Submitted to: Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: December 3, 2003
Publication Date: February 22, 2004
Citation: Lewers, K.S. 2004. Bramble breeding and genetic assay tools.. Meeting Proceedings.
Technical Abstract:
Traditional bramble breeding relies on years of evaluation to allow a breeder to select seedlings with all the best traits of both parents. As a result, the process of developing new bramble cultivars can take longer than breeders, nurseries, and growers would prefer. This is especially obvious for traits like disease resistance or primocane fruiting. In the future, breeders will have available genetic assay tools that will allow them to select indirectly for traits that usually take years to become evident. Some particularly useful genetic assay tools are called simple sequence repeat molecular markers (SSRs). SSRs currently are being developed through collaborations among a number of breeders working with strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry. It is interesting that around a tenth of the SSRs developed for strawberry can be used with blackberry and raspberry. We have found that approximately half of the SSRs developed for red raspberry can be used with black raspberry, and that fewer than a third can be used with blackberry. Therefore, although some blackberry and raspberry plants can be crossed together, they are less similar genetically than that cross-compatibility would indicate. On a more practical note, these findings establish a clear need to develop these SSRs specifically for blackberry and not rely only on those developed for raspberry or strawberry.
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