Molecular Mapping and Candidate Gene Analysis for Numerous Spines on the Fruit of Cucumber

Number of spines on the fruit is an important quality trait in cucumber. The inheritance and identification of molecular markers for fruit spine density gene can provide a basis for breeding and lay the foundation for gene cloning. Cucumber inbred lines NCG-122 with numerous spines and NCG-121 with few spines were used for genetic analysis and gene mapping in this study. Genetic analysis showed that the numerous spines trait in NCG-122 was qualitative, and a single recessive nuclear gene (ns) controlled this trait. The few spines trait was dominant over the numerous spines trait. In the preliminary genetic mapping of the ns gene, 8 SSR markers were found to be linked to ns, which mapped to chromosome 2 (Chr.2) of cucumber. The closest flanking markers SSR22338 and SSR11596 were linked to the ns gene, with genetic distances of 10.2 and 1.7cM, respectively. One-hundred and thirty pairs of new SSR primers and 28 pairs of Indel primers were developed based on sequence information in the preliminary mapping region of ns Fifteen SSR markers and 2 Indel markers were identified to be linked to the ns gene after analysis on the F2 mapping population using the new molecular markers. The 2 closest flanking markers, SSRns-127 and SSR04219, were 0.7 and 2.4 cM from ns, respectively. The physical distance between SSRns-127 and SSR04219 was 266.1kb, containing 27 predicted genes. Csa2G285390 was speculated as the probable candidate gene for numerous spines. The accuracy of the closest linked marker to the ns gene, SSRns-127, for MAS breeding was 95.0%.