New Advances in Genetic Improvement and Breeding of Fruit Trees

A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Genetics, Genomics, Breeding, and Biotechnology (G2B2)".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (29 February 2024) | Viewed by 4842

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450009, China
Interests: peach; germplasm resource; fruit quality; genetics; genomics; molecular breeding

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450009, China
Interests: resistance to disease; abiotic stresses; development of berries; molecular breeding; germplasm resource

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450009, China
Interests: drupe fruit; germplasm resource; genomics; molecular breeding

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fruit trees are popular with the public as they have high economic, ecological, health and academic value. In recent decades, great efforts have been made by researchers on fruit trees, since the breeding of new varieties with excellent fruit quality (external appearance, texture, flavor, nutritional value, etc.) and strong adaptability to biotic and abiotic stress is in great need, not only to meet the ever-growing consumer demands, but also to better adapt the trees to rapid environmental changes. This Special Issue aims to provide a comprehensive overview of recent advances in the genetic improvement and breeding of fruit trees. Innovative research including—but not limited to—reference genome assemblies, transcriptome assemblies, genetic linkage maps, QTL mapping, genome-wide association studies, allele mining, gene expression, and marker-trait associations for marker-assisted selection are encouraged for submission. Moreover, advances in gene-editing technologies, such as CRISPR-Cas9—which has facilitated the development of novel genotypes while circumventing challenges in conventional breeding—are also welcomed.

Prof. Dr. Ke Cao
Prof. Dr. Ying Zhang
Dr. Zhenyu Huang
Guest Editors

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. Horticulturae 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 2200 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

  • fruit trees
  • fruit quality
  • biotic and abiotic stress
  • molecular breeding
  • linkage mapping
  • genome-wide association studies
  • genomic selection
  • genotyping

