Using genomics to improve fruit quality

Claudio Meneses,Ariel Orellana

doi:10.4067/s0716-97602013000400006

Claudio Meneses, Ariel Orellana

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4067/s0716-97602013000400006

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Abstract

New fruit varieties are needed to satisfy consumers, and the industry is facing new challenges in order to respond to these demands. The emergence of genomic tools is releasing information on polymorphisms that can be utilized to expedite breeding processes in species that are difficult to breed, given the long periods of time required to get new varieties. The present review describes the current stages of the ongoing efforts that are being taken to apply these technologies to obtain varieties with improved fruit quality in species of the family Rosaceae.

Highlights

The market is demanding fruit with better quality
The present review describes the current stages of the ongoing efforts that are being taken to apply these technologies to obtain varieties with improved fruit quality in species of the family Rosaceae
In recent years the genomes of some fruit species of the Rosaceae have been sequenced (Velasco et al, 2010; Shulaev et al, 2011; Verde et al, 2013; Zhang et al, 2012a; Wu, 2013), leading to a great expansion in the identification of selection markers that can be applied in breeding programs to expedite the development of varieties that respond to the emerging challenges

Summary

USING GENOMIC TOOLS TO OBTAIN MARKERS FOR SELECTION

The advances in DNA sequencing technologies speeded up the unraveling of genomes from different species; to date. In apple the genomic sequencing of 27 cultivars led to the identification of more than 2 million SNPs (Chagne et al, 2012a); in pears, the sequencing of three European cultivars identified more than 1 thousand SNPs (Montanari et al, 2013); in peach the sequencing of two varieties obtained more than 6,000 SNPs (Ahmad et al, 2011) while a more recent effort, sequencing 56 breeding accessions, identified more than 1 million SNPs (Verde et al, 2012) All this effort searching for SNPs has been transformed in a collection of polymorphic SNPs from different species, deposited in chip arrays that have been useful to construct high density genetic maps of populations. These chip arrays are a relevant step towards the identification of genome regions that are key in defining complex agricultural traits (Verde et al, 2012; Chagne et al, 2012a; Montanari et al, 2013)

HOW TO TRANSFORM A POLYMORPHISM INTO A SELECTION MARKER?

Malus x domestica

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