Plant & Animal Genomes XIV Conference Plant & Animal Genomes XIV ConferenceJanuary 14-18, 2006
Town & Country Convention Center
San Diego, CA
Yong Xu , Haiying Zhang , Guoyi Gong , Shaogui Guo
Melon, watermelon, cucumber, squash and pumpkin are important cucurbit crops in China. China is the first largest cucurbit production country in the world. Because of their economical importance, scientists in China focus on their genetic and genomics research. For the recent years the progress has been made in identification of genetic diversity, marker-assisted-selection (MAS), genetic map construction and functional gene identification and cloning. RAPD, SSR and AFLP techniques have been used to conduct the genetic identification of cucurbits. The genetic background is extremely narrow among cucurbit cultivated genotypes. The linked markers to gynoecious and bitter genes, and resistance to ZYMV, PRSV-W and WMV in cucumber and male sterility and resistance to Fusarium wilt and ZYMV in watermelon were identified. 2 genetic maps of watermelon and 2 genetic maps of cucumber with RILs or F2 were constructed. The other genetic map of melon with specific northern Chinese ecotype Hami melon has been constructed with SSRs and AFLP. The important agricultural characterized quantitative trait loci (QTL) including low temperature tolerance in cucumber and fruit quality in watermelon were located. The specific expression genes for cold acclimation in cucumber were screened. The promoter region for main regulatory regions involved in fruit-specific expression in watermelon was scanned and cloned.