Mining of plant architecture genes in watermelon

The number of lateral branches and plant height are two important traits, which directly determine plant architecture and crop productivity.
Commercial watermelon has indeterminate growth habit and the characteristics of multiple lateral branches, and it is time-consuming and labor-costing to manually remove the lateral branches in watermelon cultivation.
In our study, we have map-based cloned a dwarf gene Cldw1 in ‘Bush Sugar Baby’ which encoded an ATP-Binding Cassette Transporter (ABCB transporter) protein, and developed a co-segregated dCAPS marker for maker assisted selection (MAS). Furthermore, we also map-based cloned a branchless gene Clbl in Wuchazao encoding a TERMINAL FLOWER 1 protein and developed a co-segregated dCAPS marker for MAS. These results of our study are not only provided two important genes for the enhancement of plant architecture in watermelon, and also established a high efficiency and precision of marker breeding system.

VII International Symposium on Cucurbits

Junling Dou, Sen Yang, Huayu Zhu, Dongming Liu, Huanhuan Niu, Luming Yang

watermelon, dwarf, branchless, liquid chip, maker assisted selection

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1411.10