D3167: (2nd Place) The impact of biotic and abiotic stress on tomato metabolome

In order to survive, plants must be able to respond to both biotic and abiotic stressors. While numerous studies have explored plant response to various stressors individually, little is currently known about how metabolites are altered due to combinatorial stress. Previous studies indicate that stress factors such as flooding and insect herbivory differentially alter metabolic pathways depending on the stressors that plants are responding to. Metabolites are the products of chemical reactions that occur via metabolic pathways and are essential for plant growth, development, signaling and defense against different types of abiotic and biotic stresses. Thus, studying metabolites allows us to see how metabolic pathways have been altered in response to stress. In this study, we used an heirloom tomato that was faced with stressors of flooding and herbivory on an individual basis and combinatorially. Two types of insect herbivores were utilized: a generalist feeder (Spodoptera Exigua) and a specialist feeder (Manduca Sexta). Plant tissue samples were collected from all treatments following five days of flooding and one day of herbivory for metabolite analysis. We hypothesize that plants responding to combinatorial stressors of both flooding and herbivory will have more drastic changes in their metabolites. This suggests that stress damages the ability of plants to grow and develop, which emphasizes the vitality of understanding tomato stress response.