Background Torradoviruses are an emerging group of picorna-like plant virus from the family Secoviridae that infect tomato and other Solanaceae species. The genus Torradovirus include four species: Tomato torrado virus (ToTV), first found in Europe, and afterward in Central America and Australia; Tomato apex necrosis virus (ToANV), present in Mexico; Tomato chocolate spot virus (ToChSV) and Tom...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play vital roles in regulating plant growth and development. Recent work has shown that miRNA-mediated regulation of cellular mRNA expression is involved in pathogen-host interactions. However, knowledge about the timing and spatial regulation of plant miRNA expression is still limited. Here, we use stem-loop real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction to quanti...

Ralstonia solanacearum, which causes bacterial wilt of diverse plants, produces copious extracellular polysaccharide (EPS), a major virulence factor. The function of EPS in wilt disease is uncertain. Leading hypotheses are that EPS physically obstructs plant water transport, or that EPS cloaks the bacterium from host plant recognition and subsequent defense. Tomato plants infected with R. solan...

The risk of chronic diseases has been shown to be inversely related to tomato intake and the lycopene levels in serum and tissue. Cis-isomers represent approximately 50%-80% of serum lycopene, while dietary lycopene maintains the isomeric ratio present in the plant sources with about 95% of all-trans-lycopene. Supercritical CO(2) extraction (S-CO(2)) has been extensively developed to extract ly...

We have studied the uptake and distribution of arsenic (As) and phosphorus (P) in roots, shoots and berries of tomato plants, grown on uncontaminated soil, irrigated with As-contaminated solutions at four concentrations (0, 0.5, 2 and 4 mg L-1), in presence or absence of P fertilization. The biomass of tomato plants decreased with increasing As concentration in irrigation water, especially toma...

Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) causes great losses in tomato production. In addition to tomato, TYLCV infects many crops or weeds as alternative hosts. These alternative hosts may serve as reservoirs for TYLCV survival and spread. Here, we tested the capability of cultivated, flue-cured tobacco to act as a reservoir host plant for TYLCV. TYLCV DNA was detected in nine flue-cured tobacco ...

Several recent studies have reported on the role of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK3) in plant immune responses. However, little is known about how MAPK3 functions in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) infected with tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV). There is also uncertainty about the connection between plant MAPK3 and the salicylic acid (SA) and jasmonic acid (JA) defense-signaling p...

Salinity threatens productivity of economically important crops such as tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). WRKY transcription factors appear, from a growing body of knowledge, as important regulators of abiotic stresses tolerance. Tomato SlWRKY3 is a nuclear protein binding to the consensus CGTTGACC/T W box. SlWRKY3 is preferentially expressed in aged organs, and is rapidly induced by NaCl, KCl,...

Cladosporium fulvum (syn. Passalora fulva) is a biotrophic fungal pathogen that causes leaf mold of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). During growth in the apoplast, the fungus establishes disease by secreting effector proteins, 10 of which have been characterized. We have previously shown that the Avr2 effector interacts with the apoplastic tomato Cys protease Rcr3, which is required for Cf-2-medi...

Phytohormones such as salicylic acid (SA), ethylene (ET) and jasmonic acid (JA) play key roles in plant defense following pathogen attack. Involvement of these hormones in plant susceptibility following Fusarium oxysporum (Fo) infection has mostly been studied in Arabidopsis thaliana. However, Fo causes vascular wilt disease in a broad range of crops, including tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Su...