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JXB Advance Access originally published online on January 29, 2009
Journal of Experimental Botany 2009 60(3):923-937; doi:10.1093/jxb/ern338
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© 2009 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This paper is available online free of all access charges (see http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/open_access.html for further details)

RESEARCH PAPER

Genetic and physiological analysis of tomato fruit weight and composition: influence of carbon availability on QTL detection

Marion Prudent1,2, Mathilde Causse1, Michel Génard2, Pasquale Tripodi3, Silvana Grandillo3 and Nadia Bertin2,*

1INRA, UR1052 Génétique et Amélioration des Fruits et Légumes, F-84000 Avignon, France
2INRA, UR1115 Plantes et Systèmes de culture Horticoles, Domaine St Paul, Agroparc, F-84000 Avignon, France
3CNR-IGV, Institute of Plant Genetics, Research Division Portici, Via Universita 133, I-80055 Portici, Italy

* To whom correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: nadia.bertin{at}avignon.inra.fr

Throughout tomato domestication, a large increase in fruit size was associated with a loss of dry matter and sugar contents. This study aims to dissect the contributions of genetic variation and the physiological processes underlying the relationships between fruit growth and the accumulation of dry matter and sugars. Fruit quality traits and physiological parameters were measured on 20 introgression lines derived from the introgression of Solanum chmielewskii into S. lycopersicum, under high (HL, unpruned trusses) and low (LL, trusses pruned to one fruit) fruit load conditions. Inter- and intra-genotypic correlations among traits were estimated and quantitative trait loci (QTL) for size, composition, and physiological traits were mapped. LL increased almost all traits, but the response of sugar content was genotype-dependent, involving either dilution effects or differences in carbon allocation to sugars. Genotypexfruit load interactions were significant for most traits and only 30% of the QTL were stable under both fruit loads. Many QTL for fresh weight and cell or seed numbers co-localized. Eleven clusters of QTL for fresh weight and dry matter or sugar content were detected, eight with opposite allele effects and three with negative effects. Two genotypic antagonistic relationships, between fresh weight and dry matter content and between cell number and cell size, were significant only under HL; the second could be interpreted as a competition for carbohydrates among cells. The role of cuticular conductance, fruit transpiration or cracking in the relationship between fruit fresh weight and composition was also emphasized at the genetic and physiological levels.

Key words: Carbon allocation, fruit load, genetic variability, genotypexenvironment interaction, physiological processes, quality, QTL, Solanum lycopersicum, Solanum chmielewskii, sugar content

Received 6 August 2008; Revised 1 December 2008 Accepted 2 December 2008


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