Early Selection of Red-Fleshed Trait in F1 Hybrid Population of Apple'Yanfu 6'×'Hongdan'

Liu Mengyuan; Liu Sihan; Zhao Shuiqing; Xu Yinuo; Zhang Hu; Wang Fei; Lyu Juan; Xu Jinming; Zhang Yugang; Xu Jihua

doi:10.14083/j.issn.1001-4942.2025.12.004

Abstract：The breeding cycle of apple is long,and early selection of hybrid offspring is an important procedure in apple genetic improvement and new variety breeding.'Hongdan'is a new red-fleshed apple vari-ety with red skin cultivated by our research group(Apple Breeding Group,Qingdao Agricultural University)through artificial hybridization.In order to improve the small fruit size of'Hongdan',our research group used the late-maturing red-skin and white-fleshed variety'Yanfu 6'(male parent)to cross with red-skin red-fleshed'Hongdan'(female parent)to obtain the F1 hybrid population.In this study,the genotypes of Md-MYB1/10 of the two parents and F1 hybrids were analyzed,and the anthocyanin content in leaves and the ex-pression of related genes in the anthocyanin synthesis pathway were determined.The results showed that Md-MYB1/10 had the highest expression in the parent'Hongdan'and the F1 population with red leaves and dark-red stems.Three types of seedlings in F1 hybrid were identified,namely,green leaves and green stems,green leaves and light-red stems,and red leaves and dark-red stems.It was found that only the individuals with red leaves and dark-red stems had both R1R6:MYB10 and Red-TE insertion.Therefore,we could select individu-als with red leaves and dark-red stems at seedling stage,which would be used for breeding new varieties with red skin and red flesh from these individuals.This study could provide a theoretical foundation for early selec-tion of red-fleshed apple lines,and improve the efficiency of cross breeding.