FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of plant breeding and, more specifically, to the development of pepper hybrid SVHH5137 and pepper line HHA-FD16-1393.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The goal of vegetable breeding is to combine various desirable traits in a single variety. Such desirable traits may include any trait deemed beneficial or desirable by a grower or consumer, including greater yield, resistance to insects or disease, tolerance to environmental stress, and nutritional value.

Breeding techniques take advantage of a plant's method of pollination. There are two general methods of pollination: a plant self-pollinates if pollen from one flower is transferred to the same or another flower of the same plant or plant variety. A plant cross-pollinates if pollen comes to it from a flower of a different plant variety.

Plants that have been self-pollinated and selected for type over many generations become homozygous at almost all genetic loci and produce a uniform population of true breeding progeny, a homozygous plant. A cross between two such homozygous plants of different genotypes produces a uniform population of hybrid plants that are heterozygous for many genetic loci. Conversely, a cross of two plants each heterozygous at a number of loci produces a population of hybrid plants that differ genetically and are not uniform. The resulting non-uniformity makes performance unpredictable.

The development of uniform varieties requires the development of homozygous inbred plants, the crossing of these inbred plants, and the evaluation of the crosses. Pedigree breeding and recurrent selection are examples of breeding methods that have been used to develop inbred plants from breeding populations. Those breeding methods combine the genetic backgrounds from two or more plants or various other broad-based sources into breeding pools from which new lines and hybrids derived therefrom are developed by selfing and selection of desired phenotypes. The new lines and hybrids are evaluated to determine which of those have commercial potential.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect, the present invention provides a pepper plant of hybrid SVHH5137 or line HHA-FD16-1393. Also provided are pepper plants having all the physiological and morphological characteristics of such a plant. Parts of these pepper plants are also provided, for example, including pollen, an ovule, an embryo, a seed, a scion, a rootstock, a fruit, and a cell of the plant.

In another aspect of the invention, a plant of pepper hybrid SVHH5137 or pepper line HHA-FD16-1393 comprising an added heritable trait is provided. The heritable trait may comprise a genetic locus that is, for example, a dominant or recessive allele. In one embodiment of the invention, a plant of pepper hybrid SVHH5137 or pepper line HHA-FD16-1393 is defined as comprising a single locus conversion. In specific embodiments of the invention, an added genetic locus confers one or more traits such as, for example, herbicide tolerance, insect resistance, disease resistance, and modified carbohydrate metabolism. In further embodiments, the trait may be conferred by a naturally occurring gene introduced into the genome of a line by backcrossing, a natural or induced mutation, or a transgene introduced through genetic transformation techniques into the plant or a progenitor of any previous generation thereof. When introduced through transformation, a genetic locus may comprise one or more genes integrated at a single chromosomal location.

In some embodiments, a single locus conversion includes one or more site-specific changes to the plant genome, such as, without limitation, one or more nucleotide modifications, deletions, or insertions. A single locus may comprise one or more genes or nucleotides integrated or mutated at a single chromosomal location. In one embodiment, a single locus conversion may be introduced by a genetic engineering technique, methods of which include, for example, genome editing with engineered nucleases (GEEN). Engineered nucleases include, but are not limited to, Cas endonucleases; zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs); transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs); engineered meganucleases, also known as homing endonucleases; and other endonucleases for DNA or RNA-guided genome editing that are well-known to the skilled artisan.

The invention also concerns the seed of pepper hybrid SVHH5137 or pepper line HHA-FD16-1393. The seed of the invention may be provided as an essentially homogeneous population of seed of pepper hybrid SVHH5137 or pepper line HHA-FD16-1393. Essentially homogeneous populations of seed are generally free from substantial numbers of other seed. Therefore, seed of pepper hybrid SVHH5137 or pepper line HHA-FD16-1393 may be defined as forming at least about 97% of the total seed, including at least about 98%, 99%, or more of the seed. The seed population may be separately grown to provide an essentially homogeneous population of pepper plants designated SVHH5137 or HHA-FD16-1393.

In yet another aspect of the invention, a tissue culture of regenerable cells of a pepper plant of hybrid SVHH5137 or line HHA-FD16-1393 is provided. The tissue culture will preferably be capable of regenerating pepper plants capable of expressing all of the physiological and morphological characteristics of the starting plant and of regenerating plants having substantially the same genotype as the starting plant. Examples of some of the physiological and morphological characteristics of pepper hybrid SVHH5137 or pepper line HHA-FD16-1393 include those traits set forth in the table herein. The regenerable cells in such tissue cultures may be derived, for example, from embryos, meristems, cotyledons, pollen, leaves, anthers, roots, root tips, pistils, flowers, seed, and stalks. Still further, the present invention provides pepper plants regenerated from a tissue culture of the invention, the plants having all the physiological and morphological characteristics of pepper hybrid SVHH5137 or pepper line HHA-FD16-1393.

In still yet another aspect of the invention, processes are provided for producing pepper seeds, plants, and fruit, which processes generally comprise crossing a first parent pepper plant with a second parent pepper plant, wherein at least one of the first or second parent plants is a plant of pepper line HHA-FD16-1393. These processes may be further exemplified as processes for preparing hybrid pepper seed or plants, wherein a first pepper plant is crossed with a second pepper plant of a different, distinct genotype to provide a hybrid that has, as one of its parents, a plant of pepper line HHA-FD16-1393 or pepper line HHA-114-1030. In these processes, crossing will result in the production of seed. The seed production occurs regardless of whether the seed is collected or not.

In one embodiment of the invention, the first step in “crossing” comprises planting seeds of a first and second parent pepper plant, often in proximity so that pollination will occur for example, mediated by insect vectors. Alternatively, pollen can be transferred manually. Where the plant is self-pollinated, pollination may occur without the need for direct human intervention other than plant cultivation.

