Development of a Single-nucleotide Polymorphism Marker for the Sw-5b Gene Conferring Disease Resistance to Tomato spotted wilt virus in Tomato

Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) causes one of the most destructive viral diseases that threatens global tomato production. Sw-5b was reported as the resistance gene effective against TSWV. The objective of this research was to develop a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker to distinguish tomato cultivars resistant to TSWV from susceptible cultivars for marker-assisted breeding. First, we determined genotypes for TSWV resistance in 32 commercial tomato cultivars using the previously reported Sw-5b gene-based marker. Then, DNA sequences of Sw-5b alleles in tomato cultivars showing resistant or susceptible genotypes were analyzed; a single SNP was found to distinguish tomato cultivars resistant to TSWV from susceptible cultivars. Based on the confirmed SNP, a SNP primer pair was designed. Using this new SNP sequence and high-resolution melting analysis, the same 32 tomato cultivars were screened. The results were perfectly correlated with those from screening with the Sw-5b gene-based marker. These results indicate that the SNP maker developed in this study will be useful for better tracking of resistance to TSWV in tomato breeding.