eATP activates energy dynamic gene GhG6PD to improve salt tolerance in cotton

Cotton is an important strategic living material with high economic value in China and faces various abiotic stresses during growth. In this study, salt-tolerant cotton 'Zhong 9807' was used as the material, and 400 μmol/L ATP was screened as the optimal concentration to improve cotton seed germination and alleviate salt stress during seedling stage by vertical double-layer filter paper method. After RNA-seq analysis, it was found that there were 7961 differential genes between ATP-treated and untreated groups. ATP can maintain energy stability under salt stress in cotton, activate energy production, photosynthesis-related genes, regulate phytohormone levels, and activate transcription factors to improve salt tolerance. Additionally, we selected a gene, GhG6PD (GH_A09G0427), specifically upregulated by ATP from the transcriptome for gene silencing experiments. Following silencing, the reducing power (NADPH) within the cotton plant decreased significantly, resulting in oxidative damage. This demonstrates that ATP application activates the expression of this gene, thereby conferring resistance to environmental stress. In this study, we proposed a regulatory network of ATP in cotton in response to salt stress, which provides a new idea to improve the salt tolerance of cotton.