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Title: Improved microsatellite markers for quince (Cydonia oblonga) genetic analysis

Author
item Bassil, Nahla
item Nyberg, April
item KIM, YOOM-KYEONG - National Institute Of Horticultural & Herbal Science (NIHHS)
item Postman, Joseph

Submitted to: Acta Horticulturae
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/15/2015
Publication Date: 9/1/2015
Citation: Bassil, N.V., Nyberg, A.M., Kim, Y., Postman, J.D. 2015. Improved microsatellite markers for quince (Cydonia oblonga) genetic analysis. Acta Horticulturae. 1094:57-65.

Interpretive Summary: None provided

Technical Abstract: he USDA National Clonal Germplasm Repository maintains a diverse living collection of 149 European quince (Cydonia oblonga) genotypes with origins from 16 countries. The collection is represented by one tree per accession on a 0.5 hectare orchard in Corvallis, Oregon. We previously used nine apple-derived simple sequence repeat (SSR) primer pairs to determine genetic relationships in 92 European quince clones, but were unable to differentiate several groups of genotypes. Four of the nine SSRs with low observed number of alleles (2-3) were replaced with four SSRs reported to amplify at least four alleles. This new fingerprinting set improved the power of differentiation and was used to identify 102 European and four Chinese (Pseudocydonia sinensis) quince accessions. Some previously suspected synonyms were confirmed including several cultivars that grouped with ‘Portugal’. ‘Lisle’ from a nursery source had the same fingerprint as ‘Pineapple’. Seedlings from Albania, Armenia, and Bulgaria seedlots grouped with other seedlings from the same seedlot and close to the parent cultivar. A group of quince clones was indistinguishable from ‘Quince A’ and may be the result of mispropagations. Flow cytometry using young leaf tissue was used to assess ploidy. Several quince cultivars have phenotypes consistent with polyploidy such as very large fruit and very large and thick leaves, however all NCGR quince accessions were found to be diploid. Genetic profiles of the 102 accessions will be publicly available.