Verticillium wilt (VW) is a widespread and serious potato (
Solanum tuberosum) disease caused by the soilborne fungi
Verticillium dahliae and
V. albo-atrum. Breeding for VW resistance in potato is challenging due to ambiguous symptom expression, a lack of high throughput screening
techniques, and variability in colonization by the fungus among and within plants. Genetic studies have identified major genes
that confer resistance in diploid
Solanum chacoense (
V
c
) and interspecific hybrids (
V
w
and
V
t
). However, to date, these genes have not been used to develop molecular markers for the identification of resistant clones.
Tomato
Ve1 and
Ve2 gene sequence information was used to amplify candidate
Ve gene orthologs from both resistant and susceptible diploid potato hybrids. A CAPS marker was generated to track VW resistance
in a backcross population segregating for resistance. The marker was also tested for its usefulness in other breeding lines.
Our results indicate that this marker is effective for selection of the
V
w
gene in segregating breeding populations.
Keywords Verticillium wilt - Interspecific potato hybrids - Disease resistance - CAPS marker - Dosage effect -
Ve resistance gene