Tomato geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase isoform 1 is involved in the stress-triggered production of diterpenes in leaves and strigolactones in roots

• Carotenoids are photoprotectant pigments and precursors of hormones such as strigolactones (SL). Carotenoids are produced in plastids from geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGPP), which is diverted to the carotenoid pathway by phytoene synthase (PSY). In tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), three genes encode plastid-targeted GGPP synthases (SlG1 to SlG3) and three genes encode PSY isoforms (PSY1 to PSY3). 

• Here, we investigated the function of SlG1 by generating loss-of-function lines and combining their metabolic and physiological phenotyping with gene co-expression and co-immunoprecipitation analyses. 

• Leaves and fruits of slg1 lines showed a wild-type phenotype in terms of carotenoid accumulation, photosynthesis, and development under normal growth conditions. In response to bacterial infection, however, slg1 leaves produced lower levels of defensive GGPP-derived diterpenoids. In roots, SlG1 was co-expressed with PSY3 and other genes involved in SL production, and slg1 lines grown under phosphate starvation exuded less SLs. However, slg1 plants did not display the branched shoot phenotype observed in other SL-defective mutants. At the protein level, SlG1 physically interacted with the root-specific PSY3 isoform but not with PSY1 and PSY2. 

• Our results confirm specific roles for SlG1 in producing GGPP for defensive diterpenoids in leaves and carotenoid-derived SLs (in combination with PSY3) in roots.