Recently, the Tobacco Germplasm Resources and Biotechnology Breeding Innovation Team at Tobacco Research Institute (TRI) of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) made significant progress in elucidating the resistance mechanisms of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) in tobacco plants. The related findings have been published in the journal BMC Plant Biology.

TMV is a major pathogen that severely impairs plant growth and causes substantial economic losses in the production of various Solanaceae crops, including tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and pepper (Caspicum annuum). To explore the underlying mechanisms of TMV resistance, the team conducted a comprehensive analysis of the transcriptomic and metabolomic profiles of both susceptible (K326) and resistant (R_K326) tobacco lines. By integrating transcriptome and metabolome analyses, the study revealed significant enrichment of the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway in R_K326. Notably, four flavonoid compounds, including naringin, accumulated at significantly higher levels in R_K326 compared to K326. Naringin was identified as a key player in TMV resistance. Two genes encoding the rate-limiting enzymes of naringin biosynthesis, asm_5.4770 and asm_7.408, were identified as candidate genes based on their high expression levels in R_K326. This provides valuable insights into the response mechanisms of tobacco to TMV infection and offers new targets for breeding TMV-resistant Solanaceae crops.

The TRI of CAAS is the primary affiliation of this research. Caiyue Li, a graduate student, is the first author of the paper. Associated professor Dan Liu (TRI), Dr. Yan Ji (TRI), and Dr. Yangyang Li (HTRI) are the co-corresponding authors.

This research was supported by the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program of CAAS (ASTIP-TRIC01), the Tobacco Genome Project of China National Tobacco Corporation [110202201010 (JY-10), 110202401006 (JY-06)], and the Key Science and Technology Program of Shaanxi Tobacco Corporation (KJ-2023-02). 

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https://bmcplantbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12870-025-07053-0