TITLE:
Tomato-Aphid Interactions in Plants Grown on Soil with Biochar
AUTHORS:
Maria Tartaglia, Francesco Esposito, Francesco Paolo Izzo, Mariapina Rocco
KEYWORDS:
2-DE, Aphid, Biotic Stress, Biochar, Proteomics, Solanum lycopersicum
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.9 No.13,
December
5,
2018
ABSTRACT: Plants
are affected by various types of stress. The resistance or the susceptibility
of plants to stress depends on the mutual characteristics of the plant and the
stress. The plant can counteract the stress through the expression of specific
genes, through changes in metabolism or through quantitative and qualitative
variations of gene expression. Biotic stress is due to the action of viruses,
bacteria and small insects and it is the cause of most of the reduction in crop
yield. Biochar is a fine-grained vegetable carbon that is obtained from the
pyrolysis of different types of plant biomass, and, if added to the soil, it
can improve soil characteristics and at the same time it can reduce carbon
emissions. Biochar also appears to have an unclear role in the activation of
systemic resistance responses to pathogens. Biochar has a carbon content of
about 90%; its high porosity increases the retention of water and nutrients by
reducing the need for water and fertilizers and increasing agricultural yield.
Aphids are one of the major sources of biotic stress for the tomato (Solanum
lycopersicum), a crop of significant agro-food and
socio-economic importance, especially in the Mediterranean area and in southern
Italy. In this study, we first evaluated, through a proteomic analysis, the
differential protein expression of tomato leaves infected by aphid and grown on
control soils and on biochar-modified soil. The results of the proteomic
analysis showed a differential expression mainly in the proteins involved in
stress and defense, so we decided to deepen this aspect through a molecular
analysis. A Real-time PCR of some fundamental genes involved in the Jasmonic
acid pathway was made because, although it is clear that aphid infection activates
the salicylic acid pathway, we have less data in literature about the resulting
tissue damage involves Jasmonic Acid (JA). The regulation of jasmonic acid
after phytophagous insects attack is particularly important for the plant’s
ability to initiate promptly to the defense responses.