Designing a novel tomato ideotype for future cultivation in space manned missions

Pagliarello, Riccardo; Bennici, Elisabetta; Cemmi, Alessia; Sarcina, Ilaria Di; Spelt, Cornelis; Nardi, Luca; Fiore, Antonella Del; Rossi, P.; Paolini, Francesca; Koes, Ronald; Quattrocchio, Francesca; Benvenuto, Eugenio; Massa, Silvia

doi:10.3389/fspas.2022.1040633

Cited by 1 publication

(3 citation statements)

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“…Notably, anthocyanins are described to help protecting plants themselves from several abiotic stresses such as IR ( Kaur et al., 2023 ). Therefore, we have engineered the tomato dwarf determinate variety ‘MicroTom’, that is considered as one of the suitable varieties for space application of agriculture, to express PhAN4, a MYB-like transcription factor able to restore the biosynthesis of anthocyanins in tomato ( Pagliarello et al., 2023 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the present work, we characterized the phenotypic effects of IR through administration of gamma radiation on the engineered Solanum lycopersicum determinate miniature-dwarf cultivar ‘MicroTom’ expressing a constitutive single copy of the PhAN4 MYB gene from Petunia hybrida ( Pagliarello et al., 2023 ). Thanks to dwarf determined growth (i.e., approximately 15 cm height at maturity) and short life cycle (90-100 days from sowing to fruit ripening), MicroTom is ideal in view of both ground-based and space investigations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thanks to dwarf determined growth (i.e., approximately 15 cm height at maturity) and short life cycle (90-100 days from sowing to fruit ripening), MicroTom is ideal in view of both ground-based and space investigations. These engineered plants have demonstrated bioaccumulation of anthocyanins in plant tissues inducing higher antioxidant capacity of ripe fruits ( Pagliarello et al., 2023 ). Wild type and the engineered AN4-M and AN4-P 2 MicroTom lines have both common and differential traits.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of gamma radiation on engineered tomato biofortified for space agriculture by morphometry and fluorescence-based indices

Pagliarello,

Bennici,

Di Sarcina

et al. 2023

Front. Plant Sci.

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IntroductionFuture long-term space missions will focus to the solar system exploration, with the Moon and Mars as leading goals. Plant cultivation will provide fresh food as a healthy supplement to astronauts’ diet in confined and unhealthy outposts. Ionizing radiation (IR) are a main hazard in outer space for their capacity to generate oxidative stress and DNA damage. IR is a crucial issue not only for human survival, but also for plant development and related value-added fresh food harvest. To this end, efforts to figure out how biofortification of plants with antioxidant metabolites (such as anthocyanins) may contribute to improve their performances in space outposts are needed.MethodsMicroTom plants genetically engineered to express the Petunia hybrida PhAN4 gene, restoring the biosynthesis of anthocyanins in tomato, were used. Seeds and plants from wild type and engineered lines AN4-M and AN4-P2 were exposed to IR doses that they may experience during a long-term space mission, simulated through the administration of gamma radiation. Plant response was continuously evaluated along life cycle by a non-disturbing/non-destructive monitoring of biometric and multiparametric fluorescence-based indices at both phenotypic and phenological levels, and indirectly measuring changes occurring at the primary and secondary metabolism level.ResultsResponses to gamma radiation were influenced by the phenological stage, dose and genotype. Wild type and engineered plants did not complete a seed-to-seed cycle under the exceptional condition of 30 Gy absorbed dose, but were able to cope with 0.5 and 5 Gy producing fruits and vital seeds. In particular, the AN4-M seeds and plants showed advantages over wild type: negligible variation of fluorimetric parameters related to primary metabolism, no alteration or improvement of yield traits at maturity while maintaining smaller habitus than wild type, biosynthesis of anthocyanins and maintained levels of these compounds compared to non-irradiated controls of the same age.DiscussionThese findings may be useful in understanding phenotypic effects of IR on plant growth in space, and lead to the exploitation of new breeding efforts to optimize plant performances to develop appropriate ideotypes for future long-term space exploration extending the potential of plants to serve as high-value product source.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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