The IPB has once again been recognized for its exemplary actions in terms of equal opportunity-oriented personnel and organizational policies and has received the TOTAL E-QUALITY certification for the…
The Plant Science Student Conference (PSSC) has been organised by students from the two Leibniz institutes, IPK and IPB, every year for the last 20 years. In this interview, Christina Wäsch (IPK) and…
The leaves of the wild tomato Solanum galapagense harbor type-IV glandular trichomes (GT) that produce high levels of acylsugars (AS), conferring insect resistance. Conversely, domesticated tomatoes (S. lycopersicum) lack type-IV trichomes on the leaves of mature plants, preventing high AS production, thus rendering the plants more vulnerable to insect predation. We hypothesized that cultivated tomatoes engineered to harbor type-IV trichomes on the leaves of adult plants could be insect-resistant. We introgressed the genetic determinants controlling type-IV trichome development from S. galapagense into cv. Micro-Tom (MT) and created a line named “Galapagos-enhanced trichomes” (MT-Get). Mapping-by-sequencing revealed that five chromosomal regions of S. galapagense were present in MT-Get. Further genetic mapping showed that S. galapagense alleles in chromosomes 1, 2, and 3 were sufficient for the presence of type-IV trichomes on adult organs but at lower densities. Metabolic and gene expression analyses demonstrated that type-IV trichome density was not accompanied by the AS production and exudation in MT-Get. Although the plants produce a significant amount of acylsugars, those are still not enough to make them resistant to whiteflies. We demonstrate that type-IV glandular trichome development is insufficient for high AS accumulation. The results from our study provided additional insights into the steps necessary for breeding an insect-resistant tomato.