Journal
PLANTS-BASEL
Volume 11, Issue 2, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/plants11020154
Keywords
abiotic stress; drought stress; heat stress; combined stress; photosynthesis; antioxidants; cytokinin; tomato
Categories
Funding
- Jiangsu Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Fund [CX(21)3017]
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [JCQY201903]
- Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions
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This study investigated the role of a cytokinin receptor gene in regulating plant responses to individual drought, heat, and combined stresses. The down-regulation of this gene improved plants' tolerance to these stresses, potentially through increased membrane stability, osmoprotectant accumulation, and antioxidant enzyme activities.
Environmental stresses negatively affect the growth and development of plants. Several previous studies have elucidated the response mechanisms of plants to drought and heat applied separately; however, these two abiotic stresses often coincide in environmental conditions. The global climate change pattern has projected that combined drought and heat stresses will tend to increase in the near future. In this study, we down-regulated the expression of a cytokinin receptor gene SlHK2 using RNAi and investigated the role of this gene in regulating plant responses to individual drought, heat, and combined stresses (drought + heat) in tomato. Compared to the wild-type (WT), SlHK2 RNAi plants exhibited fewer stress symptoms in response to individual and combined stress treatments. The enhanced abiotic stress tolerance of SlHK2 RNAi plants can be associated with increased membrane stability, osmoprotectant accumulation, and antioxidant enzyme activities. Furthermore, photosynthesis machinery was also protected in SlHK2 RNAi plants. Collectively, our results show that down-regulation of the cytokinin receptor gene SlHK2, and consequently cytokinin signaling, can improve plant tolerance to drought, heat, and combined stress.
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