An analysis in the structure of a genetically characterized melon germplasm collection for climacteric-non climacteric ripening behaviour

Melon (Cucumis melo L. Cucurbitaceae) is considered one of the most variable species within the genus Cucumis as well as among the other cultivated plants. Moreover it represents a key species in order to study ethylene involvement in ripening because several climacteric and non-climacteric accessions are available. In this study we used a core collection of 198 melon accessions including wild relatives, feral types, landraces, breeding lines and commercial cultivars from 54 countries. This collection established within the framework of a previous project, was selfed, genotyped with AFLP markers and extensively phenotyped for plant and fruit traits at COMAV. Furthermore deep transcriptome resequencing work was carried out on all the genotypes, thus providing the largest melon SNP collection generated to date. Taking advantage of this information we present here the preliminary analysis of the structure of this germplasm collection with the aim of selecting a group of melon varieties with great differences in ripening behavior and minimum genetic structure to be used for association studies