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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1497425
The CaSBP11 gene functions as a negative regulator in pepper drought stress
Provisionally accepted- Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang, China
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The SBP-box gene family, an exclusively plant transcription factor, is critical for plant growth, development, and adaptive responses to both biotic and abiotic stresses. However, its role under non-biological stresses, specifically drought, remains overlooked in pepper plants. Here, we isolated a SBP-box gene, CaSBP11, from the pepper genomic database in our prior work. Drought conditions significantly upregulated CaSBP11 expression, whereas ABA treatment suppressed it. Silencing CaSBP11 enhanced drought resistance in pepper, with increased stomatal aperture and ABA levels, and reduced stomatal density, water loss rates, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation compared to control plants. Conversely, overexpression of CaSBP11 in Nicotiana benthamiana decreased drought tolerance, with CaSBP11-overexpressing plants showing reduced ABA sensitivity, lower stomatal aperture and ABA levels, and increased stomatal density and ROS production compared to wild-type plants. Interestingly, under non-stress conditions, core ABA signaling genes (CaPP2C, CaPYL9, CaSNRK2.4, CaAREB) exhibited lower expression in CaSBP11-silenced plants compared to controls, whereas this trend was reversed in CaSBP11-overexpressing lines (NbPP2C, NbAREB, NbSNRK2.4, NbSRK2E). Additionally, CaSBP11 was found to interact with CaPP2C, CaPYL9, CaSNRK2.4, and CaAREB in nucleus. These data suggest that CaSBP11 negatively regulates plant responses to drought stress and may interact with these key genes in the ABA signaling pathway to mediate this response.
Keywords: pepper, CaSBP11, Drought stress, Stomatal, ABA signaling pathway
Received: 17 Sep 2024; Accepted: 10 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Zhang, Zhang and Pan. 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: Huai-Xia Zhang, Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.