The Impact of Growing Area on the Expression of Fruit Traits Related to Sensory Perception in Two Tomato Cultivars.

Environmental conditions greatly influence the quality of tomato fruit by affecting the expression of genes, the abundance of metabolites, and the perception of sensorial attributes. In this study, a fruit transcriptome investigation, a sensory test, and a metabolomic analysis were performed to evaluate the impact of the environment on two popular tomato cultivars grown in two Italian regions. The transcriptional profile of each cultivar, cultivated in two different areas, highlighted differential expression in genes involved in pathways related to cell wall components such as pectin, lignin, and hemicellulose and sugars as well as in amino acids, phenylpropanoids, and pigment synthesis.

The First Genome-Wide Mildew Locus O Genes Characterization in the Plant Family.

Powdery mildew (PM) is a widespread plant disease that causes significant economic losses in thousands crops of temperate climates, including species. Multiple scientific studies describe a peculiar form of PM-resistance associated at the inactivation of specific members of the Mildew Locus O (MLO) gene family, referred to as mlo-resistance. The characterization of MLO genes, at the genomic level, would be a first step toward their potential use in breeding programs.

Comparison of Tomato Transcriptomic Profiles Reveals Overlapping Patterns in Abiotic and Biotic Stress Responses.

Until a few years ago, many studies focused on the transcriptomic response to single stresses. However, tomato cultivations are often constrained by a wide range of biotic and abiotic stress that can occur singularly or in combination, and several genes can be involved in the defensive mechanism response. Therefore, we analyzed and compared the transcriptomic responses of resistant and susceptible genotypes to seven biotic stresses (, , , , , Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) and ) and five abiotic stresses (drought, salinity, low temperatures, and oxidative stress) to identify genes involved in response to multiple stressors.

Genomic and metabolic profiling of two tomato contrasting cultivars for tolerance to Tuta absoluta.

Dissimilar patterns of variants affecting genes involved in response to herbivory, including those leading to difference in VOC production, were identified in tomato lines with contrasting response to Tuta absoluta. Tuta absoluta is one of the most destructive insect pest affecting tomato production, causing important yield losses both in open field and greenhouse. The selection of tolerant varieties to T.

NB-LRR Lineage-Specific Equipment Is Sorted Out by Sequence Pattern Adaptation and Domain Segment Shuffling.

The nucleotide-binding and leucine-rich repeat (NB-LRR) genes, also known as resistance ()-genes, play an important role in the activation of immune responses. In recent years, large-scale studies have been performed to highlight the diversification of plant NB-LRR repertories. It is well known that, to provide new functionalities, NB-LRR sequences are subject to duplication, domain fusions and acquisition and other kinds of mutations.

Multilevel evolution shapes the function of NB-LRR encoding genes in plant innate immunity.

A sophisticated innate immune system based on diverse pathogen receptor genes (PRGs) evolved in the history of plant life. To reconstruct the direction and magnitude of evolutionary trajectories of a given gene family, it is critical to detect the ancestral signatures. The rearrangement of functional domains made up the diversification found in PRG repertoires.

PRGdb 4.0: an updated database dedicated to genes involved in plant disease resistance process.

The Plant Resistance Genes database (PRGdb; http://prgdb.org/prgdb4/) has been greatly expanded, keeping pace with the increasing amount of available knowledge and data (sequenced proteomes, cloned genes, public analysis data, etc.).

Tomato genomic prediction for good performance under high-temperature and identification of loci involved in thermotolerance response.

Many studies showed that few degrees above tomato optimum growth temperature threshold can lead to serious loss in production. Therefore, the development of innovative strategies to obtain tomato cultivars with improved yield under high temperature conditions is a main goal both for basic genetic studies and breeding activities. In this paper, a F4 segregating population was phenotypically evaluated for quantitative and qualitative traits under heat stress conditions.

Tomato transcriptomic response to Tuta absoluta infestation.

Background: The South America pinworm, Tuta absoluta, is a destructive pest of tomato that causes important losses worldwide. Breeding of resistant/tolerant tomato cultivars could be an effective strategy for T. absoluta management but, despite the economic importance of tomato, very limited information is available about its response to this treat.

The Tomato Interspecific NB-LRR Gene Arsenal and Its Impact on Breeding Strategies.

Tomato ( L.) is a model system for studying the molecular basis of resistance in plants. The investigation of evolutionary dynamics of tomato resistance (R)-loci provides unique opportunities for identifying factors that promote or constrain genome evolution.

Alien Domains Shaped the Modular Structure of Plant NLR Proteins.

Plant innate immunity mostly relies on nucleotide-binding (NB) and leucine-rich repeat (LRR) intracellular receptors to detect pathogen-derived molecules and to induce defense responses. A multitaxa reconstruction of NB-domain associations allowed us to identify the first NB-LRR arrangement in the Chlorophyta division of the Viridiplantae. Our analysis points out that the basic NOD-like receptor (NLR) unit emerged in Chlorophytes by horizontal transfer and its diversification started from Toll/interleukin receptor-NB-LRR members.

