Miloslav Kitner

Palacký University Olomouc · Department of Botany

Quaternary climatic fluctuations changed the floristic composition of large areas and forced biota to repeated movements following gradients of their ecological tolerance. Different and contrasting patterns of responses were reported for various species. In this study we focused on Adenophora liliifolia, a perennial herbaceous species representing...

Plasmopara halstedii (Farl.) Berl. et de Toni, is a biotrophic parasite of sunflower (Helianthus annuus). We genetically analysed 162 P. halstedii samples collected in the years 1982 to 2018, representing a 3,500 km west‐east transect across Europe, from France to the Krasnodar region in Southern Russia. To assess the population genetic structure a...

Allium sect. Codonoprasum represents an evolutionarily young and rapidly radiating group of bulbous geophytes, with a significant proportion of polyploids and minor morphological differences between species. In the last 20 years, dozens of new species have been described from the Mediterranean. However, very little new information has been obtained...

In late summer 2022 and 2023, powdery mildew symptoms were found on female plants of hemp ( Cannabis sativa ) growing in a private garden in Hradec nad Moravicí (Silesia, Czech Republic). On the upper sides of the leaves, white powdery colonies were observed which coalesced and finally covered the whole leaf surface. The stems and flowers were not...

Leveillula taurica has until recently been believed to be the causal pathogen of powdery mildew of tomatoes in Mauritius. However, in the year 2022, another powdery mildew species was detected on tomatoes under culture in various tomato growing localities of the island. Based on morphological comparison and molecular analysis, its identity was conf...

Pinguicula vulgaris is one of the most common carnivorous plants in the Northern Hemisphere. It is a member of the species complex (P. vulgaris agg.) of which in Europe six taxa are recognized at different taxonomic ranks. One of them is P. bohemica, a taxon considered endemic to the Czech Republic, for which there are varied reports on its chromos...

Egypt is considered one of the centers of cultivated lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) domestication. However, traditional Egyptian lettuce landraces and their sympatric wild relatives have not been comprehensively described. We assembled a set of 35 lettuce samples from Egypt (landraces of L. sativa Cos and Oilseed types plus L. serriola L.), and compar...

The downy mildew pathogen Pseudoperonospora humuli is a major disease of cultivated and wild hop (Humulus lupulus) in many hop-growing areas of the world. Despite its frequent occurence and economic impact, so far very little is known with respect to its population structure, which would be a prerequisite for understanding population dynamics and f...

The present work summarizes important new information and results focused on powdery mildew occurring on the genus Lactuca from a growing body, including long-term research. This plant genus is host to at least three biologically and ecologically different genera of powdery mildew: Golovinomyces (U. Braun) Heluta, Podosphaera Kunze, and Leveillula...

Powdery mildews on the Asteraceae family were surveyed during 2007–2015 in the Czech Republic with the aim to increase our knowledge about occurrence, morphological characteristics and host specificity of powdery mildews on this family. In total, 32 host species with symptoms of powdery mildew were collected, and the fungal species were identified...

Along with Plasmopara destructor, Peronosopora belbahrii has arguably been the economically most important newly emerging downy mildew pathogen of the past two decades. Originating from Africa, it has started devastating basil production throughout the world, most likely due to the distribution of infested seed material. Here, we present the genome...

The North American crop wild relatives (CWR) of lettuce (Lactuca L.) represent an underexplored pool of genetic diversity of potential value to breeding programs. The 10 species belong to three different groups: a native clade including at least six allotetraploid species [L. biennis (Moench) Fernald, L. canadensis L., L. floridana (L.) Gaertn., L....

Jordan contributes significantly to the Near East plant biodiversity with numerous primitive forms and species of crops and their wild relatives. Prickly lettuce (Lactuca serriola) is a common species in Jordan, where it grows in various habitats. During a survey of wild Lactuca distribution in Jordan in August 2007, plants of L. serriola with natu...

Along with Plasmopara destructor, Peronosopora belbahrii has arguably been the economically most important newly emerging downy mildew pathogen of the past two decades. Originating from Africa, it has started devastating basil production throughout the world, most likely due to the distribution of infested seed material. Here we present the genome...

Knowledge of the recent distribution, host range, virulence, DNA profiles, and resistance to fungicides of Pseudoperonospora cubensis (Berk. & M.A. Curtis) Rostovzev, and sources of host resistance to this pathogen are reviewed. P. cubensis is widely distributed in nearly all continents, with a high capacity to adapt to changing environmental condi...

This chapter presents a brief history of the uses of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) and its wild North American relatives and reviews the agricultural importance of lettuce and challenges in its cultivation, in relation to nutritional quality, diseases, pests, and edaphic and climatic limitations. The evolution and taxonomy of the genus Lactuca are pr...

