The flavonoid compounds, proanthocyanidins (PAs), protect plants from biotic stresses, contribute to the taste of many fruits, and are beneficial to human health in the form of dietary antioxidants. In this study, we functionally characterized two Malus crabapple R2R3-MYB transcription factors, McMYB12a and McMYB12b, which co-regulate PAs and anthocyanin biosynthesis. McMYB12a was shown to be m...

The genetic variation within and between wild apple samples (Malus sylvestris) and cultivated apple trees was investigated with amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP) and microsatellite markers to develop a conservation genetics programme for the endangered wild apple in Belgium. In total, 76 putative wild apples (originating from Belgium and Germany), six presumed hybrids and 39 cultiv...

Red leaf color is an attractive trait of Malus families, including crabapple (Malus spp.); however, little is known about the molecular mechanisms that regulate the coloration. Dihydroflavonols are intermediates in the production of both colored anthocyanins and colorless flavonols, and this current study focused on the gene expression balance involved in the relative accumulation of these comp...

Sclereid formation in addition to or in gaps of fragmented fibre rings is common in dicotyledonous plant stems. Whether this sclereid formation is force-triggered remains open so far. In fruit peduncles of several Malus species as modified plant stems, for example, the persistent fibre ring is displaced to the centre by formation of cortex parenchyma during growth. Parenchyma cells subsequently...

We study the relation between the acquisition and analysis of data and quantum theory using a probabilistic and deterministic model for photon polarizers. We introduce criteria for efficient processing of data and then use these criteria to demonstrate that efficient processing of the data contained in single events is equivalent to the observation that Malus’ law holds. A strictly deterministi...

Biphenyl synthase and benzophenone synthase constitute an evolutionarily distinct clade of type III polyketide synthases (PKSs) that use benzoic acid-derived substrates to produce defense metabolites in plants. The use of benzoyl-CoA as an endogenous substrate is unusual for type III PKSs. Moreover, sequence analyses indicate that the residues responsible for the functional diversification of t...

Malus xiaojinensis iron-regulated transporter 1 (Mx IRT1) is a highly effective inducible iron transporter in the iron efficient plant Malus xiaojinensis. As a multi-pass integral plasma membrane (PM) protein, Mx IRT1 is predicted to consist of eight transmembrane domains, with a putative N-terminal signal peptide (SP) of 1-29 amino acids. To explore the role of the putative SP, constructs expr...

We propose an extreme test of quantum theory using astrophysical black holes and entangled photons from atomic cascades. The identification of a cascade emission close to a black-hole event horizon would allow us to observe photons entangled with partners that have fallen behind the horizon. The experiment involves testing the characteristic cos Θ modulation of photon transmission through a pai...

Malus sieversii, a wild progenitor of domesticated apple, is distributed in western Xinjiang of China, eastern part of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia. To well understand the genetic structure and the historical demography of this important germplasm resource, we sampled 15 populations with 110 individuals of Malus sieversii from the Yili Valley and the western mountains of the Jungga...

Gene flow is an essential component of population adaptation and species evolution. Understanding of the natural and anthropogenic factors affecting gene flow is also critical for the development of appropriate management, breeding, and conservation programs. Here, we explored the natural and anthropogenic factors impacting crop-to-wild and within wild gene flow in apples in Europe using an unp...