Mi gene transfer into tomato is a difficult problem

Long Description: The cultivated tomato L. esculentum makes large red fruits and carries the mi allele for susceptibility to nematode infection. The wild tomato L. peruvianum makes small green fruits and carries the Mi allele for resistance to nematodes. The L. esculentum x L. peruvianum hybrid was backcrossed to L. esculentum for many generations to produce a new tomato line that contains the Mi gene.

The problems:

The test for the Mi gene is done on large

plants after infection of the roots with

nematodes.

Digging up the plant to inspect the roots

interferes with testing the plants for other

traits that the plant must have to be

successful as a commercial cultivar.

Many wild tomato genes linked to the Mi

gene are transferred together with the Mi

gene. Breeders must eliminate these

undesirable genes before a tomato variety

containing the Mi gene can be used for

commercial tomato production.

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