Variation for pathogenicity on tomato among parasexual recombinants of Verticillium dahliae

Abstract

Ten haploid prototrophic recombinant isolates (HPRs) were obtained from each of 15 parasexual crosses between complementary autotrophs derived from nine tomato isolates and one eggplant isolate of V. dahliae, including those identified as race 1 and race 2. These HPRs were tested for pathogenicity to the tomato cultivar Roma which is susceptible to both races. HPRs from a ‘selfed’ race 2 × race 2 cross were as pathogenic as the wild‐type parent. The pathogenicity of HPRs derived from all other crosses was variable, and generally lower than the parental mean. A particularly marked reduction in pathogenicity, compared with the parental mean, was observed for HPRs recovered from two crosses between isolates belonging to different heterokaryon compatibility groups. The results suggest that pathogenicity to cv. Roma is controlled by complex interactions between genes at numerous loci.