Dimitrios Loukovitis

• Professor (Associate) at University of Patras

Seventeen putative resistant late watergrass populations [ Echinochloa phyllopogon (Stapf.) Koso-Pol. = syn. Echinochloa oryzicola (Vasinger) Vasinger] originating from rice ( Oryza sativa L.) monoculture fields in northern Greece were examined for possible evolution of multiple resistance to ALS, ACCase, and auxin herbicides in rate-response pot a...

Milk microbiome contributes substantially to the formation of specific organoleptic and physicochemical characteristics of dairy products. The assessment of the composition and abundance of milk microbiota is a challenging task strongly influenced by many environmental factors. Specific dairy products may be designated by the Protected Designation...

Background The combination of the increasing demand of freshwater crayfish exports, the reduced population sizes due to overfishing, the crayfish plague epidemics and the habitat degradation, have led to unrecorded translocations of Pontastacus leptodactylus in Greek lakes. Methods and results In the present study, the genetics of five narrow claw...

Three perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) populations (R1, R2, and R3) with suspected resistance (R) to acetolactate synthase (ALS) or acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase) herbicides were collected from wheat (Triticum aestivum) fields in northwestern Greece to study the underlying mechanisms of resistance and their impact on growth rate and competitive...

Mediterranean mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis), due to their nutritional mechanisms which involve filtering huge amounts of water, are affected by seawater pollution and can host microbial diversity of environmental origin, as well as pathogenic bacteria that must be constantly monitored. Herein, we applied a Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) met...

Simple Summary The use of fishmeal and fish oil has long been an issue of major concern since nutrition for most aquaculture farms entails a considerable cost. To reduce the cost of the nutrition, many efforts have been made to replace the fishmeal/fish oil, either partially or totally, in diets by using plant-based proteins. The selected candidate...

Trace elements have the potential to bioaccumulate in marine organisms and to biomagnify towards the upper levels of marine trophic webs, resulting in a range of negative effects on organisms. Elasmobranchs are highly susceptible to bioaccumulation of trace metals, while their consumption by humans is increasing worldwide. Therefore, it is importan...

A putative resistant johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense L.) population from a cotton field in northern Greece was studied to determine the levels of resistance to acetyl‐CoA carboxylase (ACCase)‐inhibiting herbicides and elucidate related mechanisms of resistance. The johnsongrass population showed cross‐resistance to the ACCase‐inhibiting herbicides...

There is an increasing demand for the breeding programs to focus on resistance against diseases since the treatments or vaccinations increase production costs and, in some cases, they are not available at all. Most of the studies focus on virus and bacterial diseases, but limited information is available for parasitic diseases in European seabass....

The Hungarian Merino sheep breed (Ovis aries) is the most significant animal resource of the Hungarian sheep sector which, unfortunately, has gone through a huge reduction in number during the last decades and became endangered in 2014. A modern molecular genetic survey is now becoming more than necessary in order to characterize the within-breed g...

Simple Summary In the present study, the genetic architecture of the stress response, body weight, and disease resistance in European seabass were studied, providing fruitful results for further research. Initially, the above traits were recorded and genotyping on a large scale was performed in those fish. The recorded data and genotypes were combi...

Simple Summary Scrapie is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy affecting sheep and goats. Due to similarities with mad cow disease (BSE) which is transmissible to humans, scrapie is considered of significance for its theoretical zoonotic potential. A variety of control strategies have been proposed and applied over the years. While herd depopu...

The European seabass is one of the main commercial fish produced in Mediterranean marine aquaculture. Recently, its production has been negatively affected by losses due to frequent and recurring outbreaks of parasitic, bacterial and viral diseases. In recent years, the gill parasites Diplectanum aequans and Lernanthropus kroyeri are increasingly b...

Elasmobranchs are sensitive marine species due to their K-strategic life characteristics in combination with the intensification of fisheries. Despite the regulations and conventions protecting several species, elasmobranchs are still caught as bycatch and landed throughout the Mediterranean, a location where the pressure on shark populations is we...

