Screeening some wild tomato species for molecular markers associated with resistance to important tomato viruses

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is one of the most grown vegetable crops in the world. Viruses are the leading factors adversely affecting the tomato production. Virus resistance genes have been identified in some of the wild tomato species and markers linked to these genes have been developed. In order to develop resistance to viruses, marker assisted selection (MAS) technique has been used in identifying resistant genotypes and effectively shortening the breeding process. In this study, the resistance of selected wild tomato species and commercial varieties to tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), tomato mosaic virus (ToMV), tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCY) and tomato torrado virus (ToTV) was investigated. Genomic DNA was isolated from seedlings germinated from the seeds of selected tomato genotypes. These genomic DNAs were screened for markers associated with genes providing resistance to viruses mentioned above by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method using specific primers for each marker. All wild tomato species and commercial varieties used were scored in terms of each resistance gene. Species and varieties carrying the resistance gene were identified as homozygous and/or heterozygous. As a result of this study, the markers used have been shown to determine the presence of virus resistance genes in wild tomato species and commercial varieties. In addition, results showed that these wild species and varieties can be used for developing virus resistance in tomato breeding studies.