Inheritance of zingiberene in Lycopersicon.

The inheritance of the sesquiterpene zingiberene was analyzed in segregating progeny of interspecific crosses among Lycopersicon hirsutum f. hirsutum Humb. and Bonpl. (hir), L. esculentum Mill. cv 'Nova' (esc), and L. hirsutum f. glabratum C.H. Mull (gla). The presence of zingiberene was inherited as a single dominant gene from hir in F2 and BC progeny of esc x hir, and as a single recessive gene in F2 and BC progeny of gla x hir. The segregation of esc x hir, gla x hir, and esc x gla progeny supported a single locus allelomorphic model in which the presence of zingiberene is controlled at a single locus, Z, where the allele from hir confers presence of zingiberene and is dominant to the allele from esc but recessive to that from gla. The presence of zingiberene in esc x hir progeny was not linked to the ability to set fruit or to several fruit characters, and progeny with zingiberene levels comparable to hir were recovered.