Mariola Plazas

Universitat Politècnica de València | UPV

We developed a novel eight-way tomato multi-parental advanced generation inter-cross (MAGIC) population to improve the accessibility of tomato relatives genetic resources to geneticists and breeders. The inter-specific MAGIC population (ToMAGIC) was obtained by inter-crossing four accessions each of Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme (SLC) and S...

Enhancing plant adaptation to low input conditions is a fundamental goal for implementing sustainable agriculture. In the present study, two eggplant (Solanum melongena) accessions (MEL1 and MEL5), two introgression lines (ILs) derived from eggplant wild relatives S. dasyphyllum (IL-M1-D1) and S. insanum (IL-M5-I9), and a heterozygous version of th...

Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) breeding for fruit quality has mostly focused on visual traits and nutritional and bioactive compounds, including chlorogenic acid. However, higher contents of chlorogenic acid may lead to more pronounced fruit flesh browning. We examined a diverse collection of 59 eggplant accessions across five varietal types (‘bla...

We developed a novel eight-way tomato multi-parental advanced generation inter-cross (MAGIC) population to improve the accessibility of the genetic resources of tomato relatives to geneticists and breeders. The inter-specific MAGIC population (ToMAGIC) was obtained by inter-crossing four accessions each of Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme (SLC...

An enduring question in evolutionary biology concerns the degree to which episodes of convergent trait evolution depend on the same genetic programs, particularly over long timescales. Here we genetically dissected repeated origins and losses of prickles, sharp epidermal projections, that convergently evolved in numerous plant lineages. Mutations i...

The development of new cultivars with improved nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is key for implementing sustainable agriculture practices. Crop wild relatives (CWRs) provide valuable genetic resources for breeding programs aimed at achieving this goal. In this study, three eggplant (Solanum melongena) accessions together with their advanced backcrosse...

Eggplant (Solanum melongena) is a major vegetable crop with great potential for genetic improvement owing to its large and mostly untapped genetic diversity. Eggplant is closely related to over 500 species of Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum, belonging to its primary, secondary, and tertiary genepools, and exhibits a wide range of characteristics, in...

The distribution of chlorophylls in the eggplant ( Solanum melongena ) fruit peel can be uniform or display an irregular green netting pattern. The fruit green netting phenotype, manifested as a gradient of dark green netting, more intense in the proximal part of the fruit on a pale green background, is commonly present in eggplant wild relatives a...

As access to irrigation water becomes increasingly limited, introgression of relevant genomic regions from drought-tolerant wild genotypes is a promising breeding strategy for crop plants. In this study, nine eggplant (Solanum melongena) introgression lines (ILs) covering altogether 71.6% of the genome of the donor wild relative parent S. incanum w...

The development of new cultivars with improved nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is key for implementing sustainable agriculture practices. Crop wild relatives (CWRs) provide valuable genetic resources for breeding programs aimed at achieving this goal. In this study, three eggplant (Solanum melongena) accessions together with their advanced backcrosse...

The pear is an important fruit tree in temperate areas, but due to its sensitivity, fruit yield and quality are often affected by disease and pest attacks. Pear genotypes from a germplasm collection comprising 13 Pyrus species, 17 Romanian varieties, and 50 non-Romanian varieties from a worldwide assortment were investigated in this study. Througho...

Phenolic acids and flavonoids are large groups of secondary metabolites ubiquitous in the plant kingdom. They are currently in the spotlight due to the numerous health benefits associated with their consumption, as well as for their vital roles in plant biological processes and in plant-environment interaction. Tomato, eggplant and pepper are in th...

Defence mechanisms to abiotic stresses, like drought, are very broad and RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) can help in understanding the complex responses triggered. In this study, we performed RNA-Seq of the transcriptomes of eggplant (Solanum melongena) and its related wild species (S. dasyphyllum) under two PEG concentrations (20 % and 30 %), two differe...

