Tomatoes - A model crop of solanaceous plants

Authors: ANWAR, RAHEEL - University Of Faisalabad; FATIMA, TAHIRA - Purdue University; Mattoo, Autar

Submitted to: Oxford University Press
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/27/2019
Publication Date: 10/1/2019
Citation: Anwar, R., Fatima, T., Mattoo, A.K. 2019. Tomatoes - A model crop of solanaceous plants. Oxford University Press. p. 1-50. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199389414.013.223.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199389414.013.223

Interpretive Summary: Tomato is recognized as an important vegetable crop and has become a good model system for studies on growth, fruit development and ripening, genetic regulation, epigenetics, abiotic/biotic stress of fruits. This manuscript highlights and updates recent advances in these areas utilizing tomato as a model for increasing nutritional biomolecules and developing resistance against abiotic and biotic stresses. Its contents will be of interest to biologists, nutritionists, academicians, industry and scientists.

Technical Abstract: Tomato is one of the major vegetables as regards to consumption and its production volume in the world, being cultivated on an area of ~4.8 million hectares with an annual production of 182 million tonnes. It is an established model system for studying fleshy fruits, developing novel information on ripening and senescence of fruits, and understanding the role of the ripening hormone, ethylene as well as important signal transduction pathways because it is amenable to genetic and molecular dissection. In addition to finding mechanisms to increase fruit yield and longer shelf life, the consumer recognition of fruits as sources of health-promoting nutrients for a healthier life has intensified research on tomato. Excellent published research has unraveled dynamic physiological and biochemical changes during ripening of tomato, while major excitement has been through the advances made in the identification of gene regulators and hormonal crosstalk. These players include transcription factors, micoRNAs, signaling molecules and their crosstalk at genetic and epigenetic levels. However, plants are sessile, therefore constantly exposed to environmental extremes, including diverse abiotic and biotic stressors that impact their growth, yield and nutritional quality. Our understanding of responses of tomato to these vagaries of nature has improved, and the identification of genetic and biochemical determinants of stress pathways should help in developing new and engineered tomato plants that can withstand these stresses.