Identification and cloning of a lettuce albino mutation through whole-genome resequencing

60 Co γ-irradiation can induce genomic instability, including DNA fragment translocations or deletions. It is commonly used to construct plant mutant libraries and has been applied to various crops, such as tetraploid wheat ( Triticum spp.) (Yang et al. 2014 ), tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum ) (Sikder et al. 2013 ), and potato ( S. tuberosum ) (Liu et al. 2024 ), as well as cucurbit crops such as bitter gourd ( Momordica charantia ) (Dutta et al. 2021 ), squash ( Cucurbita spp.), pumpkin ( Cucurbita moschata ) (Ertan Sait Kurtar et al. 2017 ), and watermelon ( Citrullus lanatus ) (Yin et al. 2023 ). For example, a phenotypic mutation frequency of 14.17% was observed in the M 2 generation of a watermelon mutant population. However, despite its extensive application in other crops, no studies have yet utilized 60 Co γ-irradiation to construct a mutant library in lettuce.