Studies Using DNA Markers in Fragaria × ananassa: Genetic Analysis, Genome Structure, and Cultivar Identification

Abstract

The cultivated strawberry, Fragaria × ananassa (2n = 8x = 56), is an economically important crop in many regions of the world, and many breeding programs are competing to produce new, high-value cultivars. Despite this level of interest, marker-assisted selection of strawberry based on QTL analysis has lagged behind that of diploid crops because of its complex polyploidy and unclear genomic construction. During the past decade, great progress in the development of DNA markers has begun to overcome these difficulties, and the study of inheritance, mapping, and phylogeny is proceeding rapidly. Meanwhile, strawberry breeders have become much more aware of their rights with respect to the cultivars they have developed, as the volumes of harvested fruits that are transported globally have increased. To address the need to identify illegally grown strawberry fruits, genomics researchers have been required to develop simple and reproducible techniques for cultivar identification. This review summarizes the recent development of DNA marker studies in F. × ananassa, with a focus on the genome-specific markers we have developed.