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Agronomy
Special Issues
Development and Identification of Blueberry Germplasm Resources
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Development and Identification of Blueberry Germplasm Resources

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Horticultural and Floricultural Crops".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2021) | Viewed by 11201

Image courtesy of Lisa J. Rowland

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Lisa J. Rowland

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Genetic Improvement of Fruits and Vegetables Laboratory, Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
Interests: molecular genetics and genomics of blueberry including: transcriptome sequencing and development of molecular markers from transcript sequences; use of molecular markers in construction of genetic linkage maps and identification of markers linked to horticulturally important traits in cultivated highbush blueberry; and gene expression studies to identify genes involved in dormancy induction and release by chill unit accumulation, in development of cold hardiness, and in fruit quality determination

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

Blueberry production has risen dramatically over the last ten years, making it one of the most rapidly expanding fruit crops in the world today. Consumption of blueberries has increased, too, propelled by discoveries of blueberries’ many health benefits. Blueberry is a native North American fruit crop domesticated in the early twentieth century. Interspecific hybridizations have been used extensively especially in breeding highbush blueberry cultivars, and even some intersectional hybridizations have proven useful.

The identification and development of blueberry germplasm resources are important in breeding and pre-breeding of new blueberry varieties and in generating new genetic and genomic tools for future use in marker-assisted breeding. For example, development of new mapping populations, both bi-parental and association mapping, for identification of QTL for significant traits, is actively being pursued. Development of unique populations and mutants are valuable in gene expression studies to identify genes associated with traits, and identification of genotypes for comparative sequencing is important, as well.

For this Special Issue, we welcome any original research articles describing the development and/or identification of blueberry germplasm resources for the purposes of breeding, pre-breeding, mapping and QTL identification, studying gene expression associated with disease resistance, fruit quality, abiotic stress tolerance, etc., comparative sequencing, and other related topics.

Dr. Lisa J. Rowland
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • blueberry
  • Vaccinium
  • breeding
  • genomics
  • mapping
  • phenotyping
  • QTL
  • MAB
  • MAS
  • gene expression

