Actinidia arguta (Sieb. & Zucc.) Planch. ex Miq., also called kiwiberry or baby kiwifruit, belongs to the genus Actinidia and the family Actinidiaceae. It is distinguished from other kiwifruit with small size, and smooth, hairless, green or purple colored, edible skin, and a sweet aroma. It is one of the most widely planted Actinidia species in commercial orchards.

Researchers from Wuhan Botanical Garden, together with the collaborators from the New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited and Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, evaluated the genetic diversity and population structure with 189 accessions genotyped by 200 simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers.

A total of 2496 alleles were identified from 189 accessions of the seven wild populations. Through population structure analysis, the accessions could be classified into four subgroups, each subgroup was consistent with the geographical distance. Association analysis identified 35 SSR markers significantly associated with fruit traits, such as gender and flesh color. The marker LR71 found in this study was significantly associated with color and linked with a transcript encoding MYB transcription factor protein.

This is the first time to use such large numbers of wild genetic accessions to do genetic association mapping in A. arguta through genomics and gene transcription with SSR. This result will provide a substantial resource for future understanding of molecular relationship of A. arguta with other Actinidia species and molecular marker-assisted breeding.

This work was funded by the national key research and development program; the biodiversity survey, observation and assessment program awarded by Ministry of Ecology and Environment, China; regional key projects of science and technology service network initiative granted by Chinese Academy of Sciences; and Natural Science Foundation of China.

Results have been published on Scientia Horticulturae entitled “Structural analysis ofActinidia argutanatural populations and preliminary application in association mapping of fruit traits”.