BMC Plant BiologyPub Date : 2025-09-12DOI: 10.1186/s12870-025-07234-x
Tuba Bak, Mustafa Arslan, Turan Karadeniz
{"title":"Pre-selection-based evaluation of fruit characteristics in Turkish hazelnut (Corylus colurna L.) in Bolu.","authors":"Tuba Bak, Mustafa Arslan, Turan Karadeniz","doi":"10.1186/s12870-025-07234-x","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12870-025-07234-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study was carried out to determine the fruit characteristics of Turkish hazelnut (Corylus colurna L.) by pre-selection. The aim was to determine the fruit characteristics and the relationship between them. This research was carried out in four different locations in Bolu province. Nut weight was 0.81-2.38 g; kernel weight was 0.41-0.85 g; shell thickness was 1.00-2.86, and kernel percentage was 27.88-55.85%. Correlation analyses showed a high correlation, especially between kernel percentage and shell thickness, kernel weight, and nut weight. According to the heat map clustering analysis results, although the kernel percentage was in a different subgroup, it was clustered in the same group: nut length, nut shape index, kernel length, and kernel shape index. Among the prominent genotypes, MR31, KR8, and MR15 stand out with their nut weights, MR31, MR25, and MR14 with their kernel weight, MR7 with a thin shell, and MR4, MR6, and MR14 with their kernel percentage. As a result, in this study, genotypes with different characteristics of Turkish hazelnuts can be used as material for various purposes in breeding programs. These results may also contribute to conserving hazelnut genetic resources and future hazelnut breeding studies.</p>","PeriodicalId":9198,"journal":{"name":"BMC Plant Biology","volume":"25 1","pages":"1202"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12427108/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145039172","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
BMC Plant BiologyPub Date : 2025-09-09DOI: 10.1186/s12870-025-07022-7
Galal Khamis, Emad A Alsherif, Shereen Magdy Korany, Danyah A Aldailami, Abeer S Aloufi, Maha H Khalaf, Seham M Hamed, Maria Gabriela Maridueña-Zavala, Soad K Al Jaouni, Samy Selim
{"title":"Drought stress differentially influences growth, physiology, and metabolite accumulation in Triticum aestivum (C3) and Amaranthus caudatus (C4) plants.","authors":"Galal Khamis, Emad A Alsherif, Shereen Magdy Korany, Danyah A Aldailami, Abeer S Aloufi, Maha H Khalaf, Seham M Hamed, Maria Gabriela Maridueña-Zavala, Soad K Al Jaouni, Samy Selim","doi":"10.1186/s12870-025-07022-7","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12870-025-07022-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Drought stress affects plant growth and production. To cope with drought stress, plants induced physiological and metabolic changes, serving as a protective approach under drought-stress conditions. The response to drought can vary based on plant type (C3 vs. C4) and the intensity of the stress. Therefore, here we aimed to investigate the different responses of wheat C3-Triticum aestivum and C4-Amaranthus caudatus plants to drought stress. To this end, the growth, photosynthetic parameters, oxidative stress, total antioxidant capacity, primary metabolites (amino acids and organic and fatty acids) and secondary metabolites (polyamines) were analyzed. Drought stress reduced growth, biomass, relative water content, water potential, and photosynthesis in both plants, with more severe effects observed in wheat. Drought-induced reduction in photosynthesis was linked to lower stomatal conductance, reduced photosynthetic enzyme activity, and decreased Fv/Fm, indicating impaired PSII function, effects that were more pronounced in wheat than in amaranth. This was accompanied by increased oxidative damage, as indicated by elevated levels of lipid peroxidation. To cope with drought stress, both plants accumulated metabolites involved in antioxidant defense and osmoregulation, including total antioxidant capacity, soluble sugars, proline, polyamines, organic acids, and fatty acids. This response was more pronounced in wheat, indicating its active deployment of defenses to cope with significant stress, in contrast to Amaranthus' greater physiological resilience.</p>","PeriodicalId":9198,"journal":{"name":"BMC Plant Biology","volume":"25 1","pages":"1199"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12418684/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145028902","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
BMC Plant BiologyPub Date : 2025-09-04DOI: 10.1186/s12870-025-07292-1
Lidan Wang, Weisheng Sun, Wenhao Jiang, Zhuanying Yang, Dongbo Lin
