About this Research Topic

Background

The grafting of pest- and disease- susceptible vegetable scions onto resistant rootstocks is an important management practice in 21st-century vegetable production. Effective pest-resistant rootstocks have been developed for controlling specific plant-parasitic nematodes, insects, and diseases in cucurbitaceous and solanaceous crops, and recent research has also demonstrated that using resistant rootstocks can enhance vegetable fruit quality and yield. Grafting can facilitate the transport of RNAs, proteins, phytohormones, minerals, and primary and secondary metabolites through the vascular system via the graft union, and thus provide resistance to the scion.

Although great progress has been made in developing pest- and disease-resistant rootstocks for grafted tomato and watermelon, most available resistant rootstocks protect against a limited number of pests and diseases. Rootstocks with additional genes conferring resistance against root-knot and other plant-parasitic nematodes, foliar diseases, viruses, and insects for tomato and watermelon are therefore needed. Fewer resistant rootstocks have been developed for pepper, eggplant, cucumber, melon, and squash than for tomato and watermelon. Likewise, there are a few examples of rootstocks for Brassicaceae crops. Nevertheless, successful grafting of cabbage on Chinese kale was recently reported to improve cabbage head quality. Thus, it should be possible to develop compatible pest- and disease-resistant rootstocks useful for grafting brassicas.

Most rootstocks have been developed using classical selection and breeding methods, although recently, advanced technologies have been used to select and develop rootstocks with new traits, expanding their usefulness in grafted vegetable crops. For instance, the transformation of rootstocks using the RNAi transmission signal has helped develop transgenic rootstocks with multi-resistance against tomato yellow leaf curl disease, top stunt, and necrogenic cucumber mosaic strains. Transcriptome analysis is also useful in identifying differentially expressed genes (DEGs) potentially associated with resistance, e.g. transcription factor regulation, primary and secondary metabolism, phytohormone signaling, and response to stimuli.

This Research Topic aims to highlight the latest accomplishments in identifying, developing, and using pest- and disease-resistant vegetable rootstocks which can enhance quality and yield when grafted on compatible scions. We welcome Original Research, Review, and Methods articles addressing one or more of the following strategies to select and improve vegetable rootstocks:

- Traditional breeding methods to identify and select for pest (disease, insect, and nematode) resistance;
- RNAi silencing to develop resistant rootstocks;
- Transcriptomics to identify and select for DEGs associated with desirable traits such as pest and disease resistance, and fruit quality and yield in genotypes with potential for use as rootstocks;
- Transgenic rootstock development.

Descriptive studies that report responses of growth, yield, or quality to rootstock use will not be considered if they do not progress physiological understanding of these responses.

Keywords: pest resistant rootstocks, rootstock - scion interactions, vegetable grafting, rootstocks, grafting, pest and disease resistance, DEGs

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