Abstract:To provide theoretical and practical guidance for rootstock breeding, 19 botanical traits of 70 eggplant germplasm resources for rootstock were investigated in this study, followed by the genetic diversity, principal component and cluster analysis. Moreover, tests for resistance to three soil-borne diseases (bacterial wilt, root-knot nematode and Verticillium wilt) were conducted. The coefficient of variation was variable from 15.9%-73.05% with an average of 46.11%. The genetic diversity index ranged from 0.325-2.008 with an average of 1.145. The coefficient of variation of weight per fruit was the highest (73.05%), and the genetic diversity of main stem diameter was the richest with an index of 2.0083. The component analysis revealed seven principal components (eigenvalues >1) with a cumulative rate of 76.55%. The 4th and 5th principal components were related to the convenience of grafting and the growth of grafted plant. The cluster analysis suggested three groups in this collection, including Group Ⅰ and Group Ⅲ were cultivated species, which showed no obvious differences in main stem color, leaf margin, fruit color and fruit size; Group Ⅱ contained four cultivated species and 20 wild germplasms, with the highest main stem diameter (20.42 mm) and the smallest fruit (the average length of 3.79 cm and diameter of 4.60 cm and weight of 73.38 g). 22 eggplant germplasms were detected with high resistance to bacterial wilt, 11 eggplant germplasms with high resistance to root-knot nematode and 7 eggplant germplasms with high resistance to Verticillium wilt. Three eggplant germplasms (BW9, LJ-7, Ng1-052) were highly resistant against bacterial wilt and root-knot nematode, and four eggplant germplasms (Ng1-003, Solanum khasianum C. B. Clarke, Solanum sisymbriifolium Lam., Solanum torvum Swartz) were highly resistant against root-knot nematode and Verticillium wilt. These eggplant germplasms can be used as resistance sources for disease resistance breeding. Based on the identification of botanical traits and disease resistance, three cultivars (LJ-18, Ng1-015 and Ng1-013) showing resistant against multiple diseases and vigorous growth and convenient graft were obtained, which laid a foundation for excellent multi-resistant eggplant rootstock breeding.

Abstract:Phytophthora fruit rot is an important disease in eggplant. Identification of the disease-causing pathogens and the resistant germplasm accessions against these pathogens is useful in breeding of resistant varieties. In this study, the pathogens were isolated from the diseased eggplant fruit from Xuzhou city and Nanjing city of Jiangsu province, followed by tests for disease resistances in 146 globally-collected eggplant germplasm accessions. One strain was obtained from each of the samples in the two regions. Two strains (named NJ1 and XZ1) had typical characteristics of the phytophthora capsici, and both were P. capsici as revealed by rDNA-ITS sequence analysis. The eggplants post inoculation showed typical disease symptoms of phytophthora fruit rot. A variation on resistance among germplasm accessions was observed, and only several genotypes represented ideal resistance. Three germplasm accessions with ideal resistance to both strains could be used as a source of resistance for breeding eggplant against phytophthora fruit rot. Especially, G42 and G114 were resistant to both strains, while G135 was resistant to strain XZ1 and moderate resistant to strain NJ1. Collectively, this study has laid an important foundation for genetic breeding research on phytophthora fruit rot in eggplant.

Abstract:To illustrate the regulation mechanism of parthenocarpy and the genes controlling this process, as well as provide basic materials in eggplant parthenocarpy breeding, the parthenocarpy/non parthenocarpy near isogenic lines were constructed in this study. Two groups of near isogenic lines (NILs) JDX1 and JDX8 were generated by hybridization, backcross and selfing, in combination with parthenocarpy identification and agronomic traits investigation. 219 pairs of SSR primers covering eggplant genome were used to genotype eggplant NILs and their parents. JDX1 and JDX8 showed 97.14% and 88.23% on the genetic similarity with respective reincarnation parents, respectively. The parthenocarpy identification showed that, in difference with recurrent parents, JDX1 and JDX8 had been completely transformed into non parthenocarpic lines. There were no significant differences in plant height, first flower height, node spacing, leaf length and width, fruit length and thickness between NILs and their recurrent parents. By considering the agronomic characteristics such as fruit color and strain type, JDX1 and JDX8 showed higher similarity/identity with the reincarnation parent. Collectively, the success on creation of eggplant parthenocarpy lines laid a foundation for the basic research of single solidity.

