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Catalano C, Di Guardo M, Distefano G, Caruso M, Nicolosi E, Deng Z, Gentile A, La Malfa SG. Biotechnological Approaches for Genetic Improvement of Lemon ( Citrus limon (L.) Burm. f.) against Mal Secco Disease. PLANTS 2021; 10:plants10051002. [PMID: 34067841 PMCID: PMC8157051 DOI: 10.3390/plants10051002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2021] [Revised: 05/12/2021] [Accepted: 05/13/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Among Citrus species, lemon is one of the most susceptible to mal secco disease, a tracheomycosis caused by the mitosporic fungus Plenodomus tracheiphilus, which induces chlorosis followed by leaf drop and progressive desiccation of twigs and branches. Severe infection can cause the death of the plant. Since no effective control strategies are available to efficiently control the pathogen spread, host tolerance is the most desirable goal in the struggle against mal secco disease. To date, both traditional breeding programs and biotechnological techniques were not efficient in developing novel varieties coupling tolerance to mal secco with optimal fruit quality. Furthermore, the genetic basis of host resistance has not been fully deciphered yet, hampering the set-up of marker-assisted selection (MAS) schemes. This paper provides an overview of the biotechnological approaches adopted so far for the selection of mal secco tolerant lemon varieties and emphasizes the promising contribution of marker-trait association analysis techniques for both unraveling the genetic determinism of the resistance to mal secco and detecting molecular markers that can be readily used for MAS. Such an approach has already proved its efficiency in several crops and could represent a valuable tool to select novel lemon varieties coupling superior fruit quality traits and resistance to mal secco.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Catalano
- Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania, Italy; (C.C.); (M.D.G.); (G.D.); (E.N.); (S.G.L.M.)
| | - Mario Di Guardo
- Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania, Italy; (C.C.); (M.D.G.); (G.D.); (E.N.); (S.G.L.M.)
| | - Gaetano Distefano
- Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania, Italy; (C.C.); (M.D.G.); (G.D.); (E.N.); (S.G.L.M.)
| | - Marco Caruso
- CREA, Research Centre for Olive, Fruit and Citrus Crops, Corso Savoia 190, 95024 Acireale, Italy;
| | - Elisabetta Nicolosi
- Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania, Italy; (C.C.); (M.D.G.); (G.D.); (E.N.); (S.G.L.M.)
| | - Ziniu Deng
- College of Horticulture and Landscape, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China;
| | - Alessandra Gentile
- Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania, Italy; (C.C.); (M.D.G.); (G.D.); (E.N.); (S.G.L.M.)
- College of Horticulture and Landscape, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China;
- Correspondence:
| | - Stefano Giovanni La Malfa
- Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania, Italy; (C.C.); (M.D.G.); (G.D.); (E.N.); (S.G.L.M.)
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Abstract
The genus Citrus contains numerous fresh and processed fruit cultivars that are economically important worldwide. New cultivars are needed to battle industry threatening diseases and to create new marketing opportunities. Citrus improvement by conventional methods alone has many limitations that can be overcome by applications of emerging biotechnologies, generally requiring cell to plant regeneration. Many citrus genotypes are amenable to somatic embryogenesis, which became a key regeneration pathway in many experimental approaches to cultivar improvement. This chapter provides a brief history of plant somatic embryogenesis with focus on citrus, followed by a discussion of proven applications in biotechnology-facilitated citrus improvement techniques, such as somatic hybridization, somatic cybridization, genetic transformation, and the exploitation of somaclonal variation. Finally, two important new protocols that feature plant regeneration via somatic embryogenesis are provided: protoplast transformation and Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of embryogenic cell suspension cultures.
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Pontaroli AC, Camadro EL. Somaclonal variation in Asparagus officinalis plants regenerated by organogenesis from long-term callus cultures. Genet Mol Biol 2005. [DOI: 10.1590/s1415-47572005000300015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
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