Biodiversity and conservation of wild small fruit species for a sustainable environment

Small fruit crop members of the genera Fragaria, Rubus, Vaccinium and Ribes, contain relatively high levels of vitamin C, cellulose and pectin, and produce anthocyanins which have important therapeutic values, including antitumor, antiulcer, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. There is a pressing need to develop reliable methods for conserving, maintaining and identifying small fruit germplasm and for assessing genetic biodiversity for practical breeding purposes and proprietary-rights protection. Various dominant and co-dominant molecular markers detected a sufficient degree of polymorphism to differentiate among wild clones and cultivars, making these technologies valuable for cultivar identification and for the more efficient choice of parents in small fruit breeding programs. The paper describes the progress in-depth of various aspects of molecular, chemical and morphological characterization of small fruit germplasm for their conservation and possible use in small fruit improvement.