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BreedingValue presents project results at PAG 32

The annual Plant and Animal Genome Conference (PAG) is considered the largest Ag-Genomics Meeting in the World and showcases recent advancement in plant and animal genome projects. As a 6-day conference, PAG 32 took place from the 10th to 15th of January 2025 in San Diego, California, USA. This year, it featured 6 plenary talks presented by world renown authorities in plant and animal genomics and included 220+ workshops presented by leading scientists and researchers. Representatives of the BreedingValue project took the opportunity to present results achieved during the last four years of BreedingValue to the scientific community through several oral and poster presentations.

This year, the Fruits&Nuts Workshop at PAG 32 was organised by Sonia Osorio (UMA), who is leading the phenotyping WP3 in BreedingValue. The scope of this workshop was to present the latest developments on fruits and nuts crop genomes and other genomic resources and studies of genetics/biology of relevant traits.

Several BreedingValue project partners provided insights into their research and presented project results during this workshop:

  • Bruno Mezzetti (UPM), Coordinator of BreedingValue presented the project, its overall objectives, major activities and results.
  • Béatrice Denoyes (INRAE) presented the results obtained within BreedingValue to highlight the evolution of strawberry diversity over the past 160 years and investigate the molecular basis of 12 major fruit quality traits through Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS). See publication here.
  • Jakob Junkers (NIBIO) presented the results of a genetic analysis of current strawberry germplasm, including both domesticated and wild Fragaria species, which was conducted within BreedingValue. The study enhances our understanding of the strawberry breeding history and will facilitate efforts to increase the genetic diversity among future cultivars.

Additionally, the Strawberry Genomics Workshop included presentations by several BreedingValue project partners:

  • Tuuli Haikonen and Attiq ur Rehman (LUKE) showing the results of a study conducted within the BreedingValue project which marks the first comprehensive investigation of adaptive and horticultural traits in a large, multi-familial reconstructed strawberry population using SNP markers. See publication here.
  • Iraida Amaya (IFAPA) showing results related to the identification of loci controlling agronomic and fruit quality traits in a diverse strawberry collection By Genome-Wide Association Studies. The analysis revelaed numerous marker-trait associations for key breeding traits, including a marker for predicting a 50% increase in fruit firmness. See publication here.

BreedingValue partners who presented at PAG32-San Diego the results of 4 years of research on genetic resources and pre-breeding materials for berries.

Beatrice Denoyes (INRAE) presents the Exploration of a European centered strawberry diversity panel provided markers and candidate genes for the control of fruit quality

Jacob Junker (NIBIO) presenting the work on Tracing strawberry population structures: The legacy of domestication and intertwined breeding.

Bruno Mezzetti (UPM) introducing the BreedingValue project and explaining the gegentic resources included.