Optical and Electrochemical Aptasensors Developed for the Detection of Alpha-Fetoprotein.

Early diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a leading cause of cancer mortality, is decisive for successful treatment of this type of cancer and increasing the patients' survival rate. Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is a glycoprotein that has been currently employed as a potential serological biomarker for determination of HCC and several other cancers. Achieving highly sensitive and specific detection of this biomarker is an effective strategy to inhibit developing issues caused by the cancer. Though, traditional procedures cannot meet the requirements due to the technical drawbacks. Recently, growing number of aptamer-based biosensors (aptasensors) attracted important attention as superior diagnostic tools because of their unique properties such as high stability, target versatility and remarkable affinity and selectivity. Nanomaterials, which broadly employed in the structure of these aptasensors, can considerably enhance the detection limit and sensitivity of analytes determination. Therefore, this review selectively investigated the recent progresses in several different optical and electrochemical aptasensors and nano-aptasensors designed for AFP assay.

The Assessment of Agrobiological and Disease Resistance Traits of Grapevine Hybrid Populations (Vitis vinifera L. × Muscadinia rotundifolia Michx.) in the Climatic Conditions of Crimea.

The Crimean autochthonous grape varieties are unique by their origin and serve as a valuable source for breeding new cultivars with increased salt and frost resistance, as well as high-quality berries. However, they suffer from fungal pathogens, as the dry and hot summer months contribute to the epiphytotic course of diseases. An increase in the resistance of Crimean grape varieties is currently achieved through interspecific hybridization. In this study, we describe the genetic and agrobiological diversity of three hybrid populations obtained using the Vitis interspecific hybrid 'Magarach 31-77-10' as a female parent and Muscadinia rotundifolia × Vitis vinifera BC5 hybrid plants as male parents. The hybrid nature of the populations was assessed using RADseq high-throughput genotyping. We discovered 12,734 SNPs, which were common to all three hybrid populations. We also proved with the SSR markers that the strong powdery and downy mildew resistance of the paternal genotypes is determined by the dominant Run1/Rpv1 locus inherited from M. rotundifolia. As a result, the disease development score (R, %) for both mildew diseases in the female parent 'Magarach 31-77-10' was three times higher than in male parents 2000-305-143 and 2000-305-163 over two years of phytopathological assessment. The highest values of yield-contributing traits (average bunch weight ~197 g and 1.3 kg as yield per plant) were detected in the population 4-11 (♀M. No. 31-77-10 × 2000-305-163). Despite the epiphytotic development of PM, the spread of oidium to the vegetative organs of hybrids 4-11 did not exceed 20%. Some hybrid genotypes with high productivity and resistance to pathogens were selected for further assessment as promising candidates for new varieties.