Affiliations: ENEA, Trisaia Research Centre, Department of Genetics
and Genomics, Rotondella (MT), Italy
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Carlo Rosati, ENEA, Trisaia Research
Centre, Department of Genetics and Genomics, S.S. 106 km 419+500, 75026
Rotondella (MT), Italy. Tel.: +390835974354; Fax: +390835974749; E-mail:
[email protected]
Abstract: Berry species are economically-important crops worldwide and
represent an invaluable source of vitamins and other health-related compounds.
Species belonging to the families Rosaceae, Ericaceae and Grossulariaceae
provide the most popular fruits, showing a strong diversity in natural and
breeding populations as to berry traits (fruit type, size, color, flavor,
antioxidant capacity), resistance to a/biotic stress, adaptation to different
environment/culture conditions. The small genome size of most diploid berry
genera is a remarkable feature for last-generation genomics technologies,
molecular genetics and functional studies. This review will cover the
literature dealing with molecular research in berry crops, focusing on
antioxidant- and flavor-related compounds.
