Varietal Wealth Of Prunus Species

Author : Cheryl Chan
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 104 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (769 download)

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Download or read book Microsatellite-based Phylogenetic Tree Analysis of Australian Prunus Fruit Varieties written by Cheryl Chan and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: [Truncated abstract] This thesis contains three discrete chapters to address the objectives of this study. Chapter 1 presents the state of knowledge on the subject matter related to profiling plant material, specifically Prunus species. Stone fruit species are important food crops. With new varieties being developed constantly, there is a need to protect new breeds and strains. The food and beverage industry faces significant losses in income due to illegal propagation of new varieties to avoid royalty payments. Together with its high nutritional values, characteristic physical properties and desirable post harvest traits, the newly bred variety, Nadia!", is one of a series of novel hybrids of the Prunus family, which could possibly attract premium prices. The authentication of new fruit varieties is now part of doing business in the lucrative horticultural industry. Taxonomic description, chemical composition and DNA profiling have all been used for this purpose. The main objective of this study was to make use of DNA profiling and analysis of biochemical composition to differentiate Nadia!" from other fruits of the Prunus family. Various plant and fruit databases were reviewed for this chapter of the thesis. While the information from these databases is extensive, microsatellite DNA profiling for Prunus species are not readily available. Hence, the possibility of generating a concise database for microsatellite markers of a variety of Prunus varieties is to be assessed in the second chapter of this thesis. Chapter 2 describes the use of DNA- based profiling on fruit collected from several varieties of Prunus species. At the time when work commenced, Nadia!" was a novel variety and its DNA characteristics were unknown. This study specifically used previously described DNA microsatellite markers to show that Nadia!" is a unique Prunus variety, more closely related to plums than peaches or apricots. Samples were screened for variation by using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to separate microsatellite alleles from Prunus leaf genome, which were then sent for Gene Scanning at Royal Perth Hospital, WA. Three microsatellite loci of fourteen different Prunus varieties were analysed to quantify differentiation between the varieties. A phylogenetic tree based on the polymorphic microsatellite allelic sizes of the fourteen Prunus varieties was constructed. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the genetic relationship among the Prunus varieties based on the genetic distances generated from their microsatellite allelic sizes. Successful segregation between the plums, peaches and apricots was observed and the tree showed that Nadia!" is a unique Prunus variety, more closely related to plums than peaches or apricots. Chapter 3 describes the study of biochemical profiling used to authenticate Nadia!". The nutritional values and chemical composition between Nadia!" and its closely related Prunus family members were compared. This part of the study specifically aimed to describe the chemical profile towards providing methods for the authentication of Nadia!" and differentiating it from other Prunus varieties. Initial observation of Nadia!" revealed its desirable quality, better post harvest traits and higher yield than a generic cherry has...