Doru C. Pamfil

Romanian Academy · Cluj-Napoca Branch

Several Ranunculaceae species are used in folk medicine to eliminate pathologies associated with oxidative stress as well as parasitic infections; however, a number of studies confirming their pharmacological properties is limited. In this study, 19 ethanolic extracts obtained from 16 Ranunculaceae species were assayed for in vitro antioxidant, ant...

A micropropagation protocol via direct shoot organogenesis from leaf explants of six commercial varieties of Saintpaulia ionantha Wendl was established in this study. The shoot induction was successfully achieved on Murashige and Skoog (MS) media supplemented with 0.2 mg L-1 indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and 0.5 mg L-1 benzylaminopurine (BA). In proli...

The Oomycete Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) de Bary, 1876 is the most devastating pathogen on potato crop. It was an agent responsible for the Irish Famine in the 1840s. It is a heterothallic hemibiotrophic oomycete. The sexual reproduction offers the pathogen more flexibility and adaptability to the environmental conditions. Before 1980s, the popu...

The genetic variability of five populations of Quercus petraea originating from the Transylvania and Maramureș regions of Romania was investigated in this study to provide insights into the species’ adaptability, population dynamics, and potential for preservation in the face of environmental challenges. To achieve this, sequence-related amplified...

Micropropagation has an important role in the large-scale production of blackberry plant material, given the high proliferation rates of this species. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the proliferative capacity of blackberry grown in vitro on wheat starch-gelled culture medium compared to classical agar-gelled medium and to assess the g...

Morphological and molecular characterization of germplasm is essential for the improvement of cultivated plants efforts. This study investigated the genetic diversity of 32 Cyclamen genotypes comprising 16 C. persicum varieties and 16 Cyclamen species using multivariate analysis for 36 morphological traits (19 quantitative and 17 qualitative) and m...

Cyclamen genus is part of the Primulaceae family consisting of 24 species widely cultivated as ornamental and medicinal plants. They also possess high plasticity in terms of adaptability to alternating environmental conditions. In this regard, the present study investigates the germination and morphological parameters of heat-tolerant and heat-sens...

The present study was carried out to evaluate and compare in vitro antioxidant (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP)), antimicrobial, anticancer activities, and the individual carotenoids and anthocyanins content of methanol extracts of the Cyclamen genotyp...

Cultivated potato (Solanum tuberosum) is susceptible to many pests and pathogens, but the most important threat to potato production is, so far, the late blight disease, caused by the oomycete Phytophthora infestans. Resistance genes from the wild Solanum sp. have been used by breeders to develop late-blight-resistant cultivars. Two sets of Black d...

Astragalus exscapus L. subsp. transsilvanicus (Schur) Nyár. (Fabaceae) is a rare plant endemic to the Transylvanian Plateau, represented by 24 identified populations. Limited information on the genetic variation and population structure is available, which obstructs efficient measures for conservation strategy. The present study aimed to analyze th...

Disease resistance breeding is one of the most promising alternatives to chemical control of plant diseases. The main issue with disease resistance is its durability. Gene pyramiding could be a solution for this crucial problem by broadening the spectrum of plant disease resistance. In this study, we tried to examine the differences between a gene...

Streptocarpus x hybridus is a very popular houseplant with colourful flowers arousing thus the interest of plant breeders. Its potential value is even higher since different chemical compounds could be identified and used for food and pharmaceutical industries. Therefore, the objectives of this study were: to determine genetic relationships between...

Cyclamen species (swinebread spp.) are perennial herbaceous plants which belong to the Primulaceae family, widely used as medicinal or ornamental plants. Currently, gibberellic acid (GA3), an environmentally friendly bioregulator is widely used to enhance the productivity and phenotypic characteristics of multiple ornamental crops. A dual experimen...

The genetic relationship among three Streptocarpus parents and twelve F1 hybrids was assessed using sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) molecular markers and Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Both methods were able to discriminate F1 hybrids and parents as revealed by cluster analysis. For hybrid identification, the type I...

Drought is one of the abiotic stress factors which affects the global production of grain cereals and is an important risk factor even for consecrated cultivation sites. This is even more acute for spring grains which are the most vulnerable to drought. This is the case for two-row spring barley which is highly sensitive to heat, especially in the...

The mechanism of floral mutation including double flowers in plant species can be explained by the ABCDE model which represents the relationship between MADS-box transcription factor genes and floral morphogenesis. The ornamental importance of Cyclamen led to the creation of double-flowered cultivars caused by the repression of AG-like gene express...

Micropropagation of blackberry (Rubus fruticosus L.) and blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) plants is a successful alternative for plant material production. Among the micropropagation methods developed axillary bud stimulation is the most commonly used method for mass propagation of different plants and considered the most reliable method to guar...

