Exploiting wild relatives of S. lycopersicum for quality traits

Exploiting wild relatives of S. lycopersicum for quality traits

Ana Marcela Víquez Zamora

Tomatoes are consumed worldwide and became a model for crop plant research. A part of the research aims at expanding genetic diversity in tomato; this can be done by incorporating useful genes found in wild germplasm. In this thesis we focused on exploring the variation between commercial tomatoes and accessions of wild relatives. Especially, we focused on the species Solanum pimpinellifolium. We explored the genome and the metabolome of accessions of S. pimpinellifolium and several varieties of S. lycopersicum. Finally a crossing population between the species was genetically analyzed. Clear differences were identified. We found genome regions related to differences between round and cherry tomatoes, TYLCV resistance, flavour and the phenylpropanoid pathway. S. pimpinellifolium certainly harbours useful genetic variability that can be (re-) introduced in tomato. Our results give an insight in the physical positions of metabolite related QTLs that can be used by breeders to exploit S. pimpinellifolium to improve tomato quality.