{"title":"Engineering saline-alkali-tolerant apple rootstock by knocking down MdGH3 genes in M9-T337.","authors":"Fang Zhi, Tianle Fan, Jia Li, Shuo Zhang, Qian Qian, Arij Khalil, Chundong Niu, Kun Wang, Fengwang Ma, Xuewei Li, Qingmei Guan","doi":"10.1007/s44154-025-00236-7","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Soil salinization and alkalization have become an increasingly severe global issues, significantly limiting both the yield and quality of apples (Malus × domestica). M9-T337 is a widely used apple dwarfing rootstock; however, it is sensitive to saline-alkali stress. Therefore, developing saline-alkali tolerant apple rootstocks is essential. In this study, we utilized RNAi (RNA interference) technology to knock down GH3 genes in the M9-T337 background, aiming to engineer a dwarfing and stress-tolerant apple rootstock. We found that MdGH3 RNAi plants exhibited superior morphology compared to M9-T337 under saline-alkali stress conditions, characterized by more robust root systems, increased plant height, a lower Na<sup>+</sup>/K<sup>+</sup> ratio, and enhanced photosynthetic and antioxidant capacities. Moreover, when MdGH3 RNAi plants were used as rootstocks, the GL-3/MdGH3 RNAi plants also displayed greater plant height, root vitality, photosynthetic ability, and antioxidant capacity compared to GL-3 grafted onto M9-T337 rootstock. Taken together, our study constructed a saline-alkali-tolerant apple rootstock by knocking down MdGH3 genes.</p>","PeriodicalId":74874,"journal":{"name":"Stress biology","volume":"5 1","pages":"44"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12185813/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Stress biology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s44154-025-00236-7","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Soil salinization and alkalization have become an increasingly severe global issues, significantly limiting both the yield and quality of apples (Malus × domestica). M9-T337 is a widely used apple dwarfing rootstock; however, it is sensitive to saline-alkali stress. Therefore, developing saline-alkali tolerant apple rootstocks is essential. In this study, we utilized RNAi (RNA interference) technology to knock down GH3 genes in the M9-T337 background, aiming to engineer a dwarfing and stress-tolerant apple rootstock. We found that MdGH3 RNAi plants exhibited superior morphology compared to M9-T337 under saline-alkali stress conditions, characterized by more robust root systems, increased plant height, a lower Na+/K+ ratio, and enhanced photosynthetic and antioxidant capacities. Moreover, when MdGH3 RNAi plants were used as rootstocks, the GL-3/MdGH3 RNAi plants also displayed greater plant height, root vitality, photosynthetic ability, and antioxidant capacity compared to GL-3 grafted onto M9-T337 rootstock. Taken together, our study constructed a saline-alkali-tolerant apple rootstock by knocking down MdGH3 genes.