In a climate change scenario, crop tolerance to drought must be urgently improved, as it represents an increasingly critical stress reducing agricultural yields worldwide. Although most crops are relatively sensitive to water stress, many of their wild relatives are more tolerant and may be used to improve drought tolerance in our crops. In this st...

Defence mechanisms to abiotic stresses, like drought, are very broad and RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) can help in understanding the complex responses triggered. In this study, we performed RNA-Seq of the transcriptomes of eggplant (Solanum melongena) and its related wild species (S. dasyphyllum) under two PEG concentrations (20% and 30%), two different...

Understanding the mechanisms by which chlorophylls are synthesized in the eggplant (Solanum melongena) fruit peel is of great relevance for eggplant breeding. A multi-parent advanced generation inter-cross (MAGIC) population and a germplasm collection have been screened for green pigmentation in the fruit peel and used to identify candidate genes f...

Understanding the mechanisms by which chlorophylls are synthesized in the eggplant (Solanum melongena) fruit peel is of great relevance for eggplant breeding. A multi-parent advanced generation inter-cross (MAGIC) population and a germplasm collection have been screened for green pigmentation in the fruit peel and used to identify candidate genes f...

Lowering nitrogen inputs is a major goal for sustainable agriculture. In the present study, a set of 10 Solanum melongena introgression lines (ILs) developed using S. incanum as the exotic donor parent were grown under two nitrogen fertilization doses supplied with the irrigation system: 1) 8.25 mmol · L⁻¹ NH4NO3, corresponding to the high nitrogen...

Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) is a major vegetable cropwidely grown in tropics and subtropics.However, eggplant production is subject to high losses from biotic and abiotic stress. Eggplant is exposed to a broad range of biotic stresses such as nematodes, wilt diseases, eggplant fruit and shoot borer, two-spotted spider mites, whitefly and aphids...

The Mediterranean basin countries are considered secondary centres of tomato diversification. However, information on phenotypic and allelic variation of local tomato materials is still limited. Here we report on the evaluation of the largest traditional tomato collection, which includes 1499 accessions from Southern Europe. Analyses of 70 traits r...

A comprehensive collection of 1254 tomato accessions, corresponding to European traditional and modern varieties, early domesticated varieties, and wild relatives, was analyzed by genotyping by sequencing. A continuous genetic gradient between the traditional and modern varieties was observed. European traditional tomatoes displayed very low geneti...

Marigolds (Tagetes spp.) are multifunctional flowering plants belonging to the Asteraceae family, well-known and widespread for their ornamental value and many other uses. In this study, morphological differences and genetic relationships among 21 cultivars of three species of marigold (Tagetes patula, T. erecta and T. tenuifolia) were analysed. Re...

Multi-parent advanced generation inter-cross (MAGIC) populations facilitate the genetic dissection of complex quantitative traits in plants and are valuable breeding materials. We report the development of the first eggplant MAGIC population (S3 Magic EGGplant InCanum, S3MEGGIC; 8-way), constituted by the 420 S3 individuals developed from the inter...

Wild relatives of eggplant (Solanum melongena) are of interest for breeding for tolerance to drought. To assess the potential of eggplant wild relatives from different gene pools, 18 accessions belonging to eggplant and eight wild relatives were evaluated for water stress tolerance. Plants grown in pots were normally irrigated or subjected to water...

The wild species Solanum incanum has been used as a donor parent for the development of a set of eggplant introgression lines (ILs), which are of interest for breeding for stress tolerances and relevant morpho-agronomic traits but could also be useful for breeding for fruit quality, due to the generally higher content in health-promoting compounds...

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is the globally most consumed vegetable. The objective of this research was to analyze physico-chemical, nutritional and sensorial components (taste and flavor) in two new commercial hybrids (AS 300 F1 and AS 400 F1) and their four F7 parental lines. Two widely grown F1 hybrids (Precos F1 and Addalyn F1) were used as c...

