Genetic mapping of the Tsw locus for resistance to the Tospovirus Tomato spotted wilt virus in Capsicum spp. and its relationship to the Sw-5 gene for resistance to the same pathogen in tomato.

The Tsw gene conferring dominant resistance to the Tospovirus Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) in Capsicum spp. has been tagged with a random amplified polymorphic DNA marker and mapped to the distal portion of chromosome 10. No mapped homologues of Sw-5, a phenotypically similar dominant TSWV resistance gene in tomato, map to this region in C. annuum, although a number of Sw-5 homologues are found at corresponding positions in pepper and tomato. The relationship between Tsw and Sw-5 was also examined through genetic studies of TSWV. The capacity of TSWV-A to overcome the Tsw gene in pepper and the Sw-5 gene in tomato maps to different TSWV genome segments. Therefore, despite phenotypic and genetic similarities of resistance in tomato and pepper, we infer that distinct viral gene products control the outcome of infection in plants carrying Sw-5 and Tsw, and that these loci do not appear to share a recent common evolutionary ancestor.