The 2010 ASHS Annual Conference
4052:
Germplasm Sets and Standardized Phenotyping Protocols for Fruit Quality Traits in RosBREED
4052:
Germplasm Sets and Standardized Phenotyping Protocols for Fruit Quality Traits in RosBREED
Monday, August 2, 2010: 9:00 AM
Desert Salon 1-3
The prevalent Rosaceae crop breeding approach utilizes a common set of ancestors within breeding programs, resulting in relatedness among individuals and extensive linkage disequilibrium. Pedigree-Based Analysis (PBA) using FlexQTL™ software exploits these genetic considerations to identify and validate marker-locus-trait associations using genotype and phenotype information. RosBREED involves 12 demonstration breeding programs in five rosaceous fruit crops (apple, peach, strawberry, and tart and sweet cherry). Key roles for breeders in utilizing PBA to establish and exploit marker-trait associations are: 1) identifying founder germplasm sets for single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) detection, and Crop Reference (CR) and Breeding Pedigree (BP) sets for genotyping and phenotyping, and 2) choosing important fruit quality traits and developing standardized phenotyping protocols to assess them. Breeders used PediMap software to visualize relationships and ancestry in their germplasm. SNP Detection Panels were assembled by including important founders that provide maximum likelihood of polymorphism detection based on pedigree position and presumed diversity. CR and BP sets were assembled to include important contemporary parents and offspring in breeding programs, as well as available ancestors. CR sets contain pedigree-linked germplasm that represents the diversity in current and anticipated future breeding stock. CR sets will be genotyped genome-wide with SNP markers and phenotyped for fruit quality traits and other high-impact traits. Breeders in each crop developed standardized phenotyping protocols for each trait, allowing data pooling across programs and more powerful PBA outcomes. Phenotyping protocols and PBA results for CR sets will be archived and made publicly available for reference at www.rosbreed.org (hosted on the Genome Database for Rosaceae). Breeders may add their own germplasm and phenotyping interests to the CR set data by collecting data and performing PBA on their proprietary BP sets combined with CR set data, to verify pedigrees and determine utility of marker-locus-trait associations for their own program.