A comprehensive collection of 1,254 tomato accessions corresponding to European heirlooms and landraces, together with modern varieties, early domesticates and wild relatives, were analyzed by genotyping by sequencing. A continuous genetic gradient between the vintage and modern varieties was observed. European vintage tomatoes displayed very low g...

Peppers (Capsicum spp.) and eggplants (Solanum spp.) are vegetable crops from the Solanaceae family that have spread worldwide and are important as a source of health-related compounds for humans. Several pepper and eggplant species have been domesticated, and a large number of wild relatives exist for both crops. Over 25,000 domesticated and wild...

MAGIC populations facilitate the genetic dissection of complex quantitative traits in plants and are valuable breeding materials. We report the development of the first eggplant MAGIC population (S3MEGGIC; 8-way), constituted by 420 S3 individuals developed from the intercrossing of seven cultivated eggplant (Solanum melongena) and one wild relativ...

Selection and breeding of eggplant (Solanum melongena) materials with good performance under low nitrogen (N) fertilization inputs is a major breeding objective to reduce environmental degradation, risks for human health, and production costs. Solanum elaeagnifolium, an eggplant wild relative, is a potential source of variation for introgression br...

Antiviral treatments inhibiting Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) replication may represent a strategy complementary to vaccination to fight the ongoing Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic. Molecules or extracts inhibiting the SARS-CoV-2 chymotripsin-like protease (3CLPro) could contribute to reducing or suppressin...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of different levels of water stress on seven pepino cultivars (Mur1-Mur7). Three water stress treatments were applied: fully irrigated control (C), a moderate water stress (WS-M), and a severe water stress (WS-S). We investigated the behavior of traits related to growth, photosynthetic pigments,...

The pepino (Solanum muricatum) is a neglected crop from the Andean region with potential for expansion to many areas of the world. However, there is a lack of studies in pepino related to its response to water stress. In this study, we have subjected plantlets of seven pepino cultivars (Mur1-Mur7) to three treatments consisting of a fully irrigated...

The study of the diversity within and between major Solanaceae crops (pepper, tomato, eggplant) is of interest for the selection and development of balanced diets. We have measured thirty-six major fruit composition traits, encompassing sugars, organic acids, antioxidants and minerals, in a set of 10 accessions per crop for pepper, tomato and eggpl...

Eggplant fruit shape is an important quantitative agronomic trait. The use of introgression lines (ILs) for QTLs identification is a powerful tool for the elucidation of the genetic control of eggplant fruit shape. In the present study, a set of 16 eggplant ILs, each harboring a single marker-defined chromosomal segment from the wild eggplant relat...

The ‘de penjar’ tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is a group of local varieties from the Spanish Mediterranean region carrying the alc mutation, which provides long shelf-life. Their evolution under low-input management practices has led to the selection of resilient genotypes to adverse conditions. Here we present the first evaluation on nutritiona...

BACKGROUND Crops are exposed to recurrent and acute drought stress episodes during their vegetative and reproductive cycles, and these episodes are increasingly frequent due to ongoing climate change. Sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum), alias bell pepper, is one of the most widely cultivated vegetables and is grown in open fields worldwide. Here we ass...

The use of antimitotic agents such as colchicine has been common to obtain polyploid organisms. However, this approach entails certain problems, from its toxicity to the operators for being carcinogenic compounds to the instability of the individuals obtained, and the consequent reversion to its original ploidy because the individuals obtained in m...

Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacerum is one of the most economically and destructive eggplant diseases in many tropical and subtropical areas of the world. The objectives of this study were to develop interspecific hybrids, as potential rootstocks, between the eggplant (Solanum melongena) bacterial wilt resistant line EG203 and four wild...

The compelling need to increase global agricultural production requires new breeding approaches that facilitate exploiting the diversity available in the plant genetic resources. Multi-parent advanced generation inter-cross (MAGIC) populations are large sets of recombinant inbred lines (RILs) that are a genetic mosaic of multiple founder parents. M...

