Among Cucurbitaceae, Cucumis melo is one of the most important cultivated cucurbits. They are grown primarily for their fruit, which generally have a sweet aromatic flavor, with great diversity and size (50 g to 15 kg), flesh color (orange, green, white, and pink), rind color (green, yellow, white, orange, red, and gray), form (round, flat, and elongated), and dimension (4 to 200 cm). C. melo can be broken down into seven distinct types based on the previously discussed variations in the species. The melon fruits can be either climacteric or nonclimacteric, and as such, fruit can adhere to the stem or have an abscission layer where they will fall from the plant naturally at maturity. Traditional plant breeding of melons has been done for 100 years wherein plants were primarily developed as open-pollinated cultivars. More recently, in the past 30 years, melon improvement has been done by more traditional hybridization techniques. An improvement in germplasm is relatively slow and is limited by a restricted gene pool. Strong sexual incompatibility at the interspecific and intergeneric levels has restricted rapid development of new cultivars with high levels of disease resistance, insect resistance, flavor, and sweetness. In order to increase the rate and diversity of new traits in melon it would be advantageous to introduce new genes needed to enhance both melon productivity and melon fruit quality. This requires plant tissue and plant transformation techniques to introduce new or foreign genes into C. melo germplasm. In order to achieve a successful commercial application from biotechnology, a competent plant regeneration system of in vitro cultures for melon is required. More than 40 in vitro melon regeneration programs have been reported; however, regeneration of the various melon types has been highly variable and in some cases impossible. The reasons for this are still unknown, but this plays a heavy negative role on trying to use plant transformation technology to improve melon germplasm. In vitro manipulation of melon is difficult; genotypic responses to the culture method (i.e., organogenesis, somatic embryogenesis, etc.) as well as conditions for environmental and hormonal requirements for plant growth and regeneration continue to be poorly understood for developing simple in vitro procedures to culture and transform all C. melo genotypes. In many cases, this has to be done on an individual line basis. The present paper describes the various research findings related to successful approaches to plant regeneration and transgenic transformation of C. melo. It also describes potential improvement of melon to improve fruit quality characteristics and postharvest handling. Despite more than 140 transgenic melon field trials in the United States in 1996, there are still no commercial transgenic melon cultivars on the market. This may be a combination of technical or performance factors, intellectual property rights concerns, and, most likely, a lack of public acceptance. Regardless, the future for improvement of melon germplasm is bright when considering the knowledge base for both techniques and gene pools potentially useable for melon improvement.

中文翻译：

---

甜瓜果实：遗传多样性，生理学和生物技术特征。

在葫芦科中，甜瓜是最重要的栽培葫芦之一。它们主要是为了水果而生长，通常具有甜美的芳香风味，且具有很大的多样性和大小（50 g至15 kg），果肉色（橙色，绿色，白色和粉红色），外皮色（绿色，黄色，白色） ，橙色，红色和灰色），形状（圆形，扁平和细长）和尺寸（4到200厘米）。基于先前讨论的物种变种，C。melo可以分为七个不同的类型。甜瓜果实可以是更年期的也可以是非更年期的，因此，果实可以附着在茎上或具有脱落层，成熟时果实会自然地从植物上掉下来。瓜类的传统植物育种已经进行了100年，其中植物最初是作为开放授粉的品种开发的。最近，在过去的30年中，通过更传统的杂交技术改善了甜瓜。种质的改良相对较慢，并且受基因库限制。在种间和属间水平上强烈的性不相容性限制了具有高抗病性，抗虫性，风味和甜味水平的新品种的快速发展。为了提高甜瓜新性状的发生率和多样性，引入提高甜瓜生产率和甜瓜果实品质所需的新基因将是有利的。这需要植物组织和植物转化技术来将新的或外来的基因引入到C. melo种质中。为了成功地从生物技术中获得商业应用，需要一种成熟的瓜类体外培养植物再生系统。据报道有40多个体外瓜再生程序。但是，各种甜瓜类型的再生变化很大，在某些情况下是不可能的。其原因尚不清楚，但这在尝试使用植物转化技术改善甜瓜种质方面起着严重的负面作用。瓜的体外操作是困难的。通过开发简单的体外程序来培养和转化所有C. melo，对培养方法（即器官发生，体细胞胚发生等）的基因型反应以及植物生长和再生的环境和激素要求的条件仍然知之甚少基因型。在许多情况下，必须逐行完成。本论文描述了与C. melo的植物再生和转基因转化成功方法相关的各种研究发现。它还描述了潜在的改良甜瓜以改善果实品质特性和收获后处理的方法。尽管1996年在美国进行了140多个转基因甜瓜田间试验，但市场上仍没有商业化的转基因甜瓜品种。这可能是技术或性能因素，对知识产权的关注以及最有可能的是缺乏公众接受的综合考虑。无论如何，在考虑可能用于改良瓜的技术和基因库的知识库时，改良瓜种质的前景是光明的。它还描述了潜在的改良甜瓜以改善果实品质特性和收获后处理的方法。尽管1996年在美国进行了140多个转基因甜瓜田间试验，但市场上仍没有商业化的转基因甜瓜品种。这可能是技术或性能因素，对知识产权的关注以及最有可能的是缺乏公众接受的综合考虑。无论如何，在考虑可能用于改良瓜的技术和基因库的知识库时，改良瓜种质的前景是光明的。它还描述了潜在的改良甜瓜以改善果实品质特性和收获后处理的方法。尽管1996年在美国进行了140多个转基因甜瓜田间试验，但市场上仍没有商业化的转基因甜瓜品种。这可能是技术或性能因素，对知识产权的关注以及最有可能的是缺乏公众接受的综合考虑。无论如何，当考虑可能用于改良瓜的技术和基因库的知识库时，改良瓜种质的前景是光明的。这可能是技术或性能因素，对知识产权的关注以及最有可能的是缺乏公众接受的综合考虑。无论如何，在考虑可能用于改良瓜的技术和基因库的知识库时，改良瓜种质的前景是光明的。这可能是技术或性能因素，对知识产权的关注以及最有可能的是缺乏公众接受的综合考虑。无论如何，在考虑可能用于改良瓜的技术和基因库的知识库时，改良瓜种质的前景是光明的。