ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1648092
This article is part of the Research TopicMulti-Omics Strategies for Salinity and Drought Stress Mitigation in AgricultureView all articles
Salt gradient-driven adaptation in okra: Uncovering mechanisms of tolerance and growth regulation
Provisionally accepted
- 1Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Beijing, China
- 2Mihe National Wetland Park Management Service Center, Shandong, China
- 3Shandong Agri-tech Extension Center, Jinan, China
- 4Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
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Soil salinity is an increasingly critical constraint on crop establishment and yield stability, especially in marginal and irrigated agricultural zones. Despite its nutritional and economic value, the mechanistic basis of salt tolerance in Abelmoschus esculentus (okra) remains poorly defined. Here, we integrated physiological phenotyping with transcriptome profiling to elucidate the stage-specific strategies employed by okra in response to NaCl stress. Our results revealed a bifurcated salt response: germination was highly sensitive, with complete inhibition at ≥ 0.5% NaCl, whereas seedling growth exhibited a hormetic pattern, being promoted under mild salinity (0.1–0.3%) and suppressed at higher levels. Photosynthetic integrity and photoprotection were preserved under low salinity but declined under severe stress, accompanied by increased oxidative burden. Transcriptomic analyses revealed that moderate salt stress elicited the coordinated activation of ion homeostasis genes, calcium signaling components, and GH3-family auxin-responsive genes (log2FC = 2.3–2.5), suggesting a critical role for dynamic auxin conjugation in growth maintenance under ionic stress. Concurrently, ROS detoxification, cytoskeletal remodeling, and metabolic adjustments were induced to support cellular stability. These findings defines okra’s salt tolerance threshold, reveals key molecular targets for genetic improvement, and provides a scientific foundation for the sustainable deployment of salt-tolerant okra in saline agriculture and land reclamation.
Keywords: okra, salt tolerance, ion homeostasis, Transcriptomics, photoprotectionkey
Received: 16 Jun 2025; Accepted: 26 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang, He, Xu, Kong, Huo, Song, Han and Lv. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Guohua Lv, Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
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