Response of tomato and its wild relative in the genus Solanum to cucumber mosaic virus and satellite RNA combinations

The differential response of 29 genotypes of tomato and wild tomato relatives (Solanum section Lycopersicon species) to cucumber mosaic virus strain Fny (CMV-Fny), alone or in combination with three different satellite RNA (satRNA) variants, allowed the identification of four disease phenotype patterns, each including plants that developed very severe symptoms (leaf malformations, top stunting and lethal necrosis) and plants that remained asymptomatic. No resistance or tolerance to CMV-Fny was observed, whilst individual host genotypes displayed latent infection upon inoculation with one (CMV-Fny/Tfn-satRNA, phenotype patterns 1 and 4), two (CMV-Fny/Tfn-satRNA and CMV-Fny/TTS-satRNA, phenotype pattern 2) or all three (the former two plus CMV-Fny/77-satRNA, phenotype pattern 3) CMV/satRNA combinations. RNA gel-blot analyses showed that latent infection generally correlated with a strong clownregulation of CMV RNA accumulation levels. Introgression lines derived from a cross between Solanum habrochaites LA1777, which displayed disease phenotype pattern 2, and Solanum lycopersicum were screened for tolerance to the stunting phenotype induced by CMV-Fny/TTS-satRNA, and only one line, carrying an introgression on chromosome 6, was identified as being partially tolerant. Solanum chilense LA1932xS. lycopersicum back-cross introgression lines were screened for tolerance to lethal necrosis induced by CMV-Fny/77-satRNA (phenotype pattern 3); the tolerant phenotype was observed in 33% of plants of the BC1F2 progeny and <1% of plants of the BC1F3 progeny. Thus, potentially useful sources of tolerance to CMV/satRNA-induced diseases were identified, although the tolerant phenotypes appeared to be controlled by complex quantitative trait loci.