The identification of the gene that provides high resistance to the devastating tomato virus

Enza Zaden, Dutch vegetable-breeding company, found a solution for tomato growers to beat the devastating Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus (ToBRFV). The company's tomato breeding team has identified the gene that provides high levels of resistance to the rapidly spreading worldwide virus.

ToBRV is a plant virus that was first discovered in Israel in 2014. It has spread rapidly to parts of Europe, Asia, America and Africa, and the march continues through its easy spread by mechanical transmission. The virus has an incubation period of two to three weeks before symptoms appear, so containing localized spread once it begins is challenging.

Sergio de la Fuente van Bentem, Enza Zaden’s plant pathology researcher, said, “We know there’s a lot at stake for our customers. That is why our company has worked very hard to find a solution. Now that we have discovered the answer, we keep on working hard to develop tomato varieties that are highly ToBRFV resistant. We expect to have these ready in the coming years.”

The company's researchers believe this gene is unlike any other gene currently known in the field, and offers "high resistance" to ToBRFV, called tobamo after its genus.

De la Fuente van Bentem explained that the industry already had a solution to other tobamo viruses such as tomato mosaic virus (ToMV) and tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) - a single resistance gene that has been used for decades to stop these two viruses. “This new tobamo virus is not hindered by that resistance, so clearly the industry had to come up with a new solution,” he added.

Enza Zaden's approach was to screen for new resistance genes in germplasm of wild tomatoes, a huge seed collection of wild tomato relatives that can be crossed with normal cultivated tomatoes. “It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack, but we have identified a gene providing high resistance against ToBRFV”, the plant pathologist concluded.

Enza Zaden will protect the identification of the high resistance gene and the tomato varieties they will create, with relevant intellectual property rights.

Enza Zaden is a vegetable-breeding company that develop vegetable varieties of more than 30 international and local crops. The company produce and sell these varieties seeds all over the world. Enza Zaden's complete range comprises some 1,200 vegetable varieties: from tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers and lettuce to bitter gourd and bird’s eyes chilies. The company also make serious investments in innovation.

More information on company’s website.