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Genetic Diversity, Germplasm Resources and Biotechnology Application for Sustained Fruit Improvement

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A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Genetics, Genomics and Biotechnology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2024) | Viewed by 13385

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Weilin Li

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Guest Editor

College of Forestry, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Interests: blueberry; blackberry; germplasm resources; breeding; cultivation; fruit processing

Dr. Yaqiong Wu

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Guest Editor

Research Center for Pomology, Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China
Interests: biotechnology; small berry; fruit; genetic breeding; function

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Germplasm resources and the genetic diversity contained therein are the material basis for the selection and breeding of good plant cultivars. Fruit tree germplasm resources refer to plants with certain genetic material, which are valuable for fruit tree production and breeding, including wild species, closely related wild species, varieties, cultivated species, semi cultivated species, cultivars, strains and individual plants, etc., also including rootstocks for grafting and virus indicator plants for fruit trees. The abundant germplasm resources and genetic diversity provide the potential to continuously breed excellent new cultivars with high yield, good quality, multi-resistance, and adaptability to processing or mechanized production, so that fruit plants can better meet the needs of human development. Fruit trees are mostly perennial crops with a long juvenile phase, complex genetic background (highly heterozygous), and with a conventional breeding cycle which is long, workload which is large, and efficiency which is low. With the rapid development of modern biotechnology, techniques such as directional breeding for superior traits and multi-trait polymerization breeding-based molecular markers have been gradually applied in fruit trees, which have greatly improved the efficiency of breeding. This Special Issue focuses on the collection, conservation, evaluation, and utilization of fruit tree germplasm resources, fruit tree genetic diversity research, and the application of biotechnology in germplasm resources and genetic diversity research, showing the latest research achievements of fruit tree workers in these fields, which will promote academic exchanges and facilitate sustainable fruit improvement.

Prof. Dr. Weilin Li
Dr. Yaqiong Wu
Guest Editors

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Keywords

fruit tree
genetic diversity
germplasm resources
epigenetics
biotechnology
selection and breeding

Published Papers (13 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 1830 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Low Diversity and High Genetic Structure for Platonia insignis Mart., an Endangered Fruit Tree Species

by Caroline Bertocco Garcia, Allison Vieira da Silva, Igor Araújo Santos de Carvalho, Wellington Ferreira do Nascimento, Santiago Linorio Ferreyra Ramos, Doriane Picanço Rodrigues, Maria Imaculada Zucchi, Flaviane Malaquias Costa, Alessandro Alves-Pereira, Carlos Eduardo de Araújo Batista, Dario Dantas Amaral and Elizabeth Ann Veasey

Plants 2024, 13(7), 1033; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13071033 - 06 Apr 2024

Viewed by 595

Abstract

Platonia insignis is a fruit tree native to Brazil of increasing economic importance, with its pulp trading among the highest market values. This study aimed to evaluate the structure and genomic diversity of P. insignis (bacurizeiro) accessions from six locations in the Brazilian States of Roraima, Amazonas, Pará (Amazon biome), and Maranhão (Cerrado biome). A total of 2031 SNP markers were obtained using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS), from which 625 outlier SNPs were identified. High genetic structure was observed, with most of the genetic variability (59%) concentrated among locations, mainly between biomes (Amazon and Cerrado). A positive and significant correlation (r = 0.85; p < 0.005) was detected between genetic and geographic distances, indicating isolation by distance. The highest genetic diversity was observed for the location in the Cerrado biome (H_E = 0.1746; H_O = 0.2078). The locations in the Amazon biome showed low genetic diversity indexes with significant levels of inbreeding. The advance of urban areas, events of burning, and expansion of agricultural activities are most probably the main factors for the genetic diversity reduction of P. insignis. Approaches to functional analysis showed that most of the outlier loci found may be related to genes involved in cellular and metabolic processes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetic Diversity, Germplasm Resources and Biotechnology Application for Sustained Fruit Improvement)

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23 pages, 3979 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Salicylic Acid Spray Delays Sand Pear Fruit Senescence during Room Temperature Shelf Life by Regulating Antioxidant Capacity and Senescence-Related Genes

by Huiying Wang, Yawei Li, Misganaw Wassie, Liyue Huo and Haiyan Shi

Plants 2024, 13(6), 848; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13060848 - 15 Mar 2024

