title: Overdominant quantitative trait loci for yield and fitness in tomato.
abstract: Heterosis, or hybrid vigor, is a major genetic force that contributes to world food production. The genetic basis of heterosis is not clear, and the importance of loci with overdominant (ODO) effects is debated. One problem has been the use of whole-genome segregating populations, where interactions often mask the effects of individual loci. To assess the contribution of ODO to heterosis in the absence of epistasis, we carried out quantitative genetic and phenotypic analyses on a population of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) introgression lines (ILs), which carry single marker-defined chromosome segments from the distantly related wild species Solanum pennellii. The ILs revealed 841 quantitative trait loci (QTL) for 35 diverse traits measured in the field on homozygous and heterozygous plants. ILs showing greater reproductive fitness were characterized by the prevalence of ODO QTL, which were virtually absent for the nonreproductive traits. ODO can result from true ODO due to allelic interactions of a single gene or from pseudoODO that involves linked loci with dominant alleles in repulsion. The fact that we detected dominant and recessive QTL for all phenotypic categories but ODO only for the reproductive traits indicates that pseudoODO due to random linkage is unlikely to explain heterosis in the ILs. Thus, we favor the true ODO model involving a single functional Mendelian locus. We propose that the alliance of ODO QTL with higher reproductive fitness was selected for in evolution and was domesticated by man to improve yields of crop plants.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, P.O. Box 12, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Yaniv
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Semel
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nissenbaum
authors.forename: Naama
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Menda
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zinder
authors.forename: Uri
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Krieger
authors.forename: Noa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Issman
authors.forename: Tzili
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pleban
authors.forename: Zachary
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lippman
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gur
authors.forename: Dani
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zamir
mesh_terms: D032461:Chromosomes, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D018745:Genome, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D006823:Hybrid Vigor / Q000235:genetics; D040582:Inheritance Patterns / Q000235:genetics; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D020161:Physical Chromosome Mapping; D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci / Q000235:genetics*