Disease Resistant Pepper Plants

A method of producing a pepper plant comprising within its genome at least one potyvirus resistance allele and at least one powdery mildew (PM) resistance allele wherein the alleles are present in cis configuration on the same chromosome, comprising the steps of:

• a. providing a first pepper plant resistant to infection by L. taurica and susceptible to potato virus Y (PVY) and a second pepper plant susceptible to infection by L. taurica and resistant to PVY;
• b. crossing said first and the second pepper plants of step (a) to produce an F1 pepper plant progeny;
• c. selfing the F1 pepper plant of step (b) to produce an F2 pepper plant progeny;
• d. analyzing the progeny of step (c) for plants resistant to infection with L. taurica comprising within their genome a PVY resistant allele and a PVY susceptibility allele;
• and
• e. selecting at least one plant having the characteristics of step (d), comprising within it genome at least one potyvirus resistance allele and at least one powdery mildew (PM) resistance allele wherein the alleles are present in cis configuration on the same chromosome.

A method for characterizing a pepper plant as resistant or susceptible to infection by L. taurica, comprising the steps of:

• a. isolating a genomic DNA sample from the plant;
• b. amplifying a DNA segment using a first primer having a polynucleotide sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:2 and a second primer having a polynucleotide sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:3;
• and
• c. subjecting the amplified DNA segment to restriction with the restriction enzyme BseNI,
• wherein the presence of BseNI restriction site within said amplified DNA segment characterizes said plant as resistant to infection by L. taurica and the absence of the BseNI site characterizes said plant as susceptible to infection by L. taurica.