Abstract
Seedlessness is an important agricultural trait on fruits to determine their market price. A citrus cultivar 'Hira Kishu' produces seedy fruits. However, a relating cultivar 'Mukaku Kishu' (Citrus kinokuni hort. ex Tanaka cv.
Mukaku Kishu) produces seedless fruit by embryo abortion during development after fertilization. We have developed several seedless citrus cultivars with this characteristic. Linkage analysis reveals that single dominant gene determines the seedlessness. A DNA marker linked to the trait successively mapped on our citrus linkage map. We evaluated expression of cultivar-specific genes in both cultivars to
reveal the molecular detail. Extracted RNAs from ovules at 8 weeks after fertilization on the both cultivars were provided for cDNA subtraction with suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) protocol. After elimination of non-specific cDNA by MOS protocol, about 200 cDNA clones for both forward and reverse subtraction were sequenced. Clustering analysis identified putative cultivar specific cDNA clones.
