On February 19, 2024, an important breakthrough was made in the field of gene discovery for powdery mildew resistance in watermelons. This achievement is attributed to the combined efforts of Dr. Xingping Zhang's team from the Crop Genetics and Germplasm Innovation Platform at the Peking University Institute of Advanced Agricultural Sciences and Yudong Sun's team from the Huaiyin Institute of Agricultural Science Research in the Xuhuai region of Jiangsu. By employing forward genetics methodology, they precisely located a recessive gene in watermelon that is resistant to powdery mildew, and preliminarily deciphered the resistance mechanism. The research findings were published under the title "Fine mapping of ClLOX, a QTL for powdery mildew resistance in watermelon (Citrullus lanatus L.)" in "Theoretical and Applied Genetics".