Background: The use of sequencing and genotyping platforms has undergone dramatic improvements, enabling the generation of a wealth of genomic information. Despite this progress, the availability of high-quality genomic DNA (gDNA) in sufficient concentrations is often a main limitation, especially for third-generation sequencing platforms. A varie...

This study investigated the physiological and biochemical responses to salinity stress of Solanum melongena and its wild relative, Solanum torvum, commonly used as eggplant rootstock. Young plants of both species were watered during 25 days with NaCl aqueous solutions at the following four final concentrations: 0 (for the controls), 100, 200, and 3...

The efficient management and distribution of experimental data from pre‐breeding projects is important to ensure uptake of valuable germplasm into breeding and research programmes. Being able to access and share this data in standard formats is essential in this process. The adoption of a common informatics platform for crops which may have limited...

Crop wild relatives (CWRs) have been barely used in eggplant (Solanum melongena) breeding. However, introgression breeding may help coping with the challenges posed by climate change. We evaluated during the rainy and dry seasons nine accessions of eggplant, nine accessions of seven related species, of which six are CWRs and one a cultivated relati...

The identification of heterotic groups may provide an important advantage for hybrid eggplant (Solanum melongena) breeding. In this study, we evaluated the combining ability and heterotic patterns of eggplant lines in order to develop improved eggplant cultivars resistant to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melongenae (FOM). A set of 62 inbred lines was e...

Assessment of the diversity of reproductive traits and genetic variation is of great relevance to the conservation of genetic resources and management of silver fir (Abies alba) populations. We have evaluated reproductive characteristics associated with female cones and seed morphology, as well as seed germination after subjecting seeds to five sto...

Background: The use of sequencing and genotyping platforms has undergone dramatic improvements, enabling the generation of a wealth of genomic information. Despite this progress, the availability of high-quality genomic DNA (gDNA) in sufficient concentrations is often a main limitation, especially for third-generation sequencing platforms. A variet...

Background The use of sequencing and genotyping platforms has undergone dramatic improvements, enabling the generation of a wealth of genomic information. Despite this progress, the availability of high-quality genomic DNA (gDNA) in sufficient concentrations is often a main limitation, especially for third-generation sequencing platforms. A variety...

Eggplant (Solanum melongena) has been described as moderately sensitive to salinity. We characterised the responses to salt stress of eggplant and S. insanum, its putative wild ancestor. Young plants of two accessions of both species were watered for 25 days with an irrigation solution containing NaCl at concentrations of 0 (control), 50, 100, 200,...

Forest ecosystems are frequently exposed to abiotic stress, which adversely affects their growth, resistance and survival. For silver fir (Abies alba), the physiological and biochemical responses to water and salt stress have not been extensively studied. Responses of one-year-old seedlings to a 30-day water stress (withholding irrigation) or salt...

Introgression lines (ILs) of eggplant (Solanum melongena) represent a resource of high value for breeding and the genetic analysis of important traits. We have conducted a phenotypic evaluation in two environments (open field and screenhouse) of 16 ILs from the first set of eggplant ILs developed so far. Each of the ILs carries a single marker-defi...

Background: Efficient organogenesis induction in eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) is required for multiple in vitro culture applications. In this work, we aimed at developing a universal protocol for efficient in vitro regeneration of eggplant mainly based on the use of zeatin riboside (ZR). We evaluated the effect of seven combinations of ZR with i...

Drought periods are becoming more frequent and intense, due to the effects of climate change, threatening natural habitats worldwide, including European forests. Forest trees can also be affected by high soil salinity, because of the common practice of de-icing of mountain roads with NaCl in winter. We have evaluated the responses to salt and water...

