Acid phosphatase typing for breeding nematode-resistant tomatoes by isoelectric focusing with an ultranarrow immobilized pH gradient.

The genetic variants of tomato acid phosphatase (Aps-1) systems have been analyzed by isoelectric focusing in immobilized pH gradients (IPG). By using an ultranarrow pH 4.25-4.55 IPG gel, the two genotypes Aps-1(1) and Aps-1+, differentiating tomato variants into nematode-resistant or nematode-susceptible plants, are separated into two sharp zones over a distance of 2.5 cm with isoelectric points of 4.37 and 4.43, respectively. Under these conditions, silver staining of the Aps-1 variants proved to be superior to enzyme staining. By applying more than 50 samples on one IPG gel, this method proved to be a powerful tool for reliable tomato nematode resistance screening.