Viewed by 721

Abstract

‘Whangkeumbae’ (Pyrus pyrifolia) is a variety of sand pear fruit well-known for its smooth surface and good taste. However, the fruit quality is adversely affected by postharvest ethylene production. Therefore, improving postharvest shelf life by regulating fruit senescence is critical to promoting the ‘Whangkeumbae’ fruit industry. Here, we investigated the effect of salicylic acid (SA) spray on fruit senescence in sand pears during room temperature shelf life. Exogenous SA reduced polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) content during room temperature shelf life. Additionally, SA effectively maintained the fruit skin coloration and increased the activity of antioxidant enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), and ascorbate peroxidase (APX). SA treatment inhibited PpPPO1 expression and upregulated PpSOD1, PpAPX6, and PpGST2 expression. Furthermore, SA application downregulated the expression of PpACO2, PpEIN3a, PpNCED1, and PpAOC2, while upregulating PpNPR-1, PpTAR2, and PpCOMT1 during room temperature shelf life. SA treatment also influenced cell wall metabolism and modification genes by inhibiting PpPG1, PpPME2, and PpCEL3 and inducing PpPGIP1 expression. Additionally, SA treatment affected sugar and acid metabolism genes and increased the expression of PpSPS1, PpSUS1, PpSOT1, PpTMT4, PpSWEET15, and PpcyNAD-MDH, but suppressed the expression of PpcyNADP-ME. The Pearson correlation analysis indicated that PPO activity and MDA content were positively correlated with the expression of PpPPO1, PpACO2, PpEIN3a, PpNCED1, PpAOC2, PpPG1, PpPME2, PpCEL3, and PpcyNDA-MDH. Conversely, these factors were negatively associated with the activities of SOD, POD, CAT, and APX, as well as the expression levels of PpSOD1, PpPOD1, PpCAT1, PpAPX6, PpGST2, PpNPR-1, PpTAR2, PpCOMT1, PpPGIP1, PpSPS1, PpSUS1, PpSOT1, PpTMT4, PpSWEET15, and PpcyNAD-MDH. Our results reveal that exogenous SA could delay fruit senescence in sand pear fruit by regulating various biochemical and molecular mechanisms and can be used to effectively extend fruit shelf life during room temperature storage. However, further research is necessary to determine whether the fruits sprayed with SA are suitable for direct human consumption. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetic Diversity, Germplasm Resources and Biotechnology Application for Sustained Fruit Improvement)

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19 pages, 4701 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Genetic Diversity Analysis and Core Germplasm Construction of Rubus chingii Hu

by Ziwei Zhou, Fen Liu, Yanqin Xu and Weiming Hu

Plants 2024, 13(5), 618; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13050618 - 23 Feb 2024

Viewed by 553

Abstract

Rubus chingii Hu is the only species that is used for both edible and medicinal purposes among the 194 species of the genus Rubus in China. It is well known for its sweet and sour fresh fruits that are rich in vitamins and for its dried immature fruits that are used to treat kidney-related ailments. This study aims to evaluate genetic diversity and population structure and build a core germplasm repository of 132 R. chingii accessions from the provinces of Jiangxi and Fujian, using Hyper-seq-derived single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. This is the first genetic study of R. chingii based on SNP molecular markers, and a total of 1,303,850 SNPs and 433,159 insertions/deletions (InDels) were identified. Low values for observed heterozygosity, nucleotide diversity (Pi) and fixation indexes (Fis) indicated low genetic diversity within populations, and an analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed that 37.4% and 62.6% of the variations were found between populations and within samples, respectively. Four main clusters were identified by means of neighbor-joining (NJ) trees, the ADMIXTURE program and principal component analysis (PCA). Based on the genetic diversity, we finally constructed 38 representative core collections, representing 50% of the total core germplasm samples and 95.3% of the genotypes. In summary, the results of our study can provide valuable information on the genetic structure of R. chingii germplasm resources, which is helpful for further explorations of potential high-quality genes and for formulating future breeding and conservation strategies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetic Diversity, Germplasm Resources and Biotechnology Application for Sustained Fruit Improvement)

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19 pages, 2333 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Genetic and Epigenetic Responses of Autochthonous Grapevine Cultivars from the ‘Epirus’ Region of Greece upon Consecutive Drought Stress

by Grigorios Maniatis, Eleni Tani, Anastasios Katsileros, Evangelia V. Avramidou, Theodora Pitsoli, Efi Sarri, Maria Gerakari, Maria Goufa, Maria Panagoulakou, Konstantina Xipolitaki, Kimon Klouvatos, Stamatia Megariti, Polixeni Pappi, Ioannis E. Papadakis, Penelope J. Bebeli and Aliki Kapazoglou

