RESISTANCE TO TOMATO SPOTTED WILT VIRUS IN TRANSGENIC TOMATO HYBRIDS

Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) causes significant economic losses in the commercial culture of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.). Cul ture practices and introgression of natural sources of resistance to T SWV have only been marginally effective in controlling the TSWV diseas e. Recently however, high levels of protection against TSWV have been obtained by transforming tobacco with a chimaeric gene cassette compri sing the TSWV nucleoprotein gene. This report demonstrates the success ful application of this newly-created TSWV resistance gene in cultivat ed tomato. Transformation of an inbred tomato line with the TSWV nucle oprotein gene cassette resulted in high levels of resistance to TSWV t hat were maintained in hybrids derived from the parental tomato line. Therefore, transformant lines carrying the synthetic TSWV resistance g ene make suitable progenitors for TSWV resistance to be incorporated i nto the breeding programmes of tomato.