Solanum incanumis a wild species, related to the cultivated eggplant (S. melongena), that has a great interest because it grows naturally in desertic areas and it is reported as having considerable drought tolerance (Knapp et al., 2013). In plant breeding, the development of introgression lines (ILs) populations is a strategy of great interest that...

We developed a universal protocol for the eggplant regeneration. Taking advantage of the polysomaty can also be used to obtain stable non-chimeric polyploid plants. Our approach, in which ZR proved of great value for developing a highly efficient regeneration protocol in an otherwise recalcitrant species, might be of interest in other related recal...

This chapter presents a brief description of the most relevant applications of plant biotechnology, with examples of specific techniques that can be used to provide commercial products and services to customers and represent, therefore, business opportunities to entrepreneurs. Start-up companies can base their activities on the development of molec...

Little information is available on the physiological and biochemical responses to water stress in eggplant (Solanum melongena). We evaluated four genetically diverse eggplant varieties (MEL3-MEL6) under control and water stress conditions. Measurements were taken for plant growth, tissue water content, levels of chlorophylls a and b, carotenoids, p...

Tomato chlorotic dwarf viroid (TCDVd) is a pospiviroid that causes severe disease symptoms in tomato. TCDVd is also naturally found in other crops and plants, in most occasions being asymptomatic. Apart from the natural hosts reported up to now, artificial inoculations have revealed that TCDVd can infect other plants, including eggplant (Solanum me...

An essential step in many plant breeding programmes is the morphoagronomic phenotyping of the materials that are being developed, using standardized descriptors or, when not available, as it is the case of new crops, consensus guidelines to characterize them. Although many of the traits must be evaluated in the field, those related to the shape and...

La tecnología Single Primer Enrichment Technology (SPET, US Patente 9,650,628) es un sistema de genotipado de alto rendimiento desarrollado por NuGEN. Mediante un panel elaborado dentro del proyecto G2P-SOL, consistente en 11.000 SNP/indel distribuidos mayoritariamente en regiones ricas en genes, se genotiparon generaciones de retrocruzamiento (BC)...

The cultivated eggplant (Solanum melongena) and the wild relatives species can have prickles in several plant organs, such as stem, leaf, pedicel or calyx. The presence of pric-kles is an undesired character for the management of the crop and for this reason one of the objectives of breeding in eggplant is the selection of varieties that show absen...

El pepino dulce (Solanum. muricatum), es una fruta solanácea que esta estrechamente emparentada con el tomate (S. lycopersicum) y la papa (S. tuberosum). Los frutos de este cultivo son comestibles, aromáticos, de sabor agradable, con un alto contenido en vitaminas, minerales y compuestos fenólicos. Esta especie es originaria de la región andina per...

Silverleaf nightshade (Solanum elaeagnifolium Cav.) is a drought tolerant invasive weed native to the New World. Despite its interest for common eggplant (S. melongena L.) breeding, up to now no success has been obtained in introgression breeding of eggplant with American Solanum species. Using an interspecific hybrid between common eggplant and S....

Long shelf-life tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) landraces, characterized by carrying the alc allele in the NOR.NAC locus, have been traditionally cultivated in the Mediterranean region. These materials are adapted to open field conditions under low input conditions. However, cultivation under greenhouse is expanding fueled by increasing demand of the...

Formation of new Universitary postgraduates specialized in developing new varieties of crops of economic interest is of great relevance for addressing the challenges associated to climate change. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to acquire skills for performing interspecific crosses between cultivated species and their relatives. Crop wild rel...

Obtención de retrocruces avanzados de Solanum elaeagnifolium en el fondo genético de S. melongena para la mejora genética de la berenjena.

Obtención de retrocruces avanzados de Solanum elaeagnifolium en el fondo genético de S. melongena para la mejora genética de la berenjena. Palabras clave: Solanum melongena, S. elaeagnifolium, introgresión, especies silvestres, germoplasma terciario, sequía. RESUMEN Solanum elaeagnifolium es una planta adventicia originaria de América altamente tol...

