During recent decades, global warming has intensified, altering crop growth, development and survival. To overcome changes in their environment, plants undergo transcriptional reprogramming to activate stress response strategies/pathways. To evaluate the genetic bases of the response to heat stress, Conserved DNA-derived Polymorphism (CDDP) markers were applied across tomato genome of eight cultivars. Despite scattered genotypes, cluster analysis allowed two neighbouring panels to be discriminate. Tomato CDDP-genotypic and visual phenotypic assortment permitted the selection of two contrasting heat-tolerant and heat-sensitive cultivars. Further analysis explored differential expression in transcript levels of genes, encoding heat shock transcription factors (HSFs, HsfA1, HsfA2, HsfB1), members of the heat shock protein (HSP) family (HSP101, HSP17, HSP90) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) enzymes (APX1, APX2). Based on discriminating CDDP-markers, a protein functional network was built allowing prediction of candidate genes and their regulating miRNA. Expression patterns analysis revealed that miR156d and miR397 were heat-responsive showing a typical inverse relation with the abundance of their target gene transcripts. Heat stress is inducing a set of candidate genes, whose expression seems to be modulated through a complex regulatory network. Integrating genetic resource data is required for identifying valuable tomato genotypes that can be considered in marker-assisted breeding programmes to improve tomato heat tolerance.

中文翻译：

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深入了解番茄对比基因型的热响应转录网络

近几十年来，全球变暖加剧，改变了作物的生长、发育和生存。为了克服环境的变化，植物进行转录重编程以激活应激反应策略/途径。为了评估对热应激反应的遗传基础，在八个栽培品种的番茄基因组中应用了保守的 DNA 衍生多态性 (CDDP) 标记。尽管基因型分散，但聚类分析允许区分两个相邻的面板。番茄 CDDP 基因型和视觉表型分类允许选择两种对比鲜明的耐热和热敏品种。进一步的分析探索了基因转录水平的差异表达，编码热休克转录因子（HSF，HsfA1,HsfA2,HSFB1)，热休克蛋白 (HSP) 家族的成员 (HSP101,热休克蛋白17,热休克蛋白90) 和抗坏血酸过氧化物酶 (APX) 酶 (APX1,APX2）。基于区分 CDDP 标记，建立了一个蛋白质功能网络，允许预测候选基因及其调节 miRNA。表达模式分析表明miR156d和miR397是热响应性的，显示出与其靶基因转录本丰度的典型反比关系。热应激正在诱导一组候选基因，其表达似乎通过复杂的调控网络进行调节。需要整合遗传资源数据来识别有价值的番茄基因型，这些基因型可以在标记辅助育种计划中考虑，以提高番茄的耐热性。