Papers by Francesco Cellini
Acta horticulturae, Nov 1, 2003
Informatore Fitopatologico, 1992
Plants
Recent developments in low-cost imaging hyperspectral cameras have opened up new possibilities fo... more Recent developments in low-cost imaging hyperspectral cameras have opened up new possibilities for high-throughput phenotyping (HTP), allowing for high-resolution spectral data to be obtained in the visible and near-infrared spectral range. This study presents, for the first time, the integration of a low-cost hyperspectral camera Senop HSC-2 into an HTP platform to evaluate the drought stress resistance and physiological response of four tomato genotypes (770P, 990P, Red Setter and Torremaggiore) during two cycles of well-watered and deficit irrigation. Over 120 gigabytes of hyperspectral data were collected, and an innovative segmentation method able to reduce the hyperspectral dataset by 85.5% was developed and applied. A hyperspectral index (H-index) based on the red-edge slope was selected, and its ability to discriminate stress conditions was compared with three optical indices (OIs) obtained by the HTP platform. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) applied to the OIs and H-index ...
Applied Sciences, 2021
Research on organic electrochemical transistor (OECT) based sensors to monitor in vivo plant trai... more Research on organic electrochemical transistor (OECT) based sensors to monitor in vivo plant traits such as xylem sap concentration is attracting attention for their potential application in precision agriculture. Fabrication and electronic aspects of OECT have been the subject of extensive research while its characterization within the plant water relation context deserves further efforts. This study tested the hypothesis that the response (R) of an OECT (bioristor) implanted in the trunk of olive trees is inversely proportional to the water flux density flowing through the plant (Jw). This study also examined the influence on R of vapor pressure deficit (VPD) as coupled/uncoupled with light. R was hourly recorded in potted olive trees for a 10-day period concomitantly with Jw (weight loss method). A subgroup of trees was bagged in order to reduce VPD and in turn Jw, and other trees were located in a walk-in chamber where VPD and light were independently managed. R was tightly sens...
Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 2021
The present study aimed to investigate the extent of variability and relationships between grain ... more The present study aimed to investigate the extent of variability and relationships between grain yield and morpho-physiological durum wheat traits. Sufficient variability was observed for most characters. Based on stress indices, either widely or specifically, adapted lines were identified. Path analysis pointed out to above ground biomass, harvest index, spike fertility and spike number as yield determinants, suggesting that these traits are of interest in the breeding program. The measured traits were classified within 6 principal components accounting for 79.45 % of the total variation. Breeding lines dispersed along first principal component exhibited substantial differences in performance and stress tolerance abilities. Cluster C3 lines were high yielding and stress tolerant. From this cluster, lines L24 and L14 were scored as the best for 7 and 5 traits out of 17 characters, respectively. Both lines are proposed for release and as parents in crosses to take advantage of their ...
Frontiers in Plant Science, 2019
Frontiers in Plant Science, 2020
Many plants can modify their leaf profile rapidly in response to environmental stress. Image-base... more Many plants can modify their leaf profile rapidly in response to environmental stress. Image-based data are increasingly used to retrieve reliable information on plant water status in a non-contact manner that has the potential to be scaled to high-throughput and repeated through time. This paper examined the variation of leaf angle as measured by both 3D images and goniometer in progressively drought stressed grapevine. Grapevines, grown in pots, were subjected to a 21-day period of drought stress receiving 100% (CTRL), 60% (IRR 60%) and 30% (IRR 30%) of maximum soil available water capacity. Leaf angle was (i) measured manually (goniometer) and (ii) computed by a 3D reconstruction method (multi-view stereo and structure from motion). Stomatal conductance, leaf water potential, fluorescence (F v /F m), leaf area and 2D RGB data were simultaneously collected during drought imposition. Throughout the experiment, values of leaf water potential ranged from −0.4 (CTRL) to −1.1 MPa (IRR 30%) and it linearly influenced the leaf angle when measured manually (R 2 = 0.86) and with 3D image (R 2 = 0.73). Drought was negatively related to stomatal conductance and leaf area growth particularly in IRR 30% while photosynthetic parameters (i.e., F v /F m) were not impaired by water restriction. A model for leaf area estimation based on the number of pixels of 2D RGB images developed at a different phenotyping robotized platform in a closely related experiment was successfully employed (R 2 = 0.78). At the end of the experiment, top view 2D RGB images showed a ∼50% reduction of greener fraction (GGF) in CTRL and IRR 60% vines compared to initial values, while GGF in IRR 30% increased by approximately 20%.
Plant Phenomics, 2019
Drought stress imposes a major constraint over a crop yield and can be expected to grow in import... more Drought stress imposes a major constraint over a crop yield and can be expected to grow in importance if the climate change predicted comes about. Improved methods are needed to facilitate crop management via the prompt detection of the onset of stress. Here, we report the use of an in vivo OECT (organic electrochemical transistor) sensor, termed as bioristor, in the context of the drought response of the tomato plant. The device was integrated within the plant’s stem, thereby allowing for the continuous monitoring of the plant’s physiological status throughout its life cycle. Bioristor was able to detect changes of ion concentration in the sap upon drought, in particular, those dissolved and transported through the transpiration stream, thus efficiently detecting the occurrence of drought stress immediately after the priming of the defence responses. The bioristor’s acquired data were coupled with those obtained in a high-throughput phenotyping platform revealing the extreme comple...
