Zhen Li¹ , zhonggang Li²

1 Hainan Institute of Biotechnology, Haikou, 570206, Hainan, China
2 Tropical Specialty Crops Research Center, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resources, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China
Author    Correspondence author
Plant Gene and Trait, 2025, Vol. 16, No. 4   
Received: 20 Jul., 2025    Accepted: 23 Aug., 2025    Published: 31 Aug., 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Pitaya (scientific name Hylocereus) is a tropical fruit that has become more popular in recent years and is now cultivated in many parts of the world. This study collects and organizes existing research data to analyze the genetic variation and breeding potential of pitaya. The pitaya varieties that are widely grown today show low genetic diversity, but germplasm resources from different regions still present some genetic differences. Molecular marker tools commonly used in research, such as SSR, ISSR, and RAPD, show that there is a moderate level of genetic diversity and some population structure in pitaya. These tools can help select good parent plants, use marker-assisted selection for target traits, and introduce wild species or germplasm from other areas. However, breeding work still faces problems such as limited sharing of germplasm resources and low application of molecular technology. In the future, building a global germplasm database and using multi-omics and smart breeding technologies may be helpful.

Pitaya; Germplasm resources; Genetic diversity; Meta-analysis; Breeding application