Editorial: Translational research for cucurbit molecular breeding: Traits, markers, and genes

Abstract

Cucurbits (family Cucurbitaceae) are economically important vegetable crops. Major cucurbits growing globally include cucumber, melon, watermelon, and squash/pumpkin. Other cucurbits like bitter melon, bottle gourd, winter melon, and luffa are popular in many Asian and African countries. The last decade has witnessed a rapid development of genetic and genomics resources including draft genome assemblies, and high-density genetic maps in a dozen cucurbit crops, making it possible to accelerate translational research for cucurbit breeding. This Research Topic is a collection of 21 Original Research articles or Reviews highlighting the achievements and future directions in cucurbit translational research. These articles cover a variety of topics ranging from improvement of the cucurbit genome assemblies to identification and molecular mapping of horticulturally important genes or QTL for horticultural traits, and the use of such knowledge in marker-assisted selection for cucurbit improvement. Major findings from these investigations are summarized below.