ASHS 2025 Conference

The accumulated genetic, genomic, and breeding data for Prunus species is often underutilized in breeding applications. This study examines 25 years of curated Prunus data in the Genome Database for Rosaceae (GDR, rosaceae.org) to uncover the genetic architecture of key traits, and provide actionable insights for Prunus breeding. The curated dataset includes 177 genetic maps, primarily for almond, apricot, peach, and sweet cherry, and 28,971 trait-associated loci. Most of the trait associations (72.4%) were from genome-wide association studies (GWAS), 18.7% from quantitative trait loci (QTL), and 8.9% from Mendelian trait loci. We identified 17 potential QTL hotspots for fruit morphology, fruit quality, and disease resistance, as well as 17 syntenic regions among peach, sweet cherry, and almond. These findings provide valuable resources for tool development for Prunus breeding, particularly for complex polyploid genomes and less-studied species.