Knowledge on the Genomes of Wild Tomato Species is the Key to Unlocking Their Breeding Potential

Wild tomato species are characterized by wide genetic variability and phenotypic diversity that might be recovered to reintroduce favorable ‘wild’ genes/alleles back into the ‘domesticated’ genomes. Within this context, the assessment of the genetic diversity of wild tomato species is gaining momentum and an ever-growing number of genomic resources are now available. The latter provide novel opportunities to broaden the genetic basis of cultivated tomatoes and exploit the overwhelming inter‐species genetic variability via ‘introgression’ breeding and/or new plant breeding techniques to address emerging challenges. This chapter describes the main genomic resources developed so far for wild tomato species; emphasizes that they are an important reservoir of favorable alleles for biotic and abiotic stress tolerance and fruit quality traits and, finally, recalls the concepts of ‘introgressomics’ and ‘rewilding’ as founding elements of future breeding strategies.