USE OF MOLECULAR MARKERS TO LOCATE QUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCI LINKED TO HIGH SOLUBLE SOLIDS CONTENT IN A HYBRID OF LYCOPERSICON-CHEESMANII

An interspecific hybrid was made between an accession of Lycopersicon cheesmanii f. minor Riley (IA 1508) from the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, and L. pennellii (Corr.) D'Arcy (LA 716). LA 1508 was used because of its high soluble solids content (SSC). It was crossed with LA 716 to test for linkage between isozymes and morphological markers and loci conditioning high SSC. For both accessions, chromosome numbers are equal and there are large differences between SSC and no barriers to crossing. Modified BC1 populations derived from the hybridization were assayed for isozyme markers using starch gel electrophoresis. Associations between marker loci and quantitative-trait loci (QTL) conditioning high SSC were determined using analysis of variance. Six isozymes located on five chromosomes and one morphological marker had significant associations with SSC, indicating linkage to QTL. Digenic epistatic interactions between pairs of independent markers did not appear to play an important role in the interactions between QTL that condition SSC.