Golovinomyces orontii is a common plurivorous powdery mildew species with wide host range and worldwide distribution, usually occurring as asexual morph. Ascomata (chasmothecia) are rarely formed on most hosts. Phylogenetic analyses based on rDNA ITS and 28S rDNA data of a wide range of powdery mildew collections of G. orontii s. lat. suggested a h...

The study involved 121 samples of the common weed, Lactuca serriola L. (prickly lettuce), representing 53 populations from Sweden and Slovenia. The seed materials, originating from different habitats, were regenerated and taxonomically validated at the Department of Botany, Palacký University in Olomouc, Czech Republic. The morphological characteri...

Plume-poppy (Macleaya R. Br.), a member of the Papaveraceae family, is typically grown in gardens as a subject for flower arranging. In September 2015, during a survey of powdery mildew occurrence in the Medicinal Herbs Centre of the Faculty of Medicine and the Botanical Garden of the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University in Brno (Czech Republic...

Vavilovia formosa is one of five genera in tribe Fabeae, (Fabaceae, Leguminosae) with close phylogenetic relationships to Pisum. It grows in subalpine and alpine levels in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Russia and Turkey and is recognized as an endangered and protected plant. This study was conducted to reveal its intraspecific...

Allium pseudotelmatum, a new species of A. sect. Codonoprasum, is described from the southern Dalmatia (Croatia). It is a late-summer flowering species with pentaploid (2n = 40) chromosome complement, occurring in synanthropic habitats (Citrus orchards with nutrient rich and fresh moist soil). Karyology, leaf anatomy, morphology, ecology, molecular...

Vavilovia formosa is one of five genera in tribe Fabeae, (Fabaceae, Leguminosae) with close phylogenetic relationships to Pisum. It grows in subalpine and alpine levels in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Russia and Turkey and is recognized as an endangered and protected plant. This study was conducted to reveal its intraspecific...

Leaves with typical symptoms of downy mildew were found on common agrimony in the Czech Republic in 2014 and 2015 and at several locations in Germany from 2010 to 2014. The causal agent of downy mildew of agrimony was often reported as Peronospora agrimoniae, but sometimes also as P. sparsa. Morphological characteristics of the pathogens found in b...

During the vegetation seasons 2012–2015, symptoms of severe infections by a rust disease were recorded on plants of the ornamental species Centaurea macrocephala. Based on morphology, the pathogen was identified as Puccinia jaceae or Puccinia hieracii, which have recently been considered as synonyms. However, substantial differences between P. jace...

Cucurbit powdery mildew caused by Golovinomyces orontii is a serious disease that affects cucurbit crops in temperate areas. In northern Italy, the species is responsible for the early infections at the beginning of the growing season. However, chasmothecia have never been recorded in Italy and the impact of either asexual or sexual reproduction of...

This study deals with populations of the European-South-Siberian geoelement Adenophora liliifolia (L.) A. DC. in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Poland, where this species has its European periphery distribution. We studied the population size, genetic variability, site conditions, and vegetation units in which A. liliifolia gro...

Background Downy mildews are the most speciose group of oomycetes and affect crops of great economic importance. So far, there is only a single deeply-sequenced downy mildew genome available, from Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis. Further genomic resources for downy mildews are required to study their evolution, including pathogenicity effector prote...

It is important to optimize strategies for collecting wild germplasm from their natural habitats for the successful conservation of plant genetic resources. We studied the population structure of three predominantly self-pollinating wild Lactuca species (Lactuca serriola, L. saligna, and L. aculeata). Seeds for this study were collected from indivi...

In June 2014, symptoms of downy mildew were recorded on leaves of several buckwheat accessions grown in experimental fields at the Crop Research Institute in Olomouc, Czech Republic. Morphological characteristics of the pathogen were described. A BLAST search of the NCBI database revealed 99% identity to the deposited ITS rDNA sequence of Peronospo...

In total, seventy two Lactuca aculeata and three L. serriola samples originating from natural populations of these species in Turkey, Jordan, and Israel were analysed by eight microsatellite and 287 amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers. Neighbor-Network and Bayesian clustering were used for visualisation of the differences among th...

In May 2014, symptoms of a rust disease were recorded on some leaves of pot marigold cultivated in experimental fields at the Crop Research Institute in Olomouc, Czech Republic. Based on morphological characteristics, the pathogen was identified as Puccinia lagenophorae Cooke. A BLAST search of the NCBI database revealed 100% identity part of large...

Pseudoperonospora cubensis is an oomycete pathogen causing downy mildew disease on a variety of Cucurbitaceae, and has recently re-emerged as a destructive disease on crops in this family, mainly on cucumber and squash. Multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) of four mitochondrial and two nuclear DNA regions was used to detect changes in the genetic st...