Solanum incanum es una especie silvestre altamente tolerante a la sequía considerada como parte del germoplasma secundario de la berenjena común (S. melongena). Con anterioridad a este trabajo, a través de un esquema de retrocruces con selección asistida por marcadores, se desarrolló una colección de materiales de introgresión avanzados y un conjun...

Evaluation and prediction of the performance of hybrids is important in eggplant (Solanum melongena) breeding. A set of 10 morphologically highly diverse eggplant parents, including nine inbred S. melongena and one weedy S. insanum accessions, were intercrossed according to a half-diallel mating design without reciprocals to obtain 45 hybrids. Pare...

Pearson linear correlation coefficients between descriptors. Only those traits for which at least one correlation was significant (values in bold) according to the Bonferroni test (p < 0.05; r ≥ 0.4928) are included. (XLSX)

Genetic distance (GD) matrix among the 10 eggplant parents. GD values are based on identity by state (IBS) and calculated as GD = 1-IBS. (XLSX)

Values for each of the parents and hybrids for the 28 conventional and Tomato Analyzer descriptors evaluated. (XLSX)

European larch (Larix decidua) is naturally distributed at high elevations in Central Europe. Romanian populations of L. decidua are scattered in different areas of the country. In this study, we used 12 highly informative genomic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers for genotyping seven populations from different areas of Romania. The SSR markers...

Simple sequence repeat (SSR) and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers are amongst the most common markers of choice for studies of diversity and relationships in horticultural species. We have used 11 SSR and 35 SNP markers derived from transcriptome sequencing projects to fingerprint 48 accessions of a collection of brinjal (Solanum melong...

Solanum insanum L. (Solanaceaeae) is the wild progenitor of common eggplant (S. melongena L.) and is naturally distributed in south and southeast Asia, Madagascar and Mauritius. Despite interest in its potential for eggplant breeding it has not been studied extensively. Solanum insanum has been subjected to various taxonomic treatments, with severa...

Cannabis sativa L. is cultivated for its fiber or seeds (var. sativa; hemp), or for its high content in cannabinoids (var. indica; marijuana). Knowledge of the genetic structure of C. sativa var. indica is important for selection and breeding of cultivars with medicinal interest. We used six genomic SSRs (gSSRs) for genotyping 154 individual plants...

Dramatic advances in genomics during the last decades have led to a revolution in the field of vegetable crops breeding. Some vegetables, like tomato, have served as model crops in the application of genomic tools to plant breeding but other important crops, like eggplant (Solanum melongena), lagged behind. The advent of next generation sequencing...

Silver-leaf nightshade (Solanum elaeagnifolium; ELE) is an invasive weed highly tolerant to drought considered as part of the tertiary genepool of eggplant (S. melongena; MEL). In an attempt to introgress S. elaeagnifolium drought tolerance into the cultivated eggplant we made multiple crosses of two accessions of S. elaeagnifolium with six differe...

Increasing the content in bioactive phenolics in the eggplant (Solanum melongena) fruit is of interest, but may result in enhanced browning. We evaluated six varieties of S. melongena, 22 accessions of wild related species and 42 interspecific hybrids between cultivated eggplant and wild relatives for phenolics content, fruit flesh colour, polyphen...

Advanced backcrosses (ABs) and introgression lines (ILs) of eggplant (Solanum melongena) can speed up genetics and genomics studies and breeding in this crop. We have developed the first full set of ABs and ILs in eggplant using Solanum incanum, a wild eggplant that has a relatively high tolerance to drought, as a donor parent. The development of t...

Brinjal (Solanum melongena), scarlet (S. aethiopicum) and gboma (S. macrocarpon) eggplants are three Old World domesticates. The genomic DNA of a collection of accessions belonging to the three cultivated species, along with a representation of various wild relatives, was characterized for the presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) usin...