Genomics of Tropical Fruit Tree Crops

Abstract

The genetic improvement of tropical fruit trees is limited when compared to progress achieved in temperate fruit trees and annual crops. Tropical fruit tree breeding programs require signi fi cant resources to develop new cultivars that are adapted to modern shipping and storage requirements. The use of molecular markers in tropical fruit tree breeding is greatly assisting in solving a number of dif fi cult challenges for breeders such as the development of complex family structures for recombination mapping and for recurrent selection. A review of the literature on molecular markers development and new techniques for increasing single-nucleotide polymorphic markers is discussed. The development of marker-assisted breeding for these tropical tree crops is also discussed.

Underutilized African indigenous fruit trees and food–nutrition security: Opportunities, challenges, and prospects

“…The commercial potentials of these selected indigenous fruit trees can be immensely promoted if cultivars that can be adapted to commercial focused investment. In addition, the breeding of indigenous fruit trees needs significant resources for the development of entirely new cultivars that can equally conform to the modern form of transportation and storage requirements (Arias et al 2012;Badenes, Fernandez Marti, Ríos, & Rubio-Cabetas, 2016). As a result, genomic science and molecular technology can play a role in improving nutritional quality and increase these African fruit tree production.…”

Mitigating the Mistletoe Menace: Biotechnological and Smart Management Approaches

“…In this arena, we believe that much of the background work has already been done, as in Oronache and Striga [ 262 , 352 ], and can also be seen in the launch of a transcriptome meta-analysis initiative, the Parasitic Plant Genome Project [ 353 ]. There are a variety of reports that offer foundational studies on tree functional genomics [ 354 , 355 , 356 , 357 , 358 , 359 ]. As highlighted before, biotechnological approaches such as genetic engineering and plant tissue culture [ 211 , 360 ] have been underutilized, which indeed could represent a step away from conventional breeding strategies.…”

Development of nuclear microsatellite markers to facilitate germplasm conservation and population genetics studies of five groups of tropical perennial plants with edible fruits and shoots: rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum L.), sapodilla (Manilkara zapota (L.) P. Royen), lychee (Litchi chinensis Sonn.), mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana Linn. and Garcinia cochinchinensis (Lour.) Choisy) and bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris Schrad. ex J.C. Wendl and Guadua angustifolia Kunth)

“…and false mangosteen [Garcinia cochinchinensis (Lour.) Choisy] Clusiaceae, all have edible fruits (Arias et al 2012;Finocchiaro 2020), whereas the two species of bamboo [Bambusa vulgaris Schrad. ex J.C. Wendl and Guadua angustifolia Kunth] Poaceae, have edible shoots (Singhal et al 2013).…”