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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Geneva, New York » Plant Genetic Resources Unit (PGRU) » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #384661
Research Project: Conservation and Utilization of Priority Vegetable Crop Genetic Resources and Associated Information

Location: Plant Genetic Resources Unit (PGRU)

Title: Novel sources of resistance to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici Race 3 among Solanum pennellii accessions

Author
item LI, JIAN - University Of Florida
item CHITWOOD-BROWN, JESSICA - University Of Florida
item KAUR, GURLEEN - University Of Florida
item Labate, Joanne
item VALLAD, GARY - University Of Florida
item GEON LEE, TONG - University Of Florida
item HUTTON, SAMUEL - University Of Florida

Submitted to: Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/29/2021
Publication Date: 12/9/2021
Citation: Li, J., Chitwood-Brown, J., Kaur, G., Labate, J.A., Vallad, G.E., Geon Lee, T., Hutton, S.F. 2021. Novel sources of resistance to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici Race 3 among Solanum pennellii accessions. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science. https://doi.org/10.21273/JASHS05080-21.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21273/JASHS05080-21

Interpretive Summary: Wilt disease poses a serious threat to tomato commercial production. Wilt disease fungi infect the root system and block the supply of water and nutrients to the plant, causing stunting, wilting and death. A new variant of this disease was discovered in the U.S. in 1982. We bred and screened plants grown from a collection of wild tomato seed stocks for disease resistance to this new variant of wilt disease. We discovered several, independent sources of disease resistance genes. These results will be valuable for developing improved tomato cultivars for with genetic resistance to wilt disease. This will help the environment by preventing the need to spray tomato production areas with fungicides.

Technical Abstract: Fusarium wilt of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), caused by fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (Fol), is one of the most important diseases in tomato production. Three races of the pathogen are described, and race specific resistance genes have been applied in commercial tomato varieties for controlling the disease. Race 3 (Fol3) threatens tomato production in many regions around the world, and novel resistance resources could expand the diversity and durability of Fol resistance. The wild tomato species, Solanum pennellii, is reported to harbor broad resistance to Fol and was the source of two known Fol3 resistance genes. In this study, we evaluated 42 S. pennellii accessions for resistance to each fusarium wilt race. F1 plants, developed from crossing each accession with the Fol3 susceptible line ‘Suncoast’, were evaluated for Fol3 resistance to determine the presence of Fol3 resistance, and BC1F1 plants were screened to determine the likelihood that Fol3 resistance was based on a novel locus(loci). Nearly all accessions showed resistance to Fol3, and many accessions were resistant to all races. Evaluation for F1 plants indicated a dominate resistance effect to Fol3 from most accessions. Genetic analysis indicated 24 accessions are expected to contain one or more novel Fol3 resistance loci other than an allele near the I-3 locus. To investigate genetic structure of S. pennellii accessions in this study, we genotyped all 42 accessions at 49,146 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) using genotyping by sequencing (GBS). In addition to the considerable level of heterozygosity present for those accessions, small but obvious genetic differentiations were found.