Populations of polyploid apomictic dandelions consist of a mixture of clonal genotypes that are almost phenotypically and genetically uniform. Some apomictic taxa are widespread, but many other taxa occur locally or at a single locality. Some of the Central European dandelion populations consist of both diploid sexuals and polyploid apomicts. Expec...

In 2012, severe downy mildew was observed in a field of basil plants (cv. Dark Green) at the Crop Research Institute (CRI) in Olomouc, Czech Republic. Based on morphological characteristics, the pathogen was identified as Peronospora belbahrii Thines. A BLAST search of the NCBI database revealed 99% identity of ITS rDNA sequence of our specimen to...

During the growing seasons from 2009 to 2012, disease prevalence, severity and the host range of P. cubensis were evaluated at more than 80 locations of the Czech Republic (CR). Infection by P. cubensis was observed primarily on Cucumis sativus, where medium to high disease severity prevailed. From 2010 to 2012, P. cubensis infection was also repea...

V průběhu kontroly zdravotního stavu polních porostů genetických zdrojů léčivých, aromatických a kořeninových rostlin (LAKR) v letech 2012-2014 byly na rostlinách některých druhů zaznamenány symptomy napadení patogeny, jejichž výskyt (resp. výskyt na daném hostiteli) nebyl v České republice dosud publikován. V r. 2012 jsme na bazalce vonné zjistili...

Downy mildew caused by Pseudoperonospora cubensis is a major disease of cucurbits worldwide. New genotypes of the pathogen have recently appeared in the USA, EU and Israel causing breakdown of genetic resistance, expansion of host range, and the appearance of a new A2 mating type. Seventy-eight P. cubensis isolates were collected during 1996–2011 f...

Current knowledge of wild Lactuca L. species, their taxonomy, biogeography, gene-pools, germplasm collection quality and quantity, and accession availability is reviewed in this paper. Genetic diversity of Lactuca spp. is characterized at the level of phenotypic and phenological variation, variation in karyology and DNA content, biochemical traits,...

In the years 2009–2010, activities of the conservation programme “The conservation of the Long-stalked Pondweed (Potamogeton praelongus) in the Czech Republic” were conducted as a component part of the programme “Action Plans for Endangered Species” and were supported by the EEA/Norwegian Financial Mechanisms and the Ministry of the Environment of...

According to the European Red list, Potamogeton praelongus Wulfen (Potamogetonaceae) is a Least Concern species predominantly distributed throughout northern Europe, Asia and North America. It is considered a critically endangered species in the Czech Republic, with the last natural population in a standing oxbow in the Orlice river floodplain at M...

Filamentous epipelic cyanobacteria were isolated from ponds and lakes in the Czech Republic, Austria and Italy. Morphological and genetic variation of 20 isolated strains within the genera Geitlerinema, Microcoleus and Phormidium were studied. Partial sequences of the 16S rRNA gene were used for phylogenetic analyses, and secondary structure of the...

Dandelions (genus Taraxacum) comprise a group of sexual diploids and apomictic polyploids with a complicated reticular evolution. Apomixis (clonal reproduction through seeds) in this genus is considered to be obligate, and therefore represent a good model for studying the role of asexual reproduction in microevolutionary processes of apomictic gene...

List of apomictic Taraxacum accessions used in this study with sampling details. Country abbreviations: CZ – Czechia; SK – Slovakia; collector abbreviations: BT – Bohumil Trávniček, RJV – Radim J. Vašut, LM – Ľuboš Majeský. The columns: F/H refers to plant material used for DNA extraction, F – fresh leaves, H – herbarium voucher, FB – flower buds;...

The wild lettuce, Lactuca aculeata Boiss, is a robust and very prickly annual plant geographically restricted to the Near East and the Anatolian plateau. Israel is within the conjectured centre of origin of L aculeata, which is closely related and fully interfertile with cultivated lettuce, Lactuca sativa L. Twenty-eight L aculeata, five Lactuca se...

Genetic variability within and among fragmented populations of Artemisia pancicii was investigated in order to obtain a general understanding of the genetic structure related to the successful protection of this highly endangered species. Genetic variation within and among 15 populations of A. pancicii in Central Europe was analysed using amplified...

In the years 2002-2008, missions were undertaken in the USA and Canada to search for wild and weedy Lactuca species. Altogether, 16 states in the USA (Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming) and two provinces in Canada (Ontario a...

Our biotechnological research on selected Cucumis species has encompassed interspecific hybridization via embryo-rescue, in vitro pollination, somatic hybridization and cytogenetics of protoplasts. Embryo-rescue and in vitro pollination are suitable in vitro techniques for production of hybrid embryos. These methods were tested and optimized for cu...

Intact plants and in vitro cultures of four pea (Pisum sativum) cultivars (Adept, Herold, Komet, Menhir) that vary in their degree of susceptibility/resistance to Fusarium solani were inoculated with this pathogen or treated with its culture filtrates to compare their reaction patterns at the phenotypic, histological and biochemical level. Changes...