{"title":"Systematic analysis of the Aux/IAA gene family in pineapple reveals insights into their structural diversity, expression dynamics, and interaction networks.","authors":"Lidan Wang, Weisheng Sun, Wenhao Jiang, Zhuanying Yang, Dongbo Lin","doi":"10.1186/s12870-025-07292-1","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12870-025-07292-1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":9198,"journal":{"name":"BMC Plant Biology","volume":"25 1","pages":"1196"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12409942/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144999748","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Integrated transcriptomic and metabolic analysis reveal the mechanism controlling cucumber-pumpkin grafting compatibility.","authors":"Yuan Zhang, Xiao-Long Wu, Li-Li Zhang, Shi-Wei Xia, Xiao-Niu Guo, Wan-Lin Yang, Gui-Zhen Rao, Wen-Li Yang, Ling Zhang, Yu Li, Hao-Hui Yang, Xi-Xiang Li, Yun-Song Lai","doi":"10.1186/s12870-025-07208-z","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12870-025-07208-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The most widely used rootstock of cucumber grafting is pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata). The main task of pumpkin rootstock breeding is to evaluate its compatibility with cucumber scions. One of the main factors affecting grafting compatibility is the rootstock bleeding sap, which affects the wound healing of graft junction.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We evaluated the grafting affinity of 30 pumpkin rootstocks, which were F1 hybrids derived from 56 breeding lines, by grafting them with the cucumber scion FH8. Correlation analysis of grafting compatibility with phenotypic traits of rootstock seedlings, grafted plants, and biochemical characteristics of rootstock bleeding sap highlighted the positive role of soluble solids content and the negative role of the absorbance of bleeding sapsmeasured at multiple wavelengths (from 280 nm to 700 nm). Bleeding saps from three rootstocks (RS50, RS83, and RS55) with different grafting compatibility were assayed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). The predominant content in bleeding saps was amino acids. Compared with self-rooted-grafting, intergeneric grafting caused changes in the pathways associated with \"abiotic stress responses\", \"ribosome\" and \"plant hormone signal transduction\" in integrated transcriptomic and metabolic analysis. When compared with the bleeding sap of RS50 (BS-RS50) with low grafting compatibility, BS-RS55 with high grafting compatibility contained much lower content of flavonoids such as nicotiflorin, lonicerin, isoquercitrin and isovitexin. A similar difference profile of these flavonoids was not observed in cucumber scions, although flavonoid pathway was also affected by grafting in scions.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Pumpkin rootstocks show a big variation in grafting compatibility with cucumbers scions, which at least partially depends on the nutrients (bleeding saps) transported from rootstocks to scions. Flavonoids play a negative role in pumpkin-cucumber grafting compatibility.</p>","PeriodicalId":9198,"journal":{"name":"BMC Plant Biology","volume":"25 1","pages":"1193"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12406400/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144943523","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
BMC Plant BiologyPub Date : 2025-09-02DOI: 10.1186/s12870-025-07182-6
Ahmed M Abdelghany, Shengrui Zhang, Jing Li, Bin Li, Junming Sun
{"title":"Seed phenotype and maturity groups as determinants of protein, oil, and fatty acid composition patterns in diverse soybean germplasm.","authors":"Ahmed M Abdelghany, Shengrui Zhang, Jing Li, Bin Li, Junming Sun","doi":"10.1186/s12870-025-07182-6","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12870-025-07182-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Soybean seed physical characteristics are crucial for quality assessment, but the link between these characteristics and biochemical composition across different maturity groups (MGs) remains unclear. This study examined the relationships between seed physical characteristics (color and weight) and biochemical constituents, including oil content (OC), protein content (PC), and fatty acid (FA) composition in 191 diverse soybean accessions across eight MGs (0-VII) at three locations over two years. The results indicated that black-seeded accessions demonstrated a notably higher average of PC (47.33%) and a lower average of OC (15.78%) in contrast to yellow-seeded varieties, which had an average PC and OC of 42.52% and 