Fig. 2: Effects of suppression of strigolactone biosynthesis and signaling and of GR24^5DS application on the heat response in tomato.

a Malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation in the leaves after 48 h of heat at 42 °C. b, e Relative electrolyte leakage (REL) in the leaves after 48 h of heat at 42 °C. c Oxidized proteins in the leaves after 12 h of heat at 42 °C. d Actual quantum efficiency of PSII photochemistry (Ф_PSII) of the leaves after 48 h of heat at 42 °C. The color scale below the image ranges from 0 to 1.0 (purple). f HSP70 protein accumulation in the leaves after 12 h of heat at 42 °C. The number above each lane represents the relative band intensity value. For (a–c), the plants used for gene silencing were the Ailsa Craig background. Plants transformed with the empty vector pTRV served as controls. For (d–f), WT refers to the wild type (Condine Red), and ccd7 refers to transgenic CRISPR-ccd7 mutants. The GR24^5DS (3 µM, 15 mL) solution was applied to the roots of each plant 24 h before heat stress at 42 °C. The plus and minus marks represent the application of GR24^5DS and water solution, respectively. The results in (a, b, e) are mean ± SD of three biological replicates. For (d), 15 leaves were used. Significant differences are indicated by different letters (P < 0.05, Tukey’s test)