Abstract
Vegetable grafting is extensively used today in agricultural production to control soil-borne pathogens, abiotic and biotic stresses and to improve phenotypic characteristics of the scion. Commercial vegetable grafting is currently practiced in tomato, watermelon, melon, eggplant, cucumber, and pepper. It is also regarded as a rapid alternative to the relatively slow approach of breeding for increased environmental-stress tolerance of fruit vegetables. However, even though grafting has been used for centuries, until today, there are still many issues that have not been elucidated. This review will emphasize on the important mechanisms taking place during grafting, especially the genomic interactions between grafting partners and the impact of rootstocks in scion’s performance. Special emphasis will be drawn on the relation between vegetable grafting, epigenetics, and the changes in morphology and quality of the products. Recent advances in plant science such as next-generation sequencing provide new information regarding the molecular interactions between rootstock and scion. It is now evidenced that genetic exchange is happening across grafting junctions between rootstock and scion, potentially affecting grafting-mediated effects already recorded in grafted plants. Furthermore, significant changes in DNA methylation are recorded in grafted scions, suggesting that these epigenetic mechanisms could be implicated in grafting effects. In this aspect, we also discuss the process and the molecular aspects of rootstock scion communication. Finally, we provide with an extensive overview of gene expression changes recorded in grafted plants and how these are related to the phenotypic changes observed. Τhis review finally seeks to elucidate the dynamics of rootstock-scion interactions and thus stimulate more research on grafting in the future. In a future where sustainable agricultural production is the way forward, grafting could play an important role to develop products of higher yield and quality in a safe and “green” way.
Highlights
In a world where new pests are emerging every day and climate change alters the environment, food production in the future will be challenging
The re-establishment of the new plant entity starts with tissue connection between the rootstock and the scion at the grafting points, it proceeds with a vigorous cell division phase that results in the formation of a callus and common cell wall and it ends with the establishment of a unique vasculature system (Yin et al, 2012; Melnyk et al, 2015)
Genes coding for auxin efflux proteins were found to be transcriptionally induced in Arabidopsis scions, above the graft junctions while auxin response genes are important at the rootstocks below graft junctions, suggesting that auxin may be the signal that is transported from the scion to the rootstock to activate vascular reconnection at the very early stages of grafting (Melnyk et al, 2015, 2018)
Summary
In a world where new pests are emerging every day and climate change alters the environment, food production in the future will be challenging. Recognizing the emerging role of plant grafting in vegetable production, USDA established a grafting project for the improvement of science and use of vegetable grafting, involving academics from 10 United States universities.. Recognizing the emerging role of plant grafting in vegetable production, USDA established a grafting project for the improvement of science and use of vegetable grafting, involving academics from 10 United States universities.1 It is still unknown how plant grafting was discovered but it is likely that it originated from the occurrence of grafting in nature when two different plants come randomly in contact and unite their limbs or roots without human intervention. The production cost of grafted plants is higher than the conventional This is because manual grafting is highly labor-intensive as it demands highly skilled staff often working through a narrow time planting window to achieve high numbers of plants being grafted (Kubota et al, 2017). Work on the effects of grafting and rootstock-scion interactions is expected to shed more light into the complex interplay of grafting partners and the effect of this interplay into scion yield and quality
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