Deciphering the Resistance Mechanism of Tomato Plants Against Whitefly-Mediated Tomato Curly Stunt Virus Infection through Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled to Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-MS)-Based Metabolomics Approaches

Begomoviruses, such as the Tomato curly stunt virus (ToCSV), pose serious economic consequences due to severe crop losses. Therefore, the development and screening of possible resistance markers is imperative. While some tomato cultivars exhibit differential resistance to different begomovirus species, in most cases, the mechanism of resistance is not fully understood. In this study, the response of two near-isogenic lines of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), differing in resistance against whitefly-mediated ToCSV infection were investigated using untargeted ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS)-based metabolomics. The responses of the two lines were deciphered using multivariate statistics models. Principal component analysis (PCA) scores plots from various time intervals revealed that the resistant line responded more rapidly with changes to the metabolome than the susceptible counterpart. Moreover, the metabolic reprogramming of chemically diverse metabolites that span a range of metabolic pathways was associated with the defence response. Biomarkers primarily included hydroxycinnamic acids conjugated to quinic acid, galactaric acid, and glucose. Minor constituents included benzenoids, flavonoids, and steroidal glycoalkaloids. Interestingly, when reduced to the level of metabolites, the phytochemistry of the infected plants’ responses was very similar. However, the resistant phenotype was strongly associated with the hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives deployed in response to infection. In addition, the resistant line was able to mount a stronger and quicker response.