Patent ID: 8829265

Claim:
A method of increasing the citric acid content of a fruit of a first C. melo plant comprising: a) obtaining a first C. melo plant; b) crossing said first C. melo plant with a second C. melo plant, wherein said second C. melo plant is a plant of line IND-35, representative seed of which is deposited under Accession number NCIMB 41202; and c) selecting a progeny C. melo plant comprising in its genome the molecular markers NE0585 and NE1746, and producing a fruit having: i) increased citric acid content and lower pH, when compared to a fruit of said first C. melo plant grown under similar conditions, and ii) a ratio of citric acid to malic acid that is greater than 5, wherein selecting comprises detecting at least one amplified DNA fragment of a length of 228 bp, 230 bp, 232 bp, and/or 253 bp when amplifying in the molecular marker NEO585 with an amplification primer pair of SEQ ID NO:3 and SEQ ID NO:4, or 121 bp, 124 bp, and/or 127 bp when amplifying the molecular marker NE1746 with an amplification primer pair of SEQ ID NO:5 and SEQ ID NO:6.