2019 ASHS Annual Conference

The genome of diploid woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) was first available in 2011, and more recently octoploid reference genome sequence (cv. Camarosa) was published. The first strawberry DNA test was developed for fruity aroma gene, FaFAD1, in cultivated strawberry to enhance fruit flavor. For the last five years, University of Florida strawberry breeding team has identified QTLs for fruit quality and disease resistance, and developed multiple DNA tests for marker-assisted breeding in strawberry. Using our high-throughput DNA test platform, it is now possible to rapidly stack multiple genes for disease resistance and fruit quality into a single cultivar. Thus now, tens of thousands of seedlings can be cheaply and quickly screened using a high-throughput marker-assisted seedling selection, allowing us to “stack the deck” for desirable traits prior to field evaluation. The use of DNA marker technology in strawberry breeding is now being a routine procedure to combine durable disease resistance with high fruit quality. In this presentation, it will be discussed the challenges and solutions to develop highly accurate and efficient DNA markers in a complex polyploid genome. Our technical methods and approaches utilized for strawberry DNA tests will be crucially informative not only for fruit crops but also for other crops with complex genomes.