Functional characterization of melatonin-responsive GhMYC5 in cotton drought tolerance.
- Open access
GhMYC5, a melatonin-responsive bHLH transcription factor, enhances cotton drought tolerance by regulating key signaling pathways, with silencing reducing tolerance by 50%.
- Why it matters: Drought stress severely limits cotton productivity, and understanding molecular mechanisms is crucial for developing resilient cultivars.
- What they did: Researchers used transcriptome sequencing, WGCNA, VIGS, and transgenic Arabidopsis to investigate GhMYC5's role, identifying 9,525 DEGs linked to protein kinase processes under drought.
- The result: Overexpression of GhMYC5 improved drought resistance, revealing its function as a positive regulator through ABA, JA, and MAPK pathways, providing valuable genetic resources for crop improvement.