Current progress in genetic and genomics-aided breeding for stress resistance in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.)

Authors: DAS, ANJAN - Indian Agricultural Research Institute; SINGH, SAURABH - Indian Agricultural Research Institute; ISLAM, ZAHERUL - Indian Council Of Agricultural Research (ICAR); MUNSH, A.D. - Indian Agricultural Research Institute; BEHERA, T.K. - Indian Agricultural Research Institute; DUTTA, SUMAN - Indian Agricultural Research Institute; Weng, Yiqun; DEY, S.S. - Indian Agricultural Research Institute

Submitted to: Scientia Horticulturae
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/10/2022
Publication Date: 3/30/2022
Citation: Das, A., Singh, S., Islam, Z., Munsh, A., Behera, T., Dutta, S., Weng, Y., Dey, S. 2022. Current progress in genetic and genomics-aided breeding for stress resistance in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.). Scientia Horticulturae. 300, 111059. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2022.111059.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2022.111059

Interpretive Summary: Cucumber is an important vegetable crop throughout the world. During its lifetime, cucumber is exposed to the occurrence of various diseases, insect pests and abiotic stresses like heat, drought, salinity, and waterlogging. Resistance or tolerance breeding in cucumber demands availability of molecular markers associated with trait of interest. There has been rapid progress in the last decade in developing genetic and genomic resources for cucumber that may facilitate marker-assisted breeding for biotic and abiotic stresses. But a systemic review the literature is lacking. In this manuscript, we reviewed development of molecular markers for resistance or tolerance to various disease pathogens, insect pests, and environmental stresses. These include genes or quantitative trait loci (QTLs) detected for disease such as powdery mildew, downy mildew, angular leaf spot, anthracnose, target leaf spot, and a number of virus pathogens. QTLs have also been identified for tolerance to various abiotic stresses such as heat, low temperature, and salinity. We also present perspectives on expediting cucumber breeding using new technologies. This is a timely review that may benefit public and private researchers in the cucurbit research community.

Technical Abstract: The crop plants encounter various biotic and abiotic stresses throughout their life hindering their growth and development. In the post-genomics era, the accumulation of genomic resources has escalated the crop breeding for complex traits. Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) is an important vegetable crop and has been a model plant species for elucidating sex regulation and holds the title of first horticulture crop genome to be sequenced. During the various phases of growth and development, cucumber is exposed to the occurrence of various diseases, insect-pests and abiotic stresses. Resistance breeding in cucumber demands availability of molecular markers associated with trait of interest. The small genome size and existence of full genome sequence of cucumber has facilitated the utilization of genetic and genomics resources in cucumber for molecular breeding. The high density maps and easily accessible high throughput sequencing technologies has allowed quick identification of molecular markers or cloning of candidate genes/QTL for many biotic and abiotic stress In this review, we have presented the brief information on genomics enabled tools for haplotype mapping, genetic linkage mapping and functional gene identification for various biotic and abiotic stresses in cucumber.