Nikolay Petrovich Goncharov

Background/Objectives: Identifying archaeobotanical wheat remains is central to reconstructing the evolutionary history of cereal crops. Beyond documenting agricultural practices, such analyses provide critical evidence of phylogenetic diversity, lineage persistence, and local extinction events within the genus Triticum L. This study applies advanced computational morphometrics to reveal deep-time changes in wheat species distribution, including the disappearance of taxa now phylogeographically confined to central Asia. Methods: We developed a machine learning framework integrating Random Forest compared with logistic regression to classify morphometric data from 848 dry and 340 experimentally carbonized modern grains representing multiple wheat taxa (genus Triticum), alongside 15 archaeobotanical T. turgidum subsp. parvicoccum and 38 T. aestivum var. antiquorum. This probabilistic classifier was then applied to 2463 archeological wheat grains, including 48 from Punta de los Gavilanes and 517 from Almizaraque (southeastern Spain, 3rd–2nd millennium BC). Results: The analysis identified Triticum sphaerococcum and other phylogenetically distinct wheat taxa—today restricted to central and south Asia—among western European Bronze Age assemblages. These findings indicate that lineages now regionally extinct once formed part of a broader cultivated gene pool spanning into the western Mediterranean. Morphometric evidence highlights that past wheat diversity encompassed multiple clades and morphotypes absent from modern European germplasm. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate substantial phylogenetic turnover in wheat over the past 4000 years, marked by regional extirpations and contraction of once-widespread lineages to central Asia. This provides rare archeological evidence for the tempo and mode of cereal phylogeography, illustrating how domesticated lineages underwent extinction and range restriction akin to wild taxa. By integrating computational morphometrics with archaeobotanical evidence, this study establishes a scalable framework for tracing cryptic phylogenetic diversity, refining models of wheat domestication and assessing long-term genetic erosion in cultivated plants.

Background: The typification of the name Aegilops tauschii Coss. (Poaceae: Triticeae) is revisited. Several authors cited a gathering from Iberia as the locality and Buxbaum as the collector of as the type, but no actual specimens from this collection have been located, nor is there evidence that such a gathering existed. In 1994, van Slageren designated as lectotype an illustration from Buxbaum’s Plantarum minus cognitarum centuria I (1728), which, although original material, is not the only element cited in the protologue. The protologue mentions several gatherings, some of which are represented by identifiable herbarium specimens qualifying as syntypes. Methods: This work is based on the analysis of the protologue of Aegilops tauschii and the study of specimens conserved in several herbaria. According to the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN, Shenzhen Code 2018), an illustration does not hold the same nomenclatural weight as preserved specimens cited in the protologue. Therefore, van Slageren’s lectotypification does not comply with Art. 9.12 of the ICN and must be superseded. Results: The original material includes multiple elements, and a new lectotype is designated from a specimen at PRC from Azerbaijan.

The investigations of a well-known botanist – specialist in cultivated plants, Professor, Doctor of Biological and Agricultural Sciences, Evgeniya N. Sinskaya (1889–1965), on the study of plant populations, issues of speciation in cultivated plants and their related species, the Vavilov theory of centers of origin of cultivated plants, its genesis and influence on the study of crop origin are viewed. Special attention is paid to the law of spiral series in phylogenetic history of plant genera formulated by E. N. Sinskaya – the last major theoretical research of the All-Union Institute of Plant Industry (now All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources named after N. I. Vavilov (VIR), St. Petersburg). The role of E. N. Sinskaya in the development of ideas and concepts of Robert E. Regel, Vladimir L. Komarov and Nikolai I. Vavilov is discussed.

Background/Objectives: The archaeobotanical taxon “Triticum parvicoccum” was first described in 1980 as a small-grained, naked, free-threshing, and dense ear tetraploid wheat species (2n = 4x = 28) identified from archaeological remains. This primitive tetraploid, cultivated in the Levant approximately 9000 years ago and subsequently dispersed throughout the Fertile Crescent, represents a potential contributor of the BBAA genomes to T. aestivum. This study aims to resolve the complex nomenclatural status of this taxon, which has remained ambiguous due to competing interpretations under fossil and non-fossil taxonomic regulations. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive nomenclatural review to evaluate the taxonomic validity of T. parvicoccum, analyzing previous research on the classification of archaeobotanical materials in relation to fossil status. Results: Our analysis demonstrated that archaeobotanical materials do not qualify as fossils and led to the validation of the taxon at a subspecific rank as a non-fossil entity: T. turgidum subsp. parvicoccum Kislev. subsp. nov. The holotype was established using a charred rachis fragment from Timnah (Tel Batash), an archaeological site on the inner Coastal Plain (Shfela) adjacent to the western piedmont of the Judean Mountains, Israel. Conclusions: This study resolves the longstanding nomenclatural uncertainty surrounding this archaeologically significant wheat taxon, providing a valid taxonomic designation that reflects its biological and historical importance while adhering to current botanical nomenclature standards.

