Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection, National Research Council, Strada delle Cacce 73, 10135 Turin, Italy.
Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Science DISAFA, Turin University, Largo Braccini 2, 10095 Grugliasco, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Feb 2;24(3):2893. doi: 10.3390/ijms24032893.
Drought stress is one of the major physiological stress factors that adversely affect agricultural production, altering critical features of plant growth and metabolism. Plants can be subjected simultaneously to abiotic and biotic stresses, such as drought and viral infections. Rewarding effects provided by viruses on the ability of host plants to endure abiotic stresses have been reported. Recently, begomoviruses causing the tomato yellow leaf curl disease in tomatoes were shown to increase heat and drought tolerance. However, biological bases underlying the induced drought tolerance need further elucidation, particularly in the case of tomato plants. In this work, tomato plants infected by the tomato yellow leaf curl Sardinia virus (TYLCSV) were subjected to severe drought stress, followed by recovery. Morphological traits, water potential, and hormone contents were measured in leaves together with molecular analysis of stress-responsive and hormone metabolism-related genes. Wilting symptoms appeared three days later in TYLCSV-infected plants compared to healthy controls and post-rehydration recovery was faster (2 vs. 4 days, respectively). Our study contributes new insights into the impact of viruses on the plant's adaptability to environmental stresses. On a broader perspective, such information could have important practical implications for managing the effects of climate change on agroecosystems.
干旱胁迫是影响农业生产的主要生理胁迫因素之一，改变了植物生长和代谢的关键特征。植物可能同时受到非生物和生物胁迫，如干旱和病毒感染。已经报道了病毒对宿主植物耐受非生物胁迫能力的有益影响。最近，引起番茄黄卷叶病的番茄黄卷叶病毒（TYLCSV）被证明可以提高植物的耐热性和耐旱性。然而，诱导耐旱性的生物学基础仍需要进一步阐明，特别是在番茄植物中。在这项工作中，感染了番茄黄卷叶 Sardinia 病毒（TYLCSV）的番茄植株受到严重的干旱胁迫，随后进行了恢复。在叶片中测量了形态特征、水势和激素含量，并对与应激反应和激素代谢相关的基因进行了分子分析。与健康对照相比，TYLCSV 感染植株出现萎蔫症状的时间晚了三天，而复水后的恢复速度更快（分别为 2 天和 4 天）。我们的研究为病毒对植物适应环境胁迫的影响提供了新的见解。从更广泛的角度来看，这些信息对于管理气候变化对农业生态系统的影响可能具有重要的实际意义。
