Diversity, population structure, and evolution of local peach cultivars in China identified by simple sequence repeats

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The fruit peach originated in China and has a history of domestication of more than 4000 years. Numerous local cultivars were selected during the long course of cultivation, and a great morphological diversity exists. To study the diversity and genetic background of local peach cultivars in China, a set of 158 accessions from different ecological regions, together with 27 modern varieties and 10 wild accessions, were evaluated using 49 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) covering the peach genome. Broad diversity was also observed in local cultivars at the SSR level. A total of 648 alleles were amplified with an average of 13.22 observed alleles per locus. The number of genotypes detected ranged from 9 (UDP96015) to 58 (BPPCT008) with an average of 27.00 genotypes per marker. Eight subpopulations divided by STRUCTURE basically coincided with the dendrogram of genetic relationships and could be explained by the traditional groups. The 8 subpopulations were juicy honey peach, southwestern peach I, wild peach, Buddha peach + southwestern peach II, northern peach, southern crisp peach, ornamental peach, and Prunus davidiana + P. kansuensis. Most modern varieties carried the genetic backgrounds of juicy honey peach and southwestern peach I, while others carried diverse genetic backgrounds, indicating that local cultivars were partly used in modern breeding programs. Based on the traditional evolution pathway, a modified pathway for the development of local peach cultivars in China was proposed using the genetic background of subpopulations that were identified by SSRs. Current status and prospects of utilization of Chinese local peach cultivars were also discussed according to the SSR information.

Evolutionary Genomics of Peach and Almond Domestication

“…At K = 6, PD01 forms a unique cluster and several other almonds shift assignments, suggesting an overestimation of the number of subgroups (Figure S4). Similar overall patterns of structure in peach and almond were found in previous studies (Li et al 2013; Micheletti et al 2015; Shen et al 2015; Delplancke et al 2013) as well, suggesting the use of local varieties as founders, limited exchange between Asian and European breeding programs, or recent utilization of diverse genetic resources is not reflected in the sampling. The foundations of most modern almond breeding programs began within the past century, due in part to the challenges of understanding self-incompatibility, whereas the self-compatible peach has had more widespread efforts directed toward its development for millenia (though western breeding increased or intensified only within the past 10–20 generations).…”

Evolutionary genomics of peach and almond domestication

“…At K =6 PD01 forms a unique cluster and several other almonds shift assignments, suggesting an overestimation of the number of subgroups ( Figure S4). Similar overall patterns of structure in peach and almond were found in previous studies Micheletti et al, 2015;Shen et al, 2015;Delplancke et al, 2013) as well, suggesting the use of local varieties as founders, limited exchange between Asian and European breeding programs, or recent utilization of diverse genetic resources is not reflected in the sampling. The foundations of most modern almond breeding programs began within the past century, due in part to the challenges of understanding self-incompatibility, whereas the selfcompatible peach has had more widespread efforts directed towards its development for millenia (though western breeding increased or intensified only within the past 10 to 20 generations).…”

Production of Alternaria Toxins in Yellow Peach (Amygdalus persica) upon Artificial Inoculation with Alternaria alternate

“…Peach ( Prunus persica L. Batsch), a climacteric stone fruit species, is the fourth most important fruit in China after orange, apple, and pear [ 1 ]. The yellow peach ( Amygdalus persica ), a kind of peach with yellow flesh, is favored by consumers because of its delicacy, nutrition, and unique function [ 2 ].…”