The Novel ps and ps-2 Specific Markers for Selection of Functional Male Sterile Tomato Lines in Breeding Programs and Hybrids Seed Production

Functional male sterility in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), controlled by the ps-2 and ps genes can be utilized in the production of F1 hybrid tomato seed. Two novel cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) markers linked to the ps-2 and ps genes were found in tomato. The C4-30 and C2-21 markers were developed based on the conserved ortholog set II (COSII) sequences C2_At3g20020 and C2_At1g65900 located on tomato chromosomes 4 and 2, respectively. The HinfI-derived PCR restriction product C4-3080 was applicable in the detection of functional male sterile plants. In case of the C2-21 marker, a polymorphism was revealed after digestion of the amplicon with restriction enzyme MboI. Specificity of the DNA markers identified was verified by scoring the tomato parental lines, F2 progeny and F1 hybrids, in which maternal lines possessed the ps or ps-2 gene. C4-30 and C2-21 can be used as the diagnostic tools in tomato breeding programs and in F1 hybrid seed production.