19.12%, respectively. In addition, larger seeds exhibited increased OC (19.15%) and OA levels (23.27%), whereas smaller seeds revealed higher concentrations of PC (44.23%), LA (55.06%), and LNA (8.53%). Multivariate analyses, including principal component analysis, clustering heatmap, and radar plot, demonstrated distinct clustering patterns, exhibiting unique compositional profiles closely linked to seed physical characteristics. Furthermore, MGs exhibited notable correlations with LNA (R² = 0.238) and OC (R² = 0.233), especially in black-seeded and large-seeded accessions. These findings elucidate the complex interaction between seed physical traits and biochemical composition, presenting significant implications for soybean breeding programs aimed at specific quality attributes.</p>","PeriodicalId":9198,"journal":{"name":"BMC Plant Biology","volume":"25 1","pages":"1189"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12403403/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144943366","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Comprehensive analysis of dehydrin genes reveals ZmDHN3 contributes to drought resistance in maize (Zea Mays L.).","authors":"Yongfeng Xie, Yuyi Ma, Xin Sun, Hao Liu, Zhiquan Qiang","doi":"10.1186/s12870-025-07223-0","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12870-025-07223-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Dehydrin (DHN) proteins, belong to subfamily members of late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins, are widely recognized as key determinants in plant abiotic stress tolerance.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In this study, we identified eleven DHN genes in Zea mays and systematically analyzed their evolutionary relationships, structural features, cis-acting elements, expression patterns, protein interaction relation, and function validation in drought resistance. All ZmDHN proteins contained K-segment, and were classified into three subgroups, i.e., KnS-, SKn-, and YnSKn-type. Promoter analysis results showed abundant stress-responsive cis-elements were identified in ZmDHN promoter regions, especially MBS and ABRE elements. Consistently, the most ZmDHNs were induced by cold, heat, salt, and drought stresses, except ZmDHN7 to ZmDHN11. Protein interaction and transcriptome data analysis suggested that ZmDHN1 might interact with cell division protein, ZmDHN3 interacted with nucleic acid binding protein, ZmDHN4 interacted with alpha/beta-hydrolases, ZmDHN5 interacted with ATP synthase, ZmDHN6 interacted with glycine-rich RNA-binding protein, ZmDHN8 and ZmDHN9 interacted with late embryogenesis abundant protein Lea14-A under drought stress. Functional validation results demonstrated that ZmDHN3 was located in the cytoplasm, and overexpression of ZmDHN3 in maize enhanced drought tolerance, with higher relative water content and lower relative electrolyte leakage compared with wild-type maize plants.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study increases our understanding of DHN proteins, demonstrates that ZmDHN3 improves drought tolerance in maize, and provides candidate genes for further molecular breeding to improve maize drought stress tolerance.</p>","PeriodicalId":9198,"journal":{"name":"BMC Plant Biology","volume":"25 1","pages":"1186"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12403388/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144943296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Pear scab resistance gene Rvn1 from Ussurian pear is located in a cluster of receptor-like protein ethylene-inducing Xylanase (EIX) genes.","authors":"Sogo Nishio, Shingo Terakami, Takushi Yoshida, Miho Tatsuki, Yukie Takeuchi, Norio Takada, Kakeru Miyata, Kenta Shirasawa","doi":"10.1186/s12870-025-07209-y","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12870-025-07209-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Pear scab, caused by Venturia nashicola, is one of the most serious diseases affecting Asian pear (Pyrus spp.) production. While single-gene resistance has been used in breeding, it is often overcome by evolving pathogens. Therefore, integrating multiple resistance genes from diverse genetic backgrounds is essential for developing durable cultivars. Although resistance genes have been identified in various pear species, their nucleotide sequences remain largely unknown.