Genomic and transcriptomic approaches to understand Passiflora physiology and to contribute to passionfruit breeding

With more than 500 species, most of them occurring in the Neotropical region, the genus Passiflora is of key importance when one considers exploring biodiversity for food and medicinal purposes. Plants from the genus Passiflora produce fruits with economical importance, the passionfruits. Passionfruit breeding programs are leaving their infancy and molecular markers are increasingly being used to assist selection for desirable traits in novel passionfruit commercial varieties. However, the molecular and genetic basis of many of the selected characters affecting passionfruit production and quality cannot be studied in model species such as Arabidopsis thaliana, due to developmental particularities of Passiflora species. Therefore, in this review we comment on the development of genetic, genomic and transcriptomic tools that are recently becoming available for passionfruits.