High throughput DNA markers to detect bacterial spot tolerance in almond
Bacterial spot is an important disease in Prunus dulcis commonly referred to as almond and is caused by Xanthomonas arboricola pv. pruni (Xap). Bacterial spot can affect leaves, buds, young shoots, fruit, nut shells, twigs, branches and the main trunk.
Early and severe defoliation can affect fruit size and winter hardiness of buds and wood.
At present, this pathogen has been reported in most of the almond growing regions in the world including Europe, North America and Australia and is responsible for significant economic losses.
Early detection of almond cultivars with bacterial spot resistance genes will be beneficial for almond breeders in selecting parent material with high disease resistance potential in their progeny.
In this study, we developed fluorescence based molecular makers that can efficiently distinguish bacterial spot tolerant and susceptible varieties in almond using the almond genome sequences.
Application of these markers to 68 cultivars and breeding lines used in the Australian almond breeding program and a ‘Nonpareil’בFritz’ (N×F) F1 population that segregates for bacterial spot tolerance demonstrated the possibility of distinguishing the almond cultivars that carry resistance alleles for bacterial spot.
Phenotypic evaluation using a detached leaf assay and an open spray assay using tolerant and susceptible almond breeding lines and the N×F population confirmed the accuracy of the results.
These markers would provide powerful tools for early detection of bacterial spot resistance in almond germplasm.
Goonetilleke, S.N., Bell, T.V. and Wirthensohn, M.G. (2024). High throughput DNA markers to detect bacterial spot tolerance in almond. Acta Hortic. 1406, 59-66
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1406.9
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1406.9
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1406.9
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1406.9
single nucleotide polymorphism, fluorescence-based marker assays, germplasm
English