Development of user-friendly markers for the pvr1 and Bs3 disease resistance genes in pepper

Viruses and Xanthomonas spp., the causal agent of bacterial spot, are serious threats to pepper (Capsicum spp.) production in the USA. For decades, pepper growers have relied on host plant resistance as a first line of defense against these pathogens, and pepper breeders have deployed, cloned, and characterized a growing number of resistance genes. Molecular markers within or linked to these genes have facilitated rapid screening of breeding populations for resistance alleles relative to methods requiring pathogen inoculation. We have developed user-friendly markers in coding regions for the cloned pvr1 and Bs3 resistance genes using the Kompetitive Allele-Specific PCR (KASP) genotyping system in order to increase the robustness and throughput by which these loci are screened. The KASP markers are inexpensive, fast to process, and easily scored.