Plants 2024, 13(1), 27; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13010027 - 21 Dec 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 968

Abstract

Within the framework of preserving and valorizing the rich grapevine germplasm of the Epirus region of Greece, indigenous grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) cultivars were characterized and assessed for their resilience to abiotic stresses in the context of climate change. The cultivars ‘Debina’ and ‘Dichali’ displayed significant differences in their response to drought stress as judged by morpho-physiological analysis, indicating higher drought tolerance for Dichali. Hence, they were selected for further study aiming to identify genetic and epigenetic mechanisms possibly regulating drought adaptability. Specifically, self-rooted and heterografted on ‘Richter 110’ rootstock plants were subjected to two phases of drought with a recovery period in between. Gene expression analysis was performed for two stress-related miRNAs and their target genes: (a) miRNA159 and putative targets, VvMYB101, VvGATA-26-like, VvTOPLESS-4-like and (b) miRNA156 and putative target gene VvCONSTANS-5. Overall, grafted plants exhibited a higher drought tolerance than self-rooted plants, suggesting beneficial rootstock–scion interactions. Comparative analysis revealed differential gene expression under repetitive drought stresses between the two cultivars as well as between the self-rooted and grafted plants. ‘Dichali’ exhibited an up-regulation of most of the genes examined, which may be associated with increased tolerance. Nevertheless, the profound down-regulation of VvTOPLESS-4-like (a transcriptional co-repressor of transcription factors) upon drought and the concomitant up-regulation of miRNA159 highlights the importance of this ‘miRNA-target’ module in drought responsiveness. DNA methylation profiling using MSAP analysis revealed differential methylation patterns between the two genotypes in response to drought. Further investigations of gene expression and DNA methylation will contribute to our understanding of the epigenetic mechanisms underlying grapevine tolerance to drought stress. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetic Diversity, Germplasm Resources and Biotechnology Application for Sustained Fruit Improvement)

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15 pages, 2913 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Genome-Wide Development of Polymorphic SNP Markers and Evaluation of Genetic Diversity of Litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.)

by Wei Liu, Zhidan Xiao, Nonghui Jiang, Chao Fan and Xu Xiang

Plants 2023, 12(23), 3949; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12233949 - 23 Nov 2023

Viewed by 836

Abstract

Litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) is a highly valuable fruit crop that is widely grown in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. Studying its genetic diversity and population structure is critical for effective conservation and breeding programs. In this study, we developed 150 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers that were evenly spaced across litchi genome and applied them to the evaluation of the genetic diversity of 84 litchi accessions, including old cultivars, modern cultivars, hybrids from known parents and wild accessions. Ninety-one SNP markers, showing high levels of polymorphism and high genotyping success rates, were used for further analysis. The newly developed SNP markers captured a relatively higher level of genetic diversity (He = 0.364) in litchi cultivars and could be successfully applied for the identification of synonymous cultivars and hybrids with close genetic backgrounds. Cluster analysis grouped all genotypes into three clusters that showed perfect association with their fruit maturation period, among which wild accessions clustered with their corresponding domesticated cultivars, and hybrids from different parent combinations showed different inheritance tendencies. Our study not only provided a set of efficient SNP markers for future genetic research, but also laid an important foundation for the conservation and genetic breeding of litchi. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetic Diversity, Germplasm Resources and Biotechnology Application for Sustained Fruit Improvement)

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11 pages, 1858 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Clarithromycin Suppresses Apple Proliferation Phytoplasma in Explant Cultures

by Matěj Semerák, Jiří Sedlák and Radek Čmejla

Plants 2023, 12(22), 3820; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12223820 - 10 Nov 2023

Viewed by 732

Abstract

Apple proliferation, caused by ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma mali’, is one of the most important economic threats in the field of apple production. Especially at a young age, infected trees can be affected by excessive bud proliferation and general decline. The fruit quality is also significantly reduced by this disease. To investigate treatment options, we applied a clarithromycin chemotherapy to infected in vitro cultures of ‘Golden Delicious’. With increasing concentrations of clarithromycin in the media, the phytoplasma load decreased rapidly after one month of treatment, but phytotoxicity led to a pronounced mortality at 40 mg/L, which was the highest dose used in our experiment. Out of 45 initial explants, we obtained one negative mericlone and two mericlones with a concentration of phytoplasma DNA at the detection limit of PCR. The culture propagated from the mericlone that tested negative remained phytoplasma-free after 18 months of subculturing. Our results suggest the applicability of macrolide antibiotics against phytoplasma infections in vitro; however, it might be challenging to find the threshold zone where the concentration is sufficient for pathogen elimination, but not lethal for the plant material of different cultivars. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetic Diversity, Germplasm Resources and Biotechnology Application for Sustained Fruit Improvement)

