Comparative Mapping and Transferrable Markers Initiative

 

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Research Groups and Research Interests

Andres Bello University, Chile

The Plant Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics group
The Plant Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics group consists currently of three full-time and one part-time staff and five students. Work is primarily focussed on the development of markers, construction of cDNAs libraries, sequencing of ESTs and mapping of ESTs for the purposes of marker assisted selection. Currently we are working in Prunus persica, Fragaria chiloensis and Prunus avium.  We have expertise in sequencing analysis, annotation and development of markers.  We have done the sequencing of 50,000 ESTs from Prunus persica and we are in the process of sequencing 20,000 ESTs fromPrunus avium and 10,000 ESTs from Fragaria chiloensis.

Contact Details
Dr Herman Silva
Millenium Nucleus in Plant Cell Biology and Biotechnology
Universidad Andrés Bello, Av. República 217, 837-0146 Santiago, Chile
Email: hsilva@unab.cl
Telephone (Office): 56-2-6618648       
Telephone (Sec): 56-2-6618628        
Fax: 56-2-6615832 

Andres Bello University, Chile

Plant Molecular Genetics Lab
The Plant Molecular Genetics Lab of the Plant Biotechnology Center at Andres Bello University has 7 members (five full-time scientists as well as three students).  We are taking a comparative functional genomics approach to identify candidate genes for MAS breeding programs in improving the post-harvest quality of peaches and cherries.  In particular we are comparing Prunus persica and Prunus avium with plants such as Arabidopsis and Poplar.  We have established transient assays to test the functionality of candidate genes in fruta and in planta in both heterologous and homologous systems, annotated over 50,000 peach ESTs, and are identifying variety and species specific polymorphisms (i.e. SNPS, EST-SSRS) in peach and cherry candidate genes and hope to locate these markers on both genetic and physical maps in the future.

Contact Details
Dr. Lee Meisel
Centro de Biotecnología Vegetal
Universidad Andres Bello
Universidad Andrés Bello, Av. República 217, 837-0146 Santiago, Chile
Email: lmeisel@unab.cl
Telephone: +56 (2) 6618449
Fax: +56(2) 6615832

Unité Génétique et Amélioration des Fruits et Légumes, INRA Avignon, France

The fruit breeding and genetics group is composed of 12 full-time members (6 researchers and 6 technicians) and one half-time engineer working on apricot and peach in the fields of fruit quality and resistance to diseases and pests (particularly plum pox virus for both species, powdery mildew and green peach aphid for peach), on Prunus rootstocks (grafting compatibility and resistance to nematodes) and, to some extend on almond (plum pox virus). Among those members, two of them (1 researcher and 1 technician) are involved in the molecular work that is focused on the development of maps and markers for the purpose of marker assisted selection and gene discovery. We have developed several mapping populations and constructed linkage maps for Prunus davidiana (2 from F1 populations), Prunus armeniaca (4 from F1 populations) and Prunus persica (2 F2, 1 BC2). We have developed SSR and EST-based markers, cDNA libraries and EST sequencing from P. armeniaca; we have expertise in RFLP and PCR-based markers (SSR, AFLP...). We routinely use map comparison and transferable markers as tools for map constructions and we are involved in European projects implicating the sharing of markers and map comparison. We are therefore interested in map comparisons within Prunus species as well as between Rosaceae sub-families. 

Contact Details
Patrick Lambert
Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire
Unité Génétique et Amélioration de Fruits et Légumes
INRA, Domaine Saint Maurice, BP94
84143 - Montfavet Cedex France
Email: lambert@avignon.inra.fr
Telephone: +33-4-32722815
Fax: +33-4-32722702 

INRA Fruit Species Research Unit (Unité de Recherches sur les Espèces Fruitières :UREF), Bordeaux, France

UREF-INRA Bordeaux includes 35 permanents and has a strong expertise in the use of molecular tools for plant genetics, comparative genomics and application of molecular markers in plant breeding of fruit trees and strawberry. It's present research activities have three principal objectives:

  • To elucidate fruit tree evolutionary history. This activity aims at understanding the role of domestication and modern breeding in shaping fruit tree species genetic diversity. It is based on population genetics studies. It focuses on the Prunus genus.
  • To investigate macro and micro synteny in Rosaceae (comparative genome analyses). This activity is based on comparative mapping of markers and QTLs. Synteny was first investigated on Prunus (peach, sweet cherry, myrobalan plum) and is now extended to Rosoideae with Fragaria. The biological studied traits for this activity are mainly fruit quality and flowering.
  • To develop breeding programs interacting with industries on strawberry, sweet cherry and Prunus rootstocks with emphasis on the improvement in fruit quality (resistance to cracking for sweet cherry) and in resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses.

