Salicylic acid-responsive TaWRKY18-5A mediated salt tolerance via reprogramming of osmotic homeostasis and ROS scavenging systems in bread wheat.

Salicylic acid (SA) plays crucial roles in plant immunity and abiotic stress adaptation, yet its molecular mechanisms in regulating salt tolerance remain insufficiently characterized. This study reveals that exogenous SA application significantly improved wheat growth under salinity stress, while inhibition of SA biosynthesis using 1-aminobenzotriazole exacerbated salt-induced growth suppression. Through comprehensive transcriptomic analyses employing differential expression profiling, temporal dynamics assessment, and weighted gene co-expression network construction based on the complete telomere-to-telomere wheat genome assembly, we identified TaWRKY18-5A as a critical SA-responsive transcription factor governing salt tolerance mechanisms. Due to the technical difficulty and lengthy timeline for generating transgenic wheat (a Poaceae species), we overexpressed TaWRKY18-5A gene in rice (a Poaceae model plant) for functional characterization. Functional characterization demonstrated that TaWRKY18-5A overexpression enhanced osmotic adjustment through solute accumulation, reinforced antioxidant capacity via increased peroxidase activity, and potentially facilitates vacuolar sodium sequestration. Our findings establish SA as a positive regulator of wheat salt tolerance through transcriptional activation of TaWRKY18-5A-mediated stress adaptation pathways. This work provides valuable insights for optimizing SA-based agricultural practices and identifies a novel genetic target for improving crop resilience in saline environments.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Plant physiology and biochemistry : PPB

• Publication date

  2025-11-05

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/j.plaphy.2025.110666PMID 41213256
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Transcriptional regulation and functional research of sucrose synthase in plant development

  2025cited by this paper
• Alternative splicing of OsNPR3 promoted by bacterial TAL effectors-targeted splicing regulator OsRBP11 antagonizes OsNPR1 function to enhance disease susceptibility in rice.

  2025cited by this paper
• Elemental cryo-imaging reveals SOS1-dependent vacuolar sodium accumulation

  2025cited by this paper
• A semi‐dominant NLR allele regulates growth and disease resistance in wheat

  2025cited by this paper
• Engineering Oilseed Microbiome Synergy for Saline Alkaline Soil Restoration

  2025cited by this paper
• TaSGT1 increased salt stress tolerance through the TaSGT1-TaRGLG2-TaPPCa model in wheat.

  2025cited by this paper
• Cross-species analysis of abiotic stress in hydroponic leafy crops reveals conserved regulatory networks and key divergences

  2025cited by this paper
• Missing steps uncovered in a pathway plants use to produce the defence molecule salicylic acid

  2025cited by this paper
• Salicylic acid–mediated competitive regulation of xylem vessel formation and defense responses in Arabidopsis thaliana

  2025cited by this paper
• The transcription factor BnaWRKY75 enhances resistance to the necrotrophic pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum by promoting salicylic acid biosynthesis in oilseed rape

  2025cited by this paper
• Coordination of Phytomelatonin and Salicylic Acid Signalling in Stomatal Closure

  2025cited by this paper
• Cell-to-cell translocation of florigen is inhibited by low ambient temperature through abscisic acid signaling in Arabidopsis thaliana

  2025cited by this paper
• Molecular Regulation of Antioxidant Defense and Metabolic Reprogramming in Xiaozhan Rice Genotypes: Differential Roles of Salicylic Acid and Melatonin Under Salt Stress

  2025cited by this paper
• Genome-wide identification of NHX gene family and effects of salicylic acid in regulating antioxidant activity as well as nutrients deposition under salt stress in three Brassica species

  2025cited by this paper
• Chloroplast ATP-dependent metalloprotease FtsH5/VAR1 confers cold-stress tolerance through singlet oxygen and salicylic acid signaling

  2025cited by this paper
• Seed priming with salicylic acid enhances salt stress tolerance by boosting antioxidant defense in Phaseolus vulgaris genotypes

  2025cited by this paper
• A telomere-to-telomere genome assembly coupled with multi-omic data provides insights into the evolution of hexaploid bread wheat

  2025cited by this paper
• Root-applied brassinosteroid and salicylic acid enhance thermotolerance and fruit quality in heat-stressed ‘Kyoho’ grapevines

  2025cited by this paper
• Boron confers salt tolerance through facilitating BnaA2.HKT1-mediated root xylem Na+ unloading in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.).

  2024cited by this paper
• SynGAP: a synteny-based toolkit for gene structure annotation polishing

  2024cited by this paper
• Next-generation mapping of the salicylic acid signaling hub and transcriptional cascade

  2024cited by this paper
• Induction of Salt Stress Tolerance in Wheat Seeds by Parental Treatment with Salicylic Acid

  2024cited by this paper
• TBtools-II: A "One for All, All for One" Bioinformatics Platform for Biological Big-data Mining.

  2023cited by this paper
• Manually annotated gene prediction of the CN14 peach genome

  2023cited by this paper
• Reactive oxygen species signalling in plant stress responses

  2022cited by this paper
• Low iron ameliorates the salinity-induced growth cessation of seminal roots in wheat seedlings.

  2022cited by this paper
• Transcriptome and physiological studies reveal key players in wheat nitrogen use efficiency under both high and low N.

  2021cited by this paper
• Salicylic acid modulates ACS, NHX1, sos1 and HKT1;2 expression to regulate ethylene overproduction and Na+ ions toxicity that leads to improved physiological status and enhanced salinity stress tolerance in tomato plants cv. Pusa Ruby

  2021cited by this paper
• Multiomics reveals pivotal roles of Na + translocation and compartmentation in regulating salinity resistance in allotetraploid rapeseed.

  2021cited by this paper
• Transcription factor BnaA9.WRKY47 contributes to the adaptation of Brassica napus to low boron stress by up‐regulating the boric acid channel gene BnaA3.NIP5;1

  2019cited by this paper
• Expression partitioning of homeologs and tandem duplications contribute to salt tolerance in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

  2016cited by this paper
• Abiotic Stress Signaling and Responses in Plants.

  2016cited by this paper
• Soil salinity decreases global soil organic carbon stocks.

  2013cited by this paper
• Salicylic acid promotes seed germination under high salinity by modulating antioxidant activity in Arabidopsis.

  2010cited by this paper
• Mechanisms of salinity tolerance.

  2008cited by this paper
• The Na+ transporter AtHKT1;1 controls retrieval of Na+ from the xylem in Arabidopsis.

  2007cited by this paper
• Conservation of the Salt Overly Sensitive Pathway in Rice1[C][W][OA]

  2006cited by this paper
• Functional analysis of AtHKT1 in Arabidopsis shows that Na+ recirculation by the phloem is crucial for salt tolerance

  2003cited by this paper
• The Putative Plasma Membrane Na+/H+ Antiporter SOS1 Controls Long-Distance Na+ Transport in Plants Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at www.plantcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1105/tpc.010371.

  2002cited by this paper
• Analysis of relative gene expression data using real-time quantitative PCR and the 2(-Delta Delta C(T)) Method.

  2001cited by this paper

• No citing papers are available for this paper.