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17 pages, 4426 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fruit Quality and Metabolomic Analyses of Fresh Food Accessions Provide Insights into the Key Carbohydrate Metabolism in Blueberry

by Chunhong Zhang, Jie Li, Jialuan Wang, Lianfei Lyu, Wenlong Wu, Weilin Li and Yaqiong Wu

Plants 2023, 12(18), 3200; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12183200 - 07 Sep 2023

Viewed by 795

Abstract

Blueberry is a nutrient-rich berry, and its taste and flavor directly determine the consumer preference. Until now, few studies have focused on the comparison of fresh food quality and the key metabolites in superior fresh-eating blueberry cultivars. Herein, fruit quality indicators of 10 highbush blueberry cultivars were evaluated using ‘Bluerain’ as the control. Appearance quality analysis of fruits showed that ‘Brigitta’ had a larger fruit size and ‘Anna’ was the smallest. ‘Anna’ fruits, followed by ‘O′Neal’, had the highest ratio of soluble solids to acidity because of their lowest titratable acidity content. Despite the high soluble sugar content, the antioxidants in ‘Anna’ fruits such as total flavonoids, anthocyanins and vitamin C were lowest among all cultivars, while ‘Duke’ seemed to have opposite patterns. Furthermore, a total of 553 and 557 metabolites were identified by non-targeted metabolomics liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) in positive and negative ion mode, respectively. Particularly, the numbers of differentially accumulated metabolites (DAMs) were the most between the ‘O′Neal’ vs. ‘Bluerain’ group. The DAMs involved in the metabolic pathways, sesquiterpenoid and triterpenoid biosynthesis, monoterpenoid biosynthesis, galactose metabolism, starch and sucrose metabolism, may be mainly related to the synthesis of flavor and carbohydrate substances. Moreover, the expression patterns of genes involved in sugar metabolism were verified by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis in different cultivars. Therefore, the systematical comparison of the quality characteristics, metabolites and expression profiles of related genes in highbush blueberries with good flavor could provide some basis for further research on fresh fruit breeding of blueberries. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetic Diversity, Germplasm Resources and Biotechnology Application for Sustained Fruit Improvement)

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13 pages, 1155 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Genetic Diversity of Apple Clonal Rootstocks from the Collection of the Michurinsk State Agrarian University Based on SSR Markers

by Ksenia V. Boris, Aya A. Trifonova, Maksim L. Dubrovsky, Ivan N. Shamshin and Aleksander M. Kudryavtsev

Plants 2023, 12(16), 2991; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12162991 - 19 Aug 2023

Viewed by 743

Abstract

The Michurinsk State Agrarian University (Michurinsk SAU) is one of the leading centers for breeding apple clonal rootstocks. A diverse collection of apple rootstocks, founded in 1930s by V.I. Budagovsky, is maintained at the Michurinsk SAU. In the present study, 87 rootstocks from this collection were analyzed using 18 SSR markers to assess their genetic diversity and relatedness. The detected polymorphism level was rather high compared to the previous estimates of apple rootstock genetic variability. A total of 199 alleles were detected with an average of 11.1 alleles per locus. Among the detected alleles, 67 (33.67%) were rare and 43 (21.61%) were unique. The average PIC value was 0.73, and the expected and observed heterozygosity averaged 0.76 and 0.69, respectively. All the studied accessions except two could be identified with the used marker set. Cluster analysis revealed several groups according to the rootstocks’ pedigrees and genetic origin. Furthermore, Structure analysis revealed two main groups of the studied rootstock accessions. No significant differentiation of the studied sample according to dwarfing ability was detected, while weak differentiation was detected according to leaf color. SSR genotyping data can be used for rootstock fingerprinting and pedigree verification and will facilitate collection management. In addition, data on the genetic diversity and structure of the studied collection may be useful for further development of the Michurinsk SAU rootstock breeding program. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetic Diversity, Germplasm Resources and Biotechnology Application for Sustained Fruit Improvement)

