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Updated: May 23, 2025

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Published on: March 11, 2020
Overexpression of SlGRF4 positively regulates drought stress tolerance in tomato by alleviating ROS damage and
Qinrong Hua1, Yang Feng1, Lamei Zheng1
1Faculty of Life Science and Technology, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Jingming South Street, Kunming, Yunnan 650224, PR China; 1/17/2025; 4/25/2025; 5/16/2025.
Abstract:
Drought stress caused by water scarcity is a major abiotic factor limiting plant productivity in many regions worldwide. Drought stress not only affects the morphological structure and physiological process of plants, but also induces the production of a large number of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in plants. The Growth Regulation Factor (GRF) protein, a group of plant-specific transcription factors, plays a critical role in plant growth, development, and stress responses. However, the role of tomato SlGRF4 in drought stress response and its regulatory mechanism remain poorly understood. In this study, bioinformatic analysis revealed that SlGRF4 contains the conserved QLQ and WRC domains characteristic of GRF. SlGRF4 was induced by 15 % PEG, especially after 3 h of treatment. Under drought stress, SlGRF4-overexpressing tomato seeds exhibit longer root length and plant height, compared with wild type (WT). Overexpressing of SlGRF4 reduced ROS and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents, enhanced activities and expression of antioxidant enzyme, contents and gene expression of proline, compared to WT plants. The expression levels of nitrogen metabolism genes (SlNR, SlNIR, SlGS, SlGOGAT), as well as transcripts of nitrate transporter proteins (SlNRT1.1, SlNRT1.2, SlNRT2.1, SlNRT2.2, SlNRT2.3, SlNRT2.4), were significantly upregulated in transgenic tomato plants under drought stress. Yeast two hybrid (Y2H) and luciferase complementation assay (LCA) indicated that SlGRF4 interacted with SlGIFs. Furthermore, luciferase reporter assays, yeast one-hybrid (Y1H) assays, and electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA) confirmed that SlGRF4 directly binds to the promoter of SlNRT2.2, thereby activating its expression. Our findings highlighting the potential role of SlGRF4 in regulating drought tolerance in tomato plants.
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