IMODDUS - Genetic and epigenetic regulation of apple skin color variation in “Gala” apple (epi)mutants

We first focused on Gala which is one of the most planted apple variety in the world and which exhibits a huge number of commercial ‘mutants’.

In the first two years, we followed three approaches:

1. Set up standardized phenotyping of apple fruit color

2. Sequence the ‘Gala’ genome using the latest technologies and re-sequence seven ‘Gala’ mutants using classic high throughput sequencing allowing the detection of putative genetic differences between the reference ‘Gala’ and the mutants.

3. Assess for epigenetic differences between ‘Gala’ and its mutants genome-wide at the DNA methylation level