Abstract
BACKGROUND: Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), one of the world's most important vegetable crops, is highly susceptible to necrotrophic fungal pathogens such as Botrytis cinerea and Alternaria solani. Improving resistance through conventional breeding has been hampered by a shortage of resistant germplasm and difficulties in introgressing resistance into elite germplasm without linkage drag. The goal of this study was to explore natural variation among wild Solanum species to identify new sources of resistance to necrotrophic fungi and dissect mechanisms underlying resistance against B. cinerea. RESULTS: Among eight wild species evaluated for resistance against B. cinerea and A. solani, S. lycopersicoides expressed the highest levels of resistance against both pathogens. Resistance against B. cinerea manifested as containment of pathogen growth. Through next-generation RNA sequencing and de novo assembly of the S. lycopersicoides transcriptome, changes in gene expression were analyzed during pathogen infection. In response to B. cinerea, differentially expressed transcripts grouped into four categories: genes whose expression rapidly increased then rapidly decreased, genes whose expression rapidly increased and plateaued, genes whose expression continually increased, and genes with decreased expression. Homology-based searches also identified a limited number of highly expressed B. cinerea genes. Almost immediately after infection by B. cinerea, S. lycopersicoides suppressed photosynthesis and metabolic processes involved in growth, energy generation, and response to stimuli, and simultaneously induced various defense-related genes, including pathogenesis-related protein 1 (PR1), a beta-1,3-glucanase (glucanase), and a subtilisin-like protease, indicating a shift in priority towards defense. Moreover, cluster analysis revealed novel, uncharacterized genes that may play roles in defense against necrotrophic fungal pathogens in S. lycopersicoides. The expression of orthologous defense-related genes in S. lycopersicum after infection with B. cinerea revealed differences in the onset and intensity of induction, thus illuminating a potential mechanism explaining the increased susceptibility. Additionally, metabolic pathway analyses identified putative defense-related categories of secondary metabolites. CONCLUSIONS: In sum, this study provided insight into resistance against necrotrophic fungal pathogens in the Solanaceae, as well as novel sequence resources for S. lycopersicoides.
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Claims 9
Claim · model-written summary
Solanum lycopersicoides expressed the highest levels of resistance to Botrytis cinerea and Alternaria solani among eight wild species.
- Taxon
- S. lycopersicoidesSolanum lycopersicoidese0
- Interactor
- B. cinerea
Botrytis cinereae0pathogen - Second interactor
- A. solani
Alternaria solanie0pathogen - Outcome
- resistancee0
- Direction
- highest levelse0
- Comparator
- eight wild speciese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Among eight wild species evaluated for resistance against B. cinerea and A. solani, S. lycopersicoides expressed the highest levels of resistance against both pathogens”
Claim · model-written summary
Resistance of S. lycopersicoides to B. cinerea manifested as containment of pathogen growth.
- Taxon
- S. lycopersicoidesSolanum lycopersicoidese0
- Interactor
- B. cinereaBotrytis cinereae1pathogen
- Outcome
- containment of pathogen growthe1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Among eight wild species evaluated for resistance against B. cinerea and A. solani, S. lycopersicoides expressed the highest levels of resistance against both pathogens”
e1“Resistance against B. cinerea manifested as containment of pathogen growth”
Claim · model-written summary
In response to B. cinerea, differentially expressed transcripts of S. lycopersicoides grouped into four categories.
- Taxon
- S. lycopersicoidesSolanum lycopersicoidese0
- Interactor
- B. cinereaBotrytis cinereae2pathogen
- Outcome
- differentially expressed transcriptse2
- Value
- four categoriese2
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Among eight wild species evaluated for resistance against B. cinerea and A. solani, S. lycopersicoides expressed the highest levels of resistance against both pathogens”
e2“In response to B. cinerea, differentially expressed transcripts grouped into four categories”
Claim · model-written summary
Almost immediately after B. cinerea infection, S. lycopersicoides suppressed photosynthesis and metabolic processes.
