USING MOLECULAR BIOLOGY TECHNOLOGIES FOR OVERCOMING FERTILITY AND QUALITY CONSTRAINS IN DECIDUOUS TREE PLANTATIONS IN NORTHERN ISRAEL Developing a young local scientific leadership that will support and advance agriculture in the Galilee ICA charitable foundation MIGAL – Galilee Technological center Northern agriculture R&D Plant science driven by Galilee challenges

Gal Sapir, Ph.D. from (Kibbutz Kfar Giladi) Fertilization in plums. Joined Migal. Amir Raz, Ph.D. student (Kibbutz Lavi) Fertilization in apricots Annat Zosovich, Ph.D. student (Kibbutz Iftach) Fertilization in pears Principal investigators: Dr. Raffi Stern, plant physiology Prof. Martin Goldway, plant molecular genetics 1) Pollination and fertilization, means for improving yields and fruit quality

The Galilee is the major supplier of plum pears and apricots Far below their biological potential. Our goal: Higher yields with better quality fruits. Our approach: Apples, pears, plums, apricot do not self pollinate Efficiency of cross pollination depends on genetic compatibility We are studying the mechanism of fertilization P2 P1 P3

Molecular markers Genetic compatibility between cultivars Field experiments Results: Identification of cultivars which are better pollinators As a result yields are higher and the fruit quality is better

2)Understanding ripening for prolonging fruit storage Danny Gamrasny, Ph.D. student (Kibbutz Shamir) Post harvest storage of pears Danny Lishansky, M.Sc. student (Moshav Almagor) Post harvest storage of Mango Principal investigators Prof. Ruth Ben Arie, fruit post harvest Prof. Martin Goldway, plant molecular genetics

Our goal: To find the conditions for prolonging storage Our approach: To study fruit ripening applying high throughput molecular genetics To investigate the storage condition with new kinds of ripening inhibitors Results: Novel genes controlling the ripening process were identified Conditions and treatments for prolonging the storage of both pears and mango were identified

Principal investigators: Prof. Rachel Amir, plant metabolomics Dr. Yigal Bar Ilan, analytical chemistry Revital Tzulker, M.Sc. Student (Kiryat Shmona) Compounds with antioxidant activity, Elinor Shwartz, M.Sc. Student (Kibbutz Dafna) Inhibition of the proliferation of prostate cancer Ira Glazer, M.Sc. Student (Kiryat Shmona) Detection of bio-active compound that reduced arthrosclerosis 3) Pomegranate fruit: An analytical platform for food functionality.

Pomegranate contain bioactive compounds. The Upper Galilee will produce, with in two years, a quarter of the total Israeli pomegranate yield. Our goals: To elucidate their bioactive compounds (antioxidant and anti-cancer) in different pomegranate varieties. Our approach: A molecular comparative analysis of pomegranate varieties Identify and determine there bioactive compounds

Results: So far, 4 compounds that reduced blood- pressure, cholesterol accumulation and arthrosclerosis. Our vision: To produce new highly specialized pomegranate orchards with cultivars that produce bioactive compounds for the medical and cosmetic industry.

Stern, R.A., Sapir, G., Shafir, S. and Goldway, M. (2007). The Appropriate Management of Honey Bee Colonies for Pollination of Rosaceae Fruit Trees in Warm Climates. Middle Eastern and Russian Journal of Plant Science and Biotechnology 1(1): Sapir, G., Goldway, M., Shafir, S. and Stern, R.A. (2007). Multiple introduction of honeybee colonies increases cross-pollination, fruit- set and yield of ‘ Black-Diamond ’ Japanese plum (Prunus salicina L.). Journal of Horticultural Sciences and Biotechnology. 82: Sapir, G., Stern, R.A., Shafir, S. and Goldway, M. (2007) SFBs of Japanese plum (Prunus salicina Lindl.): Cloning seven alleles and determining their linkage to the S-RNase gene. HortScience. Sapir, G., Stern, R.A., Shafir, S. and Goldway, M. (2008). S-RNase based S-genotyping of Japanese plum (Prunus salicina Lindl.) and its implication on the assortment of cultivar-couples in the orchard. Scientia horticulturae (In press) Sapir, G., Stern, R.A., Shafir, S. and Goldway, M. (2008). Full Compatibility is Superior to Semi-Compatibility for Fruit Set in Japanese Plum (Prunus salicina Lindl.) Cultivars. Scientia horticulturae, 116: Goldway, M., Zisovich, A., Raz, A. and. Stern, A.R. (2008). Understanding the gametophytic self-incompatibility system and its impact on European pear (Pyrus communis L.) cultivation. Acta Hort. (In press) Zisovich, A., Stern, A.R. and Goldway, M. (2008). The Gametophytic Self Incompatibility system, its impact on pear (Pyrus communis L.) cultivation and the utilization of the wild Syrian pear (Pyrus syriaca) as a "universal pollinator". Israel J. of plant science (In press) Raz, A., A. Stern, A.R., Bercovich, D., and Goldway, M. (2008) SFB-based S-haplotyping of apricot (Prunus armeniaca) with DHPLC. Plant breeding. (In press). Goldway, M, Takasaki-Yasuda, T., Sanzol, J., Mariana Mota, M., Zisovich, A., Stern, A.R. and Sansavini, S. (2008) Renumbering the S- RNase alleles of European pears (Pyrus communis L.) and cloning the S109 RNase allele Scientia horticulturae (in press) Sapir, G. Goldway, M., Shafir, S. and Stern R.A. (2008) Multiple introduction of honeybee colonies increases cross-pollination, fruit-set and yield of ‘ Black-Diamond ’ Japanese plum (Prunus salicina L.). the Journal of Horticultural Sciences and Biotechnology (In press) Martin Goldway, Gal Sapir, and Raphael A. Stern (2007) Molecular Basis and Horticultural Application of the Gametophytic Self- incompatibility System in Rosaceous Tree FruitsPlant Breeding Ed: J. Janeck. Vol. 28, chapter 7: Tzulker R, Glazer I, Bar-Ilan I, Holland D, Aviram M, Amir R. (2007) Antioxidant activity, polyphenol content and related compounds in different fruit juices and homogenates prepared from 29 different pomegranate accessions. J. Agri. Food Chem. 55: Shwartz E, Glazer I, Bar-Ya ’ akov I, Matityahu I, Bar-Ilan I, Holland D, Amir R. (2008) Changes in chemical constituents during the maturation and ripening of two commercially important pomegranate cultivars. Food Chem (in press). 13 Scientific publications in well known international journals and bulletins with acknowledgments to ICA

Thank you ICA