[125th birth anniversary of the outstanding botanist Peter Mikhailovich Zhukovsky]

Peter Mikhailovich Zhykovsky--botanist, monograph of the genus Aegilops, closest associate of N.N. Vavilov, Director of the All-Union Institute of Plant Industry, Academic Secretary of the Department of Agriculture of VASKhNIL, and the first Editor-in-Chief of the Genetika journal. He postulated a theory on host-parasite coevolution at their common place of origin, and put forward the concept on Megagene centers of origin of cultivated plants and their endemic Microgene centers. He discovered and described the new wheat species Triticum timopheevii (Zhuk.) Zhuk. This species is unique with respect to its immunity to diseases and pests, and is the carrier of the genes for cytoplasmic male sterility.