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17 pages, 1482 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Screening and Evaluation of Excellent Blackberry Cultivars and Strains Based on Nutritional Quality, Antioxidant Properties, and Genetic Diversity

by Huifang Zhao, Yaqiong Wu, Wenlong Wu, Weilin Li and Yongcan Jin

Plants 2023, 12(16), 2982; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12162982 - 18 Aug 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1080

Abstract

To screen and evaluate excellent blackberry cultivars and strains, 17 indexes of plant growth and fruit horticultural and nutritional characteristics were measured, 20 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were analyzed, the fingerprints of 23 blackberry cultivars and strains were constructed, and the processing characteristics of 10 excellent cultivars and strains were evaluated. The results showed that ‘Chester’ and ‘Shuofeng’ had the highest plant yield (6.5 kg per plant), of which the ‘Chester’ fruit also had the highest hardness (2.78 kg/cm²). ‘Kiowa’ had the highest single fruit weight (10.43 g). ‘10-5n-2’ had the highest total anthocyanin content (225.4 mg/100 g FW) and total polyphenol content (3.24 mg/g FW), but a low plant yield. These results suggest that ‘Shuofeng’ and ‘Chester’ are the top two blackberry cultivars planted in Nanjing, with the best growth and comprehensive quality. Moreover, a total of 119 alleles were detected with an average number of 6 alleles per locus. The polymorphism information content (PIC) was 0.374~0.844, with an average of 0.739, indicating a high genetic diversity among the 23 blackberry cultivars and strains. This study provides insight into the plant growth, fruit characteristics and genetic diversity of the 23 blackberry cultivars and strains, and is thus conducive to the protection and utilization of blackberry cultivars and strains. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetic Diversity, Germplasm Resources and Biotechnology Application for Sustained Fruit Improvement)

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13 pages, 4731 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Molecular Characterization and Genetic Diversity of Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.) Based on Insertions and Deletions (InDel) Markers

by Dan Wang, Qi Zhou, Linlin Le, Fangfang Fu, Guibin Wang, Fuliang Cao and Xiaoming Yang

Plants 2023, 12(13), 2567; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12132567 - 06 Jul 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1182

Abstract

As a “living fossil”, ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.) has significant ornamental, medicinal, and timber value. However, the breeding improvement of ginkgo was limited by the lack of enough excellent germplasms and suitable molecular markers. Here, we characterized numerous polymorphic insertion/deletion (InDel) markers using RAD-seq in 12 different ginkgo cultivars. The total of 279,534 InDels identified were unequally distributed across 12 chromosomes in the ginkgo genome. Of these, 52.56% (146,919) and 47.44% (132,615) were attributed to insertions and deletions, respectively. After random selection and validation, 26 pairs of polymorphic primers were used for molecular diversity analysis in 87 ginkgo cultivars and clones. The average values of observed heterozygosity and polymorphism information were 0.625 and 0.517, respectively. The results of population structure analyses were similar to those of neighbor-joining and principal component analyses, which divided all germplasms into two distinct groups. Moreover, 11 ginkgo core collections accounted for approximately 12.64% of the total ginkgo germplasms obtained, representing well the allelic diversity of all original germplasms. Therefore, these InDels can be used for germplasm management and genetic diversity analyses in ginkgo and the core collections will be used effectively for ginkgo genetic improvement. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetic Diversity, Germplasm Resources and Biotechnology Application for Sustained Fruit Improvement)

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20 pages, 7524 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Combined Transcriptome and Proteome Analysis Provides Insights into Petaloidy in Pomegranate

by Yan Huo, Han Yang, Wenjie Ding, Tao Huang, Zhaohe Yuan and Zunling Zhu

Plants 2023, 12(13), 2402; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12132402 - 21 Jun 2023

Viewed by 1104

Abstract

Petaloidy leads to a plump floral pattern and increases the landscape value of ornamental pomegranates; however, research on the mechanism of petaloidy in ornamental pomegranates is limited. In this study, we aimed to screen candidate genes related to petaloidy. We performed transcriptomic and proteomic sequencing of the stamens and petals of single-petal and double-petal flowers of ornamental pomegranates. Briefly, 24,567 genes and 5865 proteins were identified, of which 5721 genes were quantified at both transcriptional and translational levels. In the petal and stamen comparison groups, the association between differentially abundant proteins (DAPs) and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) was higher than that between all genes and all proteins, indicating that petaloidy impacts the correlation between genes and proteins. The enrichment results of transcriptome, proteome, and correlation analyses showed that cell wall metabolism, jasmonic acid signal transduction, redox balance, and transmembrane transport affected petaloidy. Nine hormone-related DEGs/DAPs were selected, among which ARF, ILR1, LAX2, and JAR1 may promote petal doubling. Sixteen transcription factor DEGs/DAPs were selected, among which EREBP, LOB, MEF2, MYB, C3H, and trihelix may promote petal doubling. Our results provide transcriptomic and proteomic data on the formation mechanism of petaloidy and a theoretical basis for breeding new ornamental pomegranate varieties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetic Diversity, Germplasm Resources and Biotechnology Application for Sustained Fruit Improvement)

