Floriculture and Landscaping- ICAR JRF/SRF 2024

• Fungal Pathogens of Dried Flower Materials:
• Dried botanical products (everlasting flowers, pods, cones, foliage) must maintain low moisture ($\lt 10-12\%$) during storage and transport.
• When exposed to ambient relative humidity ($\gt 65\%$), ubiquitous saprophytic xerophilic and storage molds colonize dried specimens:
• Aspergillus (e.g., A. niger, A. flavus): Produces dark powdery mycelia.
• Penicillium: Causes green/blue powdery surface molds.
• Rhizopus: Soft fluffy black bread mold.
• (D) Fusarium: Primarily a necrotrophic/vascular wilt soil-borne pathogen of actively growing plants, not a dry storage saprophyte.
• Correct Option: Option 3 ((A), (B) and (C) only).

• Statement (I) is True: 'Moondust' was the world's first commercially approved genetically engineered violet-blue carnation developed in 1996 by Florigene (Australia) and Suntory (Japan). It was generated by expressing petunia flavonoid $3',5'$-hydroxylase ($F3'5'H$) and petunia dihydroflavonol 4-reductase ($DFR$) genes into a white carnation mutant host specifically deficient in endogenous DFR.
• Statement (II) is True: 'Moonshadow' was subsequently developed by Florigene to achieve a richer, deeper violet hue by expressing the $F3'5'H$ gene cloned from pansy (Viola) combined with the petunia $DFR\text{-A}$ gene, accumulating up to $100\%$ delphinidin anthocyanidins in petals.
• Conclusion: Both Statement (I) and Statement (II) are true (Option 1).

Correct option: (1) Both Statement (|) and Statement (II) are true.

• Classification of Molecular Markers:
• Non-PCR Based (Hybridization-Based) Markers:
• RFLP (Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism): Depends on genomic DNA digestion with restriction endonucleases followed by Southern blotting and probe hybridization. It does not employ PCR amplification.
• PCR-Based Molecular Markers:
• SSR (Simple Sequence Repeats / Microsatellites): Amplified using sequence-specific locus primers.
• AFLP (Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism): Uses adapter ligation followed by selective PCR amplification.
• SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism): Genotyped using PCR-based sequencing, KASP, or high-density SNP arrays.
• Correct Option: Option 4 (RFLP).