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 1479 KiB  
Article
Evaluating Wild Germplasm Introgression into Autotetraploid Blueberry
by Diego Cabezas, Ivone de Bem Oliveira, Mia Acker, Paul Lyrene and Patricio R. Munoz
Agronomy 2021, 11(4), 614; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11040614 - 24 Mar 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2685
Abstract
Wild germplasm can be classified as the raw material essential for crop improvement. Introgression of wild germplasm is normally used in breeding to increase crop quality or resilience to evolving biotic and abiotic threats. Here, we explore the potential of introgressing Vaccinium elliottii [...] Read more.
Wild germplasm can be classified as the raw material essential for crop improvement. Introgression of wild germplasm is normally used in breeding to increase crop quality or resilience to evolving biotic and abiotic threats. Here, we explore the potential of introgressing Vaccinium elliottii into commercial blueberry germplasm. Vaccinium elliottii is a wild diploid blueberry species endemic to the southeastern United States that possesses highly desirable and economically important traits for blueberry breeding such as: short bloom to ripe period, adaptation to upland sandy soils, disease resistance, firmness, and pleasant flavor. To examine the potential of hybridization, we evaluated populations of interspecific hybrids across multiple stages of breeding (i.e., F1, F2, and backcrosses) in two crop seasons. We used our extensive pedigree data to generate breeding values for pre-breeding blueberry hybrid populations. Hybrid performance was evaluated considering fitness (i.e., plant vigor and plant height) in addition to evaluating six fruit-quality and marketable-related traits (i.e., size, firmness, acidity, soluble solids, weight, and yield). Overall, F2 and backcrosses rapidly achieved market thresholds, presenting values not significantly different from commercial blueberry germplasm. Our results confirmed the potential of exploiting the high genetic variability contained in V. elliottii for interspecific hybridization. Additionally, we developed germplasm resources that can be further evaluated and utilized in the breeding process, advancing selections for fruit quality and environmental adaptation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development and Identification of Blueberry Germplasm Resources)
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18 pages, 3048 KiB  
Article
Characterization and Analysis of Anthocyanin-Related Genes in Wild-Type Blueberry and the Pink-Fruited Mutant Cultivar ‘Pink Lemonade’: New Insights into Anthocyanin Biosynthesis
by Jose V. Die, Richard W. Jones, Elizabeth L. Ogden, Mark K. Ehlenfeldt and Lisa J. Rowland
Agronomy 2020, 10(9), 1296; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10091296 - 1 Sep 2020
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 5201
Abstract
Blueberries are one of the richest sources of antioxidants, such as anthocyanins, among fruits and vegetables. Anthocyanin mutants, like the pink-fruited cultivar ‘Pink Lemonade’, are valuable resources for investigating anthocyanin biosynthesis in blueberries. In this study, we examined expression of flavonoid pathway genes [...] Read more.
Blueberries are one of the richest sources of antioxidants, such as anthocyanins, among fruits and vegetables. Anthocyanin mutants, like the pink-fruited cultivar ‘Pink Lemonade’, are valuable resources for investigating anthocyanin biosynthesis in blueberries. In this study, we examined expression of flavonoid pathway genes during fruit development in wild-type, blue-fruited blueberries using quantitative real-time PCR. Expression was also compared between wild-type and the pink-fruited ‘Pink Lemonade’. This revealed significantly lower expression in ‘Pink Lemonade’ than in wild-type of nearly all the structural genes examined suggesting that a transcriptional regulator of the pathway was affected. Hence, we compared expression of three known regulatory genes and found that the gene encoding the transcription factor MYB1 was expressed at a significantly lower level in ‘Pink Lemonade’ than in the wild-type. To validate the capacity of this MYB1 to regulate the transcription of anthocyanin genes in blueberries, a transient expression assay was conducted. Results indicated MYB1 overexpression enhanced anthocyanin production. Comparative sequence analysis between wild-type and mutant MYB1 variants found differences in highly conserved features suggesting a mechanistic explanation for the mutant phenotype. Collectively, the results presented here contribute to a better understanding of mechanisms regulating anthocyanin biosynthesis in Vaccinium. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development and Identification of Blueberry Germplasm Resources)
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11 pages, 735 KiB  
Article
Phenotypic Evaluation of a Hybrid Diploid Blueberry Population for Plant Development and Fruit Quality Traits
by Lisa J. Rowland, Elizabeth L. Ogden and Bryan T. Vinyard
Agronomy 2020, 10(8), 1067; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10081067 - 24 Jul 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2446
Abstract
A diploid blueberry mapping population, used previously to map quantitative trait loci (QTL) for chilling requirement and cold hardiness, was evaluated for several plant development and fruit quality traits. Specifically, the population was phenotyped in a greenhouse for timing of various stages of [...] Read more.
A diploid blueberry mapping population, used previously to map quantitative trait loci (QTL) for chilling requirement and cold hardiness, was evaluated for several plant development and fruit quality traits. Specifically, the population was phenotyped in a greenhouse for timing of various stages of flower bud, leaf bud and fruit development and for fruit quality traits including weight, diameter, color, scar, firmness, flavor and soluble solids. Phenotypic data was analyzed statistically by analysis of variance, correlation tests, to examine associations of traits, and heritability. Results indicated that the traits were segregating and most were distributed normally in the population. Many of the development traits were correlated, and timing of shoot expansion, early bloom and full bloom was also correlated with the previously evaluated trait of chilling requirement. Some correlations were found among the fruit quality traits as well. For example, weight was highly correlated with diameter, and subjectively measured firmness was moderately correlated with one of the objectively measured firmness traits. In addition, most of the traits showed significant variation across genotypes and across years, and most had moderate to high heritability. Therefore, we conclude that the diploid population should be useful for identifying QTL for many of these traits. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development and Identification of Blueberry Germplasm Resources)
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