Abstract:
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) fruits are naturally perishable
and have short shelf life. Post-harvest losses can be devastating
and can be associated with rapid ripening. The objective of this
study was to identify a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)
marker associated with alc gene conferring long shelf life in
tomato. The tomato line CSIR/CRI-AT06 was crossed with Alc-
LA3134 to develop an F2 population. A total of 72 plants were
screened for the target loci. Genotypic data of the F2 population
were generated following the scoring system as [T:A] for
heterozygous individuals, [A:A] and [T:T] for plants homozygous
for the donor and recipient parents, respectively. An
assessment of the Sly10–14 SNP marker was completed by
comparing SNP score against fruit shelf life of the 72 F2 entries.
The pattern of segregation of SNP marker for the alc gene was
tested for goodness of fit to a 1:2:1 ratio using Chi-square test
(χ2) test. The results showed that the marker segregated in the
expected ratio. The analysis from 72 F2 population plants
indicated that SNP marker (Sly 10-14) had significant association
with shelf life at 1% significance level. From the analysis, it
can be established that a locus linked to Sly10-14 is significant.
The homozygous marker (A:A) has an effect of increasing shelf
life by 22 days and explains 87% of the observed variation. This
marker (Sly10-14) is linked to a gene that controls the shelf life
of tomato fruits. The effect of this gene is additive and it
increases the shelf life.
