Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Kearneysville, West Virginia » Appalachian Fruit Research Laboratory » Innovative Fruit Production, Improvement, and Protection » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #212138
Title: A genetic linkage map for an apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) BCI population mapping Plum pox virus resistance

Author
item Lalli, Donna
item ABBOTT, ALBERT - CLEMSON UNIVERSITY
item ZHEBENTYAYEVA, T. N. - CLEMSON UNIVERSITY
item BADENES, M. L. - IVIA, SPAIN
item Damsteegt, Vernon
item POLAK, J. - CROP RES INST, CZECH REPU
item KRSKA, B. - MENDEL UNIV, CZECH REPUBL
item SALAVA, J. - CROP RES INST, CZECH REPU

Submitted to: Tree Genetics & Genomics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/27/2007
Publication Date: 1/12/2008
Citation: Lalli, D., Abbott, A., Zhebentyayeva, T., Badenes, M., Damsteegt, V.D., Polak, J., Krska, B., Salava, J. 2008. A genetic linkage map for an apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) BCI population mapping Plum pox virus resistance. Tree Genetics & Genomics. 4:481-493.

Interpretive Summary: Plum pox virus (PPV) can cause significant crop loss in Prunus species such as peach, plum, apricot, and cherry. There is little resistance to PPV in the majority of Prunus species; however, several apricot varieties are resistant to PPV. Understanding the genetic basis of PPV resistance in apricot may lead to the development of other resistant Prunus species. A genetic map was constructed for apricot. We identified a location for plum pox virus resistance in the genetic map and demonstrated that we could compare our map with other genetic maps for Prunus. This apricot genetic map and the genetic markers associated with PPV resistance will help plant geneticists and breeders develop cultivars with natural resistance in economically important Prunus species.

Technical Abstract: Plum pox virus (sharka or PPV) can cause severe crop loss in economically important Prunus species such as peach, plum, apricot, and cherry. Of these species, certain apricot cultivars ('Stark Early Orange', 'Goldrich', 'Harlayne') display significant levels of resistance to the disease and are the genetic substrate for studies of several laboratories working cooperatively to genetically characterize and mark the resistance locus/loci for marker assisted breeding. The goals of the work presented in this communication are the characterization of the genetics of PPV resistance in 'Stark Early Orange' and the development of co-dominant molecular markers for marker assisted selection (MAS) in PPV resistance breeding. We present the first genetic linkage map for an apricot backcross population of 'Stark Early Orange' and the susceptible cultivar ‘Vestar’ that segregates for resistance to PPV. This map is comprised of 357 loci (330 AFLPs, 26 SSRs, and 1 morphological marker for PPV resistance) assigned to eight linkage groups. Twenty-two of the mapped SSRs are shared in common with genetic reference map for Prunus (T x E) (Joobeur et al., 1998) and anchor our apricot map to the general Prunus map. A plum pox virus resistance locus (PPV resistance) was mapped in linkage group 1 and four AFLP markers segregating with the PPV resistance trait, identified through bulk segregant analysis (BSA), facilitated the development of SSRs in this region.