Damián Balfagón, Clara Segarra-Medina, José L. Rambla, Aurelio Gómez-Cadenas
{"title":"Metabolic reconfiguration and proline-mediated responses enhance citrus tolerance to combined water, light and heat stress","authors":"Damián Balfagón, Clara Segarra-Medina, José L. Rambla, Aurelio Gómez-Cadenas","doi":"10.1016/j.stress.2025.101039","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The co-occurrence of multiple abiotic stress factors has become increasingly common in agricultural systems, largely driven by the intensification of climate change. These overlapping stressors not only occur more frequently but also with greater intensity, posing complex challenges to crop resilience and overall productivity. In this context, the ability of plants to adjust their metabolism plays a pivotal role in facilitating acclimation to such multifaceted environmental pressures. The present study explores how two citrus rootstocks with differing stress tolerance profiles—Carrizo citrange and Cleopatra mandarin—reconfigure their primary metabolism when simultaneously exposed to water limitation, high light exposure, and elevated temperatures. Our results demonstrate that Carrizo exhibits distinct metabolic alterations under high temperature stress, whereas Cleopatra remains largely unaffected, suggesting an inherently lower heat tolerance in Cleopatra. Furthermore, Carrizo plants accumulate proline in response to the triple stress combination, while Cleopatra instead accumulates γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Remarkably, treatment with exogenous proline enhances stress tolerance in both genotypes by increasing antioxidant enzyme activities and activating autophagy-related stress response pathways. While previous studies have explored plant responses to individual stress factors, our research reveals that metabolic reconfiguration and proline accumulation are key to coping with the combined effects of water deficit, high irradiance, and extreme temperatures in citrus. These findings underscore the pivotal role of proline metabolism in mitigating the detrimental effects of complex abiotic stresses and point to potential strategies for improving citrus adaptation through metabolic modulation. Overall, our study provides valuable insights into the mechanisms driving plant responses to environmental challenges, which are essential for developing sustainable agricultural practices in the face of climate change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34736,"journal":{"name":"Plant Stress","volume":"18 ","pages":"Article 101039"},"PeriodicalIF":6.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Plant Stress","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667064X25003070","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PLANT SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The co-occurrence of multiple abiotic stress factors has become increasingly common in agricultural systems, largely driven by the intensification of climate change. These overlapping stressors not only occur more frequently but also with greater intensity, posing complex challenges to crop resilience and overall productivity. In this context, the ability of plants to adjust their metabolism plays a pivotal role in facilitating acclimation to such multifaceted environmental pressures. The present study explores how two citrus rootstocks with differing stress tolerance profiles—Carrizo citrange and Cleopatra mandarin—reconfigure their primary metabolism when simultaneously exposed to water limitation, high light exposure, and elevated temperatures. Our results demonstrate that Carrizo exhibits distinct metabolic alterations under high temperature stress, whereas Cleopatra remains largely unaffected, suggesting an inherently lower heat tolerance in Cleopatra. Furthermore, Carrizo plants accumulate proline in response to the triple stress combination, while Cleopatra instead accumulates γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Remarkably, treatment with exogenous proline enhances stress tolerance in both genotypes by increasing antioxidant enzyme activities and activating autophagy-related stress response pathways. While previous studies have explored plant responses to individual stress factors, our research reveals that metabolic reconfiguration and proline accumulation are key to coping with the combined effects of water deficit, high irradiance, and extreme temperatures in citrus. These findings underscore the pivotal role of proline metabolism in mitigating the detrimental effects of complex abiotic stresses and point to potential strategies for improving citrus adaptation through metabolic modulation. Overall, our study provides valuable insights into the mechanisms driving plant responses to environmental challenges, which are essential for developing sustainable agricultural practices in the face of climate change.
期刊介绍:
The journal Plant Stress deals with plant (or other photoautotrophs, such as algae, cyanobacteria and lichens) responses to abiotic and biotic stress factors that can result in limited growth and productivity. Such responses can be analyzed and described at a physiological, biochemical and molecular level. Experimental approaches/technologies aiming to improve growth and productivity with a potential for downstream validation under stress conditions will also be considered. Both fundamental and applied research manuscripts are welcome, provided that clear mechanistic hypotheses are made and descriptive approaches are avoided. In addition, high-quality review articles will also be considered, provided they follow a critical approach and stimulate thought for future research avenues.
Plant Stress welcomes high-quality manuscripts related (but not limited) to interactions between plants and:
Lack of water (drought) and excess (flooding),
Salinity stress,
Elevated temperature and/or low temperature (chilling and freezing),
Hypoxia and/or anoxia,
Mineral nutrient excess and/or deficiency,
Heavy metals and/or metalloids,
Plant priming (chemical, biological, physiological, nanomaterial, biostimulant) approaches for improved stress protection,
Viral, phytoplasma, bacterial and fungal plant-pathogen interactions.
The journal welcomes basic and applied research articles, as well as review articles and short communications. All submitted manuscripts will be subject to a thorough peer-reviewing process.