Rubus

The Institute has has produced many successful cultivars in the 'Glen' series of raspberry and 'Loch' blackberries.

The genus Rubus contains over 700 species and is considered as one of the most diverse in the plant kingdom. Within the 12 subgenera are crop species that are important within the UK and worldwide, including red raspberry (Rubus idaeus) and blackberry.

The James Hutton Institute has active commercial breeding programmes for these crops, through James Hutton Limited [1], and has produced many successful cultivars in the 'Glen' series of raspberry and 'Loch' blackberries. There are also hybrids between these types, such as 'Tayberry'. Commercial raspberry production in the UK was valued at ca. £87m in 2007.

Rubus is a member of the Rosaceae, which contains other important crop species such as apple (Malus) and peach (Prunus).

The research on Rubus is aimed at understanding the genetic control of key phenotypes using a range of techniques such as genetic linkage mapping, genome sequencing, transcriptomics and metabolomics to understand how these traits are controlled in multiple environments. Key traits of interest currently include all aspects of fruit quality, pest and disease resistance and of great importance resilience and sustainability traits.

• Rubus breeding [2]
• Raspberry fruit quality [3]
• GenBerry project [4]
• Raspberry root rot [5]
• Innovate UK research
• EU breeding value
• James Hutton Limited