Wild tomatoes may hold the key to combating blackmold, a wind-borne, fungal disease that severely damages and eventually kills cultivated tomatoes. Researchers are using traditional breeding as well as genetic and molecular techniques to probe the resistance qualities of wild tomatoes. "Blackmold control is important, not only because of the yield losses that growers experience, but also because the disease potentially brings in a toxin to the tomato product that may affect food safety," says Dina St. Clair, an assistant professor and plant breeder in the UC Davis vegetable crops department. Researchers are currently studying a small, wild tomato that appears to have resistance to blackmold, she says. The key is to find the particular disease-resistant gene in wild tomatoes, isolate it and transfer it to breeding stock.