Persea americana (avocado): bringing ancient flowers to fruit in the genomics era

Abstract

The avocado (Persea americana) is a major crop commodity worldwide. Moreover, avocado, a paleopolyploid, is an evolutionary "outpost" among flowering plants, representing a basal lineage (the magnoliid clade) near the origin of the flowering plants themselves. Following centuries of selective breeding, avocado germplasm has been characterized at the level of microsatellite and RFLP markers. Nonetheless, little is known beyond these general diversity estimates, and much work remains to be done to develop avocado as a major subtropical-zone crop. Among the goals of avocado improvement are to develop varieties with fruit that will "store" better on the tree, show uniform ripening and have better post-harvest storage. Avocado transcriptome sequencing, genome mapping and partial genomic sequencing will represent a major step toward the goal of sequencing the entire avocado genome, which is expected to aid in improving avocado varieties and production, as well as understanding the evolution of flowers from non-flowering seed plants (gymnosperms). Additionally, continued evolutionary and other comparative studies of flower and fruit development in different avocado strains can be accomplished at the gene expression level, including in comparison with avocado relatives, and these should provide important insights into the genetic regulation of fruit development in basal angiosperms.

Effect of Nonsaponifiable Fraction of Avocado Oil on Body Weight, Body Fat and Blood Lipid Profile of Broiler Chickens

“…The Avocado (Persea americana) fruit has been appreciated and utilized by indigenous Meso-American people for at least 9000 years (Chanderbali et al, 2008). Currently the avocado is cultivated in many parts of the world including India for its nutritious fruit.…”

Transcriptome (ESTs) of Avocado “Native” Mexicano Early Seed Development Shows Abundance of Regulatory, Antioxidant and Defense Genes

“…is an oleaginous fruit produced by a tree belonging to the magnoliid clade, a basal linage of flowering plants. It belongs to the large plant family of Lauraceae, with approximately 2500-3000 species [1,2]. Avocado has been rapidly incorporated as a component of human diet in many countries [3].…”

Inducción in vitro de brotes de dos cultivares de aguacate raza Mexicana Persea americana var. drymifolia Schltdl. & Cham

“…es un importante cultivo frutal de las zonas tropicales y subtropicales, originario del área de Mesoamérica (Premkumar et al, 2003;Galindo-Tovar et al, 2008). Es un árbol perenne de la familia Lauraceae cultivado por sus frutos, los cuales son una fuente balanceada de proteínas, carbohidratos, vitaminas y minerales, pero sobre todo por su alto contenido de aceites (Ben-Ya´acov y Michelson, 1995;Knight, 2002;Chanderbali et al, 2008).…”

“…Is an important fruit crop in the tropics and subtropics, originate from the area of Mesoamerica (Premkumar et al, 2003;Galindo-Tovar et al, 2008). It is an evergreen tree of the Lauraceae family cultivated for its fruits, which are a balanced source of protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, but mainly because of its high oil content (Ben-Ya´acov y Michelson, 1995;Knight, 2002;Chanderbali et al, 2008).…”