Melon (Cucumis melo L.): Genomics and Breeding

Melon (Cucumis melo L.), belonging to the Cucurbitaceae family, is an economically important vegetable crop cultivated worldwide and highly valued for its fruit quality. Unfortunately, this crop is affected by several biotic and abiotic stresses that reduce yield and quality considerably. Melon breeding for fruit quality and disease resistance gained great achievements through Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology. During the last decade, a rapid and huge development of genetic and genomics resources was achieved including draft genome assemblies, and high-density genetic maps, making it possible to accelerate translational research for melon breeding. The increasing availability of high-throughput sequencing technology has the potential to develop innovative genome-based strategies for the identification of loci involved in fruit quality and disease resistance. Advancements in genomics provide new opportunities to accelerate classical breeding programs. We report here the major findings from these investigations and future perspectives in melon-breeding programs. Genomic tools used including genome editing, improvement of the melon genome assembly, identification, and molecular mapping of important genes or quantitative trait loci for disease resistance and fruit-quality traits are summarized, and the use of such knowledge in melon breeding is reported.