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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Charleston, South Carolina » Vegetable Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #346084
Research Project: Biological, Genetic and Genomic Based Disease Management for Vegetable Crops

Location: Vegetable Research

Title: Construction of a genome-anchored, high-density genetic map for melon (Cucumis melo L.) and identification of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melonis race 1 resistance QTL

Author
item Branham, Sandra
item Levi, Amnon
item Katawczik, Melanie
item FEI, ZHANGJUN - Boyce Thompson Institute
item Wechter, William - Pat

Submitted to: Journal of Theoretical and Applied Genetics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/5/2018
Publication Date: 4/1/2018
Citation: Branham, S., Levi, A., Katawczik, M.L., Fei, Z., Wechter, W.P. 2018. Construction of a genome-anchored, high-density genetic map for melon (Cucumis melo L.) and identification of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melonis race 1 resistance QTL. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Genetics. 131:829-837. https://doi:10.1007/s00122-017-3039-5.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-017-3039-5

Interpretive Summary: The USDA Cucumis melo (cantaloupe) inbred line, MR-1, harbors a wealth of resistance alleles to several major diseases of cantaloupe, including powdery mildew, downy mildew, Alternaria leaf blight, and Fusarium wilt. MR-1 was crossed to an Israeli cultivar, Ananas Yok’neam, susceptible to all of these diseases to generate a population of 172 highly-inbred lines. This population was genotyped to construct the most ultra-dense genetic map of cantaloupe to date. The utility of the densely genotyped population was demonstrated through quantitative trail loci (QTL) mapping of a well-studied trait, resistance to Fusarium wilt. A major QTL co-located with the previously validated resistance gene. In addition, three new minor QTL contributing to Fusarium wilt race 1 resistance were identified. The MR-1 x AY RIL population provides a valuable resource for future QTL mapping studies and marker-assisted selection of disease resistance in cantaloupe.

Technical Abstract: The USDA Cucumis melo inbred line, MR-1, harbors a wealth of resistance alleles to several major diseases of cantaloupe, including powdery mildew, downy mildew, Alternaria leaf blight, and Fusarium wilt. MR-1 was crossed to an Israeli cultivar, Ananas Yok’neam, susceptible to all of these diseases to generate a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population (N=172). In this study, the RIL population was genotyped to construct an ultra-dense genetic map (N=5,663 binned SNPs) that was anchored to the C. melo genome and exhibits the overall high-quality of the assembly. The utility of the densely genotyped population was demonstrated through QTL mapping of a well-studied trait, resistance to Fusarium wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melonis race 1. A major QTL co-located with the previously validated resistance gene Fom-2. In addition, three minor QTL and an epistatic interaction contributing to Fom race 1 resistance were identified. The MR-1 x AY RIL population provides a valuable resource for future QTL mapping studies and marker-assisted selection of disease resistance in cantaloupe.