Pepper Fruit Color Breeding via Genetic Markers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current pepper breeding methods struggle to efficiently produce pepper plants with desired mature fruit colors such as red, orange, and yellow, as they often require distinct breeding programs for each color type, leading to complexity and increased costs due to different agronomic needs.
Innovation Solution
The use of genetic markers linked to the Ccs and Ze genes allows for the identification and breeding of pepper plants with desired fruit colors through marker-assisted selection, enabling the production of nearly isogenic lines that share agronomic properties but differ only in fruit color, facilitating the creation of multi-colored pepper packs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If distinct breeding programs are used for each color type, then desired fruit colors can be produced, but breeding complexity and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates near-isogenic lines that share common agronomic traits and disease resistances across multiple color types, allowing a single breeding program framework to produce red, orange, and yellow peppers with consistent agricultural performance while differing only in fruit color
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces specific color-determining genes (Ccs and Ze) into an otherwise identical genetic background, so that only the fruit color trait varies between lines while all other agronomic properties remain consistent, enabling differentiated products from a unified breeding program
2Manufacturing precision
If traditional breeding methods are used, then pepper varieties with desired traits can be developed, but time and resources are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent pre-establishes near-isogenic lines with desired color traits and agronomic characteristics before commercial production, so that the actual fruit production can proceed without lengthy breeding cycles, reducing the time between seed production and harvest
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates multiple pepper varieties that are genetic copies of each other except for the fruit color trait, allowing them to share the same agronomic performance data, disease resistance profiles, and cultivation requirements, thereby reducing the time needed to develop and test each variety independently
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple color types are produced with different agronomic needs, then consumer demand is met, but management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes fruit color the only variable trait that differs between pepper varieties, while maintaining identical agronomic management requirements, so that growers can produce multiple color types using the same cultivation practices, fertilization schedules, and pest management protocols
Solution Approach 2:
The patent develops a universal set of near-isogenic lines that can be grown under the same agronomic conditions and managed with the same practices, allowing a single operational framework to handle multiple color varieties simultaneously without increasing management complexity
Data Source
AI summary
The invention provides methods and compositions for breeding pepper (Capsicum sp. such as Capsicum annuum) lines, including isogenic and nearly isogenic lines, displaying one or more mature fruit color(s) of interest. Predictive genetic markers and associated sequences and primers, associated with phenotypic diversity at the Ccs locus encoding Capsanthin-Capsorubin Synthase, and the Ze locus encoding Zeaxanthin Epoxidase are also provided, as well as methods for breeding pepper lines. Further provided are pepper plants, and plant parts including seeds, seed mixtures, fruit, and packaged fruit, which display mature fruit color(s) of interest.