Advances in Breeding of Peach, Plum and Apricot

Research on the expression of fruit specific genes may allow breeders in the future to selectively manipulate through gene transfer in certain aspects of fruit development/quality in their advanced breeding lines thus reducing the time necessary for cultivar development. This would be particularly useful in breeding programmes, hybridizing standard cultivars with exotic germplasm of low fruit quality. The use of exotic germplasm will be important for the expansion of the peach germplasm base and the development of stress resistant cultivars. More immediate results of research on fruit specific gene expression will provide a better understanding of fruit development and quality. It is required to learn how the differences at the gene level correlate with quality characteristics. With the continued cooperation of fruit biochemists it is expected to obtain a better definition of fruit quality and a better understanding of fruit biochemistry. The potential will exit to generate a range of “anti-sense mutants” i.e. transgenic plants expressing anti-sense gene contstructs that reduce or nullify the effects of the normal gene. The phenotypes of these mutants could help to define the biochemistry, genetics and quality of peach fruit. The development of efficient regeneration and transformation system in peach will be useful not only for the modification of fruit characteristics, but also for the transfer and manipulation of genes affecting stress resistance and other economically important characters.