Exploiting wild relatives of S. lycopersicum for quality traits

Exploiting wild relatives of S. lycopersicum for quality traitsAna Marcela Víquez ZamoraTomatoes 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 speciesSolanumpimpinellifolium. We explored the genome and the metabolome of accessions ofS. pimpinellifoliumand several varieties ofS. 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. pimpinellifoliumcertainly 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 exploitS. pimpinellifolium to improve tomato quality.