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Introduction
Cristina Nali currently works at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (DAFE), Università di Pisa. Cristina does research in Horticulture, Forestry and Environmental Science. Their most recent publication is 'Editorial-ozone and plant life: the Italian state-of-the-art'.
Publications
Publications (257)
Tropospheric ozone (O3) is a potent oxidant that can harm plants, making it a key focus of research in ecology and agriculture. However, comprehensive reviews about the developmental history of O3 research on plants are lacking. This review utilized Citespace software to unveil the evolution of the main research themes over time, which correlated w...
Flavescence dorée (FD) is a major grapevine disease in Europe, despite the quarantine status of its causal agent [FD phytoplasma (FDp)] and the mandatory monitoring and vector control practices. As alarming FD epidemic outbreaks continue to appear in Tuscany (Central Italy), a 4-year survey was carried out in the main wine-growing areas of the regi...
The present study focused on three autochthonous varieties of apple trees belonging to the old Tuscany germplasm (central Italy), Chitignano, Mora and Ruggine, and aimed to (a) evaluate the presence of the four main latent viruses of apple trees (apple chlorotic leaf spot virus [ACLSV], apple mosaic virus [ApMV], apple stem grooving virus [ASGV] an...
In this work, we assessed the effects of increasing ozone (O3) on four petunia varieties with different floral pigmentation (pink, red, rose-red, and white). Plants were exposed, in open-top chambers located in China, to three O3 concentrations, i.e., (i) ambient air (AA), (ii) AA + 60 ppb O3 (AA + 60), and (iii) AA + 120 ppb O3 (AA + 120), for 85...
In Mediterranean countries, late‐sown durum wheat ( Triticum turgidum L. subsp. durum ) may face waterlogging (WL) at early stages. As mitigation of waterlogging by melatonin (MT) has been poorly explored, we analyzed the effects of exogenous MT foliar application to WL‐stressed durum wheat on its ecophysiological performance, growth and biomass pr...
Plants constantly face the environment that surrounds them and fight for survival against biotic and abiotic stress factors. To deal with harmful conditions, plants have developed a multilayer defence system, making them capable of recognising threats and promptly recovering from them. This phenomenon, which takes advantage of the “memory effect”,...
As there has been no scientific evidence of the bioactivity of Sambucus ebulus (Adoxaceae) extracts against insects, we chemically characterized S. ebulus leaves and flowers extracted in methanol and water. The crude extracts, phenolic compounds, and amino acids isolated were tested as larvicides against the fourth-instar larvae of Aedes albopictus...
Ozone (O3) pollution is a critical issue for human health, crop yield, vegetation growth biodiversity, and food safety. Several protection strategies from O3-induced injuries have been proposed for crops. Here, we investigated if the foliar application of wood distillate (WD), a plant-based biostimulant applied once a week (0.2%, v/v) for four cons...
Plants are constantly subjected to environmental changes that deeply affect their metabolism, leading to the inhibition or synthesis of “specialized” compounds, small organic molecules that play a fundamental role in adaptative responses. In this work, Melissa officinalis L. (an aromatic plant broadly cultivated due to the large amounts of secondar...
The necrotrophic fungus Seiridium cardinale is the main responsible for Cypress Canker Disease (CCD), a pandemic affecting many Cupressaceae worldwide. The present study aims to elucidate the signalling of the early responses in the bark and foliage of CCD‐susceptible and ‐resistant C. sempervirens clones to S. cardinale inoculation (SI and RI, res...
Municipal solid waste (MSW) represents a significant global threat, which has to be managed by a model of production and consumption involving the sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling of existing materials and products for as long as possible, otherwise known as a circular economy (CE). However, there is not a universal...
Ozone (O3) pollution is harmful to plants and ecosystems. Several chemicals have been evaluated to protect plants against O3 deleterious effects. However, they are not adequately efficient and/or the environmental safety of their application is questioned. Hence, new chemicals that provide sufficient protection while being safer for environmental a...
The overall accuracy was around 70%, with some
misclassifications only between the most symptomatic classes. Furthermore,
variations of spectral vegetation indices and leaf functional traits derived from
spectra by partial least squares regression-models allowed to elucidate the
effects of FD to leaf physiology and biochemistry. Overall, the presen...
Plants of 16 Italian cultivars of durum wheat at the tillering stage were exposed to
a single pulse of ozone (O3, 200 ppb, 5 h day−1) to reveal the mechanisms explaining their O3 tolerance/sensitivity by considering some leaf physiochemical traits [e.g., stomatal conductance, photosystem II (PSII) efficiency, antioxidant enzyme activity, and phytoh...
