Diseases still represent a major concern for tobacco growers all over the world, causing millions of dollars of losses each year. The most economically important are fungus like blue mold, soil borne bacteria like bacterial wilt, or aphid-transmitted viruses like potato virus Y (PVY).

Besides the economic losses related to the attack of different pathogens on tobacco, the impact of the use of crop protection agents (CPAs) is an important issue. A careful use of CPAs is essential to ensure compliance with guidance levels set by industry (CORESTA Guide No. 1). To limit the use of CPAs, it is essential to develop resistant cultivars, and to multiply the sources of resistance in a moving environment where pathogens are able to resist CPAs or bypass old resistance genes.

In recent years, there has been an acceleration in the discovery of resistance genes, thanks to the significant progress of -omics and next generation sequencing methodologies. In this presentation, different kinds of strategies developed to identify new genes or markers in tobacco will be presented, and an example of this acceleration will be given through the story of resistance to PVY, a virus against which breeders can now fight with the strong and multiple tools available.