Identification of S -haplotypes of European cultivars of sour cherry.

The sour cherry is known to exhibit the phenomenon of gametophytic self-incompatibility which prevents self-fertilization. In sour cherry, besides self-incompatible cultivars, there often occur self-compatible cultivars. This is due to the occurrence of natural mutations of theS-RNaseorSFBgenes and, consequently, loss of functionality ofS-alleles. Here we present the results of the identification ofS-haplotypes of 21 cultivars of sour cherry from various regions of Europe. The analyses were performed using methods based on the amplification of intron I and intron II of theS-RNasegene and fragments specific to the individual alleles of theS-RNaseorSFBgenes. The tested cultivars were found to contain 15S-haplotypes:S1, S1ʹ,S4, S6,S6m, S6m2,S9, S12,S13, S13ʹ,S26, S35,S36a, S36b, andS36b2. The most frequently occurringS-haplotypes wereS13ʹ(61.9%),S36a(57.1%), andS26(47.6%). On the basis of the results, 17 of the 21 cultivars were deduced to be self-compatible. The results will be of use in the production of sour cherry fruit by facilitating the selection of suitable pollinating cultivars. The results are also expected to be useful in the breeding of new cultivars of sour cherry when selecting genotypes for crosses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]