Development of Fluidigm SNP Type Genotyping Assays for Marker-assisted Breeding of Chili Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.)

Chili pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is an economically important horticultural crop in Korea; however, various diseases, including Phytophthora root rot, anthracnose, powdery mildew, Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), and Pepper mottle virus (PepMoV), severely affect their productivity and quality. Therefore, pepper varieties with resistance to multiple diseases are highly desired. In this study, we developed 20 SNP type assays for three pepper populations using Fluidigm nanofluidic dynamic arrays. A total of 4,608 data points can be produced with a 192.24 dynamic array consisting of 192 samples and 24 SNP markers. The assays were converted from previously developed sequence-tagged-site (STS) markers and included markers for resistance to Phytophthora root rot (M3-2 and M3-3), anthracnose (CcR9, CA09g12180, CA09g19170, CA12g17210, and CA12g19240), powdery mildew (Ltr4.1-40344, Ltr4.2-56301, and Ltr4.2-585119), bacterial spot (Bs2), CMV (Cmr12), PMMoV (L4), and PepMoV (pvr1 and pvr2-123457), as well as for capsaicinoids content (qcap3.1-40134, qcap6.1-299931, qcap6.1-589160, qdhc2.1-1335057, and qdhc2.2-43829). In addition, 11 assays were validated through a comparison with the corresponding data of the STS markers. Furthermore, we successfully applied the assays to commercial F-1 cultivars and to our breeding lines. These 20 SNP type assays will be very useful for developing new superior pepper varieties with resistance to multiple diseases and a higher content of capsaicinoids for increased pungency.