This study addresses a critical issue in plant taxonomy and phylogeny: the relationship between archaeological materials and potentially analogous living populations. Given the current limitations in definitively establishing the identity between archaeological and contemporary materials, we propose an intermediate approach. This approach serves as a useful framework while scientific methods advance towards definitively assessing whether an archaeological wheat sample, approximately 5000 years old from Central Europe, belongs to the same species as a modern wheat currently endemic to Central Asia. This approach consolidates the taxonomic validity of both archaeological and living materials, allowing them to be treated as distinct taxa while preserving the possibility of future identification convergence. Triticum vulgare var. antiquorum, an archaeobotanical small-grained, free-threshing wheat, was originally described in 1865. The 1982 discovery of morphologically similar living wheat in Tajikistan raised questions about their taxonomic relationship. Our study reviews the nomenclature of both taxa, designating an illustration from the original description of T. vulgare var. antiquorum as the lectotype to align with the traditional concept of the name. We address the ambiguity surrounding “Triticum antiquorum” as used by Russian agronomists and botanists, proposing a more precise circumscription within the current systematic framework of the genus based on cytogenetic data. Consequently, we describe a new taxon, Triticum sphaerococcum subsp. antiquorum. The holotype, selected from material with available cytogenetic data and grown from Professor Udachin’s original Pamir (Tajikistan) collection, is preserved in the N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (WIR) collection. It is deposited at the I.M. Krasnoborov Herbarium of Central Siberian Botanical Garden SB RAS (NS), with an isotype at the WIR. This taxonomic revision and new subspecies designation provide a robust framework for reconciling archaeological and contemporary wheat diversity, advancing our understanding of wheat evolution and agricultural history.

The spike shape and morphometric characteristics are among the key characteristics of cultivated cereals, being associated with their productivity. These traits are often used for the plant taxonomy and authenticity of hexaploid wheat species. Manual measurement of spike characteristics is tedious and not precise. Recently, the authors of this study developed a method for wheat spike morphometry utilizing 2D image analysis. Here, this method is applied to study variations in spike size and shape for 190 plants of seven hexaploid (2n = 6x = 42) species and one artificial amphidiploid of wheat. Five manually estimated spike traits and 26 traits obtained from digital image analysis were analyzed. Image-based traits describe the characteristics of the base, center and apex of the spike and common parameters (circularity, roundness, perimeter, etc.). Estimates of similar traits by manual measurement and image analysis were shown to be highly correlated, suggesting the practical importance of digital spike phenotyping. The utility of spike traits for classification into types (spelt, normal and compact) and species or amphidiploid is shown. It is also demonstrated that the estimates obtained made it possible to identify the spike characteristics differing significantly between species or between accessions within the same species. The present work suggests the usefulness of wheat spike shape analysis using an approach based on characteristics obtained by digital image analysis.

Common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most valuable cereal crops worldwide. This study examined leaf extracts of 30 accessions of T. aestivum and its subspecies using 48 h maceration with methanol by GC-MS and GCxGC-MS. The plants were grown from seeds of the wheat genetics collection of the Wheat Genetics Sector of the Institute of Cytology and Genetics, SB RAS. The analysis revealed 263 components of epicuticular waxes, including linear and branched alkanes, aliphatic alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, β-diketones, carboxylic acids and their derivatives, mono- and diterpenes, phytosterols, and tocopherols. Hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis were used to identify and visualize the differences between the leaf extracts of different wheat cultivars. Three clusters were identified, with the leading components being (1) octacosan-1-ol, (2) esters of saturated and unsaturated alcohols, and (3) fatty acid alkylamides, which were found for the first time in plant extracts. The results highlight the importance of metabolic studies in understanding the adaptive mechanisms and increasing wheat resistance to stress factors. These are crucial for breeding new-generation cultivars with improved traits.

Wheat heading time is primarily governed by two loci: VRN-1 (response to vernalization) and PPD-1 (response to photoperiod). Five sets of near-isogenic lines (NILs) were studied with the aim of investigating the effect of the aforementioned genes on wheat vegetative period duration and 14 yield-related traits. Every NIL was sown in the hydroponic greenhouse of the Institute of Cytology and Genetics, SB RAS. To assess their allelic composition at the VRN-1 and PPD-1 loci, molecular markers were used. It was shown that HT in plants with the Vrn-A1vrn-B1vrn-D1 genotype was reduced by 29 and 21 days (p < 0.001) in comparison to HT in plants with the vrn-A1Vrn-B1vrn-D1 and the vrn-A1vrn-B1Vrn-D1 genotypes, respectively. In our study, we noticed a decrease in spike length as well as spikelet number per spike parameter for some NIL carriers of the Vrn-A1a allele in comparison to carriers of the Vrn-B1 allele. PCA revealed three first principal components (PC), together explaining more than 70% of the data variance. Among the studied genetic traits, the Vrn-A1a and Ppd-D1a alleles showed significant correlations with PCs. Regarding genetic components, significant correlations were calculated between PC3 and Ppd-B1a (−0.26, p < 0.05) and Vrn-B1 (0.57, p < 0.05) alleles. Thus, the presence of the Vrn-A1a allele affects heading time, while Ppd-D1a is associated with plant height reduction.

Многомерный анализ многолетних климатических данных в связи с урожайностью, скороспелостью и проблемой глобального потепления