New Mexico Chile Pepper Producers Are Affected by a Diverse Verticillium dahliae Population That Includes Many Race 2 Strains That Break Ve1-Mediated Resistance

Abstract

Chile pepper is an important crop in in New Mexico (NM) for both its cultural heritage and its cash receipts. Wilt caused by Verticillium dahliae is one of the largest constraints on chile production in southern NM. Identification of natural resistance sources, like the Ve locus used in commercial tomato lines, would be a significant help to NM chile growers. Understanding the diversity and race structure of V. dahliae affecting chile production in NM is a necessary first step toward identifying and deploying genetic resistance in chile peppers. Here we report race characterization and diversity studies that show that NM is affected by a diverse population of V. dahliae strains, many of which overcome the Ve-mediated resistance in tomato. The results of this work suggest that Ve-like resistance, either discovered within the chile gene pool or introduced from tomato via genetic engineering, is unlikely to be useful for generating chile cultivars resistant to Verticillium wilt.