Biotechnological approaches to increase drought tolerance and nutritional quality in tomato

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) belongs to the nightshade family Solanaceae. The goals of public and private tomato breeding programs are focusing on nutritional quality currently. Tomatoes represent a major contribution to nutrition worldwide and a reservoir of diverse antioxidant molecules, such as ascorbic acid, vitamin E, carotenoids, flavonoids and phenolic acids. Among abiotic stresses, drought is by far the leading environmental stress in agriculture, most crop plants, including tomato, are sensitive to drought stress (DS) throughout the ontogeny of the plant, from seed germination to harvest. Substantial genetic variation for Drought Tolerance (DT) exists within the cultivated tomato, as well as in its related wild species. This study was carried out to identify genomic regions involved in the control of fruit quality traits in tomato, headed to select new genotypes fitting the increasingly high public demand for a sustainable agriculture asking for limited levels of energy inputs, such as mainly the water supply. We identified Quantitative Trait Loci leading (QTLs) to an higher fruit nutritional quality and to an increased drought tolerance. The transcriptomic analysis allowed us to identify candidate genes involved in the pathway of main secondary metabolites. We developed a breeding program to transfer wild dissected QTLs controlling quality traits, such as the content in soluble solids and AsA into advanced breeding tomato lines selected for displaying high agronomic performances.