Abstract

Simple SummaryTomato is one of the most cultivated and economically important vegetable crops throughout the world. It is affected by a panoply of different pathogens that cause infectious diseases that reduce tomato yield and affect product quality, with the most common symptoms being wilts, leaf spots/blights, fruit spots, and rots. To survive, tomato, as other plants, have developed elaborate defense mechanisms against plant pathogens. Among several genes already identified in tomato response to pathogens, we highlight those encoding the transcription factors (TFs). TFs are regulators of gene expression and are involved in large-scale biological phenomena. Here, we present an overview of recent studies of tomato TFs regarding defense responses to pathogen attack, selected for their abundance, importance, and availability of functionally well-characterized members. Tomato TFs’ roles and the possibilities related to their use for genetic engineering in view of crop breeding are presented.Tomato, one of the most cultivated and economically important vegetable crops throughout the world, is affected by a panoply of different pathogens that reduce yield and affect product quality. The study of tomato–pathogen system arises as an ideal system for better understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying disease resistance, offering an opportunity of improving yield and quality of the products. Among several genes already identified in tomato response to pathogens, we highlight those encoding the transcription factors (TFs). TFs act as transcriptional activators or repressors of gene expression and are involved in large-scale biological phenomena. They are key regulators of central components of plant innate immune system and basal defense in diverse biological processes, including defense responses to pathogens. Here, we present an overview of recent studies of tomato TFs regarding defense responses to biotic stresses. Hence, we focus on different families of TFs, selected for their abundance, importance, and availability of functionally well-characterized members in response to pathogen attack. Tomato TFs’ roles and possibilities related to their use for engineering pathogen resistance in tomato are presented. With this review, we intend to provide new insights into the regulation of tomato defense mechanisms against invading pathogens in view of plant breeding.

Highlights

  • Plant pathogens cause severe losses in agriculture systems in terms of economics and production and are increasing worldwide

  • Since transcription factors (TFs) are key components of plant defense mechanisms and excellent candidates regarding crop improvement, in the present review, we focus on the identification and on the role of different families of TFs on tomato response to a large range of plant pathogens, including studies for engineering pathogen resistance in tomato plants

  • We report the silencing of the Powdery Mildew Resistance 4 (PMR4) gene through RNA interference (RNAi) that resulted in resistance to the tomato powdery mildew fungus Oidium neolycopersici [36]

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Summary

Introduction

Plant pathogens cause severe losses in agriculture systems in terms of economics and production and are increasing worldwide. Since TFs are key components of plant defense mechanisms and excellent candidates regarding crop improvement, in the present review, we focus on the identification and on the role of different families of TFs on tomato response to a large range of plant pathogens, including studies for engineering pathogen resistance in tomato plants. Expression in response to biotic stress and their use for engineering pathogen resistance in tomato plants. RNAi is a gene-silencing phenomenon, which can be used for the development of crops that are tolerant to stress conditions and disease-resistant, by the modification of the expression of a gene and for the assessment of gene function and plant metabolic engineering [31]. A non-transgenic tomato variety resistant to the same fungus was generated using the CRISPR/Cas technology through an edited homozygous loss-of-function mutations of MILDEW RESISTANT LOCUS O (slmlo1) tomato variety [26]

Transcription Factors Are Involved in Plant Defense Response
Transcription Factors Are Involved in Tomato Resistance to Biotic Stresses
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