Genetic Analysis of Root-to-Shoot Signaling and Rootstock-Mediated Tolerance to Water Deficit in Tomato

Developing drought-tolerant crops is an important strategy to mitigate climate change impacts. Modulating root system function provides opportunities to improve crop yield under biotic and abiotic stresses. With this aim, a commercial hybrid tomato variety was grafted on a genotyped population of 12...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Asins, María J., Albacete, Alfonso, Martínez-Andújar, Cristina, Celiktopuz, Eser, Solmaz, İlknur, Sarı, Nebahat, Pérez-Alfocea, Francisco, Dodd, Ian C., Carbonell, Emilio A., Topcu, Sevilay
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/225761
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/225761
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Drought
QTL analysis
Candidate genes
Cytokinins
Manganese
Transcription factors
MAPKKK cascade
S. pimpinellifolium
Rootstock breeding
Descripción
Sumario:Developing drought-tolerant crops is an important strategy to mitigate climate change impacts. Modulating root system function provides opportunities to improve crop yield under biotic and abiotic stresses. With this aim, a commercial hybrid tomato variety was grafted on a genotyped population of 123 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from <i>Solanum pimpinellifolium</i>, and compared with self- and non-grafted controls, under contrasting watering treatments (100% vs. 70% of crop evapotranspiration). Drought tolerance was genetically analyzed for vegetative and flowering traits, and root xylem sap phytohormone and nutrient composition. Under water deficit, around 25% of RILs conferred larger total shoot dry weight than controls. Reproductive and vegetative traits under water deficit were highly and positively correlated to the shoot water content. This association was genetically supported by linkage of quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling these traits within four genomic regions. From a total of 83 significant QTLs, most were irrigation-regime specific. The gene contents of 8 out of 12 genomic regions containing 46 QTLs were found significantly enriched at certain GO terms and some candidate genes from diverse gene families were identified. Thus, grafting commercial varieties onto selected rootstocks derived from <i>S. pimpinellifolium</i> provides a viable strategy to enhance drought tolerance in tomato.