ASSOCIATION BETWEEN DNA MARKERS AND LOCI CONTROLLING AVOCADO TRAITS

The detection of association between DNA markers and traits of interes t in an outbred population is complicated and requires highly polymorp hic markers. A genetic linkage map of avocado (Persea americana Mill.) recently generated consists of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers a s well as DNA fingerprint (DFP) and randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. These markers were used to detect putative quantitati ve trait loci (QTLs) of eight avocado fruit trails. Two statistical me thods were used: one-way analysis of variance and interval mapping. Si x traits were found to be associated with at least one of the 90 DNA m arkers. Eased on the two statistical approaches, a putative QTL associ ated with the presence of fibers in the flesh, was found to be located on linkage group 3. This putative QTL was found to be associated with the SSR marker AVA04 having a high significant value (P = 4.4 x 10(-8 )). The haplotype analysis of linkage group 3 showed a putative domina nt interaction between the alleles of this locus.