Aug 2026· Plant physiology and biochemistry : PPB· Vol 238, pp.
111652
· 0 citations· 51 references
Medicine
TL;DR
New insights are provided into the coordinated regulatory network of cool-season turfgrass in response to multiple abiotic stresses and it offers potential targets for genetic improvement and functional utilization of stress-tolerance genes.
Abstract
In natural environments, plants are often exposed to multiple abiotic stresses simultaneously. Their combined effects usually cause more severe damage than a single stress. However, little is known about the coordinated response mechanisms of cool-season turfgrass to combined drought and cold stress. Two accessions of Annual bluegrass (Poa annua L.) with contrasting stress tolerance were used in this study: Huangzhong (HZ, tolerant) and Zhouqu (ZQ, sensitive). Physiological phenotyping, stomatal behavior observation, transcriptomics, and metabolomics were integrated to systematically compare their responses to drought, cold, and combined stress. The aim was to reveal the physiological and molecular regulatory differences between the two accessions and to identify the core pathways underlying combined stress responses. Results showed that combined stress significantly aggravated photosynthetic inhibition and oxidative damage. The sensitive accession ZQ exhibited much greater damage than the tolerant accession HZ. Transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses identified 11,440 and 13,631 differentially expressed genes, as well as 2585 and 2642 differentially accumulated metabolites in HZ and ZQ, respectively, under combined stress. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) identified a core module (MEred) significantly correlated with photosynthetic efficiency and antioxidant capacity, with HCT and PAL as candidate hub genes. Meanwhile, multi-omics integration revealed that phenylpropanoid biosynthesis was strongly activated only in the tolerant accession HZ, and clustering analysis further demonstrated that the molecular profiles under combined stress closely resembled those under drought stress alone. This study provides new insights into the coordinated regulatory network of cool-season turfgrass in response to multiple abiotic stresses. It also offers potential targets for genetic improvement and functional utilization of stress-tolerance genes.
Combined stress more strongly inhibited plant height, stem diameter, fresh weight, net photosynthetic rate, and transpiration rate than single stresses, and insights into alfalfa adaptation to multiple abiotic stresses are provided.
Lihe Su, Yong-Cheng Chen, Xudong Zhang et al.· Journal of Agricultural and...· 0 citations
Drought inhibits grass development and survival. However, molecular-based studies on drought tolerance mechanisms in bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) remain scarce. Therefore, a drought-resistant bermudagrass (Tianshui) and a drought-sensitive (Zhengzhou) genotype were selected and subjected to 28 days of 50% drought stress. Leaves were sampled for RNA sequencing. Under drought stress, 2410 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were discovered in which 1214 were upregulated (tolerant vs. sensitive) and 1196 downregulated. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) indicated that these specific DEGs are notably present in hormonal signal transduction pathways, flavonoids biogenesis, carbohydrate metabolic processes, abscisic acid-mediated pathways, MAPK signaling, and gluconeogenesis. Additionally, the plant hormone signal transduction pathway is predominantly linked to abscisic acid signal transduction, and many other plant hormones were also drought-responsive. The study specifically targeted genes associated with the antioxidant enzyme system, with a particular emphasis on responsive TFs such as MYB, bHLH, bZIP, GRAS, and WRKY. This study establishes the theoretical framework and identifies gene sources for the genetic enhancement and breeding of bermudagrass in the future.
Maryam Noor, Chen Zhao, Muhammad Tanveer Akhtar et al.· Physiologia Plantarum : An I...· 0 citations
A hormone- and anthocyanin-centered framework is proposed for understanding the apparent negative association between salt/drought tolerance and thermotolerance in B. rapa and suggests that hormone-directed anthocyanin metabolism may contribute to the negative association between osmotic tolerance and thermotolerance.
Mei Zheng, Pei-Rong Li, Xiao-Yun Xin et al.· Frontiers in Plant Science· 0 citations
Background Cold stress is a major environmental constraint limiting wheat productivity worldwide. Although numerous cold-responsive pathways have been identified, the molecular basis of differential cold tolerance among genetically related wheat lines remains poorly understood. In this study, two wheat sibling lines derived from a single progeny plant of the same parental cross, Luyan951 (cold-tolerant) and Luyan955 (cold-sensitive), were employed to investigate the regulatory mechanisms of cold adaptation through integrated physiological, transcriptomic, and metabolomic analyses. Results Physiological assays revealed that Luyan951 exhibited markedly enhanced cold tolerance, with a survival rate of 52.67% following cold treatment compared with 20.67% in Luyan955. This enhanced tolerance was accompanied by 1.90–2.41-fold greater increases in antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD, CAT, and POD) and 1.84–4.50-fold greater accumulation of proline and soluble sugars relative to Luyan955, along with substantially lower MDA accumulation. Transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses identified phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and jasmonic acid (JA) signaling as key pathways associated with cold adaptation. Compared with Luyan955, cultivar Luyan951 exhibited stronger activation of these pathways under cold stress. Key genes involved in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis (CAD, and 4CL) and JA signaling (JAZ, MYC2) were significantly upregulated in Luyan951, as confirmed by qRT-PCR. Bioinformatic analyses further suggested that AP2/ERF transcription factors may act as upstream regulators of these pathways. Furthermore, subcellular localization and transcriptional activation experiments confirmed the nuclear localization and transactivation function of three AP2/ERF genes (TraesCS5D02G318400, TraesCS6A02G381000, TraesCS6D02G366100). Conclusions Our findings indicate that the phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway plays a significant role in the cold tolerance of wheat, and together with the jasmonic acid signaling pathway, it forms a crucial regulatory network. This network promotes the scavenging of reactive oxygen species, maintains osmotic homeostasis, and stabilizes metabolism under low-temperature stress. Integrated analyses further suggest that this network may be coordinated by upstream ERF transcription factors. These findings provide comprehensive insights into the molecular mechanisms of wheat cold adaptation and offer valuable candidate genes and pathways for the genetic improvement of cold tolerance in wheat.
Wen-Jie Zheng, Peng Li, Xin Sun et al.· Frontiers in Plant Science· 0 citations
P phenotypic, physiological, and transcriptomic analyses were integrated to elucidate the drought adaptation mechanisms of a gamma-ray-induced mutant wheat line, PL6, alongside its wild-type parent, PL1, demonstrating an effective analytical framework for selection of high-confidence transcripts.
M. Hong, Ryu Jeong Kim, So Jin Park et al.· Agriculture· 0 citations
This study deepens the mechanistic understanding of cold tolerance in melon seedlings, confirms that flavonoids and GSH metabolites act as core components facilitating plant stress adaptation, and supplies valuable genetic and metabolic resources to accelerate the breeding of cold-tolerant melon varieties.
Jiaying Zhang, D. Ren, Keyan Zhang et al.· Plant physiology and biochem...· 0 citations
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