This paper focuses on the morphology, taxonomy and ecology of the widespread cyanobacteria of the genus Nodularia Mertens ex Hornet & Flahault. In this study the benthic strain of N. sphaerocarpa, isolated from a sand-pit near Olomouc (Czech Republic), is compared with brackish and seawater strains. Changes in morphology and growth parameters (biom...

The accessions of the morel (Morchellaceae, Ascomycota) germplasm collection were genetically analyzed, in order to determine both their inter- and intraspecific relationships. This was done as a starting point for cultivation experiments, as well as to provide a genetic description of invasive morel populations linked to mulched garden patches, as...

Three genetic similarity coefficients were estimated and compared for their usefulness: simple matching (S SM), Jaccard’s (S J) and Dice’s (S D), all based on dominant markers data from individuals representing predominantly self-pollinating species. AFLP markers were used to analyze 139 Phaseolus vulgaris L. (common bean) and 67 Lactuca saligna L....

In this review, we present a critical analysis of the current status of wild Lactuca L. germplasm in relation to its utility for lettuce breeding. We discuss wild Lactuca germplasm in ex situ collections from the perspectives of taxonomy, biogeography, biology and ecology, gene pools, field exploration and acquisition, descriptor development, chara...

Prickly lettuce (Lactuca serriola) is world-wide distributed and very variable species generally considered as a progenitor of the cultivated lettuce (Lactuca sativa). Altogether, 50 populations of L serriola were characterized by means of amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and by isozyme analysis. Relationships among individuals and pop...

More than 60% of conventional drugs are derived from natural compounds, some of the most effective pharmaceuticals (e.g. aspirin, quinine and various antibiotics) originate from plants or microbes, and large numbers of potentially valuable natural substances remain to be discovered. Plants with considerable medicinal potential include members of th...

Molecular genetic polymorphisms within Pseudoperonospora cubensis isolates of different geographic origins were investigated to establish their phylogenetic relationships and to assess genetic variability between two distant pathogen populations. Thirty isolates originating from Greece (Crete; 15), the Czech Republic (13), the Netherlands (one) and...

This paper reports on the structural rearrangement of satellite DNA type I repeats and heterochromatin during the dedifferentiation and cell cycling of mesophyll protoplasts of cucumber (Cucumis sativus). These repeats were localized in the telomeric heterochromatin of cucumber chromosomes and in the chromocenters of interphase nuclei. The dramatic...

Lactuca saligna L. (least lettuce, willow-leaf lettuce) is widely distributed around the Mediterranean basin and extends to the Caucasus and temperate Europe its extra-European distribution covers the Middle East. The aim of this study was to estimate the level of molecular variation and the extent of genetic differentiation of L. saligna in access...

The present paper focuses on the epipelic cyanobacteria and algae (particularly desmids). Altogether 45 sediment samples were taken at ponds covering a pH/conductivity and trophic gradients. Statistic evaluation based on environmental variables measured, divided localities into four major groups differing also by sediment quality and its algal flor...

Epipelic assemblages have not been studied in the Czech Republic yet. The sampling method following Round (1953) was used for the fist time in the Czech Republic. The epipelic assemblages were dominated by diatoms, particularly in mesotrophic and meso-eutrophic fishponds, eutrophic fishponds were dominated by green algae and cyanobacteria. A total...

Spring and summer vertical distributions of attached algae were studied on artificial substrates (glass cover slips) in shallow fishponds of different trophic status. Differences were found in colonization process between two fishponds, two seasons and between two sites at each fishpond (central part, fishpond shore). Oligotrophic fishpond U třech...

The algal colonization process in the littoral zone of two fishponds of different trophic status was studied during spring and summer 2001. Differences were observed between both sites and seasons. Differences in colonization rate and cover degree between two fishponds were probably influenced by differences in water chemistry, especially nutrient...

Changes in abundance, biovolume and morphology of Planktothrix agardhii in a natural population were followed over one year period in shallow fishpond Bílá Lhota (Central Moravia, Czech Republic). The selected environmental parameters (pH, oxygen, temperature, conductivity, nutrients, light) were measured at the surface and at the bottom of the fis...

We describe the first Moravian locality of Dicranochaete reniformis and report our observations on its morphology and autecology. Selected environmental variables, phytoplankton and littoral attached algae were used for the ecological characterization of its new locality. Dicranochaete was studied on submersed plants and artificial substrates using...

The littoral zone of shallow water bodies in the Czech Republic has been studied quite consistently at several fishponds. The use of algae, especially diatoms, for the monitoring of the state of lotic freshwater also has a long tradition. The main objective of the presented paper is to validate the feasibility of the use of littoral periphyton comu...

Anglické resumé