Acer pseudoplatanus L. is a species with high adaptability, widespread across the Carpathian Mountains, at altitudes from 700 to 1600 m. Due to this fact, this may be encountered into stands situated in diverse climatic conditions. In order to determine the genetic variability of forest genetic resources for in situ conservation purposes, five popu...

In this work we aimed to develop an effcient micropropagation protocol for highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L. 'Duke') and hazelnut (Corylus avellana L. 'Tonda di Giffoni') using the Plantform bioreactor. The influence of different quantities of the culture media (300 ml, 400 ml and 500 ml/bioreactor) was tested for both species. The immers...

The aim of this work was to determine the effect of zeatin (Z), dihydrozeatin (DHZ) and 2-isopentenyl-adenine (2 iP) on shoot length and proliferation rate (PR) in three Vaccinium corymbosum L. cultivars: 'Blueray', 'Duke' and 'Patriot'. The culture medium used in this research was prepared from stock solution: Woody Plant Medium (WPM) supplemented...

Nowadays, the field of entirely artificial hybrids raises ethical problems in the animal world and to a lesser amount in plants. Throughout the years, yellow Cyclamen has been particularly important for both breeders and passionate growers as being a peculiar color for this species. The possibility to artificially induce hybrids between species tha...

Ranunculaceae is one of the largest families in Romania, comprising species used as medicines, spices, and ornamentals. Despite the therapeutic and industrial potential of Ranunculaceae essential oils (EOs), their presence in many plants of the family remains unexplored. In this study, the chemical composition of EOs hydrodistilled from aerial part...

A study was performed in the North-West of Transylvania to test the reaction of certain parental forms of maize hybrids (single hybrids and inbred lines) to the following risks: simulated late spring frost in two stages and simulated hail in four stages. Being able to quantify the effects of these phenomena on maize makes it possible to estimate th...

Micropropagation of blackberry (Rubus fruticosus L.) and blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) plants is a successful alternative for plant material production. Among the micropropagation methods developed axillary bud stimulation is the most commonly used method for mass propagation of different plants and considered the most reliable method to guar...

A micropropagation protocol via direct shoot organogenesis from Streptocarpus x hybridus Voss. leaf explants was established in this study. The shoot induction of three Streptocarpus cultivars ('Snow White', 'Black Panther' and 'Slumber Song') was successfully achieved on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 0.2 mg L-1-indole-3-acetic...

The main aim of this study was to investigate the genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships of six Ranunculus species using SRAP markers. The genotyping of 73 Ranunculus accessions showed that 12 primer pairs generated a total number of 212 polymorphic fragments with a 99.53 % level of polymorphism. Nei's gene diversity ranged between 0.2237...

In Romania, Quercus is represented by five to nine species, depending on their taxonomic classification. The purpose of this study was to determine the seed germination rate and seedling growth of Quercus robur and Quercus petraea species in different soil conditions. The results obtained show that there are differences between trees growing and de...

A micropropagation protocol via direct shoot organogenesis from Streptocarpus x hybridus Voss. leaf explants was established in this study. The shoot induction of three Streptocarpus cultivars (‘Snow White’, ‘Black Panther’ and ‘Slumber Song’) was successfully achieved on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 0.2 mg L-1 -indole-3-acetic...

The main aim of this study was to investigate the genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships of six Ranunculus species using SRAP markers. The genotyping of 73 Ranunculus accessions showed that 12 primer pairs generated a total number of 212 polymorphic fragments with a 99.53 % level of polymorphism. Nei’s gene diversity ranged between 0.2237...

The main aim of this paper was to identify the most reliable primer pairs out of the 64 used in order to investigate the genetic diversity of four medicinal Ranunculaceae species as follow: Aconitum moldavicum, Anemone transsilvanica, Ranunculus carpaticus and R. platanifolius. Amplified products were separated on 1,6% agarose gel and a total numbe...

Nowadays, the interest to essential oil-bearing plants has increased significantly due to their therapeutic and industrial potential. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to examine and confirm the presence of essential oils in seven different Ranunculaceae species from Romania by hydrodistillation. The results show that five (Aconitum toxicum...

Our study analyzed four apple cultivars (Liberty, Florina, Starkrimson, Golden Spur) used as genitors, and theirs hybrid seedlings resulted from a diallel genitor crossing scheme, for revealing monogenic Vf resistance to scab. Seedlings of F 1 hybrids were selected based on the presence or absence of the scab infection symptoms on the leaves. The f...

