IV. Genes and quantitative trait loci (QTLs)
Some soils have inherently low phosphate content, and this issue can be resolved
by a genotype having a low phosphate-responsive gene or can be transferred to
recipient parent ortholog genes involved in the response to low P content in
Arabidopsis, as AtLPR1 (low phosphate-resistant root) was reported within the
confidence interval of QTLs for the number of roots of different diameters in
grapevine (Tandonnet et al. 2018). Although the calcium-dependent protein kinase
(CDPK) family of genes involves various biotic stress, still this group of transcripts
has been characterized for drought, cold, and heat stress, identified in wild Vitis
germplasm (Dubrovina et al. 2018). One gene of the WRKY family has been
characterized for water and salt tolerance and has been overexpressed in tobacco
plants as VvWRKY2 (He et al. 2018). In a recent study in peach, GWAS was used
considering cultivated and wild peach genotypes to decipher the evolutionary history
and adaptive traits related to agronomical properties (Li et al. 2019).
V. Genomics information for climate-smart fruit breeding
The recent initiative to explore the genomic sequence of Prunus species will lead
to easily available molecular markers that can be used for selection of genotypes
suitable for adverse climatic factors such as drought, heat, and salinity (Verde et al.
2013; Shirasawa et al. 2017); other biotechnological experiments can be designed
involving genomic sequence and characterization. Initially, the derived simple
sequence repeat (SSR) was based on preliminary genomic information (Thomas
et al. 1994; Laucou et al. 2011), NGS-derived EST-SSR, SNP information, indel
polymorphism, and other larger structural genomic variants in various fruit crops
such as vine grapes (Cardone et al. 2016; Royo et al. 2018). Genomic selection to
attain genetic gains exploited in various major food crops can be utilized in fruit crop
breeding (Crossa et al. 2017).
VI. Genome editing technology
As dormancy can be one of the adoptive strategies for plants to withstand various
stress, its activation and genetic control mechanism and controlling constitutive
expression by transgenic approach can be used; in this approach a few recently
identified dormancy genes can be exploited, ParCBF1 (C-repeat binding factor),
ParDAM5 (dormancy-associated MADS-BOX), and ParDAM6 genes (Balogh et al.
2019) in Prunus. Cas9-directed genome editing involves complementarity to the
target site: it generates a double-stand break within that specific region that allows
targeted mutagenesis, and this technology was widely and very quickly developed
for genome editing (Puchta and Fauser 2014). ‘Neo Muscat’ is an example of use in
genome editing technology, wherein a construct that targets the phytoene desaturase
gene has been edited and an albino plant developed (Nakajima et al. 2017). One
derivative of Thompson seedless grapes with altered WRKY52 has been derived by
genome editing (Wang et al. 2018).
4 Impact of Climate Change and Adaptation Strategies for Fruit Crops
91
Some soils have inherently low phosphate content, and this issue can be resolved
by a genotype having a low phosphate-responsive gene or can be transferred to
recipient parent ortholog genes involved in the response to low P content in
Arabidopsis, as AtLPR1 (low phosphate-resistant root) was reported within the
confidence interval of QTLs for the number of roots of different diameters in
grapevine (Tandonnet et al. 2018). Although the calcium-dependent protein kinase
(CDPK) family of genes involves various biotic stress, still this group of transcripts
has been characterized for drought, cold, and heat stress, identified in wild Vitis
germplasm (Dubrovina et al. 2018). One gene of the WRKY family has been
characterized for water and salt tolerance and has been overexpressed in tobacco
plants as VvWRKY2 (He et al. 2018). In a recent study in peach, GWAS was used
considering cultivated and wild peach genotypes to decipher the evolutionary history
and adaptive traits related to agronomical properties (Li et al. 2019).
V. Genomics information for climate-smart fruit breeding
The recent initiative to explore the genomic sequence of Prunus species will lead
to easily available molecular markers that can be used for selection of genotypes
suitable for adverse climatic factors such as drought, heat, and salinity (Verde et al.
2013; Shirasawa et al. 2017); other biotechnological experiments can be designed
involving genomic sequence and characterization. Initially, the derived simple
sequence repeat (SSR) was based on preliminary genomic information (Thomas
et al. 1994; Laucou et al. 2011), NGS-derived EST-SSR, SNP information, indel
polymorphism, and other larger structural genomic variants in various fruit crops
such as vine grapes (Cardone et al. 2016; Royo et al. 2018). Genomic selection to
attain genetic gains exploited in various major food crops can be utilized in fruit crop
breeding (Crossa et al. 2017).
VI. Genome editing technology
As dormancy can be one of the adoptive strategies for plants to withstand various
stress, its activation and genetic control mechanism and controlling constitutive
expression by transgenic approach can be used; in this approach a few recently
identified dormancy genes can be exploited, ParCBF1 (C-repeat binding factor),
ParDAM5 (dormancy-associated MADS-BOX), and ParDAM6 genes (Balogh et al.
2019) in Prunus. Cas9-directed genome editing involves complementarity to the
target site: it generates a double-stand break within that specific region that allows
targeted mutagenesis, and this technology was widely and very quickly developed
for genome editing (Puchta and Fauser 2014). ‘Neo Muscat’ is an example of use in
genome editing technology, wherein a construct that targets the phytoene desaturase
gene has been edited and an albino plant developed (Nakajima et al. 2017). One
derivative of Thompson seedless grapes with altered WRKY52 has been derived by
genome editing (Wang et al. 2018).
4 Impact of Climate Change and Adaptation Strategies for Fruit Crops
91