A second step may comprise cultivating or growing the seeds of first and second parent pepper plants into plants that bear flowers. A third step may comprise preventing self-pollination of the plants, such as by emasculating the flowers (i.e., killing or removing the pollen).

A fourth step for a hybrid cross may comprise cross-pollination between the first and second parent pepper plants. Yet another step comprises harvesting the seeds from at least one of the parent pepper plants. The harvested seed can be grown to produce a pepper plant or hybrid pepper plant.

The present invention also provides the pepper seeds and plants produced by a process that comprises crossing a first parent pepper plant with a second parent pepper plant, wherein at least one of the first or second parent pepper plants is a plant of pepper hybrid SVHH5137 or pepper line HHA-FD16-1393. In one embodiment of the invention, pepper seed and plants produced by the process are first generation (F1) hybrid pepper seed and plants produced by crossing a plant in accordance with the invention with another, distinct plant. The present invention further contemplates plant parts of such an F1hybrid pepper plant, and methods of use thereof. Therefore, certain exemplary embodiments of the invention provide an F1hybrid pepper plant and seed thereof.

In still yet another aspect, the present invention provides a method of producing a plant derived from pepper hybrid SVHH5137 or pepper line HHA-FD16-1393, the method comprising the steps of: (a) preparing a progeny plant derived from pepper hybrid SVHH5137 or pepper line HHA-FD16-1393, wherein said preparing comprises crossing a plant of pepper hybrid SVHH5137 or pepper line HHA-FD16-1393 with a second plant; and (b) crossing the progeny plant with itself or a second plant to produce a seed of a progeny plant of a subsequent generation. In further embodiments, the method may additionally comprise: (c) growing a progeny plant of a subsequent generation from said seed of a progeny plant of a subsequent generation and crossing the progeny plant of a subsequent generation with itself or a second plant; and repeating the steps for an additional 3-10 generations to produce a plant derived from pepper hybrid SVHH5137 or pepper line HHA-FD16-1393. The plant derived from pepper hybrid SVHH5137 or pepper line HHA-FD16-1393 may be an inbred line, and the aforementioned repeated crossing steps may be defined as comprising sufficient inbreeding to produce the inbred line. In the method, it may be desirable to select particular plants resulting from step (c) for continued crossing according to steps (b) and (c). By selecting plants having one or more desirable traits, a plant derived from pepper hybrid SVHH5137 or pepper line HHA-FD16-1393 is obtained which possesses some of the desirable traits of the line/hybrid as well as potentially other selected traits.

In certain embodiments, the present invention provides a method of producing food or feed comprising: (a) obtaining a plant of pepper hybrid SVHH5137 or pepper line HHA-FD16-1393, wherein the plant has been cultivated to maturity, and (b) collecting at least one pepper from the plant.

In still yet another aspect of the invention, the genetic complement of pepper hybrid SVHH5137 or pepper line HHA-FD16-1393 is provided. The phrase “genetic complement” is used to refer to the aggregate of nucleotide sequences, the expression of which sequences defines the phenotype of, in the present case, a pepper plant, or a cell or tissue of that plant. A genetic complement thus represents the genetic makeup of a cell, tissue or plant, and a hybrid genetic complement represents the genetic make-up of a hybrid cell, tissue or plant. The invention thus provides pepper plant cells that have a genetic complement in accordance with the pepper plant cells disclosed herein, and seeds and plants containing such cells.

Plant genetic complements may be assessed by genetic marker profiles, and by the expression of phenotypic traits that are characteristic of the expression of the genetic complement, e.g., isozyme typing profiles. It is understood that pepper hybrid SVHH5137 or pepper line HHA-FD16-1393 could be identified by any of the many well-known techniques such as, for example, Simple Sequence Length Polymorphisms (SSLPs) (Williams et al.,Nucleic Acids Res.,1 8:6531-6535, 1990), Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNAs (RAPDs), DNA Amplification Fingerprinting (DAF), Sequence Characterized Amplified Regions (SCARs), Arbitrary Primed Polymerase Chain Reaction (AP-PCR), Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLPs) (EP 534 858, specifically incorporated herein by reference in its entirety), and Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) (Wang et al.,Science,280:1077-1082, 1998).

In still yet another aspect, the present invention provides hybrid genetic complements, as represented by pepper plant cells, tissues, plants, and seeds, formed by the combination of a haploid genetic complement of a pepper plant of the invention with a haploid genetic complement of a second pepper plant, preferably, another, distinct pepper plant. In another aspect, the present invention provides a pepper plant regenerated from a tissue culture that comprises a hybrid genetic complement of this invention.

Any embodiment discussed herein with respect to one aspect of the invention applies to other aspects of the invention as well, unless specifically noted.

The term “about” is used to indicate that a value includes the standard deviation of the mean for the device or method being employed to determine the value. The use of the term “or” in the claims is used to mean “and/or” unless explicitly indicated to refer to alternatives only or the alternatives are mutually exclusive. When used in conjunction with the word “comprising” or other open language in the claims, the words “a” and “an” denote “one or more,” unless specifically noted otherwise. The terms “comprise,” “have,” and “include” are open-ended linking verbs. Any forms or tenses of one or more of these verbs, such as “comprises,” “comprising,” “has,” “having,” “includes,” and “including,” are also open-ended. For example, any method that “comprises,” “has,” or “includes” one or more steps is not limited to possessing only those one or more steps and also covers other unlisted steps. Similarly, any plant that “comprises,” “has,” or “includes” one or more traits is not limited to possessing only those one or more traits and covers other unlisted traits.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and any specific examples provided, while indicating specific embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

