Sulfur cycle is one of the main geochemical cycles on Earth. Oxidation and reduction reactions of sulfur are mostly biotic and performed by microorganisms. In anaerobic conditions – marine and some freshwater systems, dissimilatory sulfur- and sulfate-reducing bacteria and archaea are key players in the decomposition of organic carbon releasing sul...
Although varying with context, quality of fresh fruits includes several properties such as color, texture, flavor and health promoting compounds. This thesis focused on two important quality aspects, namely texture and aroma in apple, and defining the genomic regions involved in the control of these two features. The genetic control of texture and ...
The garden strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) is a fruit species that was developed through human intervention less than 300 years ago. Currently, it is the most important soft fruit in both production as well as value and renowned for its deliciousness. There are many challenges in growing such a delicate fruit, many of which have been overcome thro...
Bacterial stress response and heterogeneity therein is one of the biggest challenges posed by minimal processing. Heterogeneity and resulting tailing representing a more resistant fraction of the population, can have several causes and can be transient or stably in nature. Stable increased stress resistance is caused by alterations in the genome an...
Western flower thrips is a pest on a large variety of vegetable, fruit and ornamental crops. The damage these minute slender insects cause in agriculture through feeding and the transmission of tospoviruses requires a sustainable solution. Host-plant resistance is a cornerstone of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Plants have many natural defense c...
In this thesis the results are described of investigations of various application of genome wide SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) markers. The set of SNP markers was identified by GBS (genotyping by sequencing) strategy. The resulting dataset of 129,156 SNPs across 83 tetraploid varieties was used directly to map traits, but also as a basis for...
Epidemiological studies showed that the consumption of flavonoid-rich foods such as cocoa and tea is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) showed that cocoa and tea improved markers of cardiometabolic health including blood pressure, endothelial function, insulin resistance, arterial stiff...
Due to the globally increasing demand for chemicals and fuels and the high environmental impact and limited amount of fossil resources, there is a growing interest in green chemicals and fuels derived from renewable resources. As described in Chapter 1, one of the most feasible alternatives on the short term is microbial conversion of the sugars in...
Inaugural lecture upon taking up the position of Special Professor of Numerical Genetics and Genomics at Wageningen University.
In this thesis the results of the four year project P5 within the Centre for BioSystems Genomics (www.cbsg.nl) are described. The intention of this project was to gain understanding of the genetic principles underlying a series of different potato tuber quality traits and the development of molecular markers linked to the traits of interest. Molecu...
