One of the ways to combat the penetration and spread of dangerous pathogens of fungal plant diseases on the territory of the republic may be the selection of domestic varieties resistant to fungal phytopathogens and a reduction of the import of planting material. Over the past decades, the Central Botanical Garden of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (CBG) has been working on the development of new cultivars of coniferous plants for landscaping purposes. The purpose of this study was to study of the composition of the mycobiota of needles and shoots of ornamental forms of Scotch pine of the CBS breeding.

The article presents the results of the survey of Pinus sylvestris L. cultivars of CBG selection, carried out in the period 2020–2021 years in The Central Botanical Garden of NAS (Belarus, Minsk). As a result, it was found that among the 18 of Pinus sylvestris L. cultivars of CBG selection, the most stable were ‘Woshodjaschaia’ and ‘Minchanka’, the least stable were ‘Karolina’ and ‘Chupa Chups’.

The species composition of the mycobiota of needles and shoots includes such dangerous pathogens as fungi from the genus Lophodermium, causing premature falling of needles, as well as Cyclaneusma minus, causing premature yellowing and falling of needles, and Gremmeniella abietina, the causative agent of scleroderriosis or pine shoot cancer. Among the less dangerous fungi, conditionally pathogenic species have been identified – Alternaria alternara, Auerobasidium pullulans, Cladosporium spp., Phoma spp., as well as the endophyte fungus Sydowia polyspora.

The article presents the results of the mitochondrial DNA (30 837 n. r.) sequencing of the phytopathogenic fungi Phoma sp.1 – causative agent of Phoma blight of the pine and spruce plants cultivated in the forest nurseries. Annotation of the Phoma sp.1 mitochondrion showed 43 coding loci. Potential open reading frames (orf89, orf87, orf76 and orf108) and gene introns (cox3, nad1) are described. A comparative single genes analysis in the NCBI GenBank database showed, that Phoma sp.1 belongs to the Didymella spp., which can have Phoma anamorph. It has been shown that mitohondrial genes can be used as DNA markers for the diagnosis of Phoma and phoma-like fungi. Analysis of the mitochondrial synthenia of Phoma sp.1 and a related species (including phoma-like fungi), revealed significant structural rearrangements in mtDNA during phylogenesis.

The possibilities of the method of ecological-phytocenotic profiles in the study of roadside vegetation are tracked. Its advantages are noted: it increases the representativeness of geobotanical relevés, allows to make an objective comparative analysis of the state of phytocenoses, their components, ecotopes in spatiotemporal relationship.

Ecological and phytocenological studies carried out along roads and railways show, firstly, the regional features of flora, and secondly, the specifics of the ecosystem belonging of species and phytocenoses. The degree of synanthropization of vegetation in all exposures (“notch”, “zero mark” and “mound”) naturally decreases from extremely high near the road to the minimum at a distance of 50 m or more from the road path. At the same time the highest rates and the sharpest decrease in synanthropization are observed in the “mound” exposition in closed floodplain and swampy ecosystems, as well as in the “notch” exposition in the forest ecosystem. These changes in the forest ecosystem are somewhat lower in the expositions “mound” and “zero mark”. Forest acts as a barrier. The amplitude of the distribution of anthropophytes along the profile is generally small in open meadows and in agroecosystems. The impact of mound slopes, the direction of roads and railways on the intensity of synanthropization of vegetation, including the penetration of invasive species, was found.

Wastewater epidemiology is a new field of research that has great potential in the system of enteric virus surveillance. The purpose of the presented study was to analyze the results of wastewater monitoring of enteric viruses in 2020– 2021 in the Republic of Belarus. Detection and quantification of nucleic acids of rotaviruses A, noroviruses 1 and 2, enteroviruses and adenoviruses F were carried out using a quantitative real time RT-PCR followed by nucleic acid sequence genotyping. In 2020–2021, 487 (46.9 %) of 1038 wastewater samples contained nucleic acid of one or more viruses. The results indicated that there was a decrease in the circulating activity of the most enteric viruses in 2021 compared to 2020, likely due to stricter hygiene practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. Predominance of adenoviruses F in wastewater could be associated with their wide asymptomatic spread, on the one hand, and with greater resistance of pathogen DNA in the external environment, on the other. The quantitative analysis showed that the highest viral nucleic acid concentrations were found in hospital wastewater samples. According to the results of molecular typing, wastewater contained norovirus GII.4 [P16], adenovirus type 41, Coxsackievirus B3, B5 and Echovirus 13, the most common genotypes of enteric viruses in human population.  

