Jay W. Scott, Ph.D.

Gulf Coast Research & Education Center

14625 CR 672

Wimauma, FL 33598

USA

Phone: 813-633-4135

Fax: 813-634-0001

Email: jwsc@ufl.edu

We are back to a September mailing and hope to keep on this schedule in the future. Since I started as Managing Editor, I have asked for tomato researchers to clear the naming of genes and gene symbols through the Tomato Genetics Cooperative. Roger Chetelat as chair of the gene list committee can then easily insure that the nomenclature rules are properly followed. In this volume we finally have officially named two genes, both for TYLCV resistance (Ty-2 and Ty-3). I hope this will be the start of a trend. Also note that Volume 56 includes figures in color, a first for the ever-improving TGC!

One of my major TGC objectives over the past several years has been to have all the TGC volumes electronically available on line and searchable by keyword. This has proven to be a rather involved task, but we are making progress. By the time you read this all volumes should be available on line in both .pdf and .html formats (see our website http://tgc.ifas.ufl.edu/ click Online Volumes). All volumes are not yet keyword searchable but we hope they will be in the not too distant future. The volumes that are presently keyword searchable are listed on the website.

Thank you to all who sent in reports this year. Please consider sending reports for future volumes as it is the lifeblood of the TGC. Reports on varietal releases and on crops closely related to tomato are encouraged. Special thanks to Iris Peralta and colleagues who provided our feature article on tomato nomenclature. Some are using Lycopersicon and some are using Solanum in the literature and this article may help you decide which system you want to use.

If you have a change in your contact information please send me an email so we can keep our records up to date and keep you abreast of the latest from the TGC. Best wishes in your endeavors for 2006-2007.

Jay W. Scott

Managing Editor

• 21^st Annual Tomato Disease Workshop, November 9- 10, 2006, Fletcher, NC; http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/fletcher/events/2006-11-tomato-disease/index.html
• 4^th International Bemisia & Whitefly Genomics Workshop, December 3-8, 2006, Duck Key, FL; http://conference.ifas.ufl.edu/bemisia/
• 4^th Solanceae Genome Workshop 2007, Jeju Island, Korea; http://www.solanaceae2007.org
• 2^nd International Symposium on Tomato Disease, October 8-12, 2007; http://www.2istd.ege.edu.tr/index.html
• Tomato Breeders Roundtable, late October or November 2007, Penn State U.; Contact Majid Foolad for information: mrf5@psu.edu

Funding is expected to be available again in fiscal year 2007 for evaluation of tomato germplasm. Proposals must be submitted through the Crop Germplasm Committee (CGC). All proposals will be evaluated according to the national need for evaluation data, the likelihood of success, and the likelihood that the data will be entered into GRIN and shared with the user community. Evaluation priorities established by the CGC (Table 1) will provide review criteria. When all other factors are equal, preference for funding will be given to supporting those proposals forwarded by CGCs that have not received prior funding. Proposals will be reviewed by the CGC and forwarded to the USDA for consideration. Proposals Must be returned to the CGC Chair by October 27 so that reviews and rankings, can be forwarded to the USDA in Beltsville by November 17, 2006.

Because of limited funds, the USDA cannot support all proposals submitted. Consequently, please be very frugal in your request for funds. In recent years, the USDA has capped budget allocations in the range of $15,000-$18,000 per project annually.

The proposal format is outlined below. Please submit proposals electronically as a PDF file to David Francis, CGC Chair, francis.77@osu.edu.

Table 1. Crop Germplasm Committee Priorities for Tomato