This study investigated the physiological and molecular responses of two tomato cultivars exposed to seven days of drought stress, with a particular focus on long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). Morphological and physiological analyses revealed significant differences between the drought-tolerant Falcon and drought-sensitive SC2121 cultivars in terms of shoot growth, root development, chlorophyll content, soluble protein accumulation, and water content. High-throughput RNA sequencing identified 269 drought-responsive lncRNAs, including 124 upregulated and 145 downregulated transcripts. Functional analyses suggested that several lncRNAs may regulate stress-related pathways associated with osmotic balance, transporter activity, and RNA splicing mechanisms. RT-qPCR validation confirmed the differential expression patterns of selected lncRNAs under drought conditions. Overall, the findings indicate that lncRNAs play important regulatory roles in tomato drought responses and may serve as potential targets for improving drought tolerance in crop breeding programs.
Differential expression of long-noncoding RNAs under drought stress in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)
In this study, transcriptome-wide analysis was performed to identify and characterize drought-responsive lncRNAs in two contrasting tomato cultivars, the drought-tolerant Falcon and the drought-sensitive SC2121, under drought stress conditions.