The Genetics of Eggplant Nutrition

The modest genomic and genetic resources for eggplant and most fruit crops, compared to oil and starch model crops, have not tamed the interest of researchers that seek to discover and dissect the regulation of nutrition-related traits. The health-promoting, multifunctional, and sometimes toxic or antinutritional chemistry found across the supergenus Solanum is also present in eggplant. The international research community has explored many of the relationships among genetic variation and primary metabolites, secondary metabolites, yield, marketability, and culturally important traits, using varietal diversity and gene pools of cultivated and wild relatives. Results have opened imaginative and lucrative breeding opportunities. Eggplant is emerging as model system to demonstrate the possibility of improving health-beneficial qualities, while preserving marketable traits, through targeted introgression from related species. This chapter first describes the progress to date and illustrates the kinds of comparative questions the eggplant research community is poised to ask. Then, it presents a case study that uses a multispecies panel to identify candidate genes directing the synthesis of phenylpropanoids that offer numerous nutritional benefits.