Natural variation in SbTEF1 gene contributes to salt tolerance in sorghum seedlings
Published 17 November, 2025
Salt stress is a major constraint to crop productivity and quality, with the limited availability of salt-tolerant genes being a major challenge to breeding programs aimed at enhancing salt tolerance. Against this backdrop, sorghum, however, displays a remarkable ability to withstand saline conditions. Hence, elucidating the genetic underpinnings of this trait is of great study value.
In a new study published in the Journal of Integrative Agriculture, a team of researchers from China entailed a resequencing of 186 sorghum accessions to perform a genome-wide association study (GWAS) focusing on relative root length (RL) and root fresh weight (RFW) under salt stress conditions.
“We identified eight candidate genes within a co-localized region, among which SbTEF1 — a gene encoding a transcription elongation factor protein — was deemed a potential candidate due to its annotation and expression pattern alterations under salt stress,” shares corresponding author Yufei Zhou, a professor at Shenyang Agricultural University, China.
Further, haplotype analysis, gene cloning, linkage disequilibrium (LD) analysis, and allele effect analysis revealed that PAV284, located in the promoter region of SbTEF1, modulated gene expression under salt stress, which, in turn, influenced sorghum seedlings’ salt tolerance.
“PAV284 holds promise as a genetic marker for selecting salt-tolerant germplasm via marker-assisted breeding, enhancing the development of salt-tolerant sorghum cultivars,” says Prof. Zhou.
Contact Authors:
#Correspondence Yufei Zhou, Tel: +86-24-88487135, E-mail: zhouyufei@syau.edu.cn; Haiqiu Yu, Tel: +86-24-88487135, E-mail: yuhaiqiu@syau.edu.cn
Funder:
This work was supported by the Science and Technology Program in Liaoning Province, China (2022-BS-172), the China Agriculture Research System of MOF and MARA (CARS-06-14.5-A17) and the Guiding Funds of the Central Government for the Local Scientific and Technological Development Basic Research Program of Jilin Province, China (202002068JC).
Conflict of Interest:
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
See the Article:
Liu C et al. 2025. Natural variation in SbTEF1 contributes to salt tolerance in sorghum seedlings. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 24(11): 4168-4181.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jia.2024.03.030