INHERITANCE OF PUBESCENCE TYPES IN MELON (CUCUMIS MELO L.): HISPID, GLABROUS AND PUBERULENT

The stems, petioles, and major veins of leaves are covered with bulbous-based bristles (hispid stem and leaf) in normal melon plant.
The stem and leaf glabrous is a mutant controlled by a pair of recessive genes (gl). An unusual stem and leaf mutant was described in melon, this mutant is characterized by stem, petioles, and major veins of leaves are puberulent.
The objective of these experiments was to study the genetic relationship of three pubescence traits.
Two crossed were used to study the inheritance of pubescence type P_A (M453, hispid) × P_B (M455, puberulent), P_B (M455, puberulent) × P_c (M292, glabrous); and two sets of six generations (P_A, P_B, F₁, F₂, BC_1A, BC_1B and P_B, P_C, F₁′, F₂′, BC_1B′, BC_1C′) were developed.
Based on performance of the 1st set of six generations, In the F₁ and BC_1A generation, all plants was normal (hispid) stem, the F₂ and BC_1B individuals segregated at the ratio showed the data were consistent with a 3:1 and 1:1 expected ratio respectively.
It was confirmed that the puberulent type was inherited as a single recessive gene.
The phenotype in another six generations of the cross P_B×P_c showed F₁′ plant were normal (hispid), the ratio of BC_1B′ and BC_1C′ individuals segregated normal: puberulent and normal: glabrous were 1:1. The F₂′ individuals showed three phenotype: normal, puberulent, glabrous, and the data of F₂′ individuals segregated confirmed a good fit of 9 (normal): 3 (puberulent): 4 (glabrous) ratio, It shows that puberulent was non-allelic to glabrous, and that glabrous is recessive epistatic to puberulent.
As a puberulant mutation, it is potentially useful in seeds production, genetic, and biochemical studies.

IV International Symposium on Cucurbits

Huilin Wang, Wenyan Zhao, Depei Lin

melon, pubescence, glabrous, puberulent

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2010.871.10