Transgenic Strawberry (Fragaria Species)

The Fragaria species are found in a diverse array of climates, including temperate, grassland, mediterranean, and subtropical. They fall into four natural ploidy groups, each with a basic chromosome number of 7; diploids, tetraploids, hexaploids and octoploids. The cultivated strawberry, Fragaria x ananassa Duchesne, is a vegetatively propagated octoploid species (2n = 8x = 56) which originated in Europe around 1750 as a hybrid between the pistillate South American F. chiloensis Duch. and a North American F. virginiana Duch. (Martinelli 1992). Fragaria x ananassa Duch. is grown all over the arable world, while F. virginiana and F. chiloensis are native only to the New World. Fragaria vesca (wood strawberry) and F. moschata (musky strawberry) are also two species commercially propagated to a limited scale (Hancock and Luby 1993). Over the years a large number of different cultivars of strawberry, Fragaria x ananassa Duch. have evolved, each adapting to a specific region or environment.