Patent ID: 8247645

Claim:
A method for producing a progeny Cucumis sativus plant, wherein the Cucumis sativus plant provides cucumber fruits exhibiting a phenotypic trait of extended shelf life, the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a first Cucumis sativus plant comprising at least one quantitative trait locus (QTL) associated with the phenotypic trait; (b) crossing the first Cucumis sativus plant with a second Cucumis sativus plant to produce progeny Cucumis sativus plants; (c) analyzing the progeny Cucumis sativus plants from the crossing for the at least one QTL; and (d) identifying and selecting progeny Cucumis sativus plants which produce fruits exhibiting extended shelf life, and contain the at least one QTL; wherein the at least one QTL is selected from QTL1 or QTL2 and wherein; QTL 1 is identified by a first molecular marker of about 66 base pairs consisting from 5′ to 3′ of a first primer having the nucleotide sequence having a first molecular marker sequence on one end and a second molecular marker sequence on the other wherein the first molecular marker binds a first primer sequence of SEQ ID No.: 1, a cucumber genomic fragment, and a second primer having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID No.: 2; and a second molecular marker of about 230 base pairs consisting from 5′ to 3′ of wherein the second molecular marker binds a first primer having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID No.: 3, a cucumber genomic fragment, and a second primer having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID No.: 4; and QTL 2 is identified by a first molecular marker of about 137 base pairs consisting from 5′ to 3′ of a first primer having the nucleotide a nulceotide sequence having a first molecular marker sequence on one end and a second molecular marker sequence on the other wherein the first molecular marker binds a first primer sequence of SEQ ID No.: 5, a cucumber genomic fragment, and a second primer having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID No.: 6; and a second molecular marker of about 230 base pairs consisting from 5′ to 3′ of wherein the second molecular marker binds a first primer sequence of SEQ ID No.: 7, a cucumber genomic fragment, and a second primer having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID No.: 8.