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We evaluated the resistance of 133 grapevine cultivars or selections, including Vitis vinifera and American hybrids, on the basis of lesion number and length to identify sources of resistance to grapevine anthracnose. All germplasms tested in this study showed anthracnose symptoms to some extent, and the distribution of lesion number and diameter was continuous. Most table grape V. vinifera cultivars were highly susceptible, showing many large lesions. However, V. vinifera wine grapes were more resistant with smaller lesions. Some American hybrid grapes such as ‘Ontario’ showed very few and small lesions. There was a significant positive correlation between lesion number and size in American (r = 0.63, P = 0.0041) and Japanese hybrids (r = 0.56, P < 0.001), whereas there was no correlation between these characters in V. vinifera. Japanese tetraploid cultivars were neither highly susceptible nor resistant. High anthracnose susceptibility of most well-known table grape V. vinifera cultivars, including ‘Muscat of Alexandria’, ‘Italia’, ‘Rizamat’, ‘Kattakurgan’, and ‘Thompson Seedless’, indicates that resistance should be introgressed from other cultivars such as American hybrids or wine grapes when these susceptible table grapes or their descendants are used in breeding anthracnose-resistant table grapes.

Persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thunb) is hexaploid, and the pollination-constant, non-astringent (PCNA)/non-PCNA trait of Japanese origin is qualitatively controlled by the AST/ast alleles at a single locus and the PCNA trait is recessive to the non-PCNA trait. To avoid inbreeding depression led by repeated crosses among PCNA genotypes, non-PCNA genotypes should be used as cross parents. The marker-assisted selection system has been developed for the selection of PCNA offspring in the progeny derived from the cross of non-PCNA ‘Taigetsu’ (non-PCNA ‘Kurokuma’ × PCNA ‘Taishu’) to PCNA ‘Kanshu’. The primer pairs E8.5/E9r and 7H9F/AST-R were used for detecting the molecular markers A₁ and A₃, respectively, which link AST alleles. Complete agreement was found between the sequence-characterized amplified region (SCAR) marker genotype and fruit astringency phenotype of the 48 offspring. The result confirmed that the marker-assisted selection using those markers was highly practical. In a larger offspring population (522 offspring) from the same cross, offspring segregated into 100 with both markers, 162 with only A₁, 179 with A₃, and 81 with neither, and this segregation ratio was significantly different from 2:3:3:2, which is the segregation ratio of random chromosome assortment in autohexaploid. The percentage of offspring expected to be PCNA was 15.5% (81 of 522), which was slightly lower than 20%.

To understand the role of the MIKC-type dormancy-associated MADS-box (DAM) genes in the regulation of endodormancy in japanese pear (Pyrus pyrifolia), we isolated two DAM genes from ‘Kosui’ and characterized their expression throughout the seasonal endodormancy phases in ‘Kosui’, as well as in TP-85–119 taiwanese pear (P. pyrifolia), which is a less dormant type. Several copies of the corresponding DAM genes are present in the P. pyrifolia genome. Rapid amplification of cDNA ends enabled the isolation of two full-length cDNAs, designated as PpMADS13–1 and PpMADS13–2, with complete open reading frames encoding 227 and 234 amino acids, respectively. Multialignment of the two ‘Kosui’ and the database DAM genes (based on the deduced amino acid sequences) showed that PpMADS13–1 and PpMADS13–2 were highly identical to the Rosaceae DAM genes and encoded the conserved domains characteristic of other MIKC-type MADS-box genes. The phylogenetic relationships showed that PpMADS13–1 and PpMADS13–2 were more closely related to the Prunus DAM, though they formed a unique subclade. The specific expression analysis of PpMADS13–1 and PpMADS13–2 by real-time polymerase chain reaction showed that both DAM genes are gradually down-regulated concomitant with endodormancy breaking. PpMADS13–1 and PpMADS13–2 showed similar fluctuations in expression patterns, although PpMADS13–2 was more highly expressed relative to PpMADS13–1. The expression of PpMADS13–1 and PpMADS13–2 in the less dormant taiwanese pear, TP-85–119, was quite low (nearly zero level), which is consistent with a down-regulated pattern of expression of the DAM genes in japanese pear, peach (Prunus persica), and japanese apricot (Prunus mume). Differential genomic DNA methylation patterns detected in PpMADS13–1 and PpMADS13–2 were not concomitant with seasonal endodormancy transition phases, suggesting that DNA methylation in these loci under investigation may not be linked to endodormancy progression in ‘Kosui’.