European Commission has established among others the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) protection label in order to identify an agricultural product, raw or processed, of which quality, reputation or other characteristics are linked to its geographical origin. One hundred and twenty-four Greek products have been recognized as Protected Design...

Simple Summary Over the last decades, many genetic tools have been developed in order to improve our knowledge and understanding of the links between physiology and genetics. In our research, European Sea Bass was selected in order to study stress response physiological indicators in relation to growth and disease resistance. Therefore, DNA samples...

The aim of this study was to estimate the genetic diversity of Greek and Bulgarian grapevine varieties with the use of microsatellite markers. The studied samples were collected from various productive vineyards, consisting of eight Greek and nine Bulgarian native varieties. In order to create a genetic profile for each sample, a multiplex PCR reac...

en High levels of infestation of a wax soft scale insect (Hemiptera: Coccidae) have been observed on Laurus nobilis L. (Lauraceae) and Diospyros kaki Thunb. (Ebanaceae) in Greece in recent years. Specimens of Ceroplastes were collected from regions of Thessaloniki, Naousa and Kavala (northern Greece) and Attica (southern Greece) in 2012–2017. The s...

This paper is intended to review the current practices and challenges regarding the corrosion of the Greek sewer systems with an emphasis on biocorrosion and to provide recommendations to avoid it. The authors followed a holistic approach, which included survey data obtained by local authorities serving more than 50% of the total country’s populati...

European Commission has established among others the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) protection label in order to identify an agricultural product, raw or processed, of which quality, reputation or other characteristics are linked to its geographical origin. One hundred and twenty-four Greek products have been recognized as Protected Design...

Aim: To examine the association between ApoE genetic polymorphisms and BMI.Methods: This case control study of randomly selected, free living individuals from North Greece investigated whether traditional Greek Orthodox dietary practices could affect obesity markers independent of genetic influences, by examining the Waist circumference (WC), waist...

European Commission has established among others the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) protection label in order to identify an agricultural product, raw or processed, of which quality, reputation or other characteristics are linked to its geographical origin. One hundred and twenty four Greek products have been recognized as Protected Design...

Lack of morphological features due to food processing is common in elasmobranchs. Such methods increase the chances of species substitution with cheaper alternatives or endangered species, leaving consumers unprotected from unfair or deceptive practices. DNA barcoding has become the most commonly applied approach for species identification, as it i...

Food authenticity has received an increasing focus due to high profile cases of substitution/mislabeling, with many investigations identifying sales of endangered or prohibited species. At the same time, the European Union (EU) has introduced one of the most progressive sets of legislation in order to promote traceability and protect consumers. Thi...

The Eurasian Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) is one of the most successful biological invaders among terrestrial vertebrates. However, little information is available on the genetic diversity of the species. A total of 134 Eurasian Collared Doves from Europe, Asia and the Caribbean (n = 20) were studied by sequencing a 658-bp length of mitoch...

List of Streptopelia decaocto specimens obtained for this study, extracted, sequenced and deposited in GenBank. (PDF)

Spatial autocorrelation correlogram plots. The plot depicts results obtained from all geographic regions. The analysis considered geographic distances with even distance classes of 1000 km. Lines “U” and “L” represent the 95% confidence values of the null hypothesis (there is no structure), with “r” representing the correlation coefficient. (TIF)

The Evanno table output showing maximum value of ΔK at K = 2. (DOCX)

The optimal number of genetic clusters inferred by STRUCTURE for our data set. Rate of change in the log probability (prob.) of data between successive runs of K (ΔK). (TIF)

Detection of fraudulent commercialisation of seafood products has been extensively reported. Although traditional methods of morphological identification offer a straightforward solution for recognizing fish species, it is not possible to use them on certain fish products such as fish fillets. Fortunately, DNA-based methods offer an alternative sol...

To satisfy the increasing number of consumers demanding for edible products of certified origin, the European Commission established three protection labels: the “Protected Designation of Origin (PDO)”, the Traditional Specialities (TGS) and the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) that indicates a link with the area where at least one of the st...

