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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.

Sec. Plant Breeding

Genetic mapping, marker development, and identification of candidate genes for powdery mildew resistance in Malus baccata 'Jackii'

Provisionally accepted
Matthias PfeiferMatthias Pfeifer1,2Leonard KurzwegLeonard Kurzweg3Buist MuçajBuist Muçaj1,4Tom BurkhardtTom Burkhardt5Andreas PeilAndreas Peil1Henryk FlachowskyHenryk Flachowsky1Ofere Francis EmeriewenOfere Francis Emeriewen1*Thomas Wolfgang WöhnerThomas Wolfgang Wöhner1*
  • 1Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI) - Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Institute for Breeding Research on Fruit Crops, Dresden-Pillnitz, Germany
  • 2Institute of Plant Genetics, Department of Molecular Plant Breeding, Leibniz University Hannover, Hannover, Germany
  • 3Faculty of Biology, Technical University of Dresden, Dresden, Germany
  • 4Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany
  • 5Faculty of Agriculture/Environment/Chemistry, University of Applied Sciences, Dresden, Germany

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Powdery mildew, caused by Podosphaera leucotricha, is one of the most important fungal diseases in apple cultivation worldwide. Malus baccata 'Jackii', however, exhibits resistance to this pathogen, and a previous study demonstrated that this resistance, designated Plbj, co-segregates with an AFLP marker on linkage group 10. The objectives of this study were to construct genetic linkage maps, develop molecular markers, and identify candidate genes associated with this powdery mildew resistance, making use of the M. baccata 'Jackii' genome sequence. An F1 population derived from the cross 'Idared' × M. baccata 'Jackii' was phenotyped from 2009-11 and 2023-24 and genotyped with SNPs generated from tGBS and SSRs. Genetic linkage maps of M. baccata 'Jackii' were constructed, and QTL mapping confirmed the presence of the powdery mildew resistance locus Plbj on linkage group 10. In addition, a minor QTL was detected on linkage group five. Closely linked SSR and KASP markers were developed, and the Plbj locus was delimited to a 3,287,286-bp region on haplotype one of the M. baccata 'Jackii' genome, in which resistance gene candidates were identified. This study supports the direct application of molecular markers in breeding programmes and provides an essential background for future functional studies of Plbj.

Keywords: apple, Disease Resistance, Molecular markers, plant breeding, powdery mildew, QTL mapping, resistance gene

Received: 30 Sep 2025; Accepted: 09 Dec 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Pfeifer, Kurzweg, Muçaj, Burkhardt, Peil, Flachowsky, Emeriewen and Wöhner. 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:
Ofere Francis Emeriewen
Thomas Wolfgang Wöhner

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material