Molecular Genetics of Drought Resistance Response in Tomato and Related Species

O’Connell, Mary A.; Medina, Andrea; Peña, Pedro Sánchez; Treviño, Marcela

doi:10.1201/b10744-9

“…The observed role of acylsugars in protecting against desiccation (Fig. 8; S8) is consistent with reports from other Solanaceae (Fobes et al, 1985;O' Connell et al, 2007;Kroumova et al, 2016), though this has not previously been verified with isogenic mutant and wildtype plants. In N. benthamiana, the drought-protective function of acylsugars is likely an adaptation to the seasonally arid native habitat in northwestern Australia (Goodin et al, 2008; The Australasian Virtual Herbarium, https://avh.ala.org.au).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Acylsugars protect Nicotiana benthamiana against insect herbivory and desiccation

Feng

¹

,

Acosta‐Gamboa

²

,

Kruse

³

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The observed role of acylsugars in protecting against desiccation (Fig. 8; S8) is consistent with reports from other Solanaceae (Fobes et al, 1985;O' Connell et al, 2007;Kroumova et al, 2016), though this has not previously been verified with isogenic mutant and wildtype plants. In N. benthamiana, the drought-protective function of acylsugars is likely an adaptation to the seasonally arid native habitat in northwestern Australia (Goodin et al, 2008; The Australasian Virtual Herbarium, https://avh.ala.org.au).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Acylsugars Protect Nicotiana Benthamiana Against Insect Herbivory and Desiccation

Feng

¹

,

Acosta‐Gamboa

²

,

Kruse

³

et al. 2021

Preprint

2

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Nicotiana benthamiana is used extensively as a transient expression platform for functional analysis of genes from other species. Acylsugars, which are produced in the trichomes, are a hypothesized cause of the relatively high insect resistance that is observed in N. benthamiana. We characterized the N. benthamiana acylsugar profile, bioinformatically identified two acylsugar acyltransferase genes, ASAT1 and ASAT2, and used CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis to produce acylsugar-deficient plants for investigation of insect resistance and foliar water loss. Whereas asat1 mutations reduced accumulation, asat2 mutations causedalmost complete depletion of foliar acylsucroses. Three hemipteran and three lepidopteran herbivores survived, gained weight, and/or reproduced significantly better on asat2 mutants than on wildtype N. benthamiana . Both asat1 and asat2 mutations reduced the water content and increased leaf temperature. Our results demonstrate the specific function of two ASAT proteins in N. benthamiana acylsugar biosynthesis, insect resistance, and desiccation tolerance. The improved growth of aphids and whiteflies on asat2 mutants will facilitate the use of N. benthamiana as a transient expression platform for the functional analysis of insect effectors and resistance genes from other plant species. Similarly, the absence of acylsugars in asat2 mutants will enable analysis of acylsugar biosynthesis genes from other Solanaceae by transient expression.

show abstract

“…However, S. pennellii possess the inherent ability to increase water use efficiency under drought conditions (Table 3), unlike cultivated S. lycopersicum, due to thick, round, waxy, leaves having acyl-sugars in the trichomes (Rick, 1973;O'Connell et al, 2007;Nemeskeri et al, 2010;Nahar and Ullah, 2011;Nicoleta and Nedelea, 2012).…”

Section: Efficiency In Tomatomentioning

confidence: 97%

“…S. chilense is adapted to desert areas of northern Chile and found in areas where no other vegetation grows (Maldonado et al, 2003). This species is differentiated by leaf characters and well-developed, longer, primary roots and more extensive secondary roots than cultivated tomato (Sanchez, 1999;O'Connell et al, 2007;Nicoleta and Nedelea, 2012).…”

Section: Efficiency In Tomatomentioning

confidence: 98%