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Tomato production is limited to a large extent by climates with high temperatures. Yield-related traits in tomatoes are generally thought to be quantitative inherited traits that are significantly affected by variation in environmental factors. Breeding for heat tolerance is restricted due to the complexity of the traits. The objective of this study was to identify random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers linked to heat-tolerance traits in tomatoes under heat stress. Forty-three F7 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from a wild cross between CL 5915 (heat-tolerant) and L4422 (heat-sensitive) were obtained and scored for flower number, fruit number, fruit set, fruit weight and yield under screen house conditions during the hot (summer) season of 2003. The distributions of average fruit weight, fruit number, fruit set and yield in the F7 population were strongly skewed towards heat susceptibility, characteristic of L4422. Significant positive correlation was observed between fruit weight and yield, and between fruit number, fruit set and yield. However, the increase in yield and fruit set by selecting for large flower number may be fairly minor due to non-significant correlation between these traits. Selecting for flower number may not be a useful tool for improving yield under heat stress. A total of 200 RAPD primers were screened, among which 14 were identified as associated with heat-tolerance using bulk segregant analysis (BSA) based on the F7 population grown in a heat-stressed environment. Some RAPD markers were unique to one specific trait, and others were linked to two traits. All markers for heat tolerance related traits had positive gene effects as a result of the contribution of the CL5915 gene that bolstered these traits. One hundred F2 plants derived from the same parents (CL5915×L4422) were grown in the same location during the summer of 2004 to test for the stability and reliability of the 14 markers identified. Selection for the desired heat-tolerance genotypes corresponded well with targeting heat tolerance traits using the selected heat tolerance RAPD markers identified. Marker-assisted selection (MAS) for heat tolerance may be efficiently conducted by selecting individuals that contain high fruit number, high fruit weight, and high yield markers (P06, X01, D06 and D11), which would thus facilitate conventional breeding using CL5915 as a donor parent. |