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16 pages, 3594 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Genetic Relationships of 118 Castanea Specific Germplasms and Construction of Their Molecular ID Based on Morphological Characteristics and SSR Markers

by Xiaoqian Bai, Shijie Zhang, Wu Wang, Yu Chen, Yuqiang Zhao, Fenghou Shi and Cancan Zhu

Plants 2023, 12(7), 1438; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12071438 - 24 Mar 2023

Viewed by 1210

Abstract

To understand the genetic relationships of Castanea species, 16 phenotypic traits were measured, simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were analyzed, and molecular identity cards (IDs) were constructed for 118 Castanea materials using fluorescent capillary electrophoresis. The coefficient of variation values of the 16 morphological traits of the test materials ranged from 11.11% to 60.38%. A total of 58 alleles were detected using six pairs of SSR core primers, with an average number of 9.7 alleles per locus. The average number of valid alleles per locus was 3.9419 and the proportion of valid alleles was 40.78%. A total of 105 genotypes were detected, and the number of genotypic species that could be amplified per primer pair ranged from 8 to 26. The mean value of the observed heterozygosity was 0.4986. The variation in the He, H, and PIC values was similar; the size of I value was approximately 2.21 times larger, and its mean number of variations was 0.7390, 0.7359, 0.6985, and 1.6015, respectively. The classification of 118 Castanea species was performed using three analytical methods: structure analysis, neighbor-joining (NJ) cluster analysis, and principal coordinate analysis (PCoA), and the results of the three methods were in high agreement. Six pairs of SSR core primers with high polymorphism and strong discriminatory properties were used to identify 118 Castanea plants, and a unique molecular ID card was constructed for each material. These results provide insight into the genetic diversity and population structure of Castanea plants and a theoretical basis for improving the phenomenon of mixed varieties and substandard plants in the Castanea plant market. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetic Diversity, Germplasm Resources and Biotechnology Application for Sustained Fruit Improvement)

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16 pages, 2718 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Autochthonous Apple Cultivars from the Campania Region (Southern Italy): Bio-Agronomic and Qualitative Traits

by Danilo Cice, Elvira Ferrara, Anna Magri, Giuseppina Adiletta, Giuseppe Capriolo, Pietro Rega, Marisa Di Matteo and Milena Petriccione

Plants 2023, 12(5), 1160; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12051160 - 03 Mar 2023

Viewed by 1574

Abstract

Apple (Malus × domestica Borkh.) is an important fruit crop widely spread in the cold and mild climates of temperate regions in the world, with more than 93 million tons harvested worldwide in 2021. The object of this work was to analyze thirty-one local apple cultivars of the Campania region (Southern Italy) using agronomic, morphological (UPOV descriptors) and physicochemical (solid soluble content, texture, pH and titratable acidity, skin color, Young’s modulus and browning index) traits. UPOV descriptors highlighted similarities and differences among apple cultivars with a depth phenotypic characterization. Apple cultivars showed significant differences in fruit weight (31.3–236.02 g) and physicochemical trait ranging from 8.0 to 14.64° Brix for solid soluble content, 2.34–10.38 g malic acid L⁻¹ for titratable acidity, and 15–40% for browning index. Furthermore, different percentages in apple shape and skin color have been detected. Similarities among the cultivars based on their bio-agronomic and qualitative traits have been evaluated by cluster analyses and principal component analyses. This apple germplasm collection represents an irreplaceable genetic resource with considerable morphological and pomological variabilities among several cultivars. Nowadays, some local cultivars, widespread only in restricted geographical areas, could be reintroduced in cultivation contribution to improving the diversity of our diets and contemporary to preserve knowledge on traditional agricultural systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetic Diversity, Germplasm Resources and Biotechnology Application for Sustained Fruit Improvement)

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