Fruit size QTL analysis of an F1 population derived from a cross between a domesticated sweet cherry cultivar and a wild forest sweet cherry

Abstract

Maximizing fruit size is critical for profitable sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) production. Yet, despite its importance, little is known about the genetic control of fruit size. The objective of this study was to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for fruit size and two essential components of fruit size, mesocarp cell number and size. This study utilized a double pseudo-testcross population derived from reciprocal crosses between a sweet cherry cultivar with~8 g fruit, "Emperor Francis" (EF), and a wild forest sweet cherry selection with~2 g fruit, "New York 54" (NY). A total of 190 F 1 progeny previously utilized for the construction of the linkage maps were evaluated in 2006 and 2007 for fruit weight, length, and diameter; mesocarp cell number and length; and pit length and diameter. In 2008, a subset of this population was again evaluated for fruit weight. Correlation analysis revealed that the three fruit size traits were highly correlated with each other, and mesocarp cell number, not cell length, was correlated with fruit size. Three QTLs were identified for each fruit size trait, and one QTL was identified for mesocarp cell number. Fruit size QTLs were found on linkage group 2 on the EF map (EF 2) and linkage groups 2 and 6 on the NY map (NY 2 and NY 6). On EF 2, the cell number QTL clustered with the fruit size QTL, suggesting that the underlying basis of the fruit size increase associated with this QTL was an increase in mesocarp cell number. On NY 6, pit length and diameter QTLs clustered with those for fruit size, suggesting that the underlying morphological basis of this fruit size QTL is the difference in pit size.

QTL mapping of pomological traits in peach and related species breeding germplasm

“…Findings that G2 contains a QTL for FD concur with those from Quilot et al (2004) in peach and Zhang et al (2010) and Rosyara et al (2013) in cherry. However, the chromosomal location is different.…”

“…Quilot et al (2004) located it close to the RFLP marker CC115 which, based on the C-Map for Prunus, is located approximately at 22 Mb. Furthermore, Zhang et al (2010) and Rosyara et al (2013) located a QTL associated with FD on the upper region (*16 Mb) of G2 in cherry. In this study, qFD.7 is located between 21 and 22.5 Mb on G7, the same linkage group where Fernández i Martí et al (2013) located QTLs for length of nut and kernel in almond.…”

Inheritance of fire blight resistance in Asian <i>Pyrus</i> species

“…Transgressive segregation was observed both in the progeny derived from intraspecific and interspecific crosses [35,36,[38][39][40][41][42][43] although it was reported as being more probable in crosses between parents of different origin than between parents of related crosses [44]. Our observations are in agreement with noted transgressive segregation for a number of traits in many crop species [41][42][43][45][46][47][48][49]. Durel et al [50] observed fire blight transgressive apple individuals more resistant or more susceptible than their respective parents in crosses between rootstock MM.106 and species 'Evereste' and between 'Golden Delicious' and the wild apple species Malus floribunda clone 821.…”

Rapid identification of fruit length loci in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) using next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based QTL analysis

“…CNR/FW2.2 encodes one of the cell number regulators (CNR). Putative orthologues of genes regulating tomato fruit morphology have been proposed as candidate genes in other species such as pepper and cherry333435. With the assumption that fruit morphology in different taxa could be controlled by genes from certain ancestral gene families, Monforte et al 23 identified 74 homologues of the CNR, CYP78A, OFP, SUN, WOX, and YABBY gene families for fruit shape and size in the melon genome.…”