Identification of molecular markers associated with characters of resistance to anthracnosis colletrichum acutatum in Solanum maternal and Solanum Unilobum, for the development of resistant commercial varieties of tree tomato.

The tree tomato, Solanum Betaceum cav., It is an Andean fruit with wide development perspectives and whose morphological and molecular characterization has placed Ecuador as one of the centers of diversity. Among the numerous phytosanitary problems of this crop we have the anthracnosis of the fruits caused by the colletotrichum acutatum fungus, which is widely distributed in the tree tomato producing areas. This disease is considered by many farmers as the most important of this crop and can cause losses of up to 80% of production. The control methods currently used include the application of agrochemicals. The existence of resistance sources against C. Acutatum in wild plants appeared to the tree tomato such as Solanum maternal and Solanum Unilobum has been reported, however resistance is not recorded in the face of this disease in any of the commercial varieties and neither have molecular markers associated with resistance characters have been reported. Currently, the use of microsatellite and wealth molecular markers (Resistance Gene Analogs) for the design of specific primers from "preserved motifs" would help us identify resistance genes in S. Maternum and S. Unilobum. These molecular markers can be used in a tree tomato improvement program.

14th RESEARCH PROJECT COMPETITION