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Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) are members of the Solanaceae (nightshade family) and have the same basic chromosome number (x = 12). However, they cannot be cross-hybridized and, until now, it was unknown how conserved the gene order might be between these two species. We report herein the construction of a genetic linkage map of potato chromosomes based on genomic and cDNA clones from tomato. The potato map was drawn from segregation data derived from the interspecific cross S. phureja X (S. tuberosum X S. chacoense) (2n = 2x = 24), and consists of 135 markers defining 12 distinct linkage groups. Nearly all of the tomato probes tested hybridized to potato DNA, and in most cases, the copy number of the employed clones was the same in both species. Furthermore, all clones mapped to the same linkage group in both species. For nine chromosomes, the order of loci appears to be identical in the two species, while for the other three, intrachromosomal rearrangements are apparent, all of which appear to be paracentric inversions with one breakpoint at or near the centromere. These results are consistent with cytogenetic theory, previously untested in plants, which predicts that paracentric inversions will have the least negative effect on fitness and thus be the most likely form of chromosomal rearrangements to survive through evolutionary time. Linkage maps based on a common set of restriction fragment length polymorphism markers provide a basis for uniting the previously separate disciplines of tomato and potato genetics. Using these maps, it may now be possible to test theories about homologies or orthologies of other genes, including those coding for disease resistance and stress tolerances.