Aroma profile of a collection of near-isogenic lines of melon (Cucumis melo L.)

This paper characterizes the aroma volatile profile found in a collection of near-isogenic lines (NILs) of melon (Cucumis melo L.) obtained by solid-phase microextraction and analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The collection was built with introgressions of an exotic accession (PI 161375) into the parental line ‘Piel de sapo’ (PS) and was useful for mapping quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with melon flesh aroma. The aroma profile was composed of 24 compounds detected in PS or the NILs: three esters, six aldehydes, three alkanes, three aromatic hydrocarbons, two terpenes, two ketones, one alcohol, one sulphur-derived compound, one cyclic branched alkene, one naphthalene and one ether. Hexanal showed the highest relative concentration in the collection, followed by camphor and methanethiolate with no difference between PS and the NILs. These results allowed us to map four QTLs in linkage groups IV, VIII and XI associated with the formation of 3-hydroxy-2,4,4-trimethylpentyl 2-methylpropanoate, octanal and (Z,Z)-3,6-nonadienal.