QTL mapping for brown rot (Monilinia fructigena) resistance in an intraspecific peach (Prunus persica L. Batsch) F1 progeny

Brown rot (BR) caused by Monilinia spp. leads to significant post-harvest losses in stone fruit production, especially peach. Previous genetic analyses in peach progenies suggested that BR resistance segregates as a quantitative trait. In order to uncover genomic regions associated with this trait and identify molecular markers for assisted selection (MAS) in peach, an F1 progeny from the cross “Contender” (C, resistant) × “Elegant Lady” (EL, susceptible) was chosen for quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis. Over two phenotyping seasons, skin (SK) and flesh (FL) artificial infections were performed on fruits using a Monilinia fructigena isolate. For each treatment, infection frequency (if) and average rot diameter (rd) were scored. Significant seasonal and intertrait correlations were found. Maturity date (MD) was significantly correlated with disease impact. Sixty-three simple sequence repeats (SSRs) plus 26 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were used to genotype the C × EL population and to construct a linkage map. C × EL map included the eight Prunus linkage groups (LG), spanning 572.92 cM, with an average interval distance of 6.9 cM, covering 78.73 % of the peach genome (V1.0). Multiple QTL mapping analysis including MD trait as covariate uncovered three genomic regions associated with BR resistance in the two phenotyping seasons: one containing QTLs for SK resistance traits near M1a (LG C × EL-2, R 2 = 13.1–31.5 %) and EPPISF032 (LG C × EL-4, R 2 = 11–14 %) and the others containing QTLs for FL resistance, near markers SNP_IGA_320761 and SNP_IGA_321601 (LG3, R 2 = 3.0–11.0 %). These results suggest that in the C × EL F1 progeny, skin resistance to fungal penetration and flesh resistance to rot spread are distinguishable mechanisms constituting BR resistance trait, associated with different genomic regions. Discovered QTLs and their associated markers could assist selection of new cultivars with enhanced resistance to Monilinia spp. in fruit.This work was supported by an Italian grant to DB funded by private and public agencies “MAS.PES: apricot and peach breeding by molecular-assisted selection.” Thanks to the Executive Committee of Fruit Breedomics European Project (FP7-265582) and Fondazione Edmund Mach, who allowed the use and provided genotypic data of 26 SNPs included in this study. RP was supported by MIUR FIRB grant RBIP06CTBR.Peer reviewe