Pineapple Genetic Map Developed

 Pineapple is the third most produced tropical fruit in the world, next to banana and citrus. However, the genomics of this crop is not yet established compared to other significant tropical fruits. Thus, Jorge Dias Carlier of the Universidade do Algarve, Portugal, and colleagues constructed the first genetic map of pineapple using the F2 generation of a cross between A. comosus var. comosus and A. comosus var. bracteatus. Randomly amplified markers and sequence-specific markers were used on public sequence databases. There were 33 linkage groups with markers inherited from the two parental varieties, four linkage groups with markers only from var. comosus, and three linkage groups with markers particularly for var. bracteatus. The resulting genetic map includes 492 DNA markers covering about 80% of the entire length of the pineapple genome. This can be used for molecular breeding and genomics studies involving pineapple and its relatives.