Frontiers in Plant Science, 2019
Plant Science, 2018
Progress in remote sensing and robotic technologies decreases the hardware costs of phenotyping. ... more Progress in remote sensing and robotic technologies decreases the hardware costs of phenotyping. Here, we first review cost-effective imaging devices and environmental sensors, and present a trade-off between investment and manpower costs. We then discuss the structure of costs in various real-world scenarios. Hand-held low-cost sensors are suitable for quick and infrequent plant diagnostic measurements. In experiments for genetic or agronomic analyses, (i) major costs arise from plant handling and manpower; (ii) the total costs per pot/microplot are similar in robotized platform or field experiments with drones, hand-held or robotized ground vehicles; (iii) the cost of vehicles carrying sensors represents only 5-26% of the total costs. These conclusions depend on the context, in particular for labor cost, the quantitative demand of phenotyping and the number of days available for phenotypic measurements due to climatic constraints. Data analysis represents 10-20% of total cost if pipelines have already been developed. A trade-off exists between the initial high cost of pipeline development and labor cost of manual operations. Overall, depending on the context and objectives, "cost-effective" phenotyping may involve either low investment ("affordable phenotyping"), or initial high investments in sensors, vehicles and pipelines that result in higher quality and lower operational costs. Highlights-New technologies considerably reduce the costs of sensors and automated vehicles-Low investment in sensors, vehicles or pipelines present trade-offs with labor costs-Plant/plot handling and labor costs represent the major proportion of costs in phenotyping experiments-The costs of high-throughput experiments in the field and in automated platforms is similar regardless of vehicles-The development of software applications (e.g. imaging, phenotypic analyses, models, information system) is a major part of costs Keywords Phenotyping; Phenomics; Cost; imaging; information system; affordable; 2.4.1 The choice of vehicle mostly depends on the demand for microplots per year 2.4.2 The cost of imaging devices is similar to that of vehicles that carry sensors 2.5 Costs of typical experiments 2.5.1 Image analysis: a tradeoff between investment in automated workflows and day-today labor costs 2.5.2 High costs for data analysis for the identification of traits 2.5.3 Costs associated with data storage and organization ensure the possibility of reusing datasets III An unexpected structure of costs has large consequences on conclusions about cost effectiveness
Frontiers in Plant Science, 2017
The PII protein in plants has been associated to many different tissue specialized roles concerni... more The PII protein in plants has been associated to many different tissue specialized roles concerning the Nitrogen assimilation pathways. We report here the further characterization of L. japonicus transgenic lines overexpressing the PII protein encoded by the LjGLB1 gene that is strongly expressed in the guard cells of Lotus plants. Consistently with a putative role played by PII in that specific cellular context we have observed an alteration of the patterns of stomatal movement in the overexpressing plants. An increased stomatal closure is measured in epidermal peels from detached leaves of normally watered overexpressing plants when compared to wild type plants and this effect was bypassed by Abscisic Acid application. The biochemical characterization of the transgenic lines indicates an increased rate of the Nitric Oxide biosynthetic route, associated to an induced Nitrate Reductase activity. The phenotypic characterization is completed by measures of the photosynthetic potential in plants grown under greenhouse conditions, which reveal a higher stress index of the PII overexpressing plants.
XV Meeting of the EUCARPIA Tomato Working Group, 2008
Plants growing in close proximity exhibit the shade avoidance syndrome in response to reflected f... more Plants growing in close proximity exhibit the shade avoidance syndrome in response to reflected far-red (FR) radiation from neighbors. The shade avoidance response essentially redirects resources and growth potential from the leaf and storage organs into increased extension growth to optimize light capture by plants. Molecular-genetic studies implicated ATHB2, a homeodomain-leucine zipper (HD-Zip) transcription factor, as a major regulator of the shade avoidance response in Arabidopsis. To further characterize the function of ATHB2 and related HD-Zip proteins (HD-ZIP II), Arabidopsis transgenic plants expressing a derivative of ATHB2 containing a single amino acid substitution in the HD domain (ATHB2N51A), which is known to abolish DNA binding of homodimeric as well as heterodimeric complexes, were generated. This mutation is expected to produce a dominant-negative phenotype. Indeed, at the seedling stage, the phenotype of the ATHB2N51A lines is the same as that shown by antisense ATHB2 lines, but more severe. At later stages of development, the dominant-negative plants produce more leaves and a higher number of lateral inflorescences than the controls. Furthermore, expression of ATHB2N51A in Arabidopsis seedlings attenuates the elongation response induced by shade. We then took advantage of the Arabidopsis dominant negative athb2 mutant to investigate the function of the tomato orthologues. The HD-Zip domain within the HD-ZIP II family has been highly conserved during evolution, and thus it is likely that overexpression of the Arabidopsis ATHB2N51A gene in tomato may result in the formation of heterodimeric complexes with the endogenous HD-ZIP II proteins preventing that of functional dimers. Transgenic tomato expressing constitutively the Arabidopsis ATHB2N51A gene showed strong alteration of the phenotype. Plants had shorter internodes and high proliferation of lateral branches. Furthermore flowering was delayed. We can speculate that the Arabidopsis ATHB2N51A forms heterodimers with the tomato ortholog, so that the transcription of the target gene is highly affected.
