Abstract：The dwarf and compact architecture of tomato conduces to the rapid adoption of agricultural
practices．The brachytic（br）locus，which contributes to the short internode and plant dwarfism，has been successfully used in tomato breeding．In this study，we used Heinz1706 and VFNT Cherry，an indeterminate tomato variety containing the br locus，to construct a series of segregation populations．Through recombinant screening and progeny test，the br locus was delimited to a region of 14.9 kb between the molecular markers HP5589 and ZP273，and in this region，gene prediction analysis revealed two genes，Solyc01g066970 and Solyc01g066980，both of which are homologous to Arabidopsis Flowering Promoting Factor 1（FPF1）．Genome resequencing and sequence comparison confirmed a large deletion of the Solyc01g066980 gene in VFNT Cherry．Based on this sequence polymorphism，a co-dominant PCR molecular marker BRD was developed to facilitate the rapid implementation of the br locus．The results will be very useful for tomato breeding programs and for a better understanding of the molecular mechanism of plant architecture and height manipulation．
