Trichomes are specialised structures that originate from the aerial epidermis of plants, and play key roles in the interaction between the plant and the environment. In this study we investigated the trichome phenotypes of four lines selected from the Solanum lycopersicum × Solanum pennellii introgression line (IL) population for differences in trichome density, and their impact on plant performance under water-deficit conditions. We performed comparative analyses at morphological and photosynthetic levels of plants grown under well-watered (WW) and also under water-deficit (WD) conditions in the field. Under WD conditions, we observed higher trichome density in ILs 11-3 and 4-1, and lower stomatal size in IL 4-1 compared with plants grown under WW conditions. The intrinsic water use efficiency (WUE ) was higher under WD conditions in IL 11-3, and the plant-level water use efficiency (WUE ) was also higher in IL 11-3 and in M82 for WD plants. The ratio of trichomes to stomata (T/S) was positively correlated with WUE and WUE , indicating an important role for both trichomes and stomata in drought tolerance in tomato, and offering a promising way to select for improved water use efficiency of major crops.
A detailed screen of the Solanum lycopersicum cv. M82 x Solanum pennellii ac. LA716 introgression line (IL) population revealed ILs with altered leaf trichome densities, abnormal proportions of different trichome types and aberrant trichome morphologies leading to the identification of previously unexplored genomic regions with roles in trichome formation in tomato.
8The aerial epidermis of plants plays a major role in their environment interactions, and the 9 development of its cellular components -trichomes, stomata and pavement cells-is still not fully 10 understood. We have performed a detailed screen of the leaf epidermis of two generations of the 11 well-established Solanum pennellii ac. LA716 x Solanum lycopersicum cv. M82 introgression line (IL) 12 population using a combination of scanning electron microscopy techniques. Quantification of the 13 trichome and stomatal densities in the ILs revealed 18 genomic regions with a low trichome density 14 and 4 ILs with a high stomatal density. We also found ILs with abnormal proportions of different 15 trichome types and aberrant trichome morphologies. This work has led to the identification of new, 16 unexplored genomic regions with roles in trichome and stomatal formation and provides an 17 important dataset for further studies on tomato epidermal development that is publically available 18 to the research community. 19
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