Italian Journal of Agronomy, 2011
Changes in quality properties of air heat-treated (45°C for 0, 2 and 4 h) strawberries were inves... more Changes in quality properties of air heat-treated (45°C for 0, 2 and 4 h) strawberries were investigated. As treatment time increased, most of physical, chemical and DNA quality properties decreased significantly. After 4 h, however, fruits showed the highest L* value, Hue angle, pH, soluble solids content (SSC) and total phenolic accumulation. The results of multiplex PCR assays showed two amplified fragments for all samples extracted from achenes. In thalamus, conversely, the number of amplified fragments decreased with time, indicating great degradation of DNA in this tissue.
Scientia Horticulturae, 2014
Drought is one of the most significant abiotic stresses that limits the growth and productivity o... more Drought is one of the most significant abiotic stresses that limits the growth and productivity of crop plants. We investigated the physiological and molecular responses of tomato plants treated with Megafol ® (Valagro S.p.A), under specific drought conditions. The goal was to evaluate the impact of Megafol ® , a biostimulant composed of a complex of vitamins, aminoacids, proteins and betaines, in attenuating the negative physiological responses of drought. Tomato plants were grown in a greenhouse, and physiological parameters were collected using Scanalyzer 3D (LemnaTec, GmbH), a plant phenomics platform. Using this technology it is possible to dynamically study the effects of biostimulants, such as Megafol ® , on plant development in terms of early detection of physiological plant stress responses. The results showed that drought-stressed plants treated with Megafol ® were healthier in terms of the biomass produced and chlorophyll fluorescence, thus highlighting the higher tolerance to stress of the treated plants. The effects of Megafol ® were also studied at a molecular level by analysing the induction of genes typically involved in drought stress responses. Our results demonstrate the efficacy of Megafol ® to reduce drought-stress related damage in tomato plants.
Molecular Breeding, 2015
A TILLING allele of the tomato Aux/IAA9 gene offers new insights into fruit set mechanisms and pe... more A TILLING allele of the tomato Aux/IAA9 gene offers new insights into fruit set mechanisms and perspectives for breeding seedless tomatoes. (2015) Molecular Breeding, vol. 35 (n° 1).
British Journal of Nutrition, 2008
Lycopene β-cyclase (tlcy-b) tomatoes, obtained by modulating carotenogenesis via genetic engineer... more Lycopene β-cyclase (tlcy-b) tomatoes, obtained by modulating carotenogenesis via genetic engineering, contain a large amount of β-carotene, as clearly visible by their intense orange colour. In the present study we have subjectedtlcy-btomatoes to anin vitrosimulated digestion and analysed the effects of digestate on cell proliferation. To this aim we used HT-29 human colon adenocarcinoma cells, grown in monolayers, as a model. Digested tomatoes were diluted (20 ml, 50 ml and 100 ml/l) in culture medium and added to the cells for different incubation times (24 h, 48 h and 72 h). Inhibition of cell growth by tomato digestate was dose-dependent and resulted from an arrest of cell cycle progression at the G0/G1 and G2/M phase and by apoptosis induction. A down-regulation of cyclin D1, Bcl-2 and Bcl-xl expression was observed. We also found that heat treatment of samples before digestion enhanced β-carotene release and therefore cell growth inhibition. To induce with purified β-carotene ...
Journal of General Virology, 1995
A cucumber mosaic virus (CMV-Ix) from Ixora is unusual in that it does not support the accumulati... more A cucumber mosaic virus (CMV-Ix) from Ixora is unusual in that it does not support the accumulation of some well-characterized CMV satellite RNAs in plants. CMV-Ix can support a particular satellite RNA variant which causes lethal tomato necrosis when inoculated with other CMV strains but not when inoculated with CMV-Ix. This difference in ability to support accumulation of specific satellite variants is apparent even when their sequences differ by only 10 nucleotides. Electroporation of tomato protoplasts with combinations of CMV-Ix or CMV-1 RNA plus the same satellite variants showed similar differences in accumulation, indicating a defect in satellite RNA replication and not movement or encapsidation. Pseudorecombinant virus infections between CMV-1 and CMV-Ix indicated that the genomic determinants responsible for this phenotype reside on RNA 1 since only combinations with CMV-Ix RNA 1 failed to replicate satellite RNA. The complete genome of CMV-Ix was cloned, sequenced and compared with the genomes of other cucumoviruses. CMV-Ix is most similar in RNA and protein sequence to subgroup 1 CMV-Fny and CMV-Y but slightly less similar than they are to each other. CMV-Ix and all cucumovirus strains sequenced thus far share a domain in the 3' untranslated portion of their genomic RNAs in which 39 of 40 bases are completely conserved.
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Papers by Francesco Cellini