Abstract
Hydroponics is emerging as a vital method for producing resilient leafy greens in controlled environments. To systematically capture how hydroponically grown crops respond to stress, we subjected three species-cai xin, lettuce, and spinach-to 24 environmental and nutrient treatments. Growth measurements showed that extreme temperatures, reduced photoperiods, and severe macronutrient (N, P, K) deficiencies significantly limit fresh weight. Transcriptomic profiling (276 RNA-seq libraries) highlighted strong, shared downregulation of photosynthesis-related genes and upregulation of stress response and signaling genes across all three species. Leveraging a novel pipeline that merges regression-based gene network inference with orthology, we identified highly conserved gene regulatory networks (GRNs) spanning all three species-marking the first cross-species analysis of stress-responsive GRNs in economically important hydroponic leafy vegetables. These networks are anchored by well-known transcription factor families (e.g., WRKY, AP2/ERF, GARP), yet show lineage-specific differences compared to Arabidopsis, suggesting partial divergence in key regulatory components. Lastly, we introduce StressCoNekT (https://stress.plant.tools/), an interactive, publicly available database that hosts our transcriptomic data and offers comparative tools to accelerate the discovery of robust stress-responsive genes and cross-species analysis. This study not only deepens our understanding of abiotic stress adaptation in hydroponic systems but also provides a critical foundation for breeding stress-resilient crops and developing smart agriculture solutions.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 9
Claim · model-written summary
Extreme temperatures significantly limited fresh weight.
- Taxon
- cai xin
Brassica rapa var. parachinensise1 - Treatment
- extreme temperaturese0
- Outcome
- fresh weighte0
- Direction
- limite0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“extreme temperatures, reduced photoperiods, and severe macronutrient (N, P, K) deficiencies significantly limit fresh weight”
t0“leafy crops”
e1“three species-cai xin, lettuce, and spinach-to 24 environmental and nutrient treatments”
Claim · model-written summary
Reduced photoperiods significantly limited fresh weight.
- Taxon
- lettuce
Lactuca sativae1 - Treatment
- reduced photoperiodse0
- Outcome
- fresh weighte0
- Direction
- limite0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“extreme temperatures, reduced photoperiods, and severe macronutrient (N, P, K) deficiencies significantly limit fresh weight”
t0“leafy crops”
e1“three species-cai xin, lettuce, and spinach-to 24 environmental and nutrient treatments”
Claim · model-written summary
Severe macronutrient deficiencies significantly limited fresh weight.
- Taxon
- spinach
Spinacia oleraceae1 - Treatment
- severe macronutrient (N, P, K) deficienciese0
- Outcome
- fresh weighte0
- Direction
- limite0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“extreme temperatures, reduced photoperiods, and severe macronutrient (N, P, K) deficiencies significantly limit fresh weight”
t0“leafy crops”
e1“three species-cai xin, lettuce, and spinach-to 24 environmental and nutrient treatments”
Claim · model-written summary
Photosynthesis related genes were downregulated across the three species.
- Taxon
- cai xinBrassica rapa var. parachinensise1
- Outcome
- downregulation of photosynthesis-related genese0
- Direction
- downregulatione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“strong, shared downregulation of photosynthesis-related genes and upregulation of stress response and signaling genes across all three species”
t0“leafy crops”
e1“three species-cai xin, lettuce, and spinach-to 24 environmental and nutrient treatments”
Claim · model-written summary
Stress response and signaling genes were upregulated across the three species.
- Taxon
- lettuceLactuca sativae1
- Outcome
- upregulation of stress response and signaling genese0
- Direction
- upregulatione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“upregulation of stress response and signaling genes across all three species”
t0“leafy crops”
e1“three species-cai xin, lettuce, and spinach-to 24 environmental and nutrient treatments”
Claim · model-written summary
The analysis identified conserved gene regulatory networks across species.
- Taxon
- spinachSpinacia oleraceae1
- Outcome
- highly conserved gene regulatory networks (GRNs)e0
- Comparator
- all three speciese0
Not reportedValue
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“we identified highly conserved gene regulatory networks (GRNs) spanning all three species”
t0“leafy crops”
e1“three species-cai xin, lettuce, and spinach-to 24 environmental and nutrient treatments”
Claim · model-written summary
Networks were anchored by WRKY, AP2/ERF and GARP transcription factor families.
- Taxon
- cai xinBrassica rapa var. parachinensise1
- Gene
- WRKY, AP2/ERF, GARPe0
- Outcome
- anchored by well-known transcription factor familiese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“These networks are anchored by well-known transcription factor families (e.g., WRKY, AP2/ERF, GARP)”
t0“leafy crops”
e1“three species-cai xin, lettuce, and spinach-to 24 environmental and nutrient treatments”
Claim · model-written summary
Networks showed lineage specific differences from Arabidopsis.
- Taxon
- spinachSpinacia oleraceae1
- Outcome
- lineage-specific differencese0
- Comparator
- Arabidopsise0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“show lineage-specific differences compared to Arabidopsis”
t0“leafy crops”
e1“three species-cai xin, lettuce, and spinach-to 24 environmental and nutrient treatments”
Claim · model-written summary
StressCoNekT provides transcriptomic data and comparative tools.
- Taxon
- lettuceLactuca sativae1
- Outcome
- hosts our transcriptomic data and offers comparative toolse0
- Comparator
- comparative toolse0
Not reportedValue
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“StressCoNekT (https://stress.plant.tools/), an interactive, publicly available database that hosts our transcriptomic data and offers comparative tools”
t0“leafy crops”
e1“three species-cai xin, lettuce, and spinach-to 24 environmental and nutrient treatments”
The same questions in other papers
phosphorus · growth · Spinacia oleracea (spinach)Positive and negative results
7 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
4 papers more in this group
See all 8 papers →potassium · growth · Spinacia oleracea (spinach)Positive and negative results
3 papers in the same direction as this paper · 8 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
8 papers more in this group
See all 12 papers →nitrogen · growth · Spinacia oleracea (spinach)Positive and negative results
11 papers in the same direction as this paper · 28 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
36 papers more in this group
See all 40 papers →light · growth · Lactuca sativa (garden lettuce)Positive and negative results
56 papers in the same direction as this paper · 243 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
296 papers more in this group
See all 300 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.