ABSTRACTGENETIC AND GENOMICS APPROACHES TO UNDERSTANDING THE BIOSYNTHESIS OF SPECIALIZED METABOLITES IN TRICHOMES OF THE CULTIVATED TOMATO AND ITS WILD RELATIVESByJeongwoon KimTrichomes are specialized epidermal appendages that cover the surface of plant tissues. Glandular secreting trichomes produce a variety of plant specialized metabolites. Trichome metabolites across the kingdom Plantae are extremely diverse and include those important for plant defense and therapeutic purposes. Due to these benefits, biosynthetic pathways leading to the production of trichome metabolites haven been intensively studied. Recent advances and development of analytical chemistry and genetic and genomic tools facilitate the study of trichome biochemistry. In this study, analytical chemistry, genetic and genomics approaches were used to understand biosynthetic pathways for the production of non-volatile metabolites in Solanum trichomes. Specifically, this study included three individual projects: (i) identification of tomato EMS mutants altered in biosynthetically diverse trichome non-volatile metabolites and phenotypic characterization of glycosylated flavonoid mutant (ii) identification and analysis of Solanum lycopersicum genetic variants altered in trichome methylated myricetin biochemistry, and (iii) chemical analysis of diverse trichome acylsugar profiles in 80 accessions from the wild species of cultivated tomato S. habrochaites.
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