Deciphering the biological processes underlying tomato biomass production and composition.

The huge amounts of biomass residues, remaining in the field after tomato fruits harvesting, can be utilized to produce bioenergy. A multiple level approach aimed to characterize two Solanum pennellii introgression lines (ILs), with contrasting phenotypes for plant architecture and biomass was carried out. The study of gene expression dynamics, microscopy cell traits and qualitative and quantitative cell wall chemical compounds variation enabled the discovery of key genes and cell processes involved biomass accumulation and composition.

A chromosome-anchored eggplant genome sequence reveals key events in Solanaceae evolution.

With approximately 450 species, spiny Solanum species constitute the largest monophyletic group in the Solanaceae family, but a high-quality genome assembly from this group is presently missing. We obtained a chromosome-anchored genome assembly of eggplant (Solanum melongena), containing 34,916 genes, confirming that the diploid gene number in the Solanaceae is around 35,000. Comparative genomic studies with tomato (S.

Evolutionary conservation of MLO gene promoter signatures.

Background: Powdery mildew (PM) is a widespread fungal disease of plants in temperate climates, causing significant economic losses in agricultural settings. Specific homologs of the MLO gene family are PM susceptibility factors, as their loss-of function results in durable PM resistance (mlo resistance) in several plant species. The role of MLO susceptibility genes in plant-pathogen interactions is still elusive, however it is known that they are strongly upregulated following PM infection.

Unraveling the complexity of transcriptomic, metabolomic and quality environmental response of tomato fruit.

Background: The environment has a profound influence on the organoleptic quality of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) fruit, the extent of which depends on a well-regulated and dynamic interplay among genes, metabolites and sensorial attributes. We used a systems biology approach to elucidate the complex interacting mechanisms regulating the plasticity of sensorial traits. To investigate environmentally challenged transcriptomic and metabolomic remodeling and evaluate the organoleptic consequences of such variations we grown three tomato varieties, Heinz 1706, whose genome was sequenced as reference and two "local" ones, San Marzano and Vesuviano in two different locations of Campania region (Italy).

Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. radicis-lycopersici induces distinct transcriptome reprogramming in resistant and susceptible isogenic tomato lines.

Background: Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. radicis-lycopersici (FORL) is one of the most destructive necrotrophic pathogens affecting tomato crops, causing considerable field and greenhouse yield losses.

Structure, evolution and functional inference on the Mildew Locus O (MLO) gene family in three cultivated Cucurbitaceae spp.

Background: The powdery mildew disease affects thousands of plant species and arguably represents the major fungal threat for many Cucurbitaceae crops, including melon (Cucumis melo L.), watermelon (Citrullus lanatus L.) and zucchini (Cucurbita pepo L.

The Solanum commersonii Genome Sequence Provides Insights into Adaptation to Stress Conditions and Genome Evolution of Wild Potato Relatives.

Here, we report the draft genome sequence of Solanum commersonii, which consists of ∼830 megabases with an N50 of 44,303 bp anchored to 12 chromosomes, using the potato (Solanum tuberosum) genome sequence as a reference. Compared with potato, S. commersonii shows a striking reduction in heterozygosity (1.

Genetic variability and evolutionary diversification of membrane ABC transporters in plants.

Background: ATP-binding cassette proteins have been recognized as playing a crucial role in the regulation of growth and resistance processes in all kingdoms of life. They have been deeply studied in vertebrates because of their role in drug resistance, but much less is known about ABC superfamily functions in plants.

Results: Recently released plant genome sequences allowed us to identify 803 ABC transporters in four vascular plants (Oryza.

Tomato genome-wide transcriptional responses to Fusarium wilt and Tomato Mosaic Virus.

Since gene expression approaches constitute a starting point for investigating plant-pathogen systems, we performed a transcriptional analysis to identify a set of genes of interest in tomato plants infected with F. oxysporum f. sp.

Patchwork sequencing of tomato San Marzano and Vesuviano varieties highlights genome-wide variations.

Background: Investigation of tomato genetic resources is a crucial issue for better straight evolution and genetic studies as well as tomato breeding strategies. Traditional Vesuviano and San Marzano varieties grown in Campania region (Southern Italy) are famous for their remarkable fruit quality. Owing to their economic and social importance is crucial to understand the genetic basis of their unique traits.

Proteomic investigation of response to FORL infection in tomato roots.

Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. radicis-lycopersici (FORL) leading to fusarium crown and root rot is considered one of the most destructive tomato soilborne diseases occurring in greenhouse and field crops.

In silico approach to predict candidate R proteins and to define their domain architecture.

Background: Plant resistance genes, which encode R-proteins, constitute one of the most important and widely investigated gene families. Thanks to the use of both genetic and molecular approaches, more than 100 R genes have been cloned so far. Analysis of resistance proteins and investigation of domain properties may afford insights into their role and function.