Characterization and selection of passion fruit (yellow and purple) accessions based on molecular markers and disease reactions for use in breeding programs

Abstract

Passiflora edulis Sims, which is native to South America, stands out as a passion fruit species with major potential for fruit production and marketing. This species is popularly known as yellow or purple passion fruit, depending on the color of the fruits produced. Brazil is the major worldwide producer of passion fruit; however, the average productivity of the country is low compared with its potential for culture. Fungal, bacterial and viral pathogens are among the factors limiting the productivity of passion fruit. Furthermore, no existing cultivars exhibit both productivity and resistance to disease. To select genetic material that will be useful for core collections and for increasing the genetic resistance of passion fruit cultivars to pathogens, we characterized 36 accessions based on 23 microsatellite loci and six variables related to the reactions to three diseases (woodiness virus, scab and anthracnose). We identified 127 alleles (an average of 5.52 alleles per locus), 30 % of which were private for yellow or purple passion fruit accessions. Analysis of variance and mean comparison tests indicated differences in five of the six variables (p \ 0.05, Scott-Knott test). Differences between the average reactions of the yellow and purple passion fruit accessions were also observed for the symptoms of woodiness virus and anthracnose (p \ 0.05, Mann-Whitney test).Together with these results, molecular and phenotypic estimates allowed the identification of groups of preferential accessions for use in breeding programs, for example, accessions BGP029, 071, 168, 205 and 277.

Molecular Genetic Variability of Commercial and Wild Accessions of Passion Fruit (Passiflora spp.) Targeting ex Situ Conservation and Breeding

“…Although there was no clear distinction between groups of accessions with yellow and purple fruits, we observed 37 private alleles in accessions of yellow passion fruit (approximately 26% of the alleles identified in the germplasm). Similar results were observed in molecular characterizations performed with microsatellite markers among accessions of yellow and purple passion fruit ( P. edulis ) [71]. These authors observed that approximately 30% of the alleles were private, which suggests that these alleles could be useful in monitoring hybrids between yellow and purple passion fruit.…”

“…Recent results describing the characterization and selection of yellow and purple passion fruit accessions based on microsatellite markers and disease reactions allowed for the identification of preferred crosses. The progeny obtained from these preferred crosses are likely to have enhanced disease resistance and be more representative of the available genetic variability [71]. …”

Variability and genetic structure of yellow passion fruit (Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa Degener) in Colombia using microsatellite DNA markers

“…Other studies conducted by Cerqueira et al (2014b) and using a new set of microsatellites markers with Brazilian yellow passion fruit germplasm showed a low number of alleles (18 to 29, respectively) in comparison to our results (58 alleles). In contrast, Cerqueira et al (2015) reported an elevated number of alleles (127) in 36 cultivated yellow passion fruit accessions in Brazil with 23 polymorphic microsatellite markers. However, in the later study the number of alleles is relatively low compared to the set of microsatellite markers evaluated.…”

“…Nevertheless, the selection or domestication process in P. ligularis has been more recent, and just as other Andean species as Physalis peruviana L. and Solanum betaceum Cav., these have gone from being wild to cultivated species in just a few years (Pickersgill, 2007). Otherwise, the total (127) and private (31) number of alleles reported by Cerqueira et al (2015) in Brazilian accessions can be the evidence of a higher intraspecific variability compared to the cultivated germplasm in Colombia, as Brazil is the primary center of diversity of yellow passion fruit. However, the low average number of microsatellite alleles is not always a consequence of the limited genetic variability, as it may depend on the sample size or on number of evaluated locus.…”

“…In contrast, genetic variation of commercial passion fruit accessions from Brazil showed that P. edulis f. flavicarpa (He=0.50), P. cincinnata (He=0.52) and P. setacea (He=0.36) show moderate to low variability (Cerqueira et al, 2014b) using inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. These DNA markers have also contributed to the identification of groups of preferential accessions of yellow passion fruit (P. edulis f. flavicarpa) with genetic resistance to diseases (Cerqueira et al, 2015). Recently, Silva et al (2016) used microsatellite markers to characterize a progeny derived from the third cycle of recurrent selection of yellow passion fruits, allowing the separation of individuals into three groups and generating relevant information for further breeding programs.…”