Location: Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory
Project Number: 8042-21000-143-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Aug 13, 2018
End Date: Aug 12, 2023
Objective:
Objective 1: Identify metabolic pathways and nutrient molecules that are impacted by cold, heat, and drought stress in tomato. [NP301, C3, PS3A]
Objective 2: Determine the mineral and nutritional metabolite composition of field-grown legume and some non-legume cover crops, and determine how their constituents modify tomato stress tolerance – cold, heat, drought, and yield – using existing transgenic or mutant tomato lines. [NP301, C3, PS3A; C1, PS1A]
Objective 3: Determine how plant responses to cold, heat, and drought are modified at the transcript level in tomato by the hyperaccumulation of polyamines and/or the reduction of the stress hormones, ethylene and methyl jasmonate. [NP301, C3, PS3A]
Approach:
Utilize previously developed genetically engineered tomato genotypes - two that have fruit ripening-specific accumulation of polyamines spermidine and spermine (Spd-Spm), other two that constitutively-express spermidine, one that is 50% reduced in fruit-ripening hormone ethylene (Eth-def), another that is deficient in the stress hormone methyl jasmonate (JAS-def), a cross between Eth-def and Spd-Spm, and a cross between JAS-def and Spd-Spm – and test them for tolerance against abiotic stresses such as drought, heat, and cold, and yield. Analyses for water use efficiency (WUE), gene medleys, nutrient content, yield, fruit quantity and quality, metabolic pathways, and gene networks will be defined. In addition, field-grown legume and non-legume cover crops will be analyzed for their levels of metabolites and biomolecules just before flowering time to provide a lead into their utilization for imparting field-based resistance against abiotic stresses in field-grown tomato genotypes.
