CsWRKY46 Is Involved in the Regulation of Cucumber Salt Stress by Regulating Abscisic Acid and Modulating Cellular Reactive Oxygen Species
2025
Xue Bai | Pengyu Liu | Fangyi Zhu | Chong Zhang | Hongbo Pang | Ying Zhang
Soil salinity significantly restricts the growth, development, and productivity of vegetables. Cucumber, a crucial greenhouse vegetable, is helpful for understanding how plants perceive, signal, and respond to salt stress. The WRKY family plays an important role in regulating stress responses. This study utilized the cucumber variety ‘Zhongnong 26’ to investigate the effects of salt stress on morphological changes, physiological and biochemical indices, and molecular regulations. <i>CsWRKY46</i> was up-regulated in both salt stress and ABA response conditions in the leaves, roots, and fruits of cucumber. Transgenic <i>Arabidopsis</i> lines overexpressing <i>CsWRKY46</i> (<i>CsWRK46</i>-OE1 and <i>CsWRK46</i>-OE5) showed higher proline accumulation and reduced electrolyte leakage compared to the wild type (WT). These overexpression lines demonstrated higher peroxidase (POD) and glutathione reductase (GR) activity, along with lower ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and catalase (CAT) activity. qRT-PCR analysis revealed elevated expression levels of <i>ABI5</i> and <i>ABF4</i> in <i>CsWRKY46</i>-OE lines compared to the WT. Additionally, the overexpression of <i>CsWRKY46</i> increased the expression of stress-inducible genes such as <i>PSCS1</i>, <i>PY19</i>, and <i>RD19</i>. These findings suggest that <i>CsWRKY46</i> enhances plant tolerance to salt stress, potentially through ABA regulation and modulation of cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), and provide a foundation for the identification of new sources of salt stress tolerance for breeding programs.
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