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We fine-mapped the scab resistance gene Rvn1 from Japanese pear 'Kinchaku' to a 30,281-bp region using genotyping of 4,297 seedlings across 23 populations. Comparative sequence analysis with apple (Malus spp.) and pear pseudomolecules revealed conserved regions containing receptor-like ethylene-inducing xylanase (EIX) gene clusters, which have undergone distinct tandem and segmental duplications. Within the mapped region, only four transcripts were predicted. Their full-length sequences were obtained using Iso-Seq, enabling precise characterization of candidate resistance genes. RNA-seq analysis showed that among these genes, the gene for a receptor-like protein EIX was significantly upregulated in the resistant cultivar 'Hoshiakari' relative to the susceptible 'Kosui' and was induced upon inoculation. Population structure analysis of the region surrounding Rvn1 suggested that Rvn1 originated from Ussurian pear (P. ussuriensis), indicating potential non-host resistance against V. nashicola. Molecular markers tightly linked to Rvn1 were developed for use in marker-assisted selection.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>We identified a receptor-like EIX gene as a strong candidate for Rvn1, a resistance gene against V. nashicola in Asian pear. Its expression pattern-being significantly upregulated in the resistant cultivar and induced upon inoculation-strongly supports its role in scab resistance. Molecular markers tightly linked to this locus were developed and are applicable to breeding programs. These findings provide a foundation for durable resistance breeding and future identification of additional resistance genes.</p>","PeriodicalId":9198,"journal":{"name":"BMC Plant Biology","volume":"25 1","pages":"1191"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12406471/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144943199","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
BMC Plant BiologyPub Date : 2025-09-02DOI: 10.1186/s12870-025-07235-w
Ning Shi, Jing Cheng, Xiao-Tong Gao, Hao-Cheng Lu, Meng-Bo Tian, Ming-Yu Li, Chang-Qing Duan, Jun Wang
{"title":"Deciphering metabolic regulation in overripe grapes through multi-omics analysis of non-targeted metabolome, proteome, and transcriptome.","authors":"Ning Shi, Jing Cheng, Xiao-Tong Gao, Hao-Cheng Lu, Meng-Bo Tian, Ming-Yu Li, Chang-Qing Duan, Jun Wang","doi":"10.1186/s12870-025-07235-w","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12870-025-07235-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>As climate warms, the sugars and secondary metabolites in grapes gradually become uncoupled during development, resulting in the phenomenon of overripe fruit becoming more frequent around the world, especially in some arid regions. However, the key metabolic regulations to grape overripening are still poorly understood. To address this, we conducted a multi-omics study on Cabernet Sauvignon overripe berries over two years, analyzing the non-targeted metabolome, transcriptome, and proteome, aiming to provide a theoretical basis for delayed harvest strategies based on grape quality.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The delayed harvests caused significant changes in berry transcriptome and proteome. Genes and proteins responding to environmental changes were up-regulated, while those related to metabolism were down-regulated, indicating the primary function of berries during the overripening stage shifted away from extensive metabolite synthesis. The key enzyme genes and proteins linked to changes in metabolites like glucose, pyruvate, malate, alanine, γ-aminobutyric acid, and resveratrol, were identified.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>In hot regions, the overripening stage of grape berries may be detrimental to their quality. This study highlights the core molecular changes during grape overripening and offer valuable insights for optimizing grape harvest date.</p>","PeriodicalId":9198,"journal":{"name":"BMC Plant Biology","volume":"25 1","pages":"1183"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12403331/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144943363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Phenotypic plasticity in wild Camellia japonica across climatic zones: responses to variations in soil moisture and light intensity.","authors":"Xinyue Liu, Mingyan Li, Haijie Zhang, Jibo Jiao, Xianhu Guo, Jikai Yang, Cuiju Liu, Shaoxia Guo, Yingkun Sun, Weihua Guo, Xiao Guo","doi":"10.1186/s12870-025-07070-z","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12870-025-07070-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>Phenotypic plasticity is recognized as the important driver of adapting to the heterogeneous habitats and environment changes. The climate variability hypothesis suggests that plant populations in high latitudes experience greater environmental fluctuations and may exhibit higher phenotypic plasticity. Wild Camellia japonica is an important but small number of species, which is mainly distributed in warm-temperature and subtropical zones of China, yet it is not clear how its different populations have adapted to environmental changes.