Integrated Transcriptomic and Metabolomic Analysis Reveals a Role of SlTPR4 in Enhancing Resistance to Botrytis cinerea in Tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum )

作者：Jia Cui, Liqing Wang, Xinping Yin, Ying Liu, Xiuling Chen, Mozhen Cheng, Jiayin Liu, Mingfang Feng, Youwen Qiu, Shusen Liu, Zhao Liu, Zhengfeng Song, Yao Zhang, A. Wang · 发表于：Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.1021/acs.jafc.5c05104 · 研究领域：Plant Gene Expression Analysis、Fungal Plant Pathogen Control、Plant-Microbe Interactions and Immunity

Solanum lycopersicum (Tomato) is an important economic crop that is frequently susceptible to gray-mold disease caused by Botrytis cinerea . However, the mechanism through which tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR) proteins participate in the tomato response to Botrytis cinerea remains unclear. In this study, we found that SlTPR4 -overexpressing plants exhibited enhanced resistance to Botrytis cinerea, whereas sltpr4 mutants showed increased sensitivity to the pathogen. By integrating transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses, we observed significant alterations in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis in SlTPR4 -overexpressing plants. RT-qPCR analysis further revealed up-regulation of key flavonoid biosynthetic genes: SlPAL, SlC4H, SlCHS, and SlCHI . Yeast two-hybrid assays demonstrated interactions between SlTPR4 and both SlPAL and SlCHI, indicating that SlTPR4 enhances disease resistance by activating the phenylpropanoid-flavonoid pathway. In summary, this study elucidates the role of SlTPR4-mediated flavonoid metabolism in enhancing tomato resistance to Botrytis cinerea and provides novel targets and a theoretical basis for breeding disease-resistant cultivars.