According to the Greek Food & Safety legislation requirements, only the Mustelus spp. products should be sold as “galeos”. A DNA methodology based on the PCR amplification and sequencing analysis of two mitochondrial genes (16S rRNA and COI) was developed, for detection of mislabelled seafood products commercialized with the term “galeos”. A total...

We examined 24 maternal half-sib families of gilthead seabream to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with body weight at four time points during a production cycle. 57 brooders and 637 offspring were genotyped for 14 informative microsatellite markers, spanning linkage groups 1 and 21. The QTL detection method was based on half-sib i...

Several studies have detected fraud in fish markets, mainly by substituting species with others of a different price or identity. Species identification cannot be properly controlled unless genetic markers are employed, especially when the commercial product is not the whole specimen. A simple PCR amplification of the nuclear 5S rDNA gene and/or th...

Genetic variation in four reared stocks of European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax L., originating from Greek commercial farms, was assessed using five polymorphic microsatellite markers and was compared with that of three natural populations from Greece and France. The total number of alleles per marker ranged from 8 to 22 alleles, and hatchery sam...

The increased demand for high-quality protein, especially from aquatic sources, can be satisfied only through the increase of aquaculture production and/or the substantial improvement of production efficiency, to which genetic selection programmes play a decisive role. Scientifically driven family based breeding programmes for rainbow trout and Atl...

We report a quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping study on 18 morphometric characters in gilthead seabream based on a total of 74 informative microsatellite markers genotyped in 409 offspring coming from 10 paternal half-sib families. Statistical analysis was carried out using a linear regression approach, and various suggestive and significant mor...

Gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata L.) is an important marine fish in Mediterranean aquaculture. Sex determination by age and/or body weight is a critical life-history trait, the genetic basis for which is largely unknown in this sequential hermaphrodite species. Herein, we performed a partial genome scan to map quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecti...

A single specimen of Bermuda sea chub Kyphosus saltatrix was caught in the Ionian Sea (western Greece). It is the first occur-rence of this species in Greek waters and it constitutes its easternmost verified distribution in the Mediterranean. The speci-men was a 4-year old male, fully adapted to benthic life and its occurrence adds to the increasin...

Genetic variation in seven reared stocks of gilthead sea bream Sparus aurata, originating from Greek commercial farms, was assessed using five polymorphic microsatellite markers and was compared with that of two natural populations from the Ionian and the Adriatic Seas. The total number of alleles per marker ranged from 11 to 19 alleles, and hatche...

Alignment of candidate BAC clone sequences isolated around the candidate region for QTL (Did12, breambac118g4) affecting growth-related traits as well as sex reversal onto the genome of Stickleback. Numbers in the left columns indicate nucleotide positions along the stickleback chromosome II. (PDF)

Alignment of candidate BAC clone sequences isolated around the candidate molecular marker Hd46 (breambac-141g16) for QTL affecting growth-related traits as well as sex onto the genome of three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). Numbers on the left columns indicate nucleotide positions along the stickleback chromosome II. (PDF)

Assignments of BAC clones to molecular markers mapped onto Sparus aurata RH18 group. (PDF)

Alignment of marker sequence Did12 and BAC sequences of Sparus aurata breambac-118g4. In gray are shown the corresponding primer sequences mapped 1.8 cM away from each other according to linkage mapping analysis (Fig. 1). (PDF)

Among vertebrates, teleost fish exhibit a considerably wide range of sex determination patterns that may be influenced by extrinsic parameters. However even for model fish species like the zebrafish Danio rerio the precise mechanisms involved in primary sex determination have not been studied extensively. The zebrafish, a gonochoristic species, is...

Abstract In the present study, a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay was used to survey variation in a 1450-bp mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) segment which comprises part of the cytochrome oxidase III (COIII) and ATPase subunit VI genes in 8 brown trout (Salmo trutta L) populations from the southern Balkan...