- Taxon
- S. lycopersicoidesSolanum lycopersicoidese4
- Treatment
- infection by B. cinereae3
- Interactor
- B. cinereaBotrytis cinereae3pathogen
- Outcome
- photosynthesis and metabolic processese4
- Direction
- suppressede4
- Qualifier
- Almost immediatelye3
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Among eight wild species evaluated for resistance against B. cinerea and A. solani, S. lycopersicoides expressed the highest levels of resistance against both pathogens”
e3“Almost immediately after infection by B. cinerea”
e4“S. lycopersicoides suppressed photosynthesis and metabolic processes involved in growth, energy generation, and response to stimuli”
Claim · model-written summary
B. cinerea infection induced defense-related genes in S. lycopersicoides, including PR1 and a glucanase.
- Taxon
- S. lycopersicoidesSolanum lycopersicoidese0
- Treatment
- infection by B. cinereae3
- Interactor
- B. cinereaBotrytis cinereae3pathogen
- Gene
- pathogenesis-related protein 1 (PR1)e5
- Outcome
- defense-related genese5
- Direction
- inducede5
- Qualifier
- a beta-1,3-glucanase (glucanase), and a subtilisin-like proteasee5
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Among eight wild species evaluated for resistance against B. cinerea and A. solani, S. lycopersicoides expressed the highest levels of resistance against both pathogens”
e3“Almost immediately after infection by B. cinerea”
e5“simultaneously induced various defense-related genes, including pathogenesis-related protein 1 (PR1), a beta-1,3-glucanase (glucanase), and a subtilisin-like protease”
Claim · model-written summary
Cluster analysis suggested novel uncharacterized genes may play roles in defense against necrotrophic fungi in S. lycopersicoides.
- Taxon
- S. lycopersicoidesSolanum lycopersicoidese0
- Outcome
- novel, uncharacterized genese6
- Qualifier
- may play roles in defense against necrotrophic fungal pathogense6
Verbatim
e0“Among eight wild species evaluated for resistance against B. cinerea and A. solani, S. lycopersicoides expressed the highest levels of resistance against both pathogens”
e6“cluster analysis revealed novel, uncharacterized genes that may play roles in defense against necrotrophic fungal pathogens”
Claim · model-written summary
Orthologous defense-related genes in S. lycopersicum showed differences in onset and intensity of induction after B. cinerea infection.
- Taxon
- S. lycopersicum
Solanum lycopersicume7 - Interactor
- B. cinereaBotrytis cinereae7pathogen
- Gene
- orthologous defense-related genese7
- Outcome
- onset and intensity of inductione7
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e7“The expression of orthologous defense-related genes in S. lycopersicum after infection with B. cinerea revealed differences in the onset and intensity of induction”
Claim · model-written summary
Metabolic pathway analyses identified putative defense-related categories of secondary metabolites in S. lycopersicoides.
- Taxon
- S. lycopersicoidesSolanum lycopersicoidese0
- Outcome
- putative defense-related categories of secondary metabolitese1
Verbatim
e0“Among eight wild species evaluated for resistance against B. cinerea and A. solani, S. lycopersicoides expressed the highest levels of resistance against both pathogens”
e1“metabolic pathway analyses identified putative defense-related categories of secondary metabolites”
Claim · model-written summary
Homology-based searches identified a limited number of highly expressed B. cinerea genes during infection.
- Taxon
- S. lycopersicoidesSolanum lycopersicoidese0
- Interactor
- B. cinereaBotrytis cinereae1pathogen
- Outcome
- highly expressed B. cinerea genese1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Among eight wild species evaluated for resistance against B. cinerea and A. solani, S. lycopersicoides expressed the highest levels of resistance against both pathogens”
e1“Homology-based searches also identified a limited number of highly expressed B. cinerea genes”