Quantitative analysis and genotyping of nucleic acids of viruses from wastewater can be a source of valuable information for tracking their circulation in the human population to assess the current epidemiological situation and to predict its development in the short term.

Currently, biodiversity conservation is one of the key areas for sustainable development of the world economy. A combination of abiotic and biotic factors constantly affects the plant community. Often, together with anthropogenic stress factors, they adversely affect the ability of plants to adapt without compromising physiological parameters and to narrow the limits of tolerance and resistance. One of the options for determining the susceptibility or resistance of populations to climatic conditions and anthropogenic stress factors is to study the complex of enzymes responsible for the formation of the antioxidant defense of the cell. Cloudberry squat refers to relict plants that are endangered in the Republic of Belarus.

The studies have shown that the most oppressed of the studied populations of Rubus chamaemorus L. is “Zhada”; however, ongoing measures to restore the hydrological regime of this territory can have a positive impact on its future condition. These studies were carried out for the first time for the southern border of the habitat.

“Lonno” population plants are assessed as the most promising ones for use in breeding and distribution of cloudberries that, in turn, will allow preserving this relic species in Belarus.

The article contains the information about 29 historical varieties of roses cultivated in the Central Botanical Garden of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for more than 50–70 years. They belong to 5 garden groups, including the oldest roses – repairable ones. The plants were described and the morphometric indicators and features of flowering plants in the garden were established. Winter hardiness of varieties in local conditions was estimated. It is noted that such varieties should be preserved in collections, because they not only reflect the history of rose breeding, but also are a valuable gene pool for breeding work.

The article discusses the species composition of Heteroptera in the fields of winter and spring rapeseed in the Minsk region of Belarus. A comparison of the species composition of Heteroptera in different seasons in the fields of winter rape was carried out, the dominant species and families of Heteroptera in the fields of winter and spring rape were identified.

On the fields of winter rapeseed in summer, the number of species and individuals of Heteroptera is greater than in spring. 41 species were found in the fields of winter rapeseed, they belong to 11 families. Representatives of 9 species were noted among carnivore; their abundance is 23.42 %. The number of collected larvae was 20.25 % of the total number of individuals, of which 14.24 % of larvae belong to the family Miridae. The larvae appear in the fields with the onset of summer. The dominant species is Lygus rugulipennis – 30.7 %. Representatives of 16 species from 7 families of Heteroptera were found in the fields, with the dominant family Miridae – 78.23 %. Representatives of 5 species were noted among carnivore; their abundance is 8.84 %. The number of larvae collected during this period exceeded adults by 1.4 times. The Cymidae family was found only in field No. 3 of winter rape, Rhopalidae was found in the field of spring rape in 2016.

The development of effective drug delivery systems is a crusial task for modern medicine. The main problem is the occurrence of non-specific toxicity leading to undesirable side effects in vivo.

This article aims at reviewing resent research on the toxicity of polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers in vivo. The research results show that the toxicity of PAMAM dendrimers and modified nanoparticles depends both on the characteristics of the particles themselves (size, generation and surface charge) and on the administration parameters. It has been shown that cationic PAMAM dendrimers of small and medium generations are non-toxic in vivo when administered intravenously and intraperitoneally to mice at doses up to 10 mg/kg. In turn, anionic, neutral, and modified PAMAM dendrimers do not exhibit toxicity, regardless of the route of administration. Thus, by varying methods of administration, the dose, and modifying the surface of dendrimers, the decrease in toxicity can be achieved, promising a path towards their successfully aplication as drug carriers.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic accompanied by the emergence of new successive pathogenic variants makes problematic the prospects of the approach based on application of exclusively prophylactic vaccines to combat SARSCoV-2. This reason motivated the urgent need in search and development of chemical formulas showing direct antiviral action.

The present mini-review provides data on chemical and enzymatic methods of producing molnupiravir regarded so far as one of the most effective pharmaceuticals for treatment of COVID-19. In conclusion of the literature survey it is suggested to administer lipid-containing analog instead of molnupiravir in COVID-19 therapeutic protocols. In this respect the authors reported the successful synthesis catalyzed by bacterial phospholipase D of 5′-dimyristoyl derivative of N4-hydroxycytidine – the compound allegedly more efficient than molnupiravir in inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 replication.