Triple tomato breakthrough:
WorldVeg pioneers insect resistance, virus tolerance, and market-ready traits
– 17 April 2026 –
Ten years of progress in developing tomatoes with dual insect resistance and market-appropriate fruit size. Pic by Neil Palmer (WorldVeg).
Ten years of progress in developing tomatoes with dual insect resistance and market-appropriate fruit size. Pic by Neil Palmer (WorldVeg).More than a decade ago, the World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) launched an ambitious breeding effort with a clear goal: to develop tomato varieties resistant not only to viruses, but also the insects that spread them.
At the heart of the challenge was one of the most destructive threats to tomato production worldwide: whiteflies. These tiny pests transmit a range of viruses, especially those causing Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Disease (TYLCD).
The viruses are notoriously difficult to control in the field and severe outbreaks can result in total or near-total yield losses. As temperatures rise and growing conditions shift, whitefly populations are becoming harder to manage in many regions – potentially increasing the frequency and severity of outbreaks. Global losses due to whitefly-transmitted tomato viruses already equate to hundreds of millions of dollars per year, when yield loss, reduced fruit quality, and increased management costs are considered.
While many tomato breeding programs focused either on virus resistance or the use of pesticides to control of the whiteflies, WorldVeg took a different, long-term approach, combining genetic resistance to both the virus and the insect in a single tomato plant.
“WorldVeg breeders knew early on that tackling the virus alone wasn’t enough – you also have to stop the insects that spread it,” said Assaf Eybshitz, leader of the WorldVeg tomato breeding program, who took over the work in 2022. “That meant taking a much longer, more complex breeding approach, but one with a potentially far greater payoff.”
A walk on the wild side
The journey had started with the identification of a powerful source of natural resistance in a wild tomato relative, Solanum galapagense. Some variations of this species carry a unique defense mechanism: their leaves are covered in tiny hairs called glandular trichomes, which ooze a sticky substance known as acylsugars. Together, they make the plant a very unpleasant place for whiteflies, reducing their ability to feed, settle, and reproduce.
As a wild plant however, Solanum galapagense was not commercially viable, so WorldVeg scientists began the long process of transferring the trait into its elite tomato breeding lines. Using a method called marker-assisted selection – the use of DNA “tags” to spot plants with useful traits – they were able to track insect resistance as it was passed from one generation of tomatoes to the next.
In parallel, WorldVeg was already developing elite tomato lines resistant to tomato yellow leaf curl viruses. The breakthrough came when they combined disease resistance and insect resistance in a single tomato line. This work was recently validated in a peer-reviewed study in the journal Insects, demonstrating that lines combining virus and vector resistance show significantly lower virus accumulation and milder symptoms than lines carrying only one type of resistance.
Advanced hybrids growing at WorldVeg headquarters. Pics by WorldVeg
Small beginnings, big results
The first insect-resistant tomatoes came with a major drawback: small, unattractive fruit – a legacy of their wild parents. Through successive backcrosses with large-fruited lines and subsequent hybrid development, the WorldVeg team succeeded in breaking that genetic linkage, while retaining the genes for resistance.
Steadily, fruit size got bigger and bigger.
They also undertook large-scale testing and evaluated performance in the field, to ensure stable performance, durable resistance, and consistent fruit quality across diverse seasons, climate conditions and production systems.
A decade on, and the WorldVeg tomato breeding team now has tomato lines and hybrids that are tolerant to whiteflies and the viruses they transmit, and that come in a range of fruit sizes. It means they hold great potential for developing commercial varieties that can be grown with reduced reliance on pesticides, and meet the demands of different segments, consumers, growers and seed companies.
“For a long time, seed companies and tomato farmers were faced with a trade-off – resilience or market quality,” continued Eybishitz. “Now we have both in the same tomato, and that’s a huge breakthrough for everyone involved.
“From breeders to farmers and across the entire value chain, it opens the door to more stable production, reduced losses, and improved profitability under increasingly challenging growing conditions, while also reducing reliance on chemical inputs and offering potential health benefits for both farmers and consumers.”
The next steps will involve the APSA-WorldVeg Vegetable Breeding Consortium. This public-private partnership brings seed companies together with crop breeders at WorldVeg to fast-track the development of improved, climate-resilient vegetables. As a special project under the Consortium, seed companies will be able to access the seeds of dual-resistance tomatoes developed by WorldVeg, conduct trials in locations of interest, and work with their own breeders to further improve the yield and fruit quality. This aims support the development of commercially competitive hybrids and accelerate the delivery of improved varieties to farmers worldwide.
It will also, hopefully, show those whiteflies who’s boss.
This long and complex journey to date would not have been possible without the dedicated efforts of many colleagues over the years. The WorldVeg tomato breeding program gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the Center’s breeding teams past and present, as well as its entomology, virology, biotechnology teams, and the many students and interns who supported this work and helped turn a vision into reality.
This work was funded by the long-term strategic donors to the World Vegetable Center: UK aid from the UK Government, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), Germany, Thailand, Philippines, Korea, and Japan.
