Assessment of genetic variability in Italian heritage peach resources from Emilia-Romagna using microsatellite markers

作者：Giovannini D^*; Dettori M T; Leone A; Liverani A; Sirri S; Tellarini S; Verde I

来源：Journal of Horticultural Science & Biotechnology, 2012, 87(5): 435-440.

Heritage peach (Prunus persica L. Batsch) varieties in Emilia-Romagna, Italy's leading peach-producing region, are largely marked by melting, juicy, aromatic white-fleshed fruit with a short shelf-life and susceptibility to bruising. While these varieties have rapidly been replaced since the 1950's by yellow-fleshed peaches from US breeding programmes with improved handling resistance, the Fruit Research Unit of the Agricultural Research Council, at Forli, has begun an effort to safeguard and characterise the heritage varieties of Emilia-Romagna. The programme has screened 26 local heritage accessions using a set of 16 highly polymorphic microsatellite (simple sequence repeat; SSP) markers to assess genetic diversity, to elucidate inter-relationships, and to resolve any cases of homonymy. Seven international peach cultivars have been included in order to standardise allele scoring. This study resulted in 19 unique molecular profiles among the heritage accessions, and a relatively high mean observed heterozygosity value of 0.49 for a germplasm pool from a restricted region, an indicator of potential genetic diversity. The main morphological features of the heritage peaches are reported, and potential benefits for future breeding programmes discussed.

• 出版日期2012-9