Abstract

ALVAREZ GIL, Marta. Marker-assisted selection (MAS, "Marker-assisted selection") in the genetic improvement of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). cultrop [online]. 2011, vol.32, n.2, pp. 154-171. ISSN 0258-5936.

Conventional plant breeding is primarily based on phenotypic selection of superior individuals among segregating progenies resulting from hybridization. It is often time consuming as breeding a new cultivar takes between eight and twelve years and even then, the release of improved cultivar is not guaranteed. Hence, breeders are extremely interested in new technologies that could make this procedure more efficient. Marker-assisted selection, often simply referred to as Marker-Assisted Selection (MAS) offers such a possibility by adopting a wide range of novel approaches to improving the selection strategies in crop breeding. Molecular markers are powerful research tools that make it possible to determine the genetic makeup of plants; for that it is possible the selection by plants genotype. In this paper, we refer the significant advancements towards application of molecular marker technology for crop improvement in the last decade, in tomato. Finally, we discuss reasons why the greater adoption of MAS in the future is inevitable, although the extent of its use will depend on available resources, and may be delayed in less-developed countries.

Keywords : Marker-assisted-selection; MAS; tomato; plant breeding; molecular markers; linkage maps.

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