SEQUENCING AND ANALYSIS OF THE PEACH EVG LOCUS

D.G. Bielenberg, Y. Wang, G.L. Reighard, A.G. Abbott
‘Evergrowing’ (EVG) peach is one of only two described mutants affecting winter dormancy in woody perennial trees. The EVG peach mutant does not set terminal buds, cease new leaf growth, or enter into a dormant resting phase in response to winter conditions. The EVG mutation segregates as a single recessive gene, and we previously created a local genetic linkage map around EVG using AFLP and SSR markers. Here we report the physical mapping, sequencing, and analysis of a >70 kilobase (kb) region of the EVG locus. A physical map of the EVG region was created using a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library. Two SSR markers that flank the EVG locus, pchgms40 and pchgms41, were isolated from a single BAC clone. This BAC was completely sequenced by the use of a transposon insertion system in combination with direct BAC sequencing and primer walking through overlapping subclones. Sequence analysis of this BAC predicted a number of putative genes. Six of these putative genes were represented by a cluster of duplicated transcription factors similar to those involved in the vernalization pathways of Arabidopsis. Additionally there is a Ca2+ binding protein of unknown function. Other potential open reading frames in the region did not have homology to known proteins. Our Southern analyses suggested that the EVG mutation is a substantial (>40 kb) deletion of a region that contains multiple gene candidates for the EVG mutation. The deletion was bracketed using RFLP analysis and this analysis showed that the deletion is contained within a segment of the genome no greater than 120 kb.
Bielenberg, D.G., Wang, Y., Reighard, G.L. and Abbott, A.G. (2006). SEQUENCING AND ANALYSIS OF THE PEACH EVG LOCUS. Acta Hortic. 713, 73-82
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2006.713.6
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2006.713.6
Prunus persica, MADS-box genes, dormancy
English

Acta Horticulturae