Future activities will mainly concern phenotypic traits implied in adaptation to climatic changes (phenology, drought resistance). All these activities are supported by significant genetic resources (Fragaria, Prunus), and particularly a Prunus Genetic Resources Centre (Centre de Ressources Génétiques).This centre is involved in the conservation genetic resources French national network and is also included in the Prunus network of European Cooperative Programme for Genetic Resources (ECP/GR). UREF is on charge of the Prunus European database for genetic resources. A bio-informatician is implied in the development of bio-analytical tools. He has developed a pipeline for in silico SNP discovery within EST data and has started to work in the field of Rosaceae comparative genomics (EST annotation, pipe line for SNP detection).

Contact Details
Dr Elisabeth Dirlewanger and Dr Béatrice Denoyes-Rothan
UREF, INRA, Centre de Bordeaux
BP81, 33883 Villenave d'Ornon cedex, France
Email: dirlewan@bordeaux.inra.fr
Email: denoyes@bordeaux.inra.fr
Telephone: +33 5 57 12 24 61/60 
Fax: +33 5 57 12 24 39

Unidad Fruticultura, CITA Aragón, Spain

The main work carried out in our group has been focused in fingerprinting and genetic similarity studies in cultivars of the Rosaceae, as well as the study of gametophytic self-incompatibility in Prunus species. Today the two main species that we are working on are sweet cherry and Japanese plum. In these two we carry on work on both fingerprinting and self-incompatibility, and in sweet cherry we also have mapping populations. Additionally we have been working in the identification of transferable markers (SSRs) within the Prunus genus that allow us to use the same set on markers in different species. With this purpose we have screened conserved SSR within the genus and assayed them in 10 Prunus species (4 subgenera and 5 sections). 

Contact Details:
Dr. Ana Wünsch
Unidad de Fruticultura
Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentaria de Aragón (CITA)
Avda. Montañana 930
50059 Zaragoza, Spain
Email: awunsch@aragon.es 
Telephone: +34 976 716314       
Fax: +34 976 716335

IFAPA-Centro de Churriana, Málaga, Spain

The strawberry genetic resources group consists currently of 2 doctors, 2 technicians and one PhD student. Work is focused in the development of markers for genetic resources characterization and linkage mapping. For linkage mapping we have two segregating populations in Fragaria x ananassa and have began to bin map our EST-SSR markers in the BIN sets developed for the reference diploid Fragaria in order to get an idea of their position. We are also developing functional markers in candidate genes for mapping in octoploid strawberry. 

Contact Details:
Dr. Iraida Amaya and Dr. José Federico Sánchez-Sevilla
IFAPA-Centro de Churriana
Cortijo de la Cruz s/n
29140 Churriana (Málaga), Spain
Email: iraida.amaya.ext@juntadeandalucia.es 
Email: josef.sanchez@juntadeandalucia.es
Telephone: +34 951 03 62 15       
Fax: +34 951 03 62 27


 

Foundation E. Mach (FEM) - IASMA Research Center, San Michele a/A, Trento, ITALY

The main aim of the apple genetics and genomics activities at FEM-IASMA (www.iasma.it) is to enhance apple quality and sustainable apple production for the benefit of local and worldwide producers and consumers.  Several of our activities have potential interest for the Rosaceae Genomics Markers and Comparative Mapping initiative.

  • Sequencing (14x coverage) of Golden Delicious clone B, to be concluded by summer 2008.
  • SNP discovery (internal database of thousands of SNPs).
  • Production and analysis of several mapping populations (GD x Scarlet; GD x Braeburn; Golden x Freedom and others) for the porpuses of genome anchoring, gene and QTL mapping for trait related to pathogen resistance, habitus, flowering, etc.
  • Translational genomics programme with several research lines, including platform for functional genomics.

FEM-IASMA is already collaborating on marker and gene mapping in apple with other institutions such as HortResearch, INRA UMR GenHort, USDA-ARS Kearneysville, USDA-ARS Geneva/Cornell U, IRTA-Lleida University.

