Abstract
Blueberry (Vaccinium spp.) has been recognized worldwide as a valuable source of health-promoting compounds, becoming a crop with some of the fastest rising consumer demand trends. Fruit firmness is a key target for blueberry breeding as it directly affects fruit quality, consumer preference, transportability, shelf life, and the ability of cultivars to be machine harvested. Fruit softening naturally occurs during berry development, maturation, and postharvest ripening. However, some genotypes are better at retaining firmness than others, and some are crispy, which is a putatively extra-firmness phenotype that provides a distinct eating experience. In this review, we summarized important studies addressing the firmness trait in blueberry, focusing on physiological and molecular changes affecting this trait at the onset of ripening and also the genetic basis of firmness variation across individuals. New insights into these topics were also achieved by using previously available data and historical records from the blueberry breeding program at the University of Florida. The complex quantitative nature of firmness in an autopolyploid species such as blueberry imposes additional challenges for the implementation of molecular techniques in breeding. However, we highlighted some recent genomics-based studies and the potential of a QTL (Quantitative Trait Locus) mapping analysis and genome editing protocols such as CRISPR/Cas9 to further assist and accelerate the breeding process for this important trait.
Highlights
Blueberry has been recognized worldwide for its health benefits due to its high content and wide diversity of polyphenolic compounds [1,2]
Reade, which tolerates a range of important species, hexaploid Vaccinium ashei Reade, which tolerates a range of soil and warm climatic soil and warm climatic conditions and are planted in the Lowbush blueberry is conditions and are planted in the Southern US
Phenotypic recurrent selection has been used as a primary breeding strategy in blueberry, where elite parents are selected at each generation for intercrossing, the progenies are evaluated over the course of multiple years in the field, and a cultivar consists of a superior individual cloned by cutting propagation
Summary
Blueberry has been recognized worldwide for its health benefits due to its high content and wide diversity of polyphenolic compounds [1,2]. Polyphenolic compounds, especially anthocyanins, have been shown to have anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative, anti-obesity, and neuroprotective properties [3] Such health-related awareness has been driving an increase in demand for blueberries, which became one of the crops with the highest production trends. Most of the blueberry production is destined for the fresh market sector, which requires high-quality berries and postharvest longevity [5]. We summarized the extent of phenotypic variability of the firmness trait described in blueberry and its genetic parameters. New insights into these topics were achieved by using previously available data and historical records from the blueberry breeding program at the University of Florida. We discussed perspectives to further implement QTL mapping and genome editing technologies, such as CRISPR in blueberry
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