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 4824 KiB  
Article
Mining Genes Related to Single Fruit Weight of Peach (Prunus persica) Based on WGCNA and GSEA
by Hangling Bie, Huimin Wang, Lirong Wang, Yong Li, Weichao Fang, Changwen Chen, Xinwei Wang, Jinlong Wu and Ke Cao
Horticulturae 2023, 9(12), 1335; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae9121335 - 12 Dec 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 883
Abstract
Single fruit weight is an important goal of crop production and horticultural species domestication, but its genetic mechanism is still unclear. In this study, the fruits of different peach fruit types in their first rapid development period were used as materials. First, the [...] Read more.
Single fruit weight is an important goal of crop production and horticultural species domestication, but its genetic mechanism is still unclear. In this study, the fruits of different peach fruit types in their first rapid development period were used as materials. First, the differentially expressed genes were analyzed by RNA-seq data. Secondly, weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was used to calculate the correlation between genes and modules, the genes with different expression patterns were divided into 17 modules, the modules were correlated with the phenotype of single fruit, and a highly correlated blue module was obtained. Then, the possible differentially expressed genes and signal pathways among different fruit types were compared by gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and 43 significant pathways were obtained. Finally, 54 genes found to be repeatedly expressed in 3 of the methods were screened, and 11 genes involved in plant hormone signal transduction were selected for subsequent analysis according to their functional annotations. Combined with the changing trend of phenotype, three genes (Prupe.7G234800, Prupe.8G079200 and Prupe.8G082100) were obtained as candidate genes for single fruit weight traits. All three genes are involved in auxin signal transduction, with auxin playing an important role in plant growth and development. This discovery provides a new perspective for revealing the genetic law of single fruit weight in peach. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances in Genetic Improvement and Breeding of Fruit Trees)
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14 pages, 2155 KiB  
Article
The Development of Molecular Markers for Peach Skin Blush and Their Application in Peach Breeding Practice
by Tianfa Guo, Jiao Wang, Xinxin Lu, Jinlong Wu and Lirong Wang
Horticulturae 2023, 9(8), 887; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae9080887 - 04 Aug 2023
Viewed by 909
Abstract
Peach is an economically important fruit tree crop worldwide. The external color of the fruit governs the peach price, especially in fruits with different degrees of blush. Molecular marker-assisted breeding has become a necessary part of modern breeding practices, increasing their efficiency. Although [...] Read more.
Peach is an economically important fruit tree crop worldwide. The external color of the fruit governs the peach price, especially in fruits with different degrees of blush. Molecular marker-assisted breeding has become a necessary part of modern breeding practices, increasing their efficiency. Although the key related genes responsible for peel coloration have been found in peach, corresponding molecular markers have not been widely used in peach breeding. The development of molecular markers for peach peel color needs to be advanced and implemented in practice. This study aimed to explore the variation related to peach skin color and to develop molecular markers linked to these variants that can be used in breeding. By analyzing the expression of anthocyanin synthesis-related and regulatory genes, we confirmed that MYB10.1 is a key gene controlling skin color. We further identified that 5243 bp insertion and 483 bp deletion in the MYB10.1 promoter was highly associated with peach skin color phenotypes. In addition, we identified one transposon insertion mutation at the −2706 bp position of the MYB10.1 promoter associated with the non-red fruit skin trait and developed a molecular marker for validation. The insertion size amplified from the ‘ShiYuBaiTao’ genome DNA was approximately 3.5 kb. However, it explained a lower percentage of the non-red skin phenotype variance in peach, at 36.1%, compared to MYB10.1-2/MYB10.1-2 in this study. Based on these results, we propose that MYB10.1-2/MYB10.1-2 should not only be the only non-red skin genotype assessed but should also be combined with other molecular makers to increase the prediction accuracy of peach skin color. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances in Genetic Improvement and Breeding of Fruit Trees)
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14 pages, 3287 KiB  
Article
Identification of ABA Signaling Pathway Genes and Their Differential Regulation in Response to Suboptimal Light Stress in Grape (Vitis vinifera L.)
by Tao Xu, Min Zhang, Tianchi Chen, Lili Gong, Lingling Hu, Jie Yang, Haoxuan Si and Yueyan Wu
Horticulturae 2023, 9(7), 789; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae9070789 - 11 Jul 2023
Viewed by 872
Abstract
Suboptimal light stress in grapevines is increasing worldwide with the spread of grapevine cultivation, which can affect grapevine physiology and productivity, such as in Southern China. Abscisic acid (ABA) is an important hormone in plant adaptive responses to abiotic stress, including low light [...] Read more.
Suboptimal light stress in grapevines is increasing worldwide with the spread of grapevine cultivation, which can affect grapevine physiology and productivity, such as in Southern China. Abscisic acid (ABA) is an important hormone in plant adaptive responses to abiotic stress, including low light stress. However, ABA signaling pathway genes (APGs) are not well characterized in the grapevine, and little is known of their potentially mitigating role in grapevine growth under weak light stress. Our study aimed to explore the potential role of the ABA signaling pathway in the response of grapevines to suboptimal light conditions. In this study, APGs were identified in the grapevine genome, and the distribution of conserved motifs was shown to reflect their phylogenetic relationships. Gene duplication analysis indicated that segmental duplication was an important driver for gene expansion in the grapevine ABA signaling pathway. Suboptimal conditions of light were shown to seriously affect the growth of grapevine leaves and berries, with the differential regulation of APGs in the grapevine. Our study summarizes the basic characteristics of APGs in grapevine, which can now be examined further for their roles in grapevine’s response to suboptimal light conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances in Genetic Improvement and Breeding of Fruit Trees)
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13 pages, 2908 KiB  
Article
Genome-Wide Identification of the Light-Harvesting Chlorophyll a/b Binding Protein Gene Family in Pyrus bretschneideri and Their Transcriptomic Features under Drought Stress
by Ruigang Wu, Kun Ran, Shuliang Zhao and Fuhou Cheng
Horticulturae 2023, 9(5), 522; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae9050522 - 22 Apr 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1430
Abstract
Light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b binding (Lhc) proteins play a key role in the efficiency of the photosynthetic system of plants and participate in the regulation of plant growth, development, and the response to abiotic stress. In this study, 28 PbrLhc genes of the family [...] Read more.
Light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b binding (Lhc) proteins play a key role in the efficiency of the photosynthetic system of plants and participate in the regulation of plant growth, development, and the response to abiotic stress. In this study, 28 PbrLhc genes of the family were identified in the pear Pyrus bretschneideri genome database, which were distributed on 25 of the 27 chromosomes. Phylogenetic relationship analysis demonstrated that PbrLhc proteins could be divided into five subfamilies. Using MEME Suite, PlantRegMap, and Softberry, the conserved motifs, transcription binding sites, and predicated location of all PbrLhc proteins, respectively, were determined. A collinearity relationship using MCScanX software showed that there was a collinearity relationship between different PbrLhc genes. Using the hierarchical clustering method to develop a heat map of gene expression, five genes were found to be down-regulated under irrigation treatment and up-regulated under drought treatment; seven genes were up-regulated under irrigation treatment and down-regulated under drought treatment. Finally, the results of these analyses will provide theoretical basis for future study on the function and differential expression of PbrLhc genes in response to drought stress. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances in Genetic Improvement and Breeding of Fruit Trees)
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