Contact Details
Riccardo Velasco, PhD
Head of Genetics and Molecular Biology dept.
Istituto Agrario San Michele all'Adige
Email: riccardo.velasco@iasma.it
Telephone: +39-0461-615314       
Cell: +39-335-7801956       
Fax: +39-0461-650956

Plant Genomics Department, Parco Tecnologico Padano, Lodi, Italy

Parco Tecnologico Padano Plant Genomics and Bioinformatics Group composed by 12 researchers in collaboration with Università degli Studi di Milano (Prof. Bassi) is involved in cDNA libraries construction, EST sequencing and annotation, database development (EST db), microarray analysis, SNP/SSR markers based mapping and QTL analysis. We have developed several cDNA libraries from different peach tissues at different ripening stages, producing a total of 12,000 ESTs. We have mapped several peach aroma production/fruit quality putative candidate genes on TxE Prunus reference map in collaboration with IRTA (Barcelona, Spain) and INRA (Bordeaux, France). We have phenotyped 3 mapping populations and developed genetic maps for gene and QTL mapping for trait related to aroma production, fruit quality and pathogens resistance. We are also involved in the Italian Peach Genome Sequencing Consortium and in 454 deep-sequencing project for SNP discovery and gene expression profiling across 5 peach varieties contrasting for fruit quality traits.

Contacts Details
Dr. Alberto Vecchietti
Plant Genomics Department
Parco Tecnologico Padano, Via Einstein, Loc. Cascina Codazza, 26900, Lodi, Italy
E-mail: alberto.vecchietti@tecnoparco.org 
Telephone +39 0371 4662431
Fax: + 39 0371 4662217

Dr. Laura Rossini
Università degli Studi di Milano
Dipartimento di Produzione Vegetale
c/o Parco Tecnologico Padano, Via Einstein, Loc. Cascina Codazza, 26900, Lodi, Italy
E-mail: laura.rossini@unimi.it 
Telephone +39 0371 4662447
Fax: + 39 0371 4662217

East Malling Research, Kent, UK

The breeding and genetics group consists currently of five full-time and one part-time members of staff and two students.  Work is primarily focussed on the development of markers and maps for the purposes of marker assisted selection, as well as resources for comparative mapping.  Currently, we have mapping populations and linkage maps for diploid (2) and octoploid (2) Fragaria (including the diploid reference mapping population FV×FN), Malus (2), Physocarpus (1),Prunus (1), Pyrus (2) and Rubus (2).  We have developed transferable markers from Fragaria and Malus and have expertise in PCR-based, as well as isoenzymes and RFLP marker systems.  We have collaborated with IRTA Cabrils on comparative mapping between Fragaria and Prunus, and are interested in map comparisons both within and between Rosaceae sub-families.  The mapping populations we have are available to interested researchers.

Contact Details
Dr. Daniel James Sargent
East Malling Research
New Road, East Malling, Kent ME19 6BJ, UK
Email: dan.sargent@emr.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 1732 523 747       
Fax: +44 (0) 1732 849 067

UC Davis (Kearney Agricultural Center - Parlier), CA, USA

The program currently comprises of four scientists with expertise in breeding, physiology, genetics and genomics, and strong local and international collaborations. The main goal of our research is the development of predictive tools (molecular markers) for use in marker-assisted breeding and development of superior cultivars of stone fruit and nuts. Our current focus is on peach and almond. We have several mapping populations of peach and almond at various stages of characterization. These include the fully genotyped and phenotyped peach population - Pop-DG ('Dr. Davis' x 'Georgia Belle'). We developed an EST database (ChillPeach) specially designed to study chilling injury in peach fruit. This database contains ~4,500 unigenes about half of which are unique toPrunus. A ChillPeach cDNA microarray platform is available. We have hundreds of SSR markers (over 70 of which are unique to Prunus) and candidate genes. We have tested a number of our markers on mapping parents of other rosaceous crops such as cherry, apricot, apple and pear. We are open to collaboration on marker transferability. 

