Abstract
Zinc (Zn) is needed for plants growth and human’s balanced diet. The non-availability or less mobilization of Zn affects crop
yield and nutritional quality and when such produce is consumed, it causes malnutrition in the consumers. Biofortification of
staple cereals and vegetables like tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the strategies to fight such type of hidden hunger,
particularly to crumble Zn deficiency. This needs the understanding of the molecular mechanism of Zn assimilation in plants.
ZIP genes have not been annotated and characterised earlier. Therefore, the genes of ZIP family were identified from genome
database by homology search. After carrying out the phylogenetic analysis, the 10 diverse genes of tomato ZIP family were
selected for the transcript profiling in two selected genotypes; one with the highest Zn assimilation (LA-2662) and the other
with the lowest one (NTH-242) was done. The RT-PCR results showed that in genotype LA-2662, genes SLZIPL, SLZIP3
SLZIP5L and SLZIP5 were upregulated in roots and leaf tissues, while their transcript level was the lowest in genotype NTH242. In addition, the genes; SLZIPL, SLZIP3, LeIRT1 and LeIRT2 were upregulated under Zn deficient environment and
downregulated in high Zn environment. The better performance of LA-2662 for Zn assimilation might be linked to the
upregulation of SLZIPL and SLZIP3 genes. It showed that the attenuation of these candidate genes might improve the
capability of tomato for the development of Zn fortified tomato genotypes. It further showed that tomato can be bred for
biofortification of various nutritional elements to fight hidden hunger
Nafeesa Aslam, Asif Ali Khan, Hafiza Masooma Naseer Cheema, Bushra Sadia. (2020) TRANSCRIPT PROFILING OF ZIP GENES TO UNZIP THEIR ROLE IN ZINC ASSIMILATION IN Solanum lycopersicum (L.), Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences, Volume 57, Issue 2.
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