Advances in Omics Approaches for Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Tomato

Abstract

Tomato, one of the most important crops worldwide, has a high demand in the fresh fruit market and processed food industries. Despite having considerably high productivity, continuous supply as per the market demand is hard to achieve, mostly because of periodic losses occurring due to biotic as well as abiotic stresses. Although tomato is a temperate crop, it is grown in almost all the climatic zones because of widespread demand, which makes it challenge to adapt in diverse conditions. Development of tomato cultivars with enhanced abiotic stress tolerance is one of the most sustainable approaches for its successful production. In this regard, efforts are being made to understand the stress tolerance mechanism, gene discovery, and interaction of genetic and environmental factors. Several omics approaches, tools, and resources have already been developed for tomato growing. Modern sequencing technologies have greatly accelerated genomics and transcriptomics studies in tomato. These advancements facilitate Quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping, genome-wide association studies (GWAS), and genomic selection (GS). However, limited efforts have been made in other omics branches like proteomics, metabolomics, and ionomics. Extensive cataloging of omics resources made here has highlighted the need for integration of omics approaches for efficient utilization of resources and a better understanding of the molecular mechanism. The information provided here will be helpful to understand the plant responses and the genetic regulatory networks involved in abiotic stress tolerance and efficient utilization of omics resources for tomato crop improvement.

An Overview of Abiotic Stress in Cereal Crops: Negative Impacts, Regulation, Biotechnology and Integrated Omics

“…The process of gene regulatory dynamism in various cellular, physiological and biochemical mechanisms in plants was altered by environmental factors. Therefore, to analyze the processes involved in this regulatory mechanism, several functional omics projects, have been initiated across the world in recent years [ 49 , 73 , 74 ]. Moreover, multiple omics and bioinformatics approaches have been used for developing crop plants that are tolerant to AbS through molecular breeding and genetic engineering and also through advancements and increasing knowledge in genetics, genomics, and molecular physiology [ 75 , 76 ].…”

Metabolomics, a Powerful Tool for Understanding Plant Abiotic Stress

“…Metabolites, analyzed by metabolomics, are defined as small molecules developed or modified during cellular metabolism [8]. The orderly identification and quantification of metabolites can provide the chemical fingerprint of a phenotype [13] and the biochemical response of an organism to specific conditions [14].…”

“…Large-scale metabolomic studies have made it possible for researchers to obtain a wealth of global data on metabolites and relevant metabolic pathways in an unprecedented manner [17]. Metabolomics has evolved into a powerful tool in many research areas, such as molecular epidemiology, toxicity assessment, biomarker discovery and identification [14][15][16][17][18] and plant research [12,17]. Currently, metabolomics has ventured into broader studies such as functional metabolomics, which is responsible for investigating the functions of specific metabolites [19].…”

Promoting Human Nutrition and Health through Plant Metabolomics: Current Status and Challenges

“…Therefore, metabolomes revealed by any combined metabolomics methods reflect only the tip of the iceberg of a cell, tissue, or organism. Nevertheless, the power (accuracy and coverage of metabolite measurements) of current metabolomics and bioinformatics is strong enough to support its application in both basic and applied research, which significantly facilitates crop breeding for yield and quality [ 15 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ], plant-derived drug discovery and production [ 21 , 22 , 23 ], safety assessment of genetically modified (GM) crops [ 24 , 25 , 26 ], and biohazards derived from plants [ 27 , 28 ].…”

“…Metabolomics can be particularly useful in crop improvement for yield, quality and safety; the underlying logic is that almost all editable and herbal crop parts, such as seeds, tubes, and roots, are primarily sinks of various metabolites from the upstream gene function and protein activity. In this case, plant metabolomics can be useful to identify genes that are associated with crop quality and safety under both normal and stress conditions to increase crop production and to meet the needs of food supply for increasing populations particularly under climate change conditions [ 15 , 17 , 28 , 29 , 30 ]. In addition, plant metabolomics helps to better understand biochemical bases of what we eat from dietary foods, how metabolites change along the process of production, storage and transportation, and processing and cooking, and thus to design healthier foods, to overcome obesity and malnutrition problems that affect human health worldwide [ 7 , 20 , 29 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ].…”