Abstract:Four eggplant inbred lines with different colors in flower，peel and flesh were used as experimental materials，which were crossed in three hybrid combinations and through backcrossing and selfing produced six generation populations，for the study of the genetic relationships among eggplant flower color，peel color and flesh color，the aim of this study was to enrich the genetic research on peel color and flesh color of eggplant，and to provide theoretical basis for the breeding of new eggplant varieties. The results indicated that the flower color was controlled by a pair of genes，with purple fully dominant to white. The peel color was controlled by two pairs of dominant genes with overlapping effect，and the purple gene had dominant epistatic effect. Peel purple was dominant to green，and the purple gene of eggplant peel color inhibited the expression of the green gene. The flesh color was controlled by a pair of genes，with green-white fully dominant to white. There was the gene interaction effect in the inheritance of eggplant peel color and flesh color. The green-white gene controlling eggplant flesh had an epistatic effect on the white gene controlling eggplant peel，the inheritance of eggplant flower color and peel color were not completely linked，the crossing-over value of white flower with green peel and purple flower with purple peel being 20.5%，and the crossing-over value of white flower with white peel and purple flower with purple peel being 34.6%，the flower color and flesh color of eggplant were in accordance with the independent genetic law in the process of hybrid inheritance，and there was no linkage relationship.

Abstract:Tomato, pepper and eggplant are the economically-imporant vegetables of Solanaceae cultivated worldwide. Natural evolution has resulted in abundant wild Solanaceae species adapted to the habitat of their origin zones. Over the long-term domestication and cultivation of Solanaceae wild plants, their yield and commodity quality have been continuously improved to meet the change of cultivation environments and the favors of people. However, the resistances upon biotic and abiotic stresses have been gradually decreased due to the losses of several functional components. The biologists and breeders have thus repeatedly turned their attention to the wild resources of Solanaceae in order to explore excellent characters or genes from wild species and break down the bottleneck of genetic improvement. In this paper, the theoretical research and applied utilization of wild resources of tomato, pepper and eggplant have been reviewed. We outlined the discovery of wild elite resources, gene localization and molecular cloning of important characters, genomics and functional genomics studies, distant hybridization, molecular assisted breeding, transgene and gene editing etc. Thus, this paper could provide guidance for the further excavation of wild Solanaceae resources and their utilization in genetic improvement of Solanaceae vegetables.

Abstract:In this study, 151327 of InDels were in silico identified by taking advantage of whole genome re-sequencing of twoeggplant (Solanum melongena) lines. The primers targeting 180 InDel loci were developed, which were subjected in tests of twore-sequencing eggplant lines and derived hybrid line. Out of that, sixty-two (34.7%) of total primers were polymorphic between bothvarieties. In addition, the genetic diversity and specificity of 24 eggplant lines and 143 varieties were investigated by use of thesemarkers. The results from purity test of variety from two InDel markers matched well with those from field experiments.

Abstract:105 accessions of eggplant germplasm from China and Russia were evaluated for genetic diversity using 24 morphological traits and 25 SSR markers. Morphological variation analysis showed that 24 traits showed various degrees of diversity in all the germplasm resources, and the same trait differentiated between Russian and Chinese germplasm. Principal component analysis showed that 24 traits can be summarized as 6 factors, including fruit shape factor, the color factor, fruit appearance factor, leave shape factor, fruit calyx spines and anther stripes, and fruit characteristics accounted for the major component. Morphological traits UPGMA clustering analysis showed that the genetic similarity coefficient among those materials ranged from 0.4 to 0.8 with the mean value as 0.6. Twenty-five polymorphic SSR markers showed polymorphisms among the tested germplasm resources. A total of 122 bands were amplified using the 25 markers in 105 accessions, containing 82 alleles, among which 24.8 were effective alleles. The polymorphism information content (PIC) value ranged from 0.3 to 0.7. Molecular UPGMA clustering analysis showed that genetic similarity coefficient ranged from 0.5 to 1 with the mean value of 0.7.The clustering results obtained from morphological traits and SSR maker were similar. The clustering results of tested eggplant germplasm did not showed clear correlation to their geographic origin, but the fruit traits had some relation to clustering results.