The use of biocontrol agents (BCAs) coping with fungal pathogens causing Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a compelling strategy for the disease management, but a better elucidation of their effectiveness is crucial. Meta-analysis is the analysis of the results of multiple studies, which is typically performed in order to synthesize evidence from many...
The present study focused on trees of Tuscany autochthonous plum cv. Coscia di Monaca in order to evaluate the presence of viruses and elucidate the physiological and biochemical responses to virus infections under real field conditions. Among the several investigated viruses, plums tested positive only to plum pox virus (PPV) and plum bark necrosi...
Fig mosaic disease (FMD) is a major disease affecting fig trees, for which only fig mosaic virus (FMV) has been identified as etiological agent. In the present study, trees of common fig cv. Dottato, belonging to the old Tuscan germplasm, were investigated to pioneering (i) evaluate the presence of FMV in Tuscany (Central Italy), as well as other F...
This work offers new insights into the physiological and biochemical responses of strawberry plants to red (R), green (G), blue (B) and white (W- R:G:B; 1:1:1) LED light supplementation (250 µmol m − 2 s − 1; 5 h d − 1). Gas exchange and chlorophyll a fluorescence parameters, pigment content, antioxidant enzyme activities and oxidative stress marke...
Effects of the phytotoxic and widespread ozone (O3) pollution may be species specific, but knowledge on Mediterranean conifer responses to long-term realistic exposure is still limited. We examined responses regarding to photosynthesis, needle biochemical stress markers and carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) isotopes of two Mediterranean pine species (Pin...
1:1:1) LED light supplementation on production, nutraceutical quality and Botrytis cinerea control of harvested strawberry fruit. Yield, fruit color, firmness, soluble solid content, titratable acidity, primary and specialized metabolites, expression of targeted genes and mold development were analyzed in fruit from light-supplemented plants, start...
Mushrooms and derivates are well known to the scientific community for having different health benefits and exhibit a wide range of pharmacological activities, including lipid-lowering, antihypertensive, antidiabetic, antimicrobic, antiallergic, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, immunomod-ulating, neuroprotective and osteoprotective actions. In Europe...
To investigate how plants cope with multi-stress conditions, we analyzed the biochemical and molecular changes of Vitis vinifera leaves subjected to single or sequential double stresses (infection by Botrytis cinerea (Bc) and ozone (O3, 100 ppb for 3 h) treatment). In Bc+/O3− leaves, the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) induction (observed at 12 and 24 h f...
Mycotoxins contamination and pest infestation of foods and feeds represent a pivotal threat for food safety and security worldwide, with crucial implications for human and animal health. Controlled atmosphere could be a sustainable strategy to reduce mycotoxins content and counteract the vitality of deleterious organisms in foodstuff. Ozone treatme...
Studies in psychiatric populations have found a positive effect of Horticultural therapy (HCT) on reductions in stress levels. The main objective of the present pilot study was to evaluate the impact of the addition of HCT to conventional clinical treatment (Treatment as Usual, TaU) in a sample of six female adolescents with anorexia nervosa restri...
Tropospheric ozone (O3) enrichment caused by human activities can reduce important crop yields with huge economic loss and affect the global carbon cycle and climate change in the coming decades. In this study, two Italian cultivars of durum wheat (Claudio and Mongibello) were exposed to O3 (80 ppb, 5 h day−1 for 70 consecutive days), with the aim...
Natural infections of Verticillium spp. (Fungi, Ascomycota) on Ailanthus altissima have suggested to consider the biological control as a promising strategy to counteract this invasive plant, which is otherwise difficult to control by traditional mechanical and chemical treatments. Verticillium wilt is able to lead plants to death, throughout a pat...
Antioxidants and phytohormones are hallmarks of abiotic stress responses in plants. Although it is known that they can offer cell protection or accelerate programmed cell death (PCD) depending on the level of stress, the involvement of these metabolites in stress acclimation is still not fully elucidated. Here, we showed the role of antioxidants an...
Ozone (O3) is a phytotoxic air pollutant capable of limiting plant yield and growth, and altering the quality of edible plant products. This study aimed to investigate the effects of long-term O3 exposure at realistic and future concentrations (applied during fruit development) not only on morphological, physiological, and biochemical plant/leaf tr...
The ninth International Symposium Monitoring of Mediterranean Coastal Areas: Problems and Measurements Techniques was organized by CNR-IBE in collaboration with Italian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology, and Natural History Museum of the Mediterranean and under the patronage of University of Florence, Accademia dei Lincei, Accademia dei Ge...
Durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. subsp. durum (Desf.) Husn) is a staple crop of the Mediterranean countries, where more frequent waterlogging events are predicted due to climate change. However, few investigations have been conducted on the physiological and agronomic responses of this crop to waterlogging. The present study provides a comprehensi...
Selected light wavebands promote plant development and/or the biosynthesis of targeted metabolites. This work offers new insights on the effects of red (R), green (G), blue (B), and white (W - R:G:B; 1:1:1) LED light supplementation on physiochemical traits of strawberry leaves. Gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, photosynthetic p...
Molecular mechanisms underlying plant functioning under salt conditions have not been completely elucidated, especially in a recalcitrant and less studied fruit trees such as pomegranate (Punica granatum L.). Here, we identified and characterized the expression of NHX1, HKT1 and SOS1 to understand their role in mediating Na⁺ and K⁺ transport, trans...
Eliciting plants consists in the application of chemical, physical, and biological factors that induce stressful conditions, and so trigger defense mechanisms and the production of bioactive compounds and phytochemicals. In this study, the phenolic and volatile organic compound (VOCs) profiles of sage leaves under a chronic ozone (O3) exposure (120...
In their natural environment, date palms are exposed to chronic atmospheric ozone (O3) concentrations from local and remote sources. In order to elucidate the consequences of this exposure, date palm saplings were treated with ambient, 1.5 and 2.0 times ambient O3 for three months in a free-air controlled exposure facility. Chronic O3 exposure redu...
Ozone (O3)-induced metabolic changes in leaves are relevant and may have several ecological significances. Here, variations in foliar chemistry of two poplar clones (Populus deltoides × maximowiczii, Eridano, and P. × euramericana, I-214) under a chronic O3 treatment (80 ppb, 5 h d-1 for 10 consecutive days) were investigated. The aim was to elucid...
Mediterranean plants are particularly threatened by the exacerbation of prolonged periods of summer drought and increasing concentrations of ground-level ozone (O3). The aims of the present study were to (i) test if selected markers (i.e., reactive oxygen species, ROS; malondialdehyde, MDA; photosynthetic pigments) are able to discriminate the oxid...
Advancements in the ability to detect plant responses to salinity are mandatory to improve crop yield, quality, and management practices. The present study shows the capability of hyperspectral reflectance (400–2400 nm) to rapidly and non-destructively detect and monitor the responses of two pomegranate cultivars (Parfianka, P, and Wonderful, W) un...
Techniques to monitor oxidative stress pre-visually are essential to optimize plant management. Here, we investigated the capability of hyperspectral reflectance (350−2500 nm) to characterize responses of two pomegranate cultivars (Parfianka and Wonderful) under ozone (O3) episodes at a gradient of concentrations (50, 100 and 200 ppb for 5 h). Anal...
Specialized metabolites constitute a major antioxidant system involved in plant defence against environmental constraints, such as tropospheric ozone (O3). The objective of this experiment was to give a thorough description of the effects of an O3 pulse (120 ppb, 5 h) on the phenylpropanoid metabolism of sage, at both biochemical and molecular leve...
Verticillium dahliae (Kleb.) is a soil-borne pathogen able to cause yield losses in eggplant, Solanum melongena L., one of the most important vegetable crops in the Mediterranean basin. In this study, an experiment was conducted to assess physiological and biochemical mechanisms modulating the interactions between S. melongena cv. Violetta di Rimin...
High-throughput and large-scale measurements of chlorophyll a fluorescence (ChlF) are of great interest to investigate the photosynthetic performance of plants in the field. Here, we tested the capability to rapidly, precisely, and simultaneously estimate the number of pulse-amplitude-modulation ChlF parameters commonly calculated from both dark- a...
Two-year-old pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) plants of the commercial cultivars Wonderful (W) and Parfianka (P) were subjected for 47 days in the substrate to four salt concentrations (0, 100, 150 and 200 mM NaCl), in order to evaluate their strategies in terms of Na⁺/Cl⁻ translocation and tissue/organ compartmentalization, as well as of antioxida...
To decipher the role of low molecular weight antioxidants in the sensitivity of Melissa officinalis L. (lemon balm, an aromatic plant, widely cultivated for pharmaceutical, food, beverage and cosmetic purposes) to realistic ozone (O3) concentrations, plants of this species were exposed to the gaseous pollutant (80 ppb for 5 h), and investigated for...
Verticillium spp., including V. nonalfalfae and V. dahliae, are known vascular wilt pathogens of the invasive Ailanthus altissima (tree-of-heaven) in the United States and in Europe. Herein we provide evidence of the presence of a previously unreported wilt disease of A. altissima in Tuscany (Central Italy). Several isolates were collected from two...
