Interspecific tomato MAGIC rootstocks confer drought tolerance through distinct biochemical and transcriptomic modulation.

Interspecific tomato MAGIC rootstocks significantly enhance drought tolerance in grafted plants, with S5_T_583 and S5_T_724 showing 14% and 9% higher water content respectively.

• Why it matters: Drought stress limits tomato production worldwide, and improving drought resilience is crucial for sustainable agriculture. Grafting onto diverse rootstocks offers a promising solution, but understanding the underlying mechanisms remains limited.
• What they did: Six rootstocks, including three from the interspecific ToMAGIC population, were grafted with Moneymaker scions and subjected to water withholding; phenotypic, biochemical, and transcriptomic analyses identified rootstock-specific responses.
• The result: Selected rootstocks conferred improved drought performance through distinct physiological and biochemical changes, such as increased flavonoids and phenolics, linked to specific gene expression patterns, enabling better drought adaptation.