Integrating genomic tools in strawberry breeding

Abstract

The intense technological development in genotyping and phenotyping provided new tools capable of clarifying the genetics of complex polyploids such as commercial strawberries. High-throughput genotyping was applied to the case study of a F1 population representing the germplasm of Edward Vinson Ltd. breeding program. Thus, high density linkage maps were developed for the parental cultivars, Parental lines (PL) 1 and 2. Secondarily, a high-throughput phenotyping protocol for strawberry fruit quality and yield was developed and tested. Its output was integrated in a QTL study aiming to understand the genomic regions underlying fruit phenotype. As a result, 54 stable loci associated to fruit size, shape, and colour were mapped and analysed. The results provide an insight to the structure of the strawberry genome and its regions controlling critical fruit traits. The markers, maps, and methodology developed will constitute a valuable resource in future genetic studies as well as commercial breeding.