Authors: Aubrilin Johnson
Mentors: Yu Ya Liang
Insitution: Utah Valley University
Drought stress negatively affects the growth, survival, and production of crops. Developing drought-tolerant cultivars is an important strategy for maintaining crop yields under undesirable water conditions. Tomatoes are an important crop both grown worldwide and here in Utah. Improving drought tolerance in tomato plants can increase yearly yields and reduce the amount of crops lost during the periodic droughts that Utah has. A way to develop drought-tolerant tomatoes may be through identifying and utilizing genes that enhance survival and growth rates under stressful water conditions. In this study, we will use two varieties of tomato, including drought-tolerant wild species, and susceptible commercial varieties. According to previous studies, drought during late the vegetative stage will significantly reduce the yield, therefore this study will focus on that. Using RNA-seq to find the difference in gene expression between the control and drought groups. Identifying differences will facilitate in finding candidate genes that may have a potential role in drought resistance. Then take the top cultivar and find the specific drought-resistant gene, which can then be used by Utah tomato growers to yield more resistant crops.