Fruit Quality

Fruit quality is a complex trait, encompassing aroma, texture, taste, and appearance – work in the lab addresses each of these aspects. An ongoing study involving over 40 aroma compounds investigated differences in the transcriptomes and aroma profiles in a set of strawberries bred at different times over the past century, uncovering signatures of aroma compound gain and loss through breeding and potential genetic bases. Firmness is a vital trait for the strawberry industry, needed for fruit to survive the packing and shipping process. We have uncovered a single locus with a major effect on fruit firmness and a strong candidate gene, which is currently being validated. Major determinants of taste are sugar content, acid content, and the ratio between the two. A large study correlating these metrics with fruit transcriptomes has revealed important loci affecting one or many of them. Finally, an important component of appearance is fruit color, and ongoing work is targeted at understanding genetic determinants of the anthocyanin compounds that are a major contribution to this color, in whole fruit as well as separating inner vs. outer fruit tissues. Each of these aspects of fruit quality must be balanced with the others to achieve a desired beautiful, flavorful, and long-lived strawberry.