Tomato glandular trichomes : insights into productivity and development

Abstract

In tomato glandular trichomes (GTs), enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of specialized metabolites (SM) have been described, but little is known about how central carbon metabolism is organized to supply precursors for SM biosynthesis. This thesis evaluates the contribution of Rubisco and PEPCK to the biosynthesis of plastid-derived monoterpenes in tomato GTs. A trichome-specific Rubisco small subunit (RbcS-T) was functionally characterized in both cultivated tomato and S. habrochaites, revealing no significant differences in acylsugar productivity. Moreover, we investigated the impact of heat stress (HS) on trichome development and productivity. On one hand, HS did not alter the density of type-VI trichomes but did affect their terpenoid profile, likely due to changes in sucrose allocation. On the other hand, we found that the shift from type-V to type-IV trichomes is dependent on jasmonate signaling.