Genetic control of modified genomic region in a firm ripening tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) mutant

Abstract

Studies involving the firm tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) mutant have shown that pleiotropy or geneticlinkage are responsible for modifications in morphological and postharvest traits. The objective of this report was to evaluatethe hypothesis of pleiotropy or genetic linkage linked to morphologic traits and to verify the effect of QTL on fruit firmness.Plants of mutant firm and L. cheesmani were intercrossed; the F2 and F3 generations were analyzed for segregation ofmorphological traits and firmness, and the RAPD technique was used for the F2 population. Results showed that the recessivepleiotropic gene is responsible for the morphological traits, but environmental and/or genetic factors affect the penetranceand expressivity of the mutation. By the RAPD analysis, a QTL was detected in the group represented by the markers AS-08622,AQ-16747 and l-2 that explains 29.77% of the variation to fruit firmness.

Keywords

• pleitropic mutant
• penetrance
• expressivity
• RAPD markers.