Epistatic influence in tomato Ve1-mediated resistance

Resistance to Verticillium wilt disease is associated with the tomato Ve-locus; however, the individual functional roles of Ve1 and Ve2 in host plants remain controversial. As a first step towards Ve mutational analyses in planta, the Ve1 coding region from a resistant tomato near-isoline (cv. Craigella GCR218) was introduced into a susceptible near-isoline (cv. Craigella GCR26). 35S:Ve1 plants segregated into two distinct classes; roughly half were resistant and half were susceptible. Ve1 transcript levels were up-regulated in both classes compared to wild-type plants, showing stable transgenic expression. Expression analysis of Ve2 revealed that mRNA levels were similar between 35S:Ve1 and wild-type tomatoes, demonstrating that Ve1 transgene introduction does not alter endogenous Ve2 expression. Overall, the results of this study confirm the functional role of Ve1 protein in resistance to the vascular fungal pathogen V. dahliae race 1 (Vd1), but suggest that a yet undefined factor exerts an epistatic influence on the Ve1 gene.