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Journal of Heredity Advance Access published online on September 23, 2008
Journal of Heredity, doi:10.1093/jhered/esn075
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© The American Genetic Association. 2008. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

On the Genetic Control of Heterosis for Fruit Shape in Melon (Cucumis Melo L.)

Iria Fernández-Silva, Eduard Moreno, Iban Eduardo, Pere Arús, Jose M. Álvarez, and Antonio J. Monforte

From the Departament de Genètica Vegetal, IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Agrigenómica (CSIC-IRTA-UAB), Ctra de Cabrils, Km 2, E-08348 Cabrils, Spain (Fernández-Silva, Moreno, Eduardo, Arús, and Monforte); and the Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentaria de Aragón, Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentaria de Aragón, Apartado 727, 50080 Zaragoza, Spain (Álvarez)

Address correspondence to A. J. Monforte at the address above, or e-mail: antonio.monforte{at}irta.es.

The objective of the present work is to study the genetic basis of heterosis for fruit shape (FS) in melon observed in a cross between the Spanish cultivar "Piel de Sapo" (PS) and the Korean accession PI 161375 (Songwang Charmi [SC]) using a set of near-isogenic lines (NILs) with contrasting phenotypes for FS, each carrying a single chromosomal introgression from SC within the genetic background of PS. We investigated the FS of homozygous NILs, hybrids NIL x PS, and all 2-way crosses between NILs to test the main heterosis hypotheses (dominance, overdominance, and epistatic interactions). Gene action of alleles of quantitative trait loci inducing fruit enlargement was dominance, whereas those inducing rounder fruit were additive or recessive. Only minor epistatic interactions were found. Therefore, the most plausible explanation for FS heterosis in this cross is in agreement with the dominance complementation hypothesis. Over 70% of the hybrid heterosis could be achieved by combining just 2 loci, indicating that the genetic control of FS heterosis in this cross is relatively simple. FS is proposed as a reproductive trait in melon because of the high correlation to the number of seeds produced along the fruit longitudinal axis.

Corresponding Editor: John Burke

Received March 28, 2008
Revised July 10, 2008
Accepted August 18, 2008


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