Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is one of the most important greenhouse vegetables, with a large cultivated area across the world. However, in northern China, tomato plants often suffer from low-temperature stress in solar greenhouse cultivation, which affects plant growth and development and results in economic losses. We previously found that a chloroplast aldolase gene in tomato, SlFBA4, plays an important role in the Calvin-Benson cycle (CBC), and its expression level and activity can be significantly altered when subjected to low-temperature stress. To further study the function of SlFBA4 in the photosynthesis and chilling tolerance of tomato, we obtained transgenic tomato plants by the over-expression and RNA interference (RNAi) of SlFBA4. The over-expression of SlFBA4 led to higher fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase activity, net photosynthetic rate (Pn) and activity of other enzymes in the CBC than wild type. Opposite results were observed in the RNAi lines. Moreover, an increase in thousand-seed weight, plant height, stem diameter and germination rate in optimal and sub-optimal temperatures was observed in the over-expression lines, while opposite effects were observed in the RNAi lines. Furthermore, over-expression of SlFBA4 increased Pn and enzyme activity and decreased malonaldehyde (MDA) content under chilling conditions. On the other hand, Pn and MDA content were more severely influenced by chilling stress in the RNAi lines. These results indicate that SlFBA4 plays an important role in tomato growth and tolerance to chilling stress.
Keywords: fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase; growth; low-temperature stress; photosynthesis; tomato; transgenic.