ABSTRACT
One could write an entire book on classical breeding and genetics of tomato, thus writing only a chapter will not allow us to cover all the topics adequately. Our goal is to cover some of the highlights on breeding accomplishments and to bring out some of the research areas that have proven diffi cult with conventional breeding approaches. We hope this problem identifi cation will be useful for those working in genomics or genetic transformation and perhaps better solutions will be found in the future by employing modern technologies. Tomato is a model system for plant genetic studies, whose genome has been sequenced, largely because of the pioneering plant exploration and collection trips of Charlie Rick (http: //tgrc.ucdavis.edu) along with linkage work that was carried out by Rick and a number of other dedicated scientists who had the vision to found the Tomato Genetics Cooperative in 1951 (http: //tgc.ifas.ufl .edu/). The germplasm resources and genetic information was put to good use by a talented group of tomato breeders on whose shoulders we now stand. Some of the important early publications are cited herein but many valuable publications have not been cited due to space limitations. In delving back into the older literature we were reminded of just how much was learned by our predecessors. One useful publication that outlines many tomato horticultural phenotypes and what was known about their inheritance was that of Young and MacArthur (1947). New information is available for some of the traits but not for others so it is a good resource for modern day tomato scientists to be aware. Also a recommended publication for disease and disorder resistance is the review of Walter (1967).
