Lycopersicon esculentum lines containing small overlapping introgressions from L. pennellii

The objective of this project was to introgress small overlapping chromosome segments which cover the genome of L. pennellii into Lycopersicon esculentum lines. The interspecific hybrid was backcrossed to L. esculentum, and a map of 981 cM, based on 146 molecular markers covering the entire genome, was produced. A similar backcross 1 population was selfed for six generations, under strong selection for cultivated tomato phenotypes, to produce 120 introgression lines. The introgression lines were assayed for the above-mentioned molecular markers, and 21 lines covering 936 cM of L. pennellii, with an average introgression of 86 cM, were selected to provide a resource for the mapping of new DNA clones. The rest of the lines have shorter introgressions consisting of specific regions with an average size of 38 cM. The proportion of the L. pennellii genome in the introgression lines was lower than expected (252 cM) because of strong selection against the wild-parent phenotype. The mean introgression rate for ends of linkage groups in the 120 lines was 3 times higher than for other regions of the genome. The introgression lines can assist in RFLP-based gene cloning by allowing the rapid selection of DNA markers that map to specific chromosome segments. The introgression lines also provide a base population for the mapping and breeding for quantitative traits such as salt and drought tolerance that characterize the wild species L. pennellii.