Tomato genome sequencing and development DNA markers useful for genotyping tomato cultivars

Abstract

As a member of the International SOL Project, we are sequencing the euchromatic region of the chromosome 8, estimated length of which is 17 megabases (Mb). As of Nov. 2007, we finished 91 BACs to Phase 3 generating 9,256,972 bp non-overlapping sequence. We are also accumulating whole genome shotgun sequences derived from a mixture of low-copy BACs in order to use them for filling gaps in the BAC tiling paths. We have already accumulated 1.2 million reads giving a total length of 860 Mb. Gene coverage was assessed using the tomato gene index and 58% of unigenes were shown to be covered by the shotgun sequences. We launched on development of DNA markers using the tomato EST information and mapped over 500 microsatellite markers on an interspecies genetic map. We are currently developing markers polymorphic between tomato cultivars aiming at accelerating map-based cloning and QTL mapping in tomato.