Micro-Mel and Mini-Mel short life cycle dwarf lines with Solanum anguivi introgressions as the first model varieties for eggplant research and breeding, with potential ornamental applications Marina Martínez-López, Virginia Baraja-Fonseca, Edgar García-Fortea, Mariola Plazas, Santiago Vilanova, Jaime Prohens, Pietro Gramazio Scientia Horticulturae, 2026 Eggplant ( Solanum melongena ) research has been hindered by the lack of suitable model plants. The development of Micro-Mel and Mini-Mel, two short-cycle dwarf model lines with introgressions from the wild relative Solanum anguivi , represents a breakthrough in eggplant research. Both lines were characterized using 30 phenotypic descriptors and compared to their parental lines and Micro-Tom. Micro-Mel has determinate growth, early flowering (41.0 days post-transplantation), and physiological fruit maturity at 103.7 days. Mini-Mel is around 3 cm taller, with indeterminate growth, later flowering (57.2 days) and fruit maturity (114.7 days), with a more conventional architecture. Both are significantly shorter than other dwarf eggplants (30 cm at 50 days), reaching only 6.83 cm and 7.93 cm at 60 days. Micro-Mel and Mini-Mel complete three and two and a half full seed-to-seed cycles per year, respectively. Their compact size makes them ideal for space-limited environments, controlled growth chambers, speed breeding, and urban or ornamental horticulture. Whole-genome sequencing (23X coverage) identified 179,653 SNPs between the parental lines, revealing heterozygosity rates of 0.00098% (Micro-Mel) and 0.00123% (Mini-Mel). Micro-Mel and Mini-Mel have 8.50% and 10.79% of their genomes introgressed from S. anguivi , respectively, including 18 shared introgressions. Notably, three orthologues of dwarfism-related genes in tomato ( SlDREB1, SlER, and SlSERK1 ) were identified within these introgressions. The compact, short-cycle nature of Micro-Mel and Mini-Mel accelerates breeding and supports research in genetics, physiology, and cultivar development, while their miniature stature and abundant flowering and fruiting confer them clear ornamental potential.
Screening of suitable plant regeneration protocols for several capsicum spp. Through direct organogenesis Marina Martínez-López, Ana García-Pérez, Esther Gimeno-Páez, Jaime Prohens, Santiago Vilanova, Edgar García-Fortea Horticulturae, 2021 Peppers (Capsicum spp.) are recalcitrant to in vitro culture regeneration, making the application of in vitro-based breeding strategies difficult. We evaluated the impact of different combinations of auxins, cytokinins and micronutrients on the induction of direct organogenesis in cotyledon and hypocotyl explants of C. annuum, C. baccatum and C. chinense. We found variation in the regeneration response among species and type of explant. In this way, the average numbers of shoots per cotyledon and hypocotyl explant were, respectively, 1.44 and 0.28 for C. annuum, 4.17 and 3.20 for C. baccatum and 0.08 and 0.00 for C. chinense. Out of the six media, the best overall results were obtained with the medium Pep1, which contained 5 mg/L BAP (6-benzylaminopurine), 0.5 mg/L IAA (indole-3-acetic acid) and 0.47 mg/L CuSO4, followed by a subculture in the same medium supplemented with 10 mg/L AgNO3 (medium Pep1.2). The best result for the Pep1 + Pep1.2 medium was obtained for C. baccatum using cotyledon explants, with 8.87 shoots per explant. The explants grown in medium Pep1 + Pep1.2 were the ones with greener tissue, while overall the hypocotyl explants were greener than the cotyledon explants. Our results indicate that there is wide variation among Capsicum species in terms of regeneration. Our results suggest that the synergistic effect of copper and silver resulted in a higher regeneration rate of Capsicum explants. Explants with shoots were transferred to different media for elongation, rooting and acclimatization. Although acclimatized plantlets were obtained for C. baccatum and C. chinense, an improvement in these latter stages would be desirable for a high throughput regeneration pipeline. This work contributes to the improvement of Capsicum regeneration protocols using specific combinations of medium, explant and genotype, reaching the levels of efficiency required for genetic transformation and of gene editing technologies for other crops.
Micro-Mel and Mini-Mel short life cycle dwarf lines with Solanum anguivi introgressions as the first model varieties for eggplant research and breeding, with potential … M Martínez-López, V Baraja-Fonseca, E García-Fortea, M Plazas, ... Scientia Horticulturae 357, 114621 , 2026 2026
Leveraging Introgression Lines and Multi-Parent Populations to Unlock Genetic Diversity for Eggplant Breeding J Prohens, P Gramazio, M Plazas, A Arrones, G Villanueva, G Mangino, ... Book of Abstract of the Solanaceae and Rubiaceae Genetics and Genomics … , 2025 2025
Validación de genes candidatos para la presencia de espinas en berenjena (Solanum melongena) mediante CRISPR-Cas9 M Martínez López Universitat Politècnica de València , 2022 2022
Screening of Suitable Plant Regeneration Protocols for Several Capsicum spp. through Direct Organogenesis M Martínez-López, A García-Pérez, E Gimeno-Páez, J Prohens, ... Horticulturae 7 (9), 261 , 2021 2021 Citations: 18
Ploidy modification for plant breeding using in vitro organogenesis: A case in eggplant E García-Fortea, A García-Pérez, E Gimeno-Paez, M Martínez-López, ... Crop Breeding: Genetic Improvement Methods, 197-206 , 2020 2020 Citations: 9
Evaluación del efecto de distintos medios de cultivo para la inducción de organogénesis en explantes de cotiledón e hipocótilo de pimiento y análisis de la ploidía M Martínez López, S Vilanova Navarro, E García Fortea 2020
MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
Screening of Suitable Plant Regeneration Protocols for Several Capsicum spp. through Direct Organogenesis M Martínez-López, A García-Pérez, E Gimeno-Páez, J Prohens, ... Horticulturae 7 (9), 261 , 2021 2021 Citations: 18
Ploidy modification for plant breeding using in vitro organogenesis: A case in eggplant E García-Fortea, A García-Pérez, E Gimeno-Paez, M Martínez-López, ... Crop Breeding: Genetic Improvement Methods, 197-206 , 2020 2020 Citations: 9
Micro-Mel and Mini-Mel short life cycle dwarf lines with Solanum anguivi introgressions as the first model varieties for eggplant research and breeding, with potential … M Martínez-López, V Baraja-Fonseca, E García-Fortea, M Plazas, ... Scientia Horticulturae 357, 114621 , 2026 2026
Leveraging Introgression Lines and Multi-Parent Populations to Unlock Genetic Diversity for Eggplant Breeding J Prohens, P Gramazio, M Plazas, A Arrones, G Villanueva, G Mangino, ... Book of Abstract of the Solanaceae and Rubiaceae Genetics and Genomics … , 2025 2025
Validación de genes candidatos para la presencia de espinas en berenjena (Solanum melongena) mediante CRISPR-Cas9 M Martínez López Universitat Politècnica de València , 2022 2022
Evaluación del efecto de distintos medios de cultivo para la inducción de organogénesis en explantes de cotiledón e hipocótilo de pimiento y análisis de la ploidía M Martínez López, S Vilanova Navarro, E García Fortea 2020
