Application of Disease Resistance Markers for Developing Elite Tomato Varieties and Lines

Using the abundant available information about the tomato genome, we developed DNA markers that are linked to disease resistant loci and performed marker-assisted selection (MAS) to construct multi-disease resistant lines and varieties. Resistance markers of Ty-1, T2, and I2, which are linked to disease resistance to Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV), Tomato mosaic virus (ToMV), and Fusarium wilt, respectively, were developed in a co-dominant fashion. DNA sequences near the resistance loci of TYLCV, ToMV, and Fusarium wilt were used for primer design. Reported candidate markers for powdery mildew-resistance were screened and the 32.5Cla marker was selected. All four markers (Ty-1, T2, I2, and 32.5Cla) were converted to cleavage amplification polymorphisms (CAPS) markers. Then, the CAPS markers were applied to 96 tomato lines to determine the phenetic relationships among the lines. This information yielded clusters of breeding lines illustrating the distribution of resistant and susceptible characters among lines. These data were utilized further in a MAS program for several generations, and a total of ten varieties and ten inbred lines were constructed. Among four traits, three were introduced to develop varieties and breeding lines through the MAS program; several cultivars possessed up to seven disease resistant traits. These resistant trait-related markers that were developed for the tomato MAS program could be used to select early stage seedlings, saving time and cost, and to construct multi-disease resistant lines and varieties.