The present study investigated the effect of gamma irradiation on biomass formation and yield of pharmacologically relevant secondary metabolites in callus cultures induced from different seedling parts (leaf, stem and root). Calli induction and maintenance were performed on MS medium supplemented with 0.5 mg L⁻¹ IAA and 0.4 mg L⁻¹ TDZ and all para...

The aims of this research was to establish an effective protocol for in vitro multiplication of Aronia melanocarpa (Michx.) Elliott by optimizing all the stages of micropropagation; to establish the optimal number of subcultures up to which the plants propagated through in vitro cultures can keep their genetic uniformity and to determine the number...

The aims of this research were to investigate the effect of gelling agent on the micropropagation of common lilac (Syringa vulgaris L.) and to evaluate the rooting potential of the regenerated microshoots.

The aim of our research was to investigate how the agar types used for culture media influence damask rose in vitro multiplication rates, as well as the quality of the shoots obtained and their ability for ex vitro rooting and acclimatization. The highest multiplication rate, 5.1, was obtained on the culture media supplemented with 6g/L Daishin Aga...

In Romania, Prunus genetic resources are held in collections located mainly in research and development institutes or in fruit growing stations. A possible disadvantage of the utilization of these resources for genetic studies and also for breeding programmes is the lack of reliable data for correct identification and characterization of accessions...

Micropropagation of Lycium barbarum cv. 'Ningxia N1' was achieved. The cultures were initiated by axenical seed germination. The highest shoot proliferation was obtained on the MS media with 1.33 or 2.22 µM benzyl adenine, gelled with wheat starch as an agar alternative. The treatments with 2.22 µM benzyl adenine ensured proliferation rates superio...

In Romania, Prunus genetic resources are kept in collections of varieties, populations and biotypes, mainly located in research and development institutes or fruit growing stations and, in the last years, by some private enterprises. Creating the experimental model for the Germplum database based on phenotypic descriptors and SSR molecular markers...

Mineral substance concentration was studied in foliar tissue of European beech in different populations. Elemental analysis and atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) techniques were applied for quantitative determination of mineral elements. The results indicate similar macro nutrient content in leaves but it was registered element surplus in s...

The chemical composition of Romanian table grape varieties was determined to evaluate their phenolic and aroma profiles because they are factors useful for the variety characterization and consumer acceptance. Two white table grapes (‘Aromat de Iaşi’ and ‘Timpuriu de Cluj’) and two red table grapes (‘Napoca’ and ‘Someşan’) were studied. The phenoli...

The chemical composition of Romanian table grape varieties was determined to evaluate their phenolic and aroma profiles because they are factors useful for the variety characterization and consumer acceptance. Two white table grapes (‘Aromat de Iaşi’ and ‘Timpuriu de Cluj’) and two red table grapes (‘Napoca’ and ‘Someşan’) were st...

Conservation of biodiversity is very important, especially in species such as plum tree. One of the key aspects is the establishment of appropriate genetic markers that could be used to identify provenances and also for breeding purposes. In this context, molecular characterization using SSR (short sequence repeats) markers is very useful and was c...

Mineral substance concentration was studied in foliar tissue of European beech in different populations. Elemental analysis and atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) techniques were applied for quantitative determination of mineral elements. The results indicate similar macro nutrient content in leaves but it was registered element surplus in s...

Mineral substance concentration was studied in stem wood tissue of European beech in different populations. Elemental analysis and atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) techniques were applied for quantitative determination of mineral elements. The results indicate similar macro nutrient content in wood samples, except Ca. Comparisons with simi...

Astragalus exscapus (Fabaceae) is a melliferous, perennial plant, which fits within a rarity type characterized by having small populations of relatively high habitat specificity (Rabinowitz, 1981). Astragalus exscapus L. ssp. transsilvanicus (Schur) Nyár. is an endemic subspecies, which has been identified in the Transylvanian basin in 24 populati...

The Carpathian List of Endangered Species contains eight Astragalus species mentioned to be vulnerable or endangered. One of them is the endemic Astragalus. exscapus L. subsp. transsilvanicus (Schur) NyAir . , a rare perennial plant with only 24 populations remaining in the Transylvanian basin. Analysis of genetic diversity and population structure...

The plant glycine-rich RNA-binding proteins (GRP) are a major class of proteins known to be implicated in plant response to abiotic and biotic stress. Recent studies regarding this type of proteins focused mostly on two of them, namely GRP2 and GRP7, which are mainly involved in osmotic and oxidative plant adaptation mechanisms. The main purpose of...

It is reported that probiotics provide several health benefits as they help in maintaining a good balance and composition of intestinal flora, and increase the resistance against invasion of pathogens. Ensuring adequate dosages of probiotics at the time of consumption is a challenge, because several factors during processing and storage affect the...

