Targeted and Untargeted Approaches Unravel Novel Candidate Genes and Diagnostic SNPs for Quantitative Resistance of the Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) to Phytophthora infestans Causing the Late Blight Disease.

The oomycete Phytophthora infestans causes late blight of potato, which can completely destroy the crop. Therefore, for the past 160 years, late blight has been the most important potato disease worldwide. The identification of cultivars with high and durable field resistance to P. infestans is an objective of most potato breeding programs. This type of resistance is polygenic and therefore quantitative. Its evaluation requires multi-year and location trials. Furthermore, quantitative resistance to late blight correlates with late plant maturity, a negative agricultural trait. Knowledge of the molecular genetic basis of quantitative resistance to late blight not compromised by late maturity is very limited. It is however essential for developing diagnostic DNA markers that facilitate the efficient combination of superior resistance alleles in improved cultivars. We used association genetics in a population of 184 tetraploid potato cultivars in order to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are associated with maturity corrected resistance (MCR) to late blight. The population was genotyped for almost 9000 SNPs from three different sources. The first source was candidate genes specifically selected for their function in the jasmonate pathway. The second source was novel candidate genes selected based on comparative transcript profiling (RNA-Seq) of groups of genotypes with contrasting levels of quantitative resistance to P. infestans. The third source was the first generation 8.3k SolCAP SNP genotyping array available in potato for genome wide association studies (GWAS). Twenty seven SNPs from all three sources showed robust association with MCR. Some of those were located in genes that are strong candidates for directly controlling quantitative resistance, based on functional annotation. Most important were: a lipoxygenase (jasmonate pathway), a 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (mevalonate pathway), a P450 protein (terpene biosynthesis), a transcription factor and a homolog of a major gene for resistance to P. infestans from the wild potato species Solanum venturii. The candidate gene approach and GWAS complemented each other as they identified different genes. The results of this study provide new insight in the molecular genetic basis of quantitative resistance in potato and a toolbox of diagnostic SNP markers for breeding applications.

The genome of the stress-tolerant wild tomato species Solanum pennellii.

Solanum pennellii is a wild tomato species endemic to Andean regions in South America, where it has evolved to thrive in arid habitats. Because of its extreme stress tolerance and unusual morphology, it is an important donor of germplasm for the cultivated tomato Solanum lycopersicum. Introgression lines (ILs) in which large genomic regions of S. lycopersicum are replaced with the corresponding segments from S. pennellii can show remarkably superior agronomic performance. Here we describe a high-quality genome assembly of the parents of the IL population. By anchoring the S. pennellii genome to the genetic map, we define candidate genes for stress tolerance and provide evidence that transposable elements had a role in the evolution of these traits. Our work paves a path toward further tomato improvement and for deciphering the mechanisms underlying the myriad other agronomic traits that can be improved with S. pennellii germplasm.

A quantitative genetic basis for leaf morphology in a set of precisely defined tomato introgression lines.

Introgression lines (ILs), in which genetic material from wild tomato species is introgressed into a domesticated background, have been used extensively in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) improvement. Here, we genotype an IL population derived from the wild desert tomato Solanum pennellii at ultrahigh density, providing the exact gene content harbored by each line. To take advantage of this information, we determine IL phenotypes for a suite of vegetative traits, ranging from leaf complexity, shape, and size to cellular traits, such as stomatal density and epidermal cell phenotypes. Elliptical Fourier descriptors on leaflet outlines provide a global analysis of highly heritable, intricate aspects of leaf morphology. We also demonstrate constraints between leaflet size and leaf complexity, pavement cell size, and stomatal density and show independent segregation of traits previously assumed to be genetically coregulated. Meta-analysis of previously measured traits in the ILs shows an unexpected relationship between leaf morphology and fruit sugar levels, which RNA-Seq data suggest may be attributable to genetically coregulated changes in fruit morphology or the impact of leaf shape on photosynthesis. Together, our results both improve upon the utility of an important genetic resource and attest to a complex, genetic basis for differences in leaf morphology between natural populations.

Fine genetic mapping of RXopJ4, a bacterial spot disease resistance locus from Solanum pennellii LA716.

