Wild Lactuca species, their genetic diversity, resistance to diseases and pests, and exploitation in lettuce breeding

Abstract

Current knowledge of wild Lactuca L. species, their taxonomy, biogeography, gene-pools, germplasm collection quality and quantity, and accession availability is reviewed in this paper. Genetic diversity of Lactuca spp. is characterized at the level of phenotypic and phenological variation, variation in karyology and DNA content, biochemical traits, and protein and molecular polymorphism. The reported variation in reaction to pathogens and pests of wild Lactuca spp. is summarized, including the viral pathogens (Lettuce mosaic virus- LMV , Mirafiori lettuce virus/Lettuce big vein virus- LBV , Beet western yellows virus- BWYV , Tomato spotted wilt virus- TSWV , Cucumber mosaic virus- CMV , Lettuce necrotic stunt virus- LNSV ), bacterial pathogens (corky root- Rhizomonas suberifaciens , bacterial leaf spot- Xanthomonas campestris pv. vitians ), fungal pathogens (downy mildew- Bremia lactucae , powdery mildew- Golovinomyces cichoracearum , anthracnose- Microdochium panattoniana , stemphylium leaf spot- Stemphylium spp., sclerotinia drop- Sclerotinia spp., verticillium wilt- Verticillium dahliae , fusarium wilt- Fusarium spp., pythium wilt- Pythium tracheiphylum , P. uncinulatum ), nematodes (potato cyst nematode- Globodera rostochiensis , root-knot nematode- Meloidogyne spp., incognita, hapla, javanica, enterolobii ), insects and mites (the green lettuce aphid- Nasonovia ribisnigri , the green peach aphid- Myzus persicae , the potato aphid- Macrosiphum euphorbiae , leafminer- Liriomyza spp., L. langei ). The approaches used to exploit wild Lactuca spp. in lettuce breeding (interspecific hybridization, cell and tissue culture, transformation) are dicussed, and known examples of lettuce cultivars with traits derived from wild Lactuca spp. are described.