The cultivated strawberry ( × ) is an allo-octoploid species, originating nearly 300 years ago from wild progenitors from the Americas. Since that time the strawberry has become the most widely cultivated fruit crop in the world, universally appealing due to its sensory qualities and health benefits. The recent publication of the first high-quality chromosome-scale octoploid strawberry genome (cv. Camarosa) is enabling rapid advances in genetics, stimulating scientific debate and provoking new research questions. In this forward-looking review we propose avenues of research toward new biological insights and applications to agriculture. Among these are the origins of the genome, characterization of genetic variants, and big data approaches to breeding. Key areas of research in molecular biology will include the control of flowering, fruit development, fruit quality, and plant-pathogen interactions. In order to realize this potential as a global community, investments in genome resources must be continually augmented.
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Protected Horticultural Technology, Forestry and Fruit Tree Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences (SAAS), Jinqi Rd 1000#, Fengxian District, Shanghai, 201403 China.
Unlabelled: Strawberry ( × ) production has been greatly hampered by anthracnose crown rot caused by . Crown, the modified stem of strawberry, is a sink organ involved in sugar allocation. Some Sugar Transport Proteins (STPs) are involved in competition for sugars between pathogen and host.
Understanding gene function is important for crop improvement and breeding efforts, especially in a genetically complex polyploid plant species such as the octoploid strawberry. -mediated transient assays are a widely used tool for investigating gene functions and offer a reliable alternative to stable transformation. However, variability in tissue-specific responses and inconsistent applicability of -mediated transient assay across diverse plant species can be challenging.
Background: The allo-octoploid Fragaria x ananassa follows disomic inheritance, yet the high sequence similarity among its subgenomes can lead to misalignment of short sequencing reads (150 bp). This misalignment results in an increased number of erroneous variants during variant calling. To accurately associate traits with the appropriate subgenome, it is essential to filter out these erroneous variants.
Heterosis was the catalyst for the domestication of cultivated strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa), an interspecific hybrid species that originated in the 1700s. The hybrid origin was discovered because the phenotypes of spontaneous hybrids transgressed those of their parent species. The transgressions included fruit yield increases and other genetic gains in the twentieth century that sparked the global expansion of strawberry production.
Plants face abiotic stresses like drought and salinity, which hinder their growth and reproduction, but they can develop signaling networks to enhance stress tolerance through specific gene expression.
The study identified a gene, FaTEDT1L, in cultivated strawberries that is closely related to a known stress-responsive transcription factor, and showed that it acts as a transcriptional activator.
Transgenic strawberry plants overexpressing FaTEDT1L demonstrated significantly better tolerance to osmotic stress—such as drought and salinity—by having increased root length and reduced water loss compared to wild-type plants, suggesting its potential for improving crop resilience.
