Inheritance and tagging of Tomato leaf curl virus (ToLCV) disease resistance genes in exotic tomato genotypes

In the present investigation resistance genes have been introgressed into cultivated tomato from wild relatives, Solarium hirsutum accession (EC-520061) and an introgression cultivar of Solarium chilense (FC-538408) which showed a high level of resistance against tomato leaf curl Gujarat virus (Varanasi strain). Genetic studies revealed that one tomato leaf curl virus (ToLCV) disease resistance gene is present in EC-520061 and EC-538408 that segregated independently in their progenies. Furthermore, it has been identified that simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers SSR-306 was associated with the (ToLCV) disease resistance genes in tomato cultivar EC-538408 (derived from S. chilense), and SSR-218 was associated with a ToLCV disease resistance gene of EC-520061 (S. hirsutum). Both ToLCV resistance linked SSR markers were highly reproducible and effective in the identification of ToLCV disease resistance genes in the segregating populations and thus it is concluded that these two SSR markers could be used effectively in marker assisted selection for ToLCV disease resistance breeding program.