ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
Genome-wide identification of the PI4P5K gene family in cotton reveals GhPI4P5K-D04-2 as a candidate for salt stress tolerance
Cuihan Liu
Eryong Chen
Qianqian Wang
Zifan Zhao
Yonghang Chen
Han Li
Xuan'ang Wang
Chengwei Li
Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang, China
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Abstract
Phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate 5-kinase (PI4P5K/PIP5K), a core regulator of phosphatidylinositol signaling pathways, exerts critical regulatory functions in plant cellular signaling networks and developmental processes, and stress response through its kinase activity. However, its functions in cotton are little reported. In this study, we identified 146 PI4P5K family members from four cotton species (G. arboreum, G. raimondii, G. barbadense and G. hirsutum) via genome-wide screening, which were phylogenetically divided into three distinct subgroups. Structural domain analysis revealed conserved PIPKc superfamily domain in all proteins, while chromosomal mapping demonstrated syntenic distribution patterns between subgenomes A and D. Integrated transcriptomic and qRT-PCR analyses uncovered GhPI4P5K-D04-2 as a salt stress-responsive gene. Functional characterization assays demonstrated that overexpressing the GhPI4P5K-D04-2 gene exhibited enhanced tolerance to salt stress in Arabidopsis thaliana, whereas cotton plants with GhPI4P5K-This is a provisional file, not the final typeset article D04-2 knockdown via virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) showed increased sensitivity to salt stress. The findings lay a foundation for future studies of the biological functions of the cotton PI4P5K genes and provide a theoretical basis for targeting improvement of cotton salt resistance through genetic manipulation of PIPK pathway.
Summary
Keywords
Cotton, genome-wideidentification, GhPI4P5K-D04-2, Phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate 5-kinase (PI4P5K/PIP5K), salt tolerance
Received
20 November 2025
Accepted
04 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Liu, Chen, Wang, Zhao, Chen, Li, Wang and Li. 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: Eryong Chen; Chengwei Li
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