{
  "abstract": "Nitraria tangutorum is a pioneer shrub species for windbreak and sand fixation in desert regions. Drought stress caused by continuous global warming poses a significant environmental challenge to the growth and development of N. tangutorum . This study employed the N. tangutorum 2-17-16 from the Zhangye provenance as the experimental material to analyze the physiological and biochemical changes and transcriptome data of N. tangutorum seedlings under PEG-simulated drought stress, systematically elucidating the regulatory mechanisms underlying responses to drought stress in N. tangutorum at physiological and molecular levels. Furthermore, the function of the core regulatory gene NtPP2C51-like in drought resistance responses of N. tangutorum was investigated via heterologous overexpression in Nicotiana benthamiana . The results indicated that N. tangutorum responded to PEG-simulated drought stress by specifically increasing the content of osmoprotectants and activity of antioxidant enzymes. Under PEG-simulated drought stress, differentially expressed genes were significantly enriched in pathways such as Plant hormone signal transduction and MAPK signaling pathway-plant. Genes such as IAA , GID1 , ETR , EBF1/2 , and PP2C play significant roles in the response of N. tangutorum to drought stress. Under drought stress, N. benthamiana plants overexpressing NtPP2C51-like exhibited faster water loss, higher MDA content, lower contents of osmoprotectants, and lower antioxidant enzyme activities than wild-type plants. At 7 d of drought treatment, MDA content in the overexpression lines was 1.31–1.39-fold higher, whereas soluble sugar content was only 57–61% of that in wild-type plants, indicating that NtPP2C51-like overexpression increases drought sensitivity in the heterologous N. benthamiana system and suggesting a potential negative role of NtPP2C51-like in the drought response of N. tangutorum . These results provide a theoretical basis for understanding the physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying drought adaptation in N. tangutorum and provide candidate genes for further drought-tolerance studies and genetic improvement of this ecologically important desert plant overall.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "College of Forestry, Gansu Agricultural University"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Xiaolan Li"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Hanghang Liu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yi Li"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/37wne7yk1vzrz.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3389/fpls.2026.1964307",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "37wne7yk1vzrz",
  "issns": [
    "1664-462X"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2026.1964307/full",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "1110|Plant Stress Responses and Tolerance"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7224091237",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2026.1964307/pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-28",
  "publisher": "Frontiers Media SA",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/37wne7yk1vzrz.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:25Z",
      "native_id": "10.3389/fpls.2026.1964307",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2026.1964307/full"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:1110|Plant Stress Responses and Tolerance",
      "subfield": "plant-biology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Regulatory mechanisms of Nitraria tangutorum in response to drought stress and functional verification of NtPP2C51-like",
  "title_text": "Regulatory mechanisms of Nitraria tangutorum in response to drought stress and functional verification of NtPP2C51-like",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:19:25Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/37wne7yk1vzrz",
  "venue": "Frontiers in Plant Science",
  "versions": []
}