Construction of a high-density SNP marker linkage map of ‘Vic’ × ‘Cristobalina’ in sweet cherry

Abstract

The development of whole genome SNP arrays has allowed the construction of saturated linkage maps. These maps are a powerful tool for genetic studies such as QTL analysis. In this work, a SNP saturated linkage map was developed using a sweet cherry F(1) population of 161 individuals. This population was derived from the intra-specific cross of the sweet cherry cultivars 'Vic' and 'Cristobalina' (V×C). These parental cultivars were selected because their large differences in relevant agronomical characters such as bloom and maturity dates, fruit size and self-(in)compatibility. The parental and individual progeny genotypes were analyzed using the RosBREED whole genome cherry 6K Illumina Infinium® SNP array v1 and the consensus and parental maps were constructed using these data. The resulting maps were compared with other saturated linkage maps in the species.