Contact Details
Dr. Ebenezer (Eben) Ogundiwin
University of California, Davis
Kearney Agricultural Center
Parlier, CA 93648, USA
Email: ebenezer@uckac.edu
Telephone:  +1-559-646-6576        
Fax: +1-559-646-6593

Cherry Research, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

The cherry breeding and genetics group currently cooperates with researchers at Ohio State University (Esther van der Knaap) and the Univ. of California (Alex Kozik) to develop a Rosaceae-Aradiopsis set of Conserved Orthologous Markers (COS) that can be used for comparative mapping in the Rosaceae, and for increasing marker density in cherry. Currently we have mapping populations for both sweet cherry (P. avium) and tart cherry (P. cerasus), and a Bin Map Set developed from our sweet cherry population.  We have extensive phenotypic data for many fruit quality characteristics and other traits such as bloom time.   We are interested in map comparisons within the Rosaceae and also comparative mapping for traits of mutual interest.  The mapping populations and associated genotyping data are available to interested researchers. 

Contact Details
Dr. Amy Iezzoni
Department of Horticulture
Michigan State University 
East Lansing, MI  48824 
Email: iezzoni@msu.edu
Telephone: 517 355 5191    ext 391

Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA

The molecular genetics program is a relatively new and expanding one. The Peace lab Pullman currently includes two full-time staff and one student. Main interest is translational genomics for Rosaceae tree fruit: putting into practice the advances in genomics for local fruit industries of importance, which are mostly apple and sweet cherry. A second component of our lab is in generating new knowledge on the genes and biochemical pathways controlling fruit quality traits, particularly texture and flavor. The joint focus on Malus and Prunus gives us an interest in the fundamentals and practicalities of transferring genetic information between Rosaceae subfamilies. We are currently developing a map for apple (HCxPL), are planting pedigree-linked germplasm sets for Pedigree Based Analysis (PBA), and have access to the wider germplasm of the local apple and sweet cherry breeding programs. On the transferable markers front, we have ongoing projects on candidate genes for texture and flavor (100+ genes for both trait complexes) that we bin-map in both genera, fine-map where possible, seek orthology between Malus and Prunus, and seek gene-trait associations in breeding germplasm - particularly with the PBA approach. We have readily shared Prunus map locations of texture candidate genes with anyone, as we want to avoid redundancy. Similarly, if others have already mapped other CGs we are interested in, we'd rather not repeat the effort. Previous work at UC Davis-KAC includes generation of a peach genetic map (DDxGB) and the mentioned texture gene mapping. Through RosPOP, we have been at the forefront of international efforts to coordinate sharing of genetic map data, DNA and other material, and populations, particularly in collaboration with IRTA Cabrils. The Pullman lab is part of a larger regional Rosaceae team of WSU and USDA-ARS (Wenatchee) scientists, particularly for apple and sweet cherry, including breeding (Barritt, Oraguzie, new apple breeder to replace Barritt mid 2008), germplasm enhancement (Olmstead), genomics (Dhingra, Zhu), transcriptomics (Zhu, Main), metabolomics (Rudell), bioinformatics and the GDR (Main), physiology (Mattheis, Whiting), sensory analysis (Ross), and extension (Olmstead). 

Contact Details
Dr. Cameron Peace
Washington State University 
PO Box 646414 
Pullman, WA 99164-6414 
USA 
Email: cpeace@wsu.edu
Telephone: +1 509-335-6899       
Fax: +1 509-335-8690

USDA-ARS, Appalachian Fruit Research Station, Kearneysville, WV

The functional and applied genomics of fruit crops (mainly apple) consists currently of 4 staff scientists, 3 postdoctoral scientists, 4 technical support staff, and two undergraduate students. Work is primarily focused on understanding genetic mechanisms of resistance to biotic (fire blight and postharvest disesases) and abiotic (cold and drought) stress. Part of this effort has been involved with mapping fire blight resistance and  ESTs associated with fire blight response in  mapping populations of Robusta 5 x Malling 9, Royal Gala x A689 (conducted in collaboration with HortResearch, New Zealand - Sue Gardiner), Robusta 5 x Ottawa 3 (conducted in collaboration with USDA-ARS, Geneva, NY -Gennaro Fazio), M.sieversii (GM4593) x Royal Gala and M. sieversii (GM4591) x Royal Gala(conducted in collaboration with USDA-ARS and Cornell University, Geneva, NY - Phil Forsline, Charles Simon, Gennaro Fazio, Herb Aldwinckle, and HortResearch, New Zealand - Sue Gardiner and David Chagne).  A framework map is being developed for the latter two M. sieversii populations in order to then define QTLs for resistance to fire blight and apple scab.  Further work on QTLS will be extended to cold and drought resistance, as well as postharvest disease resistance.  At present, the framework map is being developed using published SSR primer sets.  SNP analyses are being conducted on the parents and 94 offspring of the M. sieversii x Royal Gala population in collaboration with Riccardo Velasco  and Mickael Malnoy (IASMA, Italy). 