The recent warnings, on the climate change in the next years, are referring also on the negative impact on future world food security. For a continuous sustainable crop production urgent breeding and biotech actions need to be taken for the improvement of the plants resistance to the abiotic stress. Among these factors, those caused by drought have...

In recent years, the concerns of some research teams have focused in development an international strategy for the germplasm collections characterization of important horticultural species, as response to the European Union initiative for inventory and conservation of genetic resources. In this context, the European Union has developed internationa...

The aim of this study was to determine whether the loss of germinability and vigour in wall-rocket seed lots was related to electrolyte leakage. Ten seed lots of 2 wall-rocket species (9 of Diplotaxis tenuifolia and one of D. erucoides (Brassicaceae)) were stored at 45 °C and 70% relative humidity and electrolyte leakage was measured using the cond...

The class IV glycine-rich RNA-binding proteins are a distinct subgroup within the heterogenous superfamily of glycine-rich proteins (GRPs). They are distinguished by the presence of an RNA-binding domain in the N-terminus; generally in the form of an RNA Recognition Motif (RRM) or a cold-shock domain (CSD). These are followed by a C-terminal glycin...

A review of the most important achievements in rose breeding at Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in the last 30 years is presented. During this period of time more than 90.000 hybrid individuals were obtained and checked concerning their ornamental value and an average of 2.62 % of selection efficiency was encountered. Hybrid combinations with the highest rat...

The plant hormone auxin plays a central role in adventitious rooting and is routinely used with many economically important, vegetatively propagated plant species to promote adventitious root initiation and development on cuttings. Nevertheless the molecular mechanisms through which it acts are only starting to emerge. The Arabidopsis superroot2-1...

In all Romanian national fruit collections, all accessions holding a phenotypic, biochemical and genetic evaluation, but less a molecular level assessment of their….. For introduction of this material (accessions) into the breeding programs is necessary and important to know the level of characterization. Considering this fact, in the present stu...

Conservation agriculture is an alternative to conventional agriculture and one of the most efficient systems for sustainable agricultural development, stimulating soil biological activity, increasing organic matter and humus content. In order to evaluate the impact of the conservation agriculture system compared to the conventional agriculture syst...

Assessment of the genetic relatedness of walnut cultivars with phenotypic data and molecular markers allows progress in conservation and management of the genetic resources, breeding and protection of breeders’ intellectual property. In the present study we used 24 morphological traits, 25 random amplified polymorphic DNAs (RAPDs) and 7 simple sequ...

The glycine-rich RNA-binding proteins of Arabidopsis thaliana are of growing interest in the context of understanding how plants respond to biotic and abiotic stresses. In this study we focus on the phenotypic analysis of Arabidopsis knock-out mutants of genes that encode the glycine-rich proteins atGRP2 and atGRP7, comparing them to knock-out muta...

Background Calendula officinalis L. (pot marigold) is an annual aromatic herb with yellow or golden-orange flowers, native to the Mediterranean climate areas. Their seeds contain significant amounts of oil (around 20%), of which about 60% is calendic acid. For these reasons, in Europe concentrated research efforts have been directed towards the dev...

In order to assess the genetic diversity, thirty-four genotypes of Calendula officinalis (L.) were evaluated by means of random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique. The number of amplification products generated by each primer varied from 9 (OPAB-18) to 14 (OPAL-20) with an average of 11.2 bands per primer. The pairwise Nei and Li’s coeffici...

In this study, we aimed to identify some phenolic compounds that determine resistance in a gene pyramided potato resistant genotype to late blight agent Phytophthora infestans and to compare it reaction with other resistance forms. Three resistant genotypes have been used; two genotypes from Solanum tuberosum: R4 (simple), MR (R2, R3, and R4) and t...

Objectives: We hypothesized that adiponectin gene SNP+45 (rs2241766) and SNP+276 (rs1501299) would be associated with atherosclerotic peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Furthermore, the association between circulating adiponectin levels, fetuin-A, and tumoral necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in patients with atherosclerotic peripheral arterial diseas...

Arabidopsis thaliana, a small spring annual plant is used as a model in plant genetics and biotechnology due to some advantages such as its relatively rapid life cycle (8 weeks from germination to production of seeds) and small genome size. Because of these advantages, a series of loss of function and gain of function mutant plants were generated u...

In the present study we use six nuclear SSR loci (SS2, MD5, MD7, MD27, ZAG 62 and ZAG 79) to characterize four autochthonous grapevine cultivars (Băbeasca neagră, Feteasca regalǎ, Frâncuşa, and Grasa de Cotnari), including four international comparative genotypes (Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay Blanc, Riesling Italian and Merlot Noir). The DNA micr...