Efeito da lesão mecânica no desenvolvimento do tomateiro (Solanum lycopersicum)

Abstract

The development of plants is altered by multiple signals from their environment, so that these organisms have developed efficient ways to activate their defense mechanisms in response to attacks by herbivores. The plasticity required to regulate the antagonism between growth and defense, known as "the plant dilemma", generates great ecological and economic impacts, especially in cultivars of great agronomic interest, such as the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), where the domestication process focused on productivity occurred at the expense of its defensive characteristics. This work aimed to analyze the mechanisms involved in the process of regulation of antagonism between growth and defense in tomato, through mechanical injury. It was verified that consecutive mechanical lesions activate defense processes, such as increase of trichomes and alteration of the expression of defense genes, as a consequence of damage to developmental processes, such as reduction of growth and delay of flowering. The results also demonstrate that jasmonates (JA) influence the recognition of lesions, confirming its function as a signaling molecule for responses to herbivory. The results obtained here demonstrate, in a mechanistic way, how growth and defense processes are controlled by a specific environmental signal.