Reproductive Biology Factors Hampering Lemon [ Citrus limon (L.) Burm. f.] Genetic Improvement

Chiara Catalano, Giuseppina Las Casas, Alessio Giuffrida, Filippo Ferlito, Mario Di Guardo, Alberto Continella, Stefania Bennici, Stefano La Malfa (), Alessandra Gentile and Gaetano Distefano
Additional contact information
Chiara Catalano: Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, Via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania, Italy
Giuseppina Las Casas: CREA, Research Centre for Olive, Fruit and Citrus Crops, Corso Savoia 190, 95024 Acireale, Italy
Alessio Giuffrida: CREA, Research Centre for Olive, Fruit and Citrus Crops, Corso Savoia 190, 95024 Acireale, Italy
Filippo Ferlito: CREA, Research Centre for Olive, Fruit and Citrus Crops, Corso Savoia 190, 95024 Acireale, Italy
Mario Di Guardo: Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, Via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania, Italy
Alberto Continella: Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, Via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania, Italy
Stefania Bennici: Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, Via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania, Italy
Stefano La Malfa: Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, Via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania, Italy
Alessandra Gentile: Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, Via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania, Italy
Gaetano Distefano: Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, Via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania, Italy

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 12, 1-15

Abstract: Background: Floral sterility and nucellar embryony are peculiar traits of several Citrus species and represent an obstacle to traditional breeding. Morphological sterility mainly results in pistil abortion and anther atrophy, while polyembryony is due to a mechanism known as sporophytic apomixis, which consists of the presence of embryos in the seed generated from the nucellar (maternal) tissue alongside the zygotic embryo (sexual origin). Considering the growing interest in lemon [ Citrus limon (L.) Burm. f.] breeding, and the lack of information on floral sterility and the polyembryony trait among different lemon cultivars, a morphological and molecular characterization of these traits of interest was performed on forty Sicilian and international lemon cultivars available in the citrus germplasm collection of Catania University (Italy). Methods: Eight traits related to the reproductive biology were assessed on the selected lemon cultivars, namely: pistil abortion and anther atrophy, number of seeds per fruit, number of embryos per seed, percentage of seeds showing polyembryony, germination, percentage of seeds resulting in more than one plantlet, and average seed weight. Moreover, seedlings recovered after the germination assay were genotyped with SNP and SSR markers for ascertaining their nucellar or zygotic origin. In addition, PCR analysis were performed to assess the allele combination of the miniature inverted-repeat transposable element (MITE) insertion in CitRKD1, a gene associated with the occurrence of apomixis in citrus. Results: All traits showed high variability among the accessions analyzed. As for polyembryony, lemon ‘Adamopoulos’ scored the highest percentage of polyembryonic seeds (67.6%), whilst lemon ‘Lunario’ showed the lowest value (8.7%). Conclusions: Insights on the level of polyembryony within lemon varieties will represent a valuable tool for breeders for the set-up of novel mating schemes. In fact, when a polyembryonic female parent is used in cross breeding, the selection of the zygotic individual is hampered by the presence of a nucellar one.

Keywords: citrus; floral sterility; polyembryony; molecular markers; MITE (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
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