Issue date: 7/8/09 Section: News

Researchers at Texas A&M University and Texas Agrilife Research are working together to make the melon at your picnic both tastier and healthier. [Click to enlarge]

Researchers with Texas A&M University and Texas Agrilife Research have mapped the melon genome in an effort to make melons tastier and healthier for consumers.

"The point is to be able to develop molecular markers that are linked to important genes," said study co-author and associate horticulture professor Kevin Crosby. "There are some quality attributes like sugar, vitamin C, flesh thickness, beta carotene and other traits like sterility and disease resistance."

Authors Crosby, Soonoh Park and Hye Hwang published the DNA sequence study results in the Journal of the American Society of Horticultural Sciences.

"We analyzed a family between two diverse melon parents and they were variable for the traits we were looking for," Crosby said. "That allows us to look for a trait called polymorphism, which is a difference within a trait."

The researchers developed a molecular linkage map containing hundreds of molecular markers, said Park, study co-author and Texas Agrilife Research associate research scientist.

Cantaloupes can be bred selectively using conventional methods through the use of these molecular maps, Park said.

"We map genes controlling fruit color traits, fruit size traits and disease resistance," Park said. "Right now it is extremely important to use genetic tools in fruit and vegetable breeding."

The research may lead to advancements in disease prevention, Park said.

"Through the linked maps we can select ascorbic acid and beta carotenes, which are known to prevent cancer occurrence in human bodies," Park said. "If we have an antioxidant compound, it is a great benefit to the consumers to improve their health."

Similar research will continue, in hopes of improving drought resistance in cantaloupes, Crosby said.

"We've been working on developing improved root systems," Crosby said. "We haven't determined the genes involved yet. We hope to someday be able to find molecular markers linked to those particular traits."

This research is just one part of the agricultural research done in collaboration with the Texas Agrilife Research Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center, said director Bhimu Patil.

"That particular research will help in improving the melon," Patil said. "Our focus is to improve vegetables and fruits to benefit the consumer."

The center primarily uses conventional methods rather than genetic modification, Patil said.

"We are not focusing too much on genetically modifying crops," Patil said. "We are using the tools, of course, but our main work will be on conventional breeding."

The cantaloupe research is based on conventional methods, not genetic modification, said Crosby.

"It is not genetically modified because it's just looking at native DNA," Crosby said. "I've been able to avoid the brouhaha, which is good because I don't want to get involved in the political side of that."

"We are not focusing too much on genetically modifying crops. We are using the tools, of course, but our main work will be on conventional breeding."

- Bhimu Patil
director of the Texas Agrilife Research Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center

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