Harnessing genomics for fast development and commercial introduction of high-resistant tomato varieties to Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus

Abstract

Tomato plants are susceptible to a wide range of viruses, including those belonging to the genus Tobamovirus, which pose enormous threats to tomato cultivation worldwide. This article reviews a genomics-based breeding strategy applied for the rapid discovery and introgression of the newly identified HREZ resistance gene, which provides high-resistance to the recently emerged Tobamovirus fructirugosum (Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus (ToBRFV)). From the identification of a novel viral tomato pathogen in 2015, an applied breeding strategy allowed us to launch a series of 18 tomato varieties within a time span of seven years.