ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Breeding
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1608958
Exploring additive and non-additive genetic models to decipher the genetic regulation of almond tolerance to Diaporthe amygdali
Provisionally accepted
Chiara Catalano
Giorgio Gusella
Ilaria InzirilloGiuseppe Cannizzaro
Mario Di Guardo*
Stefano La MalfaGiancarlo Polizzi
Alessandra GentileGaetano Distefano- Department of Agriculture Food and Environment, University of Catania, Catania, Sicily, Italy
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Constriction canker (Diaporthe amygdali) is one of the main diseases affecting almond cultivation. To unravel the genetic basis of the tolerance to the disease, a germplasm collection of 123 almond accessions (111 selected in Sicily, Italy, complemented with widely cultivated Italian and International varieties), was employed for a Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS). Accessions were phenotyped employing a detached-twig inoculation assay, here employed for the first time for a GWAS, ensuring high throughputness and reproducibility. The most susceptible and tolerant accessions were also inoculated in planta and the two phenotyping methods showed a significant correlation of 0.7. Genotyping was performed using the Axiom™ 60K almond array, resulting in the identification of 47,496 robust markers. Both additive and non-additive GWAS models were tested leading to the identification of nine SNPs significantly associated with tolerance to D. amygdali. Candidate genes in linkage-disequilibrium with the significant SNPs were functionally characterized and a subset of 20 were further validated through RT-qPCR in both the most tolerant (the Sicilian 'Cuti') and susceptible ('Ferraduel') genotypes at 0 and at 2 days after in planta inoculations. The results provide novel insights to understand the genetic regulation of the tolerance to D. amygdali and for the set-up of marker-assisted selection plans in almond.
Keywords: Prunus dulcis, Fungal disease, Canker, tolerance, Breeding, GWAS
Received: 09 Apr 2025; Accepted: 28 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Catalano, Gusella, Inzirillo, Cannizzaro, Di Guardo, La Malfa, Polizzi, Gentile and Distefano. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mario Di Guardo, Department of Agriculture Food and Environment, University of Catania, Catania, 95123, Sicily, Italy
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