DURETO · Rearm cultivated tomato with natural and durable resistance mechanisms from wild tomato species
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2015-05-01 → 2017-04-30
- EU contribution
- €165,599
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Rearm cultivated tomato with natural and durable resistance mechanisms from wild tomato species
Problem addressed: Insects are rapidly gaining resistance to present-day commercially available pesticides. Importance to society: Effective insecticides are being banned which threatens vegetable production in the EU. Solutions sought: Wild tomato species have the ability to produce a wide variety of natural defence compounds that have a toxic or repellent effect on insects. In tomato, these specialized chemicals are produced and stored in glandular hairs, called trichomes, on the surface of leaves and stems. Breeding in (chemically) protected environments, focused on yield and fruit characteristics but led to a loss of ability to produce effective defence compounds in cultivated tomatoes. It was previously shown that the introduction of the 7-epizingiberene biosynthetic pathway from a wild tomato ancestor in trichomes of cultivated tomato species results in an enhanced resistance to multiple pest organisms. However, it turns out that in addition to the introduction of biosynthetic genes, the regulatory factors that govern the production of these defence compounds are essential for successful incorporation of ‘wild resistance’ into breeding material. Very recently, some studies have shown that small non-coding RNA (small RNAs) were involved in specialized metabolite biosynthesis. Objectives This project aimed to discover metabolic defence mechanisms and their regulator still present in the trichomes of wild tomato species that can be re-introduced into cultivated tomato. 1. Insect resistance evaluation on 20 wild and cultivated tomatoes. 2. Trichome metabolomic profiles. 3. mRNA and small RNA sequencing of each of the trichome libraries 4. Association of the different insect phenotypes with metabolites and genes. 5. Comparative genomic approach by mapping the selected transcripts to their corresponding tomato genomes
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Insects are gaining resistance to commercially available pesticides and effective insecticides (e.g. neonicotinoids) are currently being banned. Consequently, there is a real threat that the EU vegetable production will be affected. Wild tomato species have the ability to defend themselves by producing natural defence compounds that have a toxic or repellent effect on insects. These compounds are produced and stored in glandular hairs (trichomes) on the plant stem and leaf surface. Extensive breeding in protected environments led to the loss of these defence compounds in cultivated tomatoes. It was previously shown that the introduction of the terpene 7-epizingiberene biosynthetic pathway from a wild tomato in trichomes of cultivated tomato results in an enhanced resistance to insects. However, the regulatory factors that govern the production of these defence compounds seem also essential for successful incorporation of ‘wild resistance’ into breeding material. Here, I aim to discover metabolic defence mechanisms present in the trichomes of wild tomato species that can be re-introduced into cultivated tomato with a focus on post-transcriptional regulation of biosynthetic pathways. I will evaluate insect resistance in a collection of wild and cultivated tomato accessions and associate phenotypic and transcriptional data via a Systems Biology approach. I will also sequence small RNAs and compare them quantitatively with messenger RNAs to identify post-transcriptional regulations. Next, I will follow a comparative genomic approach by mapping the selected transcripts to their corresponding tomato genomes to associate polymorphisms and resistance phenotypes. These results will be directly translated into molecular markers that the industry can implement in breeding programmes. This proposal will help me become an independent researcher, combining my background in plant biology with knowledge on bioinformatics, biostatistics and state-of-the-art technology.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM · AmsterdamCoordinatorNetherlands
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union