFLP data, and SSR markers. This was used to create a QTL map which identified QTL in 24 of these groups. Using these markers for MAS in a breeding program could overcome the difficulties of selecting for drought tolerance. Another serious limitation to wheat production is leaf rust caused by the pathogen Puccinia triticina. Leaf rust causes between 1% and 20% yield loss on average and tends to be the worst in years with high yield potential. PI 289824 contains a single, dominant gene for seedling resistance mapping to chromosome 5BS and thought to be different from Lr52. An F[subscript]2 mapping population from a cross between PI 289824 and Jagger was used to try to identify markers very closely linked to the gene and therefore useful for MAS. The population presented some mapping challenges, but with the use of SSR and EST-STS markers, the gene was flanked. However, the markers were at too a great distance to be useful for mapping.

Web applications are used more and more and mainly they are developed with the help of Javascript, but when you have heavy demanding processes in a web app, javascript can be too slow. The new language WebAssembly is an alternative that seeks to solve this problem. But unlike Javascript, there are many compilers for many different languages that have WebAssembly as their compilation goal. This means that the choice of language to compile from could make a difference when it comes to execution time. This article takes a closer look at two of the most popular languages, namely C and Rust, to see if language choice makes a difference. The differences between the languages are measured with the help of tests done between a server and a client and also with the help of an analysis of the WebAssembly code. The result shows that Rust is faster than C in matrix multiplication and insertion sort but the addition test shows that the languages are similar in speed.

Programming languages like Python, JavaScript, and Ruby are becoming increasingly popular due to their dynamic capabilities. These languages are often much easier to learn than other, statically type checked, languages such as C++ or Rust. Unfortunately, these dynamic languages come at the cost of losing compile-time optimizations. Python is arguably the most popular language for data scientists and researchers in the artificial intelligence and machine learning communities. As this research becomes increasingly popular, and the problems these researchers face become increasingly computationally expensive, questions are being raised about the performance of languages like Python. Language features found in Python, more specifically dynamic typing and run-time modification of object attributes, preclude common static analysis optimizations that often yield improved performance. This thesis attempts to quantify the cost of dynamic features in Python. Namely, the run-time modification of objects and scope as well as the dynamic type system. We introduce Cannoli, a Python 3.6.5 compiler that enforces restrictions on the language to enable opportunities for optimization. The Python code is compiled into an intermediate representation, Rust, which is further compiled and optimized by the Rust pipeline. We show that the analyzed features cause a significant reduction in performance and we quantify the cost of these features for language designers to consider.

Challenges to growing winter wheat in North Dakota include winter temperature and disease pressure. Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a devastating disease that necessitates breeding for resistance. In the NDSU breeding program FHB resistance genes are often associated with a decrease in performance. This study used single seed descent to advance lines while maintaining a near random population. Early generation (F4) selection focused heavily on yield and the presence of FHB resistance quantitative trait loci to develop winter wheat lines with FHB resistance and high yield. Stripe rust is a fungal disease that is becoming increasingly problematic in North Dakota. To assess the available stripe rust resistance in the NDSU winter wheat germplasm, two sets of diverse breeding lines were used for stripe rust resistance phenotyping and genotyping by sequencing. The phenotype and genotype data were then used to locate resistance genes through genome wide association study.

Bean rust, caused by the fungus Uromyces appendiculatus (Pers.:Pers) Unger, is a disease of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) prevalent in the Americas and Africa. The most cost-effective countermeasure to bean rust is genetic resistance. While 17 dominant rust resistance genes (named with Ur- symbol) have been identified in common bean, not all of these genes have been genetically fine-mapped. To expand our knowledge of rust resistance genes in common bean, Ur-6 was mapped in the common bean genome. A GWAS analyses suggested that Ur-6 is present on chromosome Pv07 of P. vulgaris. Two InDel markers tightly linked to Ur-6 were developed by F2 bi-parental mapping and may prove effective for marker-assisted selection in bean breeding programs in the future. Further, 25 candidate genes were identified and are the potential focus of future gene validation research.

Wheat is the most widely grown crop in the world and as such, is an essential source of energy and nutrition. The challenges that breeders presently face is to increase production to feed the rising population of the world, while also accounting for climate change, pollution, water and environmental stresses. As genetic uniformity of modern cultivars has increased vulnerability to pests and diseases, the wild relatives of wheat offer a rich source of genetic diversity and stress tolerance traits, that can be harnessed and transferred in to modern wheat. In this study, we used array-based genotyping to explore genetic diversity in 385 domesticated and non-domesticated lines of wheat and their wild relatives. Genetic characterization using the wheat 90K array, and subsequent filtering and validation mapped 9,570 single nucleotide polymorphic markers onto the wheat reference genome. Phylogenetic analyses illustrated four major clades, clearly separating the wild species from the domesticated, and the ancient Triticum turgidum species from modern T. turgidum cultivars. Using this diverse germplasm, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed for leaf rust, the most widespread rust disease of wheat. Identification of novel sources of resistance is necessary to maintain disease resistance and stay ahead in the plant-pathogen evolutionary arms race. GWAS was conducted using eight statistical models for infection types against six leaf rust isolates and leaf rust severity rated in field trials for 3-4 years at 2-3 locations in Canada. Functional annotation of genes containing significant quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs) identified 96 disease-related nucleotide associated with leaf rust resistance. A total of 21 QTNs were in haplotype blocks or within flanking markers of at least 16 known leaf rust (Lr) resistance genes. The remaining significant QTNs were considered loci that putatively harbor new Lr resistance genes. Future efforts to validate these loci will help understand their role in disease resistance and promote their utility for marker-assisted selection in pre-breeding.