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In our study, wild C. japonica from both zones were subjected to three soil moisture levels and two light intensity levels in the common garden experiments. We focused on examining the morphological and physiological responses to determine how wild C. japonica populations adapt to heterogeneous habitats and environmental changes through phenotypic plasticity.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>The experimental results showed that severe drought stress reduced the activity of antioxidant enzymes and damaged the antioxidant enzyme system of subtropical wild C. japonica. In contrast, warm-temperate wild C. japonica performed better under variable soil moisture conditions and had higher phenotypic plasticity to soil moisture, which confirmed the climate variability hypothesis. Meanwhile, the warm-temperate and subtropical wild C. japonica showed similar phenotypic plasticity in response to light intensity, and both could reduce the effects of light deficit by improving its ability to capture sunlight energy. The similar phenotypic plasticity to light intensity might be due to the conservative strategy of subtropical wild C. japonica to avoid resource wastage.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our study suggests that conservation efforts for wild C. japonica should account for the response mechanisms of their different populations to environmental changes, providing differentiated conservation strategies tailored to each population.</p>","PeriodicalId":9198,"journal":{"name":"BMC Plant Biology","volume":"25 1","pages":"1179"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12403372/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144943243","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
BMC Plant BiologyPub Date : 2025-09-02DOI: 10.1186/s12870-025-07226-x
Zahra Rashidi, Khosro Azizi, Hamid Reza Eisvand
{"title":"Caffeic acid-related gene expression and antioxidant activity enhance drought tolerance in three bean cultivars.","authors":"Zahra Rashidi, Khosro Azizi, Hamid Reza Eisvand","doi":"10.1186/s12870-025-07226-x","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12870-025-07226-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Caffeic acid, one of the important phenolic compounds in plants, plays a significant role in enhancing the defense mechanisms and adaptation of plants to environmental stresses, including drought. This study aimed to investigate the effect of drought stress on the expression of genes involved in the biosynthesis of caffeic acid, photosynthetic mechanisms, and antioxidant enzyme activity in three cultivars of beans. The experiment was conducted in a split-plot design within a randomized complete block design, with three irrigation levels (50, 75, and 100% of water requirement) as the main factor and three bean cultivars (red, white, and pinto) as the sub-factor, with three replications.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The results showed that drought stress increased the expression of caffeic acid biosynthesis genes and enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities (CAT, SOD, POD) in all bean cultivars. These responses were particularly stronger in pinto and red beans. For instance, caffeic acid content increased by more than 60% under severe drought in pinto bean tissues, contributing to improved antioxidant capacity. While drought stress reduced seed yield in all cultivars, the decline was less pronounced in pinto bean (about 14%), indicating its higher drought tolerance compared to the white bean, which showed a larger yield reduction.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>These results suggest that the increased expression of genes involved in caffeic acid biosynthesis and the enhancement of antioxidant activity are key mechanisms in plant adaptation to drought. Identifying and utilizing these mechanisms can provide effective strategies for genetic improvement and the production of drought-resistant cultivars. Moreover, the findings can contribute to optimizing irrigation management and improving production sustainability in arid and semi-arid regions.</p>","PeriodicalId":9198,"journal":{"name":"BMC Plant Biology","volume":"25 1","pages":"1195"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12406357/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144943345","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}