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A versatile PCR marker for pungency in Capsicum spp.

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Abstract

Pungency in Capsicum spp. is an important quality trait for pepper breeding. The perception of pungency in pepper is due to the presence of a group of compounds named capsaicinoids, only found within the Capsicum genus. How pungency is controlled at genetic and molecular levels has not been completely elucidated. The use of molecular markers to assess pungency trait is required for molecular breeding, despite the difficulty of development of universal markers for this trait. In this work, a DNA sequence possibly related to pungency with a high similarity to Pun1 locus was studied, and sequence analysis of this homolog revealed a 15 bp deletion in non-pungent pepper accessions. An allele-specific pair of primers was designed and specific fragments of 479 bp from non-pungent and 494 bp from pungent accessions were obtained. Polymorphism of this marker, named MAP1, was tested in a wide range of accessions, belonging to several Capsicum species, including pungent and non-pungent accessions of C. annuum L., and pungent accessions of C. chinense, C. baccatum, C. frutescens, C. pubescens, C. galapagoense, C. eximium, C. tovarii, C. cardenasii, and C. chacoense. All these Capsicum accessions were correctly discriminated. The marker suitability to assess pungency in domesticated and wild Capsicum species was demonstrated, and therefore it will be very useful in marker assisted selection (MAS). Moreover, MAP1 was located in a saturated pepper linkage map and its possible relationship with the Pun1 locus has been discussed. Among the available markers for this complex quality trait, the marker developed in this study is the most universal so far.

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Acknowledgments

This research was financially supported by “Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria” (INIA)—Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN), grant RTA2008-00095-00-00 and grant A16 for Aragon Government. MJ. R.-M. was supported for a INIA Phd fellowship. We are grateful to M. R. Navarro and E. Fuertes (CITA, Spain) for technical support and M. Carravedo (CITA, Spain) for providing most of the Capscicum seeds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agrifood and Technology Centre of Aragon, Avda. Montañana 930, 50059, Zaragoza, Spain

    María J. Rodríguez-Maza, Ana Garcés-Claver & María Soledad Arnedo-Andrés

  2. Department of Plant Science and Plant Genomics and Breeding, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-921, Korea

    Soung-Woo Park & Byoung-Cheorl Kang

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  1. María J. Rodríguez-Maza
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  2. Ana Garcés-Claver
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  3. Soung-Woo Park
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  4. Byoung-Cheorl Kang
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  5. María Soledad Arnedo-Andrés
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Correspondence to María Soledad Arnedo-Andrés.

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Rodríguez-Maza, M.J., Garcés-Claver, A., Park, SW. et al. A versatile PCR marker for pungency in Capsicum spp.. Mol Breeding 30, 889–898 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-011-9672-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-011-9672-9

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