Genomic regions associated with ripening time (RPT) and soluble solids concentration (SSC) were mapped using a pedigreed population including multiple F and F families from the Clemson University peach breeding program (CUPBP). RPT and SSC QTLs were consistently identified in two seasons (2011 and 2012) and the average datasets (average of two seasons). A target region spanning 10,981,971-11,298,736 bp on chromosome 4 of peach reference genome used for haplotype analysis revealed four haplotypes with significant differences in trait values among different diplotype combinations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Horticultural plant breeding programs often demand large volumes of phenotypic data to capture visual variation in quality of harvested products. Increasing the throughput potential of phenomic pipelines enables breeders to consider data-hungry molecular breeding strategies such as genome-wide association studies and genomic selection.
Methods: We present an R-based web application called ShinyFruit for image-based phenotyping of size, shape, and color-related qualities in fruits and vegetables.
Reliable and high-throughput genotyping platforms are of immense importance for identifying and dissecting genomic regions controlling important phenotypes, supporting selection processes in breeding programs, and managing wild populations and germplasm collections. Amongst available genotyping tools, single nucleotide polymorphism arrays have been shown to be comparatively easy to use and generate highly accurate genotypic data. Single-species arrays are the most commonly used type so far; however, some multi-species arrays have been developed for closely related species that share single nucleotide polymorphism markers, exploiting inter-species cross-amplification.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Blackberry ( subgenus ) is a soft-fruited specialty crop that often suffers economic losses due to degradation in the shipping process. During transportation, fresh-market blackberries commonly leak, decay, deform, or become discolored through a disorder known as red drupelet reversion (RDR). Over the past 50 years, breeding programs have achieved better fruit firmness and postharvest quality through traditional selection methods, but the underlying genetic variation is poorly understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBlackberries (Rubus spp.) are the fourth most economically important berry crop worldwide. Genome assemblies and annotations have been developed for Rubus species in subgenus Idaeobatus, including black raspberry (R.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenotype-by-environment interaction (G × E) is a common phenomenon influencing genetic improvement in plants, and a good understanding of this phenomenon is important for breeding and cultivar deployment strategies. However, there is little information on G × E in horticultural tree crops, mostly due to evaluation costs, leading to a focus on the development and deployment of locally adapted germplasm. Using sweetness (measured as soluble solids content, SSC) in peach/nectarine assessed at four trials from three US peach-breeding programs as a case study, we evaluated the hypotheses that (i) complex data from multiple breeding programs can be connected using GBLUP models to improve the knowledge of G × E for breeding and deployment and (ii) accounting for a known large-effect quantitative trait locus (QTL) improves the prediction accuracy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe muscadine ( syn. ) is an American grape species native to the southeastern United States that has been cultivated for centuries. Muscadines are one of three grape species in subgenus with a chromosome number of 2 = 40 (, , and ), making them genetically distinct from the European wine and table grape () and other species in subgenus .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMuscadine grapes (Vitis rotundifolia Michx.) are a specialty crop cultivated in the southern United States. Muscadines (2n = 40) belong to the Muscadinia subgenus of Vitis, while other cultivated grape species belong to the subgenus Euvitis (2n = 38).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeach is one of the most important fruit crops in the world, with the global annual production about 24.6 million tons. The United States is the fourth-largest producer after China, Spain, and Italy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFToxic concentrations of aluminium cations and low phosphorus availability are the main yield-limiting factors in acidic soils, which represent half of the potentially available arable land. Brachiaria grasses, which are commonly sown as forage in the tropics because of their resilience and low demand for nutrients, show greater tolerance to high concentrations of aluminium cations (Al3+) than most other grass crops. In this work, we explored the natural variation in tolerance to Al3+ between high and low tolerant Brachiaria species and characterized their transcriptional differences during stress.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA Rosaceae family-level candidate gene approach was used to identify genes associated with sugar content in blackberry ( subgenus ). Three regions conserved among apple (), peach (), and alpine strawberry () were identified that contained previously detected sweetness-related quantitative trait loci (QTL) in at least two of the crops. Sugar related genes from these conserved regions and 789 sugar-associated apple genes were used to identify 279 candidate transcripts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLinkage maps of muscadine grape generated using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) provide insight into genome collinearity between Muscadinia and Euvitis subgenera and genetic control of flower sex and berry color. The muscadine grape, Vitis rotundifolia, is a specialty crop native to the southeastern USA. Muscadine vines can be male, female, or perfect-flowered, and berry color ranges from bronze to black.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The apomictic reproductive mode of Brachiaria (syn. Urochloa) forage species allows breeders to faithfully propagate heterozygous genotypes through seed over multiple generations. In Brachiaria, reproductive mode segregates as single dominant locus, the apospory-specific genomic region (ASGR).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRhizoctonia foliar blight, caused by Rhizoctonia solani, is an important disease of Brachiaria spp. in tropical America. Host-plant resistance is an attractive option for disease management.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFgrasses are sown in tropical regions around the world, especially in the Neotropics, to improve livestock production. Waterlogging is a major constraint to the productivity and persistence of grasses during the rainy season. While some cultivars are moderately tolerant to seasonal waterlogging, none of the commercial cultivars combines superior yield potential and nutritional quality with a high level of waterlogging tolerance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFApomixis, asexual reproduction through seed, enables breeders to identify and faithfully propagate superior heterozygous genotypes by seed without the disadvantages of vegetative propagation or the expense and complexity of hybrid seed production. The availability of new tools such as genotyping by sequencing and bioinformatics pipelines for species lacking reference genomes now makes the construction of dense maps possible in apomictic species, despite complications including polyploidy, multisomic inheritance, self-incompatibility, and high levels of heterozygosity. In this study, we developed saturated linkage maps for the maternal and paternal genomes of an interspecific Brachiaria ruziziensis (R.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNitrification, the biological oxidation of ammonium to nitrate, weakens the soil's ability to retain N and facilitates N-losses from production agriculture through nitrate-leaching and denitrification. This process has a profound influence on what form of mineral-N is absorbed, used by plants, and retained in the soil, or lost to the environment, which in turn affects N-cycling, N-use efficiency (NUE) and ecosystem health and services. As reactive-N is often the most limiting in natural ecosystems, plants have acquired a range of mechanisms that suppress soil-nitrifier activity to limit N-losses via N-leaching and denitrification.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA powdery mildew resistance gene was introgressed from Aegilops speltoides into winter wheat and mapped to chromosome 5BL. Closely linked markers will permit marker-assisted selection for the resistance gene. Powdery mildew of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInterest in breeding grain crops with improved weed suppressive ability is growing in response to the evolution and rapid expansion of herbicide resistant populations in major weeds of economic importance, environmental concerns, and the unmet needs of organic producers and smallholder farmers without access to herbicides. This review is focused on plant breeding for weed suppression; specifically, field and laboratory screening protocols, genetic studies, and breeding efforts that have been undertaken to improve allelopathy and competition in rice, wheat, and barley. The combined effects of allelopathy and competition determine the weed suppressive potential of a given cultivar, and research groups worldwide have been working to improve both traits simultaneously to achieve maximum gains in weed suppression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF