TOMATO PLANTS HAVING SUPPRESSED MEIOTIC RECOMBINATION

The present invention relates to a tomato plant comprising in its genome at least one chromosome comprising a mutant allele of the wild type male sterility 10 (MS10) gene and a mutant allele of the wild type anthocyanin absent (AA) gene wherein in said plant the meiotic recombination frequency is reduced between said mutant allele of the wild type MS10 gene and said mutant allele of the wild type AA gene when compared to the meiotic recombination frequency between the MS10 gene and the AA gene in a wild type Solanum lycopersicum plant. The present invention further relates to a seed from which a plant according to present invention can be grown and a part of a plant according to the present invention. The present invention further relates to a method of identifying and/or selecting a male sterile plant, said method comprising growing a plant according to the present invention and determining whether anthocyanin is absent in the hypocotyls of said plant. The present invention further relates to a method of identifying and/or selecting a plant or plant part according to the present invention. The present invention further relates to a method of producing tomato plant or tomato plant part having male sterility and anthocyanin absent hypocotyls, wherein in said plant or plant part the meiotic recombination frequency between the male sterility trait and the anthocyanin absent hypocotyls trait is reduced when compared to the meiotic recombination frequency between the MS10 gene and the AA gene in a wild type Solanum lycopersicum plant.