Mediterranean Long Shelf-Life Landraces: An Untapped Genetic Resource for Tomato Improvement

[EN] The Mediterranean long shelf-life (LSL) tomatoes are a group of landraces with a fruit remaining sound up to 6¿12 months after harvest. Most have been selected under semi-arid Mediterranean summer conditions with poor irrigation or rain-fed and thus, are drought tolerant. Besides the convergence in the latter traits, local selection criteria have been very variable, leading to a wide variation in fruit morphology and quality traits. The different soil characteristics and agricultural management techniques across the Mediterranean denote also a wide range of plant adaptive traits to different conditions. Despite the notorious traits for fruit quality and environment adaptation, the LSL landraces have been poorly exploited in tomato breeding programs, which rely basically on wild tomato species. In this review, we describe most of the information currently available for Mediterranean LSL landraces in order to highlight the importance of this genetic resource. We focus on the origin and diversity, the main selective traits, and the determinants of the extended fruit shelf-life and the drought tolerance. Altogether, the Mediterranean LSL landraces are a very valuable heritage to be revalued, since constitutes an alternative source to improve fruit quality and shelf-life in tomato, and to breed for more resilient cultivars under the predicted climate change conditions.This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 727929 (TOMRES), No 634561 (TRADITOM) and No 679796 (TomGEM). Research has been also supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) project AGL2013-42364-R (TOMDRO), and the Government of the Balearic Islands grants BIA20/07, BIA07/08, BIA09/12 and AAEE56/2015. 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Mesophyll diffusion conductance to CO 2: An unappreciated central player in photosynthesis

Mesophyll diffusion conductance to CO 2 is a key photosynthetic trait that has been studied intensively in the past years. The intention of the present review is to update knowledge of g m, and highlight the important unknown and controversial aspects that require future work. The photosynthetic limitation imposed by mesophyll conductance is large, and under certain conditions can be the most significant photosynthetic limitation. New evidence shows that anatomical traits, such as cell wall thickness and chloroplast distribution are amongst the stronger determinants of mesophyll conductance, although rapid variations in response to environmental changes might be regulated by other factors such as aquaporin conductance.Gaps in knowledge that should be research priorities for the near future include: how different is mesophyll conductance among phylogenetically distant groups and how has it evolved? Can mesophyll conductance be uncoupled from regulation of the water path? What are the main drivers of mesophyll conductance? The need for mechanistic and phenomenological models of mesophyll conductance and its incorporation in process-based photosynthesis models is also highlighted.The study was financially supported by the Estonian Ministry of Science and Education (grant SF1090065s07), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through projects BFU2008-01072 (MEFORE), AGL2009-11310/AGR, BFU2011-23294 (MECOME) and CGL2009-13079-C02-01 (PALEOISOTREE), and the European Commission through European Regional Fund (the Estonian Center of Excellence in Environmental Adaptation), and the Marie Curie project MC-ERG-246725 (FP7). J.P.F. is supported by the Ramón y Cajal program (RYC-2008-02050). A.G. had a Swiss National Science Fellowship (PA00P3_126259). M.M.B. and C.R.W are supported by Future Fellowships from the Australian Research Council (FT0992063 and FT100100024). C.D. was supported by a grant from the French government and by the cooperation project Tranzfor (Transferring Research between EU and Australia–New Zealand on Forestry and Climate Change, PIRSES-GA-2008-230793) funded by the European Union

Positively selected amino acid replacements within the RuBisCO enzyme of oak trees are associated with ecological adaptations

