Fig. 5: GhCBL1A1 and GhCIPK6D1 