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This research work was financed with grant PID2019-103985RR- I00 funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. Funding was also obtained from Gobierno de Aragon Research Group A12_23R. CG was financed with grant PRE2020-095382 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by 'ESF investing in your future'.

Analysis of institutional authors

Gracia, ClaraAuthorCalle, AlejandroAuthorWunsch, AnaCorresponding Author

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February 27, 2025
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Article

Genetic and QTL analyses of sugar and acid content in sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.)

Publicated to:Horticulture Research. 12 (2): uhae310- - 2025-02-01 12(2), DOI: 10.1093/hr/uhae310

Authors: Gracia, Clara; Calle, Alejandro; Gasic, Ksenija; Arias, Esther; Wunsch, Ana

Affiliations

Clemson Univ, Dept Plant & Environm Sci, 105 Collins St, Clemson, SC 29634 USA - Author
Ctr Invest & Tecnol Agroalimentaria Aragon CITA, Dept Ciencia Vegetal, Avda Montanana 930, Zaragoza 50059, Spain - Author
IRTA, Fruit Prod, Fruitctr, Lleida 25003, Spain - Author
Univ Zaragoza, Dept Prod Anim & Ciencia Alimentos, Inst Agroalimentario Aragon, IA2,CITA, C Miguel Servet 177, Zaragoza 50013, Spain - Author

Abstract

Sweet cherry is very appreciated by consumers because of its attractive appearance and taste, which is determined by the balanced sweet-sour flavor. In this work, the genetics of soluble solid content (SSC), titratable acidity (TA), sugars, and organic acids was investigated in sweet cherry to facilitate breeding improvement for fruit quality. The fruits of five sweet cherry populations (N = 372), three F1 and two F2, were sampled over two years to evaluate SSC, TA, and the content of individual sugars (glucose, fructose, sorbitol, and sucrose) and organic acids (malic, quinic, oxalic, citric, and shikimic) by ultra-performance liquid chromatography. Glucose, followed by fructose, was the most abundant sugar, while malic acid was the predominant acid. Sorbitol and malic acid were the most stable compounds between years, and had the highest heritability, being also the best correlated to SSC and TA, respectively, revealing their relevance for breeding. Significantly positive correlations were observed among sugars and SSC, and acids and TA, but high interannual variability between years was observed for all traits. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping for SSC, sugars, TA, and organic acids was performed using a multi-family approach with FlexQTL (TM). Twenty QTLs were detected consistently during the two phenotyped years, and several relevant regions with overlapping QTLs for sugars and acids were also identified. The results confirmed major stable SSC and TA QTLs on the linkage groups 4 and 6, respectively. Within the main LG4 SSC QTL region, where maturity and fruit development time QTLs have been previously detected, three stable sugar (glucose, sorbitol, and sucrose) and two acid (quinic, shikimic) QTLs were also identified, suggesting a pleiotropic effect of ripening date on the content of these compounds. The major malic acid QTL overlapped with TA QTL on LG6; thus, TA QTL mapping on LG6 may correspond to malic acid QTLs. Haplotype analyses of major SSC and sugars QTL on LG4, and TA and malic acid on LG6 revealed haplotypes of breeding interest. Several candidate genes previously identified in other Prunus fruit species, like peach, were found to collocate with the QTLs detected herein. This work reports QTLs regions and haplotypes of sugar and acid content in a Prunus nonclimacteric stone fruit for the first time.

Keywords

AccumulationAcidezÁcido malicoAnálisis de secuencias multilocusAntioxidant activityConsumer acceptanceCultivarsExpressionFructosaFruit-quality traitsGenotypeGlucosaIdentificationMejoramiento genéticoPopulationsPyrophosphataseSólidosSorbitol

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Horticulture Research due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2025, it was in position 14/191, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Genetics & Heredity. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2025-07-11:

  • WoS: 1
  • Scopus: 1

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-11:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 3.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 2 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 31.25.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 5 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions in news outlets: 4 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
  • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: http://hdl.handle.net/10532/7369

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: United States of America.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Gracia Latre, Clara) and Last Author (Wünsch Blanco, Ana).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been Wünsch Blanco, Ana.