Phylogenetic analysis by maximum likelihood (PAML) has become the standard approach to study positive selection at the molecular level, but other methods may provide complementary ways to identify amino acid replacements associated with particular conditions. Here, we compare results of the decision tree (DT) model method with ones of PAML using the key photosynthetic enzyme RuBisCO as a model system to study molecular adaptation to particular ecological conditions in oaks (Quercus). We sequenced the chloroplast rbcL gene encoding RuBisCO large subunit in 158 Quercus species, covering about a third of the global genus diversity. It has been hypothesized that RuBisCO has evolved differentially depending on the environmental conditions and leaf traits governing internal gas diffusion patterns. Here, we show, using PAML, that amino acid replacements at the residue positions 95, 145, 251, 262 and 328 of the RuBisCO large subunit have been the subject of positive selection along particular Quercus lineages associated with the leaf traits and climate characteristics. In parallel, the DT model identified amino acid replacements at sites 95, 219, 262 and 328 being associated with the leaf traits and climate characteristics, exhibiting partial overlap with the results obtained using PAML

Photosynthetic characterization of Rubisco transplantomic lines reveals alterations on photochemistry and mesophyll conductance

Improving Rubisco catalysis is considered a promising way to enhance C 3-photosynthesis and photosynthetic water use efficiency (WUE) provided the introduced changes have little or no impact on other processes affecting photosynthesis such as leaf photoc

Temperature responses of the Rubisco maximum carboxylase activity across domains of life: phylogenetic signals, trade-offs, and importance for carbon gain

Temperature response of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) catalytic properties directly determines the CO2 assimilation capacity of photosynthetic organisms as well as their survival in environments with different thermal conditions. Despite unquestionable importance of Rubisco, the comprehensive analysis summarizing temperature responses of Rubisco traits across lineages of carbon-fixing organisms is lacking. Here, we present a review of the temperature responses of Rubisco carboxylase specific activity (kcat c) within and across domains of life. In particular, we consider the variability of temperature responses, and their ecological, physiological, and evolutionary controls. We observed over two-fold differences in the energy of activation (ΔH a) among different groups of photosynthetic organisms, and found significant differences between C3 plants from cool habitats, C3 plants from warm habitats and C4 plants. According to phylogenetically independent contrast analysis, ΔH a was not related to the species optimum growth temperature (T growth), but was positively correlated with Rubisco specificity factor (S c/o) across all organisms. However, when only land plants were analyzed, ΔH a was positively correlated with both T growth and S c/o, indicating different trends for these traits in plants versus unicellular aquatic organisms, such as algae and bacteria. The optimum temperature (T opt) for kcat c correlated with S c/o for land plants and for all organisms pooled, but the effect of T growth on T opt was driven by species phylogeny. The overall phylogenetic signal was significant for all analyzed parameters, stressing the importance of considering the evolutionary framework and accounting for shared ancestry when deciphering relationships between Rubisco kinetic parameters. We argue that these findings have important implications for improving global photosynthesis models

The role of mesophyll conductance in Oak photosynthesis : among- and within-species variability

Oak species show a wide range of variation in key foliage traits determining the leaf economics spectrum, including the leaf dry mass per unit area (LMA) and photosynthetic capacity. Though it is well known that stomatal conductance plays a major role in determining maximum rates of carbon assimilation, other factors such as mesophyll conductance to CO2 (g(m)) can constrain the rate of photosynthesis and, under certain conditions, be the most significant photosynthetic limitation. First, this chapter addresses the differences in the photosynthetic limitations imposed by g(m) between deciduous and evergreen oak species, covering the role of variations in several leaf anatomical traits determining the variability in gm and photosynthetic capacity. This analysis emphasizes that cell-wall thickness of mesophyll cells and the chloroplast surface facing intercellular air spaces are the two main anatomical traits contributing to changes in g(m), and as consequence have a high relevance in the carbon fixing capacity of leaves within the genus Quercus. The second part of the chapter analyses the within-species variation of g(m) and photosynthesis rate in oaks as related to long-term variations in site climate (genetic and plastic variability) and to shorter-term variation in environmental drivers (e.g. drought stress and light availability) and during leaf ontogeny. The results of this analysis demonstrate a very high variability within-species across species range and in response to shorter-term environmental drivers, ultimately underlying the success of several Quercus species in many ecosystems worldwide

Mesophyll diffusion conductance to CO 2: An unappreciated central player in photosynthesis

