Project description:Tomato plants are submitted to a high diversity of herbivory pests, among them the leafminer Tuta absoluta, considered as one of the most important threat on the tomato worldwide production. In spite of its susceptibility to this pest, a better understanding of the tomato plant response to T. absoluta herbivory will help defining plant resistance traits and enlarging the range of possibilities for an efficient integrated pest management strategy. We analyzed the transcriptomic response in leaves of tomato (cv. Better Bush) submitted to the herbivory of T. absoluta larvae after 5h and 24h.
Project description:The leaf miner, Tuta absoluta, is a notorious 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. To elucidate the defense mechanisms to the herbivore feeding a comparative analysis was performed between a tolerant and susceptible cultivated tomato at both morphological and at transcriptome level to highlight constitutive leaf barriers, molecular and biochemical mechanisms to counter the effect of T. absoluta attack. The tolerant genotype showed an enhanced constitutive barrier due to the higher density of trichomes and increased inducible reactions upon mild infestation thanks to the activation/repression of key transcription factors regulating a higher number of genes involved in cuticle formation and cell wall strength as well as of antinutritive enzymes, and genes involved in the production of chemical toxins and bioactive secondary metabolites. Overall, our findings provide an important foundation for further understanding the insect resistance mechanisms of resistant/tolerant varieties that can be exploited for developing T. absoluta tolerant cultivars, acting as important component of integrated pest management strategy for more sustainable production.