Characterization of Alleles in a Diversity Panel of Tomato.

Approximately 6,000 accessions of domesticated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), including open-pollinated populations and inbred lines, are conserved at the USDA, ARS Plant Genetic Resources Unit (PGRU). This collection provides a publicly available resource for breeding and experimentation to end-users around the world. An understanding of the patterns of allelic diversity within and among accessions in our collection will facilitate its management and utilization. We sequenced 50 gene fragments in a diverse set of S. lycopersicum accessions and six wild tomato species. Several of the wild species accessions were used historically as sources of alleles for crop improvement. We will report on diversity patterns (numbers of alleles, allele frequencies, heterozygosity, numbers and types of SNPs, recombination) within the domesticated tomato sample and compare domesticated with wild species alleles. Mutational differences among species will be used to help interpret observed patterns of variation within S. lycopersicum.