Screening of melon genotypes identifies gummy stem blight resistance associated with Gsb1 resistant loci

Gummy stem blight (GSB) is one of the most destructive and economically important, soil borne diseases of melon caused by the ascomycete fungus, Didymella bryoniae throughout the world. In Korea, however, no GSB resistant genotype has been reported yet. The study aimed to identify GSB resistant melon germplasm. We screened a total of 60 genotypes including 16 lines and 44 melon cultivars collected from USA and Korea. Among the 16 melon lines, four lines including ‘PI482399’, ‘PI140471’, ‘PI136170’ and ‘PI420145’, and two Korean cultivars viz. ‘Asia Papaya’ and ‘Supra’ showed complete resistance. We were aware that both genotypic and environmental variations could influence the phenotypic screening of resistance and susceptibility. We therefore, further assessed all genotypes using 20 SSR markers. The SSR marker ‘CMCT505’ linked to Gsb1 in chromosome 1 perfectly grouped resistant and susceptible lines indicating that resistance is probably due to the presence of Gsb1 gene. Cloning and sequencing of resistant and susceptible Gsb1 amplicons showed that there were 32-bp deletions in resistant line and 39-bp deletions in resistant cultivar compared to susceptible one. Thus, the resistant melon lines and cultivars identified in this study could be recommended for the melon breeding program. Furthermore, the SSR marker ‘CMCT505’ which is tightly linked with Gsb1 could be used for molecular screening of melon germplasm.