The PIN-FORMED (PIN) auxin efflux transport protein family has been well characterized in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, where these proteins are crucial for auxin regulation of various aspects of plant development. Recent evidence indicates that PIN proteins may play a role in fruit set and early fruit development in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), but functional analyses of PIN-silenced...

SUMMARY Members of the GRAS family of transcriptional regulators have been implicated in the control of plant growth and development, and in the interaction of plants with symbiotic bacteria. Here we examine the complexity of the GRAS gene family in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and investigate its role in disease resistance and mechanical stress. A large number of tomato ESTs corresponding to ...

Background and Aims: Virus-Induced Gene Silencing (VIGS) is a virus vector technology that exploits antiviral defense mechanism. By infecting plants with recombinant viruses containing host genes inserted in the viral genome, VIGS achieves the RNA silencing process. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) and tobacco (Nicotiana be...

Relatively few studies have investigated potential interactions of host plant resistance and insecticides for insect control. To examine possible interactions, host plant resistance was measured independently for four tomato cultivars and one wild tomato accession against tomato psyllids, Bactericerca [Paratrioza] cockerelli [Sulc] (Homoptera: Psyllidae). Plant lines tested included the commerc...

ABSTRACT- Titanium is a beneficial element for plant since its promotive effect on plant metabolism has been well documented. However, the physiological role of this trace element in tomato is not clear. This experiment was conducted as a complete randomized design to study two concentrations of titanium (1 and 2 mg/L Ti) and 0 as control on physiological and nutrient properties of tomato cv. F...

Bacillus thuringiensis is a naturally abundant Gram-positive bacterium and a well-known, effective bio-insecticide. Recently, B. thuringiensis has attracted considerable attention as a potential biological control agent for the suppression of plant diseases. In this study, the bacterial wilt disease-suppressing activity of B. thuringiensis was examined in tomato plants. Treatment of tomato root...

this study was conducted to determine the effects of different water and nitrogen application levels on drip-irrigated tomato plants. the amount of water usage was based upon the pan evaporation from a screened (class “a”) evaporation pan. the treatments consisted of two irrigation intervals (i1= 5 days and i2= 10 days), three plant-pan coefficients (kcp1= 0.50; kcp2= 0.75 and kcp3= 1.00) and t...

The nonhost-specific phytotoxin coronatine (COR) produced by several pathovars of Pseudomonas syringae functions as a jasmonic acid-isoleucine (JA-Ile) mimic and contributes to disease development by suppressing plant defense responses and inducing reactive oxygen species in chloroplast. It has been shown that the F-box protein CORONATINE INSENSITIVE 1 (COI1) is the receptor for COR and JA-Ile....

Histone H2A is a component of eukaryotic chromatin whose expression has not been studied in plants. We isolated and characterized a tomato and a pea cDNA encoding histone H2A. We found that in tomato H2A is encoded by a small gene family and that both the pea and the tomato mRNAs are polyadenylated. Tomato H2A has 82% amino acid residue identity to pea H2A, 83% to wheat, and 65% to human and ye...

The plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) is an important regulator in many aspects of plant growth and development, as well as stress resistance. Here, we investigated the effects of exogenous ABA application on the interaction between tomato (Solanum lycopersicon L.) and Alternaria solani (early blight). Foliar spraying of 7.58 μM ABA was effective in reducing disease severity in tomato plants. P...