Background: Tomato is an important part of daily food, rich source of multitude nutrients, suitable candidate for bio-pharmaceutical production due to berry size and has numerous health benefits. Transcriptional regulation of metalloregulatory heat shock protein-70 family plays pivotal role in plants tolerance against abiotic stress factors including salinity, heat, cold, drought and trace metal elements such as cadmium (Cd2+). Methods: Here, we provide comprehensive report on in-silico identification of SlHsp70 family genes in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and their expression in tomato via qPCR analysis under broad range of trace metal elements. Results: In-silico analysis revealed 23 SlHsp70 family genes in tomato, phylogenetically divided into four groups I–IV and displayed expression in all tissues. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis revealed that SlHSP70 proteins were membrane localized which were involved in metal ions translocation and oxidoreductase activity to counter hyper-accumlation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Conclusions: Cd2+ is a widespread heavy metal soil contaminent which is continously polluting fertile soils, a knotty issue which has serious implications over photosynthesis, nitrogen assimilation, minerals and water absorption by plants. Plants exposure to Cd2+ and subsequent qRT-PCR analysis revealed increased expression of SlHsp70-11 in tomato roots, which can be employed in breeding low Cd2+ enriched tomato varieties.

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Alternative splicing (AS) in plants plays a key role in regulating the expression of numerous transcripts from a single gene in a regulatory pathway. Variable concentrations of growth regulatory hormones and external stimuli trigger alternative splicing to switch among different growth stages and adapt to environmental stresses. In the AS phenomenon, a spliceosome causes differential transcriptional modifications in messenger RNA (mRNAs), resulting in partial or complete retention of one or more introns as compared to fully spliced mRNA. Differentially expressed proteins translated from intron-retaining messenger RNA (mRNAir) perform vital functions in the feedback mechanism. At the post-transcriptional level, AS causes the remodeling of transcription factors (TFs) by the addition or deletion of binding domains to activate and/or repress transcription. In this study, we have summarized the specific role of AS in the regulation of gene expression through repression and activation of the transcriptional regulatory network under external stimuli and switch among developmental stages.