The aim was the evaluation of the biochemical and physiological responses of green-(GP) and red-leafed (RP) Prunus cerasifera mature leaves to 20 d of polyethylene glycol (PEG 6000)-induced water stress in order to elucidate a possible ameliorative role exerted by anthocyanins. At 10 d, the anthocyanin content remained unchanged in RP water-stresse...
The aim was the evaluation of the biochemical and physiological responses of green- (GP) and red-leafed (RP) Prunus cerasifera mature leaves to 20 d of polyethylene glycol (PEG 6000)-induced water stress in order to elucidate a possible ameliorative role exerted by anthocyanins. At 10 d, the anthocyanin content remained unchanged in RP water-stress...
The aim of this study was to evaluate the tolerance of lichens (Evernia prunastri) and mosses (Brachythecium sp.) to short-term (1 h), acute (1 ppm) O3 fumigation under different hydration states (dry, <10% water content, metabolism almost inactive; wet, >200% water content, metabolism fully active). We hypothesized that stronger damage would occur...
To compare the phenolic responses under oxidative stressors, plants of two Italian cultivars of durum wheat (Claudio and Mongibello) were (a) exposed to ozone (O3) (80 ppb, 5 hr/day for 70 consecutive days), with the aim to investigate the changes of phenolic compound contents in their leaves, or (b) flooded (seven consecutive days). Plants showed...
The final stage of leaf ontogenesis is represented by senescence, a highly regulated process driven by a sequential cellular breakdown involving, as the first step, chloroplast dismantling with consequent reduction of photosynthetic efficiency. Different processes, such as pigment accumulation, could protect the vulnerable photosynthetic apparatus...
The final stage of leaf ontogenesis is represented by senescence, a highly regulated process driven by a sequential cellular breakdown involving, as the first step, chloroplast dismantling with consequent reduction of photosynthetic efficiency. Different processes, such as pigment accumulation, could protect the vulnerable photosynthetic apparatus...
Advancements in techniques to rapidly and non-destructively detect the impact of tropospheric ozone (O3) on crops are required. This study demonstrates the capability of full-range (350–2500 nm) reflectance spectroscopy to characterize responses of asymptomatic sage leaves under an acute O3 exposure (200 ppb for 5 h). Using partial least squares re...
In this study, the effects of ozone (O3) on the physiology of the lichen Pseudevernia furfuracea var. furfuracea previously subjected to field stressing conditions were assessed. Samples collected in a pristine site were exposed for 6 weeks at 3 sites characterized by different pollution, e.g. elemental and PAH depositions (site RU, close to wood-b...
BACKGROUND
Consumer preference today is for the consumption of functional food and the reduction of chemical preservatives. Moreover, the antimicrobial properties and health‐promoting qualities of plant secondary metabolites are well known. Due to forecasted climate changes and increasing human population, agricultural practices for saving water ha...
Plants produce secondary metabolites promoting adaptation to changes in the environment and challenges by pathogenic microorganisms. Ozone (O3), a crucial gaseous air pollutant, has been reported to alter the chemical composition of plants and this also involves changes in bioactive secondary compounds. The objective of this work was to assess unde...
Background
Similar to other urban trees, holm oaks (Quercus ilex L.) provide a physiological, ecological and social service in the urban environment, since they remove atmospheric pollution. However, the urban environment has several abiotic factors that negatively influence plant life, which are further exacerbated due to climate change, especiall...
Tropospheric ozone (O3) is the most important gaseous pollutant and induces a mass of negative impacts on vegetation at functional and genic levels. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of reactive oxygen species and signalling molecules in sage plants exposed to O3 (200 ppb, 5 h). Ozone exposure induced only a transient oxidati...
There is a lack of knowledge about the possibility that plants facing abiotic stressors, such as drought, have an altered perception of a pulse of O3 and incur in alterations of their signalling network. This poses some concerns as to whether defensive strategy to cope episodic O3 peaks in healthy plants may fail under stress. In this study, a set...
Plants are exposed to a broad range of environmental stresses, such as salinity and ozone (O3), and survive due to their ability to adjust their metabolism. The aim of this study was to evaluate the physiological and biochemical adjustments adopted by pomegranate (Punica granatum L. cv. Dente di cavallo) under realistic field conditions. One-year-o...
Anthocyanic morphs are generally less efficient in terms of carbon gain, but, in turn, are more photoprotected than anthocyanin-less ones. To date, mature leaves of different morphs or leaves at different developmental stages within the same species have generally been compared, whereas there is a lack of knowledge regarding different stages of dev...