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The Ongoing Research of
Jessica A. Spencer
Research:
So, you may be wondering why there are raspberries all throughout my web pages. The reason is that I’m doing my Master’s research in raspberries! What a surprise!
I will be working with Gina Fernandez(top picture) and Bryon Sosinski(2nd picture) to discover genetic markers related to primocan
e fruiting in raspberries.
What is primocane fruiting, you may ask. In nature, the canes a raspberry plant grows the first year do not produce fruit—these are called primocanes. These canes overwinter and then produce fruit the next year—these canes are called floricanes. Cultivated raspberry primocanes are tied up the first year, harvested the second year (these are now called floricanes), and then must be cut down and the new primocanes tied up for harvest the subsequent year. Most raspberries are harvested during
the summer. Some raspberries have been found to have a trait that produces berries the first year on the primocane, usually in the fall. This allows growers to simply mow down canes after harvesting, or alternately, they may have an extended raspberry harvest by having floricane fruits during the summer then primocane fruits during the fall. This important trait would be valuable to be able to find quickly and simply with a genetic screening process, thus my project to complete my Master’s degree.
To date, I have screened a raspberry population that shows primocane fruiting traits, collected leaf tissue for DNA, and started replicating the population. I have also been aiding fellow graduate student and PhD candidate Ramón Molina-Bravo (3rd picture) with his research in screening for heat tolerance in raspberry and mapping genetic traits.