Down-Regulation of Cytokinin Receptor Gene SlHK2 Improves Plant Tolerance to Drought, Heat, and Combined Stresses in Tomato.

ABSTRACT: 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 a

SUBMITTER: Mushtaq N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8779561 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature