Gene expression analysis of chilling requirements for flower bud break in peach

With 2 figures and 2 tables Abstract Dormancy has been defined as the inability to initiate growth from meristem under favourable environmental conditions. The length of dormancy is a genotype‐specific trait that limits the climatic adaptability of temperate crops, as peach. A better knowledge of the genes involved in dormancy may provide genetic tools for an early assessment of the trait in breeding programmes. Recent studies on the molecular aspects of dormancy provided an initial description of candidate genes involved in bud dormancy maintenance and release in peach. In this paper, we compare the chilling requirement for dormancy release of five peach cultivars with the expression of five genes and ESTs related to bud dormancy: DAM5 , DB396 (ppa007606m), DB247 (ppa012188m), SB280 (ppa006974m) and PpB63 (ppa008309m). Results indicated that gene expression analysis could contribute to estimate the chilling requirement for dormancy release of new cultivars.