Effects of the Lycopersicon chmielewskii sucrose accumulator gene (sucr) on fruit yield and quality parameters following introgression into tomato.

A gene controlling fruit sucrose accumulation, sucr, was introgressed from the wild tomato species Lycopersicon chmielewskii into the genetic background of a hexose-accumulating cultivated tomato, L. esculentum. During introgression, the size of the L. chmielewskii chromosomal segment containing sucr was reduced by selection for recombination between RFLP markers for the sucr gene and flanking loci. The effects of sucr on soluble solids content, fruit size, yield and other fruit parameters were studied in the genetic background of the processing tomato cultivar 'Huntl00'. In a segregating BC5F2 generation, the smallest introgression containing sucr-associated markers was necessary and sufficient to confer high-level sucrose accumulation, the effects of which were completely recessive. Fruit of sucr/sucr genotypes were smaller than those of +/sucr or +/+ genotypes at all stages of development. The timing of sugar accumulation and total sugar concentration were unaffected by sugar composition. No differences in total fruit biomass (fresh weight of red and green fruit) at harvest were observed between the genotypes, and sucrose accumulators produced greater numbers of fruit than hexose accumulators in one family. However, the proportion of ripe fruit at harvest, and hence yield of ripe fruit, as well as average ripe fruit weight and seed set were reduced in sucr/sucr genotypes. Sucrose accumulation was also associated with increased soluble solids content, consistency, serum viscosity, predicted paste yield and acidity, and decreased color rating. In the first backcross to L. chmielewskii, hexose accumulators (+/sucr) had larger fruit than sucrose accumulators (sucr/sucr), while no difference in soluble solids was detected.