AUTHOR=Livingstone Donald , Stack Conrad , Mustiga Guiliana M. , Rodezno Dayana C. , Suarez Carmen , Amores Freddy , Feltus Frank A. , Mockaitis Keithanne , Cornejo Omar E. , Motamayor Juan C. 

TITLE=A Larger Chocolate Chip—Development of a 15K Theobroma cacao L. SNP Array to Create High-Density Linkage Maps

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2017.02008

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2017.02008

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Cacao (<italic>Theobroma cacao</italic> L.) is an important cash crop in tropical regions around the world and has a rich agronomic history in South America. As a key component in the cosmetic and confectionary industries, millions of people worldwide use products made from cacao, ranging from shampoo to chocolate. An Illumina Infinity II array was created using 13,530 SNPs identified within a small diversity panel of cacao. Of these SNPs, 12,643 derive from variation within annotated cacao genes. The genotypes of 3,072 trees were obtained, including two mapping populations from Ecuador. High-density linkage maps for these two populations were generated and compared to the cacao genome assembly. Phenotypic data from these populations were combined with the linkage maps to identify the QTLs for yield and disease resistance.</p>