Trichomes - Importance in plant defence and plant breeding

Trichomes are epidermal hairs that can occur on nearly all plant surfaces. Structures are diverse among higher plants, but generally conserved within taxa. Consequently, trichomes have served as taxonomic characters. Because of their size and location, trichomes often mediate interactions between the plant organ and the external environment. Examples of how trichomes may mediate these interactions between the plant and its abiotic and biotic environment are delineated. A recent progress in breeding for trichome characters is reviewed. Lastly, because the tomato germplasm pool is an extremely rich resource for diversity of trichome characters and crop defence, progress in evaluating and utilizing tomato trichomes for arthropod resistance in tomato and other uses of tomato trichomes is discussed.