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Background <p>Drought stress is one of the major constraints of global agricultural productivity, adversely affecting plant water balance, membrane integrity, and oxidative stability. Abscisic acid-stress-ripening (ASR) is a ubiquitous plant transcription factor family that regulates environmental stress responses. However, the functional mechanism by which these proteins mediate drought stress tolerance remains incompletely elucidated. The current study functionally characterized the role of a novel tomato ASR protein (ASR4) in drought tolerance using overexpression (OE1 and OE3) and CRISPR/Cas9 knockout (CAS3 and CAS17) lines.</p> Results <p>The results revealed that transcripts of <i>SlASR4</i> differentially accumulated in various plant tissues and were remarkably induced by abiotic stressors. Under drought conditions, <i>SlASR4</i> gain-of-function improved the performance of overexpressed lines, as evidenced by reduced water loss, higher relative water content, increased chlorophyll retention, and decreased electrolyte leakage compared to wild-type and knockout lines. The protective effect was associated with a significant increase in the activity and transcript levels of key antioxidant enzymes, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT), as well as the upregulation of the drought-responsive factors <i>SlDREB</i> and <i>SlNHX</i>. Further, <i>SlASR4</i> physically interacts with phloem protein 2 (PP2) to confer drought resistance.</p> Conclusions <p>These findings indicate that <i>SlASR4</i> enhances drought tolerance by modulating reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis and activating stress-responsive transcriptional networks through its direct interaction with Phloem Protein2(PP2). This study provides novel molecular insights into ASR4-mediated stress adaptation and identifies <i>SlASR4</i> as a promising candidate gene for the genetic improvement of drought resilience in tomato and related crop species.</p>

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The SlASR4 Interaction with the Phloem Protein2 (SlPP2) regulating the tolerance to drought in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月20日

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  • Faria Sundas,
  • Tayeb Muhammad,
  • Guoping Huang,
  • Yunzhou Li

摘要

Background

Drought stress is one of the major constraints of global agricultural productivity, adversely affecting plant water balance, membrane integrity, and oxidative stability. Abscisic acid-stress-ripening (ASR) is a ubiquitous plant transcription factor family that regulates environmental stress responses. However, the functional mechanism by which these proteins mediate drought stress tolerance remains incompletely elucidated. The current study functionally characterized the role of a novel tomato ASR protein (ASR4) in drought tolerance using overexpression (OE1 and OE3) and CRISPR/Cas9 knockout (CAS3 and CAS17) lines.

Results

The results revealed that transcripts of SlASR4 differentially accumulated in various plant tissues and were remarkably induced by abiotic stressors. Under drought conditions, SlASR4 gain-of-function improved the performance of overexpressed lines, as evidenced by reduced water loss, higher relative water content, increased chlorophyll retention, and decreased electrolyte leakage compared to wild-type and knockout lines. The protective effect was associated with a significant increase in the activity and transcript levels of key antioxidant enzymes, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT), as well as the upregulation of the drought-responsive factors SlDREB and SlNHX. Further, SlASR4 physically interacts with phloem protein 2 (PP2) to confer drought resistance.

Conclusions

These findings indicate that SlASR4 enhances drought tolerance by modulating reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis and activating stress-responsive transcriptional networks through its direct interaction with Phloem Protein2(PP2). This study provides novel molecular insights into ASR4-mediated stress adaptation and identifies SlASR4 as a promising candidate gene for the genetic improvement of drought resilience in tomato and related crop species.