CHALLENGES FOR SELF-COMPATIBILITY IDENTIFICATION IN ALMOND

Several approaches have been used to assess self-compatibility in almond, such as fruit set after self-pollination and bagging, pollen tube growth, and the more recent S_f allele identification by molecular markers and gene sequencing.
However, none of these methods has given fully reliable results and all show advantages and limitations.
An active S_f allele that does not confer self-compatibility, in spite of its full identity with the inactive S_f allele conferring self-compatibility, has been identified recently, showing that the presence of the S_f allele is not the only requirement for self-compatibility expression in almond and that the coding region of the S_f allele may not be involved in that expression.
Mis-sequencing of alleles has also created confusion for allele identification.
Thus, a better knowledge of the plant as a whole, and not only of its genotype, is fundamental to understand self-compatibility in almond and evaluate new selections in a breeding program.

V International Symposium on Pistachios and Almonds

R. Socias i Company, O. Kodad, A. Fernández i Martí, J.M. Alonso

Prunus amygdalus Batsch, breeding, S_f allele, allele identification, gene sequencing

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2011.912.5