Cotton Genomics and Genetics 2025, Vol.16, No.3, 126-136 http://cropscipublisher.com/index.php/cgg 126 Feature Review Open Access Proteomics Analysis of Cotton’s Response to Drought and Salt Stress Wenzhong Huang Biomass Research Center, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resouces, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China Corresponding email: wenzhong.huang@hitar.org Cotton Genomics and Genetics, 2025, Vol.16, No.3 doi: 10.5376/cgg.2025.16.0013 Received: 30 Mar., 2025 Accepted: 11 May, 2025 Published: 31 May, 2025 Copyright © 2025 Huang, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Huang W.Z., Proteomics analysis of cotton’s response to drought and salt stress, Cotton Genomics and Genetics, 16(3): 126-136 (doi: 10.5376/cgg.2025.16.0013) Abstract Cotton is one of the most economically important fiber crops worldwide, yet its productivity is significantly hindered by abiotic stresses such as drought and salinity. In this study, we utilized proteomics approaches to explore the molecular mechanisms underlying cotton’s response to drought and salt stress, providing a comprehensive overview of stress-induced protein expression profiles. We summarized the major types of abiotic stress affecting cotton, detailed current proteomics technologies, and highlighted key proteins involved in stress perception, antioxidant defense, ion transport, and signaling pathways. Comparative proteomic analyses revealed both common and stress-specific protein expression patterns, enhancing our understanding of cotton’s adaptive responses. A case study involving Gossypium hirsutum under field-imposed conditions demonstrated how proteomic insights can inform breeding for stress tolerance. This study underscores the value of proteomics in dissecting cotton’s complex responses to environmental stress and anticipates that future research integrating multi-omics and functional genomics will facilitate the development of stress-resilient cotton cultivars. Keywords Cotton; Proteomics; Drought stress; Salt stress; Stress tolerance mechanisms 1 Introduction When it comes to cotton (Gossypium spp.), most people first think of clothes and fabrics, but in fact, it supports the livelihoods of millions of farmers around the world. It is not just a fiber crop, but also an integral part of the economic system in many regions. Especially in some places where soil conditions are not good, such as saline-alkali land, cotton has become one of the few crops that can still grow well, which also gives it a special position in agricultural development (Xiao et al., 2020). Of course, cotton is not "invincible". Abiotic stresses such as drought and excessive soil salinity often make it "unbearable". Yield decline and slow growth are not new problems. Scientists want to figure out how cotton copes with these stresses, so they turn their attention to the tool of proteomics. To put it bluntly, this set of technologies is to study when various proteins in plants "go online", what they do, and the relationship between them. In recent years, some studies have revealed which proteins cotton activates when facing adversity. Some are involved in energy metabolism, some are responsible for anti-oxidation, and some are like signal "couriers" to transmit information everywhere (Deeba et al., 2012; Li et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2016; Chen et al., 2020; Nagamalla et al., 2021; Yuan et al., 2023). Interestingly, different proteins behave differently at different stress stages, and this difference just provides us with clues to find key regulatory points. In the future, if this information can be used in breeding, maybe we can breed more drought-resistant and salt-tolerant cotton. This study is mainly to systematically sort out these existing proteomics results. We will pick out some key findings to make it clear which proteins and pathways cotton activates under drought and salt stress. At the same time, we will also look at how to use these data with transcriptome information to further explore the "response strategy" of cotton. Although this work cannot be used directly in farming, we hope that it can pave the way for subsequent research and provide some practical reference for the development of stress-resistant cotton varieties.
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