Identification of molecular characters of tomato seedlings (Solanum lycopersicum) from Limpopo Province, South Africa, using 28S rDNA

Farming with tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) in South Africa can be a highly profitable operation, provided the farmer starts the crop with the right variety of quality seedlings, suited for the specific growth area. Therefore, it is necessary to study tomato seedlings on the molecular level. This study was conducted to isolate and identify S. lycopersicum in Limpopo Province, South Africa. Therefore, this molecular study was conducted in 2022 at Limpopo University. To identify S. lycopersicum 28S rDNA marker was used. The DNA was extracted using the Chelex method. The tomato was identified as S. lycopersicum. The Nblast analysis showed South African S. lycopersicum has a 99.8% similarity with a population from Germany (OU640345) and a 99.7% similarity with a population from Sweden (OK073662). Phylogenetic analysis using maximum likelihood placed this species with those molecularly identified as S. lycopersicum in the same clade with highly supported (83) bootstrap values. In conclusion, this species is identified using 28S rDNA properly. However, other DNA markers are recommended to understand Solanum spp. phylogeny better.