Contact Details
Michael Wisniewski
USDA-ARS-AFRS 
Appalachian Fruit Research Station
Kearneysville, WV 25430 
Email: michael.wisniewski@ars.usda.gov 
Tel: 01 304-725-3451 
Fax: 01 304-728-2340

USDA, ARS, Appalachian Fruit Research Station, Kearneysville, WV, USA

The Pear Genetic Improvement Program focuses on the development of  high value pear scion cultivars through a combination of traditional and biotechnological methods, including marker assisted breeding.  Currently, there is one mapping population for fire blight resistance (P. communis  cv. Old Home source of resistance) and we are developing populations with other P. communis and P. ussuriensis founders.  I also have populations for resistance to pear psylla (one P. ussuriensis founder and several P. communis sources).  We have been phenotyping the psylla resistance populations for nymphal feeding antixenosis.  We have assessed genetic diversity and relatedness within East European P. communis germplasm in relation to resistance to pear psylla resistance using SSR and RAPD markers.  Populations for soluble solids and titrable acidity are being developed.  The research group currently consists of one full-time scientist and one full-time laboratory technician for breeding and genetics, plus one full-time support scientist plus one part-time technician who work on genetic transformation of scion cultivars and rootstocks.

Contact Details
Dr. Richard L. Bell
USDA, ARS
Appalachian Fruit Research Station
2217 Wiltshire Road 
Kearneysville, WV 25430-2771 
Email: richard.bell@ars.usda.gov 
Telephone: +1-304-725-3451; Ext. 353
Fax: +1-304-728-2340
URL: www.ars.usda.gov/naa/afrs

USDA, ARS, Tree Fruit Research Lab, Wenatchee, WA

Our program is focused on identifying the genetic factors controlling pre- and postharvest tree fruit quality. Function genomics and candidate gene identification are the primary approaches for developing gene-specific functional markers. The specific objectives include: 1. Understanding the molecular basis and genetic control of tree fruit ripening and fruit quality such as fruit texture, flavor/aroma and nutrition. 2. Identification of genetic factors that determine susceptibility and development of fruit postharvest physiological disorders.  3. Generation and test of molecular markers which are predictive of fruit quality attributes that can be utilized for marker-assisted selection in breeding programs or enhancing postharvest handling procedure. Current projects include transcriptome profiling analysis on apple fruit texture attributes; PCR-Select cDNA subtraction on identifying candidate genes behind superficial scald of 'Granny Smith' and internal browning of 'Braeburn', as well as expression patterns analysis on ethylene biosynthesis genes and volatile ester synthesis genes among different apple cultivars. Current lab members include a technician, a student and a postdoc.

Contact Details
Yanmin Zhu
Research Molecular Biologist
USDA-ARS, Tree Fruit Research Lab
1104 N. Western Ave 
Wenatchee, WA 98801 
Email: yanmin.zhu@ars.usda.gov
Phone: 509-664-2280 ext 215
Fax: 509-664-2287

USDA-ARS, National Clonal Germplasm Repository (NCGR), Corvallis, OR

The NCGR unit has 4 full-time scientists, 5 support staff, 3 technicians and 4 graduate students. The Genetics lab consists currently of one full-time scientist, one technician and one PhD student. Work is primarily focussed on the development of SSR markers, implementation of markers in genotyping and diversity assessment and uploading results in a public database (GRIN). The SSRs we developed were tested in the different species of each genus to develop marker sets that can identify all the accessions present at our genebank. We have developed SSR markers in Fragaria Pyrus and Rubus.  We have expertise in PCR-based marker systems.  We collaborate with breeders on placing our markers on their reference maps. Freeze-dried leaves from core accessions of Fragariaand Pyrus are available to researchers worldwide.