The RXopJ4 resistance locus from the wild accession Solanum pennellii (Sp) LA716 confers resistance to bacterial spot disease of tomato (S. lycopersicum, Sl) caused by Xanthomonas perforans (Xp). RXopJ4 resistance depends on recognition of the pathogen type III effector protein XopJ4. We used a collection of Sp introgression lines (ILs) to narrow the RXopJ4 locus to a 4.2-Mb segment on the long arm of chromosome 6, encompassed by the ILs 6-2 and 6-2-2. We then adapted or developed a collection of 14 molecular markers to map on a segregating F(2) population from a cross between the susceptible parent Sl FL8000 and the resistant parent RXopJ4 8000 OC(7). In the F(2) population, a 190-kb segment between the markers J350 and J352 cosegregated with resistance. This fine mapping will enable both the identification of candidate genes and the detection of resistant plants using cosegregating markers. The RXopJ4 resistance gene(s), in combination with other recently characterized genes and a quantitative trait locus (QTL) for bacterial spot disease resistance, will likely be an effective tool for the development of durable resistance in cultivated tomato.

Sequence diversity in three tomato species: SNPs, markers, and molecular evolution.

BACKGROUND: Tomato species are of significant agricultural and ecological interest, with cultivated tomato being among the most common vegetable crops grown. Wild tomato species are native to diverse habitats in South America and show great morphological and ecological diversity that has proven useful in breeding programs. However, relatively little is known about nucleotide diversity between tomato species. Until recently limited sequence information was available for tomato, preventing genome-wide evolutionary analyses. Now, an extensive collection of tomato expressed sequence tags (ESTs) is available at the SOL Genomics Network (SGN). This database holds sequences from several species, annotated with quality values, assembled into unigenes, and tested for homology against other genomes. Despite the importance of polymorphism detection for breeding and natural variation studies, such analyses in tomato have mostly been restricted to cultivated accessions. Importantly, previous polymorphisms surveys mostly ignored the linked meta-information, limiting functional and evolutionary analyses. The current data in SGN is thus an under-exploited resource. Here we describe a cross-species analysis taking full-advantage of available information. RESULTS: We mined 20,000 interspecific polymorphisms between Solanum lycopersicum and S. habrochaites or S. pennellii and 28,800 intraspecific polymorphisms within S. lycopersicum. Using the available meta-information we classified genes into functional categories and obtained estimations of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) quality, position in the gene, and effect on the encoded proteins, allowing us to perform evolutionary analyses. Finally, we developed a set of more than 10,000 between-species molecular markers optimized by sequence quality and predicted intron position. Experimental validation of 491 of these molecular markers resulted in confirmation of 413 polymorphisms. CONCLUSION: We present a new analysis of the extensive tomato EST sequences available that represents the most comprehensive survey of sequence diversity across Solanum species to date. These SNPs, plus thousands of molecular makers designed to detect the polymorphisms are available to the community via a website. Evolutionary analyses on these polymorphism uncovered sets of genes potentially important for the evolution and domestication of tomato; interestingly these sets were enriched for genes involved in response to the environment.

Quantitative genetic analysis of flowering time in tomato.

Artificial selection of cultivated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) has resulted in the generation of early-flowering, day-length-insensitive cultivars, despite its close relationship to other Solanum species that need more time and specific photoperiods to flower. To investigate the genetic mechanisms controlling flowering time in tomato and related species, we performed a quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis for flowering time in an F2 mapping population derived from S. lycopersicum and its late-flowering wild relative S. chmielewskii. Flowering time was scored as the number of days from sowing to the opening of the first flower (days to flowering), and as the number of leaves under the first inflorescence (leaf number). QTL analyses detected 2 QTLs affecting days to flowering, which explained 55.3% of the total phenotypic variance, and 6 QTLs for leaf number, accounting for 66.7% of the corresponding phenotypic variance. Four of the leaf number QTLs had not previously been detected for this trait in tomato. Colocation of some QTLs with flowering-time genes included in the genetic map suggests PHYB2, FALSIFLORA, and a tomato FLC-like sequence as candidate genes that might have been targets of selection during the domestication of tomato.