Inheritance of heat-stable resistance to Meloidogyne incognita in Lycopersicon peruvianum and its relationship to the Mi gene.

The inheritance of heat-stable resistance to the root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita (Kofoid and White) Chitwood, was studied in crosses between different accessions and clones of Lycopersicon peruvianum L. F1, F2 and BC1 generations were evaluated for their index of resistance based on numbers of eggs and infective second-stage juveniles (J2) per gram of root, and the segregation ratios were determined in experiments carried out at constant soil temperatures of 25 °C and 30 °C. L. peruvianum P.I. 270435 clones 3 MH and 2R2 and P.I. 126443 clone 1 MH, all heatstable resistant, were crossed with L. peruvianum P.I. 126440 clone 9 MH, which is susceptible at both 25 °C and 30 °C. All F1 progeny were resistant at 25 °C and 30 °C; F2 and BC1 generations at 25 °C gave resistant: susceptible (R∶S) ratios of 15∶1 and 3∶1, respectively, which suggests that resistance is conditioned by two independently assorting genes. However, at 30 °C, R∶S ratios of 3∶1 and 1∶1 were observed for the F2 and BC1 generations, respectively. These results indicate that heat-stable resistance is conferred by a single dominant gene expressed at 30 °C, while the second resistance gene is heat unstable and not expressed at 30 °C. P.I. 270435 clones 2R2 and 3 MH and P.I. 126443 clone 1 MH were crossed with P.I. 128657 clone 3 R4 (source of gene Mi), which is resistant at 25 °C but susceptible at 30 °C. All of the F1 progeny were resistant at 25 °C and 30 °C.TC1 progeny of 270435-2 R2 x 128657-3 R4, 270435-3 MH x 128657-3 R4 and 126443-1 MH x 128657-3 R4 crossed with susceptible 126440-9 MH were all resistant at 25 °C and segregated in a 1∶1 ratio at 30 °C. These results also suggest that the heat-stable resistance is monogenic and that it is non-allelic to gene Mi. The non-segregation of TC1 progenies at 25 °C, suggests that the heat-unstable resistance factor in L. peruvianum P.I. 270435 clones 2 R2 and 3 MH and in P.I. 126443 clone 1 MH is allelic to or the same as gene Mi. We propose the symbol Mi-2 for the gene in P.I. 270435 that confers heat-stable resistance to M. incognita.