Contact Details
Dr Nahla Victor Bassil
USDA-ARS, NCGR
33447 Peoria Rd. 
Corvallis, OR 97333 
Email: Nahla.Bassil@ARS.USDA.GOV
Telephone: (541) 738-4214
Fax: (541) 738-4205

HortResearch, Plant Gene Mapping Team, Palmerston North, New Zealand

The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd (HortResearch) has a unique concentration of skills in fruit science, ranging from fruit breeding and genomics, food science and technology, bioprotection to human health. HortResearch has developed an extensive EST database for apple with associated tools for functional analysis of the candidate genes (microarrays, in vivo analysis) that map for a range of traits, including pest and disease resistance, fruit quality and tree architecture. Our pipfruit resistance breeders have been using molecular markers, including EST-based SCARs, SSRs and SNPs, for the past 8 years. HortResearch has very successful commercial breeding programmes in apple, pear, kiwifruit, peach, apricot, hops and berryfruit. Our plant gene mapping team is located on the Palmerston North research campus, which has one of the largest concentrations of plant biologists in the southern hemisphere. Our team is led by Dr Susan Gardiner and has developed molecular markers and genetic maps for apple, pear, peach and Rubus as well as non-Rosaceae crops such as hops, blueberry and kiwifruit. We interact very closely with pipfruit, summerfruit, berryfruit and hops breeders (Hawkes Bay, Ruakura and Nelson sites), the plant genomics team (Auckland) and the optimising fruit and crop growth team (Hawkes Bay and Nelson sites). We regularly host international visitors including senior staff, PhD and Masters students. One of our postgraduate students (Jill Bushakra), who is supervised by Drs David Chagné, Emily Buck, Sue Gardiner and Vaughan Symonds (Massey University), is currently focusing on comparative genome mapping across Rosaceae.

Contact Details
Dr Susan Gardiner
HortResearch
North Research Centre
Private Bag 11030
Palmerston North 4442
New Zealand
Email: SGardiner@hortresearch.co.nz

Molecular Genetics Sub-Platform, Biosciences Research Division, Victorian Department of Primary Industries, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

The Molecular Genetics group is located at Department of Primary Industries, Victorian AgriBiosciences Centre in Bundoora, Victoria, Australia. The Molecular Genetics group at VDPI consists currently of 24 members of staff and postgraduate students. The primary focus of the group is on high-throughput DNA sequencing and genotyping technologies for development and implementation of molecular genetic marker technologies. Mandate organisms include plants (pasture grasses and clovers, oilseeds, cereals, pulses, horticultural species), microbes (fungal endophytes and pathogens) and animals (cattle, mussel, Murray cod). Applications in DNA profiling (varietal identification, true-to-type testing, seed purity analysis, ecological genetics) and molecular breeding (gene and QTL selection) are implemented using a range of equipment platforms including: biorobotics (Beckman Biomek FX, QIAGEN BioRobot 8000), capillary electrophoresis technology (ABI3730xl. MegaBACE4000, MegaBACE4500), pyrosequencing technology (Roche GSFLX) and multiplexed genotyping technology (Illumina BeadXpress).

Current activities in Rosaceae species are focused on strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.), are funded by VDPI, Horticulture Australia Ltd. (HAL) and AgGenomics Pty. Ltd. and include the following:

  • Exploitation of a program-specific proprietary expressed sequence tag (EST) resource derived from vegetative tissue and various stages of developing fruit (c. 20,000 ESTs).
  • Development of EST-derived simple sequence repeat (SSR) and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers, especially in vitro SNP discovery assisted by comparison of haplotypes with progenitor species.
  • Genetic linkage map development based on AFLP, SSR and SNP markers.
  • Comparative genetic mapping between F. x ananassa and F. vesca (collaboration with Dr. Daniel Sargent, EMR, UK).
  • Trait-dissection based on physiological (day neutrality) and biochemical (taste, colour and aroma) traits in dessert strawberry.
  • True-to-type testing for quality control of strawberry varietal development.

Contact Details
Prof. John W. Forster
State-Wide Leader and Principal Research Scientist
Molecular Genetics
Biosciences Research Division
Department of Primary Industries
Victorian AgriBiosciences Centre
1 Park Drive 
La Trobe R&D Park
Bundoora, Victoria 3083
Australia 
Email: john.forster@dpi.vic.gov.au
Phone: +61 3 9479 5645
Fax: +61 3 9479 3618