Flexas, Jaume et al.-- 14 páginas, 9 figuras, 157 referencias.-- [email protected] diffusion conductance to CO 2 is a key photosynthetic trait that has been studied intensively in the past years. The intention of the present review is to update knowledge of g m, and highlight the important unknown and controversial aspects that require future work. The photosynthetic limitation imposed by mesophyll conductance is large, and under certain conditions can be the most significant photosynthetic limitation. New evidence shows that anatomical traits, such as cell wall thickness and chloroplast distribution are amongst the stronger determinants of mesophyll conductance, although rapid variations in response to environmental changes might be regulated by other factors such as aquaporin conductance.Gaps in knowledge that should be research priorities for the near future include: how different is mesophyll conductance among phylogenetically distant groups and how has it evolved? Can mesophyll conductance be uncoupled from regulation of the water path? What are the main drivers of mesophyll conductance? The need for mechanistic and phenomenological models of mesophyll conductance and its incorporation in process-based photosynthesis models is also highlighted.The study was financially supported by the Estonian Ministry of Science and Education (grant SF1090065s07), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through projects BFU2008-01072 (MEFORE), AGL2009-11310/AGR, BFU2011-23294 (MECOME) and CGL2009- 13079-C02-01 (PALEOISOTREE), and the European Commission through European Regional Fund (the Estonian Center of Excellence in Environmental Adaptation), and the Marie Curie project MCERG- 246725 (FP7). J.P.F. is supported by the Ramón y Cajal program (RYC-2008-02050). A.G. had a Swiss National Science Fellowship (PA00P3 126259). M.M.B. and C.R.W are supported by Future Fellowships from the Australian Research Council (FT0992063 and FT100100024). C.D. was supported by a grant from the French government and by the cooperation project Tranzfor (Transferring Research between EU and Australia–New Zealand on Forestry and Climate Change, PIRSES-GA-2008-230793) funded by the European Union.Peer Reviewe

A Structure Shaped by Fire, but Also Water: Ecological Consequences of the Variability in Bark Properties Across 31 Species From the Brazilian Cerrado

Bark is a structure involved in multiple physiological functions, but which has been traditionally associated with protection against fire. Thus, little is known about how the morpho-anatomical variations of this structure are related to different ecological pressures, especially in tropical savanna species, which are commonly subjected to frequent fire and drought events. Here we evaluated how the structural and functional variations of bark are related to the processes of resilience and resistance to fire, as well as transport and storage of water in 31 native species from the Brazilian Cerrado. Because of their thick bark, none of the trees analyzed were top-killed after a severe fire event. The structural and functional variations of the bark were also associated with water storage and transport, functions related to properties of the inner bark. In fact, species with a thicker and less dense inner bark were the ones that had the highest water contents in the wood, bark, and leaves. Lower bark density was also related to higher stem hydraulic conductivity, carbon assimilation, and growth. Overall, we provide strong evidence that in addition to protection from fire, the relative investment in bark also reflects different strategies of water use and conservation among many Cerrado tree species

CO2 Diffusion Inside Photosynthetic Organs

In the present chapter, we review the current state-of-the-art of knowledge on mesophyll (internal) CO2 diffusion conductance of photosynthetic tissues (for simplification, gm). We show that, despite concerns regarding the methodological approaches currently used for its estimation, a large and consistent body of evidence has accumulated showing that gm is finite and significantly limiting for photosynthesis, as well as being highly variable among photosynthetic organisms and in response to environmental changes. Part of this variation results from different anatomies of the photosynthetic tissues, with a particularly strong influence of chloroplast distribution and cell wall thickness. Besides these, it appears that a biochemical modulation of gm also occurs, likely involving aquaporins and, possibly, carbonic anhydrases and other metabolic components.Further efforts are needed in the near future to improve CO2 diffusion models, both for the estimation of gm and for the precise physiological understanding of the CO2 assimilation process in different plants, as well as to increase our knowledge of the mechanistic base for gm and its regulation