S.S.H. Husaineid, MSc : "Genetic modification of shade-avoidance: overexpression of homologous phytochrome genes in tomato"

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23 Apr 2007 16:00
Unit: Wageningen University
Location: Aula, building 362, Gen. Foulkesweg 1, Wageningen
Organisation: Wageningen University
Promotor: prof.dr. L.H.W. van der Plas (Plant Physiology)
Co Promotor: Dr. A.R. van der Krol

 Energy may be saved during growth of tomato in greenhouses if less greenhouse space needs to be heated, so if more plants can be grown per area. However, plants growing at higher density react to the canopy shade conditions caused by neighbouring plants.  In canopy shade the tomato plant will start to invest more in stem elongation, which reduces fruit yield. We tried to produce tomato plants in which this reaction to shade was suppressed by making plants with extra photoreceptors in every cell. Some of these plants were much shorter than normal and when grown at high density there was only very little difference in length between plants in full sunlight and plants in shade. Although these plants had lower fruit yield, some valuable lessons were learned from the experiments which may still lead to energy savings. If the extra photoreceptors are limited to only the stem, using specific promoters, there may be no negative effect on the fruit production. In addition, the tomato plants were shown to have increased levels of pigments which are beneficial as antioxidants, showing that these techniques may also be used to create tomatoes with an extra health impact.
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