Biological specificity of the fruit woody and arborescent plants of the tropical zone

Tropical Flora of the Earth contains inexhaustible stock of genetic resources. Review of the main fruit trees and woody plants of this region has been carried out. Their characteristics, biological features, data on their places of origin and regions of cultivation are given. Information on the results of karyological studies of these species, use of molecular cytogenetics methods, comparative genomics and transcriptomics for some of them are presented. In tropical countries the trees, such as Indian mango, one of the most delicious and popular fruits, are grown. Widely used for food the fruits such as bread fruit tree, jackfruit, papaya, cheese fruit tree, tomato tree, bilimbi tree are also common. Information on such interesting fruit trees and woody plants as durian, mangosteen, pitahaya, longan, litchi, rambutan, pulasan, kanistel, ackee and others are given. A review of fruit plant species of the genera Annona, Psidium, Syzygium, Averrhoa, Ziziphus, Passiflora has been presented. Different species of Citrus and banana cultivars are of great importance in fruit production in the tropics and subtropics. It was established that among tropical fruit trees and woody plants there are diploids, tripolids, tetraploids, while in karyotypes of some species B­chromosomes may occur. Many tropical fruit woody plants are polyploid (mango, bread fruit tree, jackfruit, species of the genera Psidium, Syzygium and Ziziphus). The results of the genomes sequencing indicate that some species possibly are ancient polyploids. A number of tropical fruit trees exhibit the phenomena of caulifloria and ramifloria (jackfruit, chempedak, papaya, durian) when flowers and then fruits are formed on the trunk and large branches. Some species reproduce vegetatively. Among fruit woody plants, as well as in many other plants, hybridization is widely spread (mangosteen, species of genera Citrus, Annona, Hylocereus, Musa) and polyembryony may be found.