Abstract
Drought is one of the major abiotic stress factors limiting the growth, development, and yield of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.). Melatonin, a novel plant hormone, has recently shown significant potential in enhancing plant stress resistance. However, its regulatory mechanisms in response to drought stress in potato remain unclear. In this study, potato seedlings were treated with different concentrations of exogenous melatonin (50, 100, and 150 µmol L⁻¹) under controlled drought conditions to systematically evaluate their physiological and molecular responses. The results demonstrated that appropriate melatonin application, especially at 100 µmol L⁻¹ effectively alleviated drought-induced growth inhibition, oxidative stress, and photosynthetic impairment. This was evidenced by increased plant height, enhanced photosynthetic efficiency, reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, decreased cell death and lipid peroxidation, as well as elevated antioxidant enzyme activities (superoxide dismutase - SOD, catalase - CAT, peroxidase - POD) and levels of osmoprotectants (proline - Pro and soluble sugars - SS). Transcriptome analysis revealed that melatonin modulates numerous drought-responsive differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including multiple transcription factor (TF) families (e.g., MYB, NAC, ERF), and pathways related to photosynthesis, antioxidative metabolism, hormone signaling, and carbon metabolism. Furthermore, weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and Mfuzz clustering identified key gene modules and central hub genes strongly associated with photosynthetic performance and antioxidant indicators. Overexpression of StMYB and StAPX in Arabidopsis significantly enhanced drought tolerance by improving antioxidant enzyme activities and maintaining membrane stability under water-deficit conditions. This study provides a theoretical foundation for applying melatonin in potato drought stress mitigation and lays a molecular basis for developing melatonin-based agronomic strategies for improving drought tolerance.
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Claims 11
Claim · model-written summary
Melatonin, especially 100 µmol L⁻¹, alleviated drought-induced growth inhibition in potato.
- Taxon
- potato
Solanum tuberosumt0 - Treatment
- melatonin applicatione0
- Outcome
- growth inhibitione0
- Direction
- alleviatede0
- Value
- 100 µmol L⁻¹e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“potato”
e0“appropriate melatonin application, especially at 100 µmol L⁻¹ effectively alleviated drought-induced growth inhibition”
Claim · model-written summary
Melatonin alleviated drought-induced oxidative stress in potato.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Treatment
- melatonin applicatione0
- Outcome
- oxidative stresse0
- Direction
- alleviatede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“potato”
e0“appropriate melatonin application, especially at 100 µmol L⁻¹ effectively alleviated drought-induced growth inhibition, oxidative stress, and photosynthetic impairment”
Claim · model-written summary
Melatonin alleviated drought-induced photosynthetic impairment in potato.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Treatment
- melatonin applicatione0
- Outcome
- photosynthetic impairmente0
- Direction
- alleviatede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“potato”
e0“appropriate melatonin application, especially at 100 µmol L⁻¹ effectively alleviated drought-induced growth inhibition, oxidative stress, and photosynthetic impairment”
Claim · model-written summary
Melatonin increased potato plant height and photosynthetic efficiency under drought.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Outcome
- plant height, enhanced photosynthetic efficiencye0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedTreatmentComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“potato”
e0“increased plant height, enhanced photosynthetic efficiency”
Claim · model-written summary
Melatonin reduced ROS accumulation, cell death and lipid peroxidation in drought-stressed potato.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Outcome
- reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, decreased cell death and lipid peroxidatione0
- Direction
- reducede0
Not reportedTreatmentComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“potato”
e0“reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, decreased cell death and lipid peroxidation”
Claim · model-written summary
Melatonin elevated antioxidant enzyme activities in drought-stressed potato.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Outcome
- antioxidant enzyme activitiese0
- Direction
- elevatede0
Not reportedTreatmentComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“potato”
e0“elevated antioxidant enzyme activities (superoxide dismutase - SOD, catalase - CAT, peroxidase - POD)”
Claim · model-written summary
Melatonin elevated proline and soluble sugar levels in drought-stressed potato.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Outcome
- levels of osmoprotectants (proline - Pro and soluble sugars - SS)e0
- Direction
- elevatede0
Not reportedTreatmentComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“potato”
e0“elevated antioxidant enzyme activities (superoxide dismutase - SOD, catalase - CAT, peroxidase - POD) and levels of osmoprotectants (proline - Pro and soluble sugars - SS)”
Claim · model-written summary
Melatonin modulated drought-responsive genes and pathways related to photosynthesis, antioxidative metabolism, hormone signalling and carbon metabolism.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Treatment
- melatonine0
- Gene
- MYB, NAC, ERFe0
- Outcome
- drought-responsive differentially expressed genes (DEGs)e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“potato”
e0“melatonin modulates numerous drought-responsive differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including multiple transcription factor (TF) families (e.g., MYB, NAC, ERF), and pathways related to photosynthesis, antioxidative metabolism, hormone signaling, and carbon metabolism”
Claim · model-written summary
WGCNA and Mfuzz identified gene modules and hub genes associated with photosynthetic performance and antioxidant indicators in potato.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Outcome
- key gene modules and central hub genese0
- Qualifier
- strongly associated with photosynthetic performance and antioxidant indicatorse0
Not reportedComparatorValue
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“potato”
e0“weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and Mfuzz clustering identified key gene modules and central hub genes strongly associated with photosynthetic performance and antioxidant indicators”
Claim · model-written summary
StMYB overexpression enhanced drought tolerance in Arabidopsis.
- Taxon
- Arabidopsis
Arabidopsise0 - Treatment
- Overexpressione0
- Gene
- StMYBe0
- Outcome
- drought tolerancee0
- Direction
- enhancede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Overexpression of StMYB and StAPX in Arabidopsis significantly enhanced drought tolerance by improving antioxidant enzyme activities and maintaining membrane stability under water-deficit conditions”
Claim · model-written summary
StAPX overexpression enhanced drought tolerance in Arabidopsis.
- Taxon
- ArabidopsisArabidopsise0
- Treatment
- Overexpressione0
- Gene
- StAPXe0
- Outcome
- drought tolerancee0
- Direction
- enhancede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Overexpression of StMYB and StAPX in Arabidopsis significantly enhanced drought tolerance by improving antioxidant enzyme activities and maintaining membrane stability under water-deficit conditions”
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See all 5 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.