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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Geneva, New York » Grape Genetics Research Unit (GGRU) » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #276129
Title: Inheritance of anthocyanin content in the ripe berries of a tetraploid × diploid grape cross population

Author
item LIANG, ZHENCHANG - Chinese Academy Of Sciences
item ZHAO, SHENGJIAN - Hebei Academy Of Agriculture & Forestry
item MA, AIHONG - Hebei Academy Of Agriculture & Forestry
item Zhong, Gan-Yuan
item LI, SHAOHUA - Chinese Academy Of Sciences

Submitted to: Euphytica
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/19/2011
Publication Date: 1/14/2012
Citation: Liang, Z., Zhao, S., Ma, A., Zhong, G., Li, S. 2012. Inheritance of anthocyanin content in the ripe berries of a tetraploid × diploid grape cross population. Euphytica. 186:343-356.

Interpretive Summary: Grapes are rich in many phytochemical compounds that have significant benefits to human nutrition and health. Anthocyanins are one class of such compounds. In this study, we evaluated how anthocyanin content in the parents would be passed onto the progeny in a table grape breeding population. This breeding population was derived from a cross between tetraploid (containing 4 copies of grape genomes) and diploid (2 copies of grape genomes) table grapes. A total of 28 different anthocyanins were evaluated in the progeny population. We found that the total anthocyanin content increased as the copies of genomes (i.e. ploidy level) increased in the progeny. We also observed that some progeny had much higher or lower content of anthocyanins than the parents, a phenomenon called transgressive segregation. These results provided new genetic information which will help develop better breeding strategies in a polyploid table grape breeding program for improving the content of anthocyanins.

Technical Abstract: Variation patterns and inheritance of anthocyanin content in the ripe berries of a tetraploid × diploid table grape cross population were investigated in two successive years. The population segregated for three different ploidy levels: dipolids, triploids, and tetraploids. A total of 28 different anthocyanins were detected and quantified in the progeny population. Transgressive segregation for the total anthocyanin content was observed in all the three ploid progeny populations. The total anthocyanin content increased as the ploid level increased. The broad sense heritabilities (H2) of the total anthiocyanin content were all relatively high, ranging from 0.53 to 0.98 in the diploid population, from 0.57 to 0.97 in the tetraploid population, and from 0.43 to 0.94 in the tetraploid population. Our results suggested that the total anthocyanin content followed an additive inheritance model in this polyploid segregation population. We also observed that the relative contribution of individual anthocyanins to the total anthocyanin content varied significantly among different ploid populations, suggesting that genetic background has important impact on the accumulation of the individual anthocyanin compounds. These results will help develop better breeding strategies in a polyploid table grape breeding program for improving the content of anthocyanins, an important class of polyphenolics possessing antioxidant activities and many other health-related benefits.