Abstract:Verticillium wilt seriously influences the yields and qualities of eggplant. Studies found that extensive collection, identification and screening of the resistant materials especially from the wild resources, was the preferred option to solve the harms of Verticillium wilt. In Yunnan province, it is rich in wild eggplant resources, but these resources haven’t been utilized effectively. In this study, 3 purified isolates from infected plants were collected from the main production area of Yunnan Province, and they were determined as Verticillium dahliae Kleb. based on morphological and molecular identifications. Afterwards, one of the strains (QZ-S) was selected by resistance evaluation and to be used in the following inoculation experiment. The results found that, among 45 Yunnan wild eggplant resources that were inoculated with strain QZ-S, 2 materials ( Solanum sisymbrifolium and S. aculeatissimum ) showed high disease resistance, 2 materials ( S. torvum and S. chrysotrichum ) showed disease resistance and 6 materials ( including 1 S. violaceum material and 5 S. integrifolium materials) showed moderate resistance, and a high susceptibility material (239-3-2) was selected for its high disease percentage and disease index. All of the materials that were selected in this study could be appropriately utilized as disease resistance breeding resources. Besides, this study could broaden the germplasm resource of eggplant, lay the foundation for shortening the breeding period and providing the resistent resources for eggplant and the other crops.

Abstract:The Trinity program was used to assemble the transcriptome sequences of eggplant. In total，45 404 Unigenes were obtained with the length of 4 791 066 bp. We detected 8 316 SSR loci from these Unigenes by using MISA software. The density of the SSR were 5.63 kb with the frequency of 18.32%. The single nucleotide SSR is the most abundant （5 372） type which count for 64. 60% the total loci and followed by the tri-nucleotide （1 628） for 19.58%. The tri-nucleotide repeat motifs of AAG/CTT was the predominant repeat types that accounting for 31.6% of the tri-nucleotide repeat motifs. The dinucleotide repeat motifs of AG/CT is the predominant repeat format in this types of repeat and accounting for 42.3%. A total of 858 pairs of SSR primers are designed by using primer3 online program and 100 pairs of SSR markers are randomly selected and verified by using 17 eggplant germplasms. Among them，84 pairs of primers are able to amplify PCR products， of which 47 pairs of primers produced polymorphic bands. The PIC values range was between 0.10 to 0.64，the average value was 0.32. The 17 eggplant germplasms could be divided into three phylogenetic groups by analysis with UPGMA method. The results indicated that the SSR markers based on the transcriptome sequencing in eggplant will provide more reliable markers for map structure，analysis of genetic polymorphism for eggplant.

Abstract:Determining objective, reasonable heat tolerance evaluation indexes, and evaluating heat tolerance of different cultivars vegetables, which are of great significance to the research on heat tolerance mechanism and the breeding of heat tolerance. Different heat tolerance eggplant cultivars were used to determine physiological and biochemical indexes in seeding stage. The heat tolerance of eggplant seeding was comprehensively evaluated by using fuzzy mathematics theory. Using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to determine the weights of heat tolerance indexes. The results showed that heat injury index, recovery index, MDA content, SOD activity and POD activity had the greatest effect on heat tolerance. The weights were 0.2500, 0.2500, 0.1092, 0.1092 and 0.1092. According to the result of comprehensive evaluation, the heat tolerance of YouYiYiHao was the strongest, followed by F-762, and GuTianZiChangQie was the weakest. The results were consistent with those assessed in open field of natural high temperature. It showed that this method had a better applicability of comprehensive evaluation on eggplant seeding heat tolerance, which can be used for identification of heat tolerance in mass cultivars.