Validation of a PCR test to predict the presence of flavor volatiles mesifurane and γ-decalactone in fruits of cultivated strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa)

Eduardo Cruz-Rus, Rafael Sesmero, José A. Ángel-Pérez, José F. Sánchez-Sevilla, Detlef Ulrich, Iraida Amaya

Flavor improvement is currently one of the most important goals for strawberry breeders. At the same time, it is one of the most complex traits to improve, involving the balanced combination of several desired characteristics such as high sweetness, moderate acidity, and the appropriate combination of aroma compounds that are beginning to be delineated in consumer tests. DNA-informed breeding will expedite the selection of complex traits, such as flavor, over traditional phenotypic evaluation, particularly when markers linked to several traits of interests are combined during the breeding process. Natural variation in mesifurane and γ-decalactone, two key volatile compounds providing sweet Sherry and fresh peach-like notes to strawberry fruits, is controlled by the FaOMT and FaFAD1 genes, respectively. In this study, we have optimized a simple PCR test for combined analysis of these genes and determined a prediction accuracy above 91% using a set of 71 diverse strawberry accessions. This high accuracy in predicting the presence of these important volatiles combined with the simplicity of the analytical methodology makes this DNA test an efficient tool for its implementation in current strawberry-breeding programs for the selection of new strawberry cultivars with superior flavor.