Cotton Genomics and Genetics 2025, Vol.16, No.3, 126-136 http://cropscipublisher.com/index.php/cgg 127 2 Overview of Abiotic Stresses in Cotton 2.1 Drought stress in cotton Many farmers know that cotton is afraid of drought. Once there is a lack of water, not only will the leaves wilt, but the yield will also decline and the fiber quality will also be affected. But cotton is not completely helpless. It will find ways to save itself - such as adjusting metabolism, changing physiological state, and even a series of changes will occur inside the cells. Some regulatory genes such as GhMAP4K13, GhMAPKK5, GhABF3 and GhMAPK3 will be activated at this time (Zeng et al., 2025). Once they come on the scene, the plant's antioxidant capacity is enhanced, hormone transmission is smoother, and it can retain water. The root system will be more developed and the survival rate will be higher, which is critical for whether cotton can survive the drought period (Figure 1) (Sadau et al., 2021). However, not all proteins are so "high-profile". For example, LEA protein, it is more of a silent protection of cell structure, making them less likely to be damaged by drought. GhLEA3 is a representative, which is considered a "stabilizer" of cotton (Shiraku et al., 2022). Figure 1 Phenotypic feature of GhMPK3-silenced plants (A) (I) pCLCrVA:PDS (II) pCLCrVA (III) pCLCrVA:GhMPK3 (B). GhMPK3’s expression level in empty control and GhMPK3-silenced plants. Each experiment was conducted three times. The error bar represents the three biological replicate’s standard deviation. The significant differences between VA and GhMPK3-VIGS plants (ANOVA; p < 0.05) are indicated by different letters a/b (Adopted from Sadau et al., 2021) 2.2 Salt stress in cotton Compared with drought, salt stress is slightly different, mainly occurring when the soil salt content is too high. Too much salt can also make cotton uncomfortable, as the root system cannot expand well and water absorption is also hindered. However, some genes will step up at this time, such as GhMAP4K13, GhMAPKK5, GhABF3 and GbTCP4. They can help the root system stabilize its position, reduce cell damage, and increase antioxidant levels (Zhang et al., 2022; Ding et al., 2024). Many experiments have shown that after increasing the expression of these
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