Genetic of plant architecture: Ataulfo mango case

Abstract

The study of the architecture of the plants is a complex, however, its importance is that the control of the architecture of these, mainly in fruit trees of great size, can be a technological alternative to be adopt for the purpose of improving agricultural productivity in short areas surface, facilitate technical management, and significantly reduce production costs. In Mexico, the control of the architecture of fruit trees is carried out mostly by mechanical pruning, and there are no records of genetic improvement in some species on this subject. Particularly in mango, a fruit tree of agricultural importance in the country, the control of architecture is performed by pruning, however, achieving dwarf or smaller trees for genetic improvement, represents a challenge. The current knowledge of the genetic control of plant architecture is scarce, but it has been a topic of interest for many researchers in the world, given that genetically improving the fruit trees, it would impact positively on the production of agricultural importance species. In this sense, the present review was to gather and discuss information on the main genetic mechanisms associated with the control of plant architecture, pioneer studies are addressed in the Arabidopsis thaliana model plant, in other important species in the food sector such as rice, corn, tomato, among others. Works on the genomics of fruit trees architecture were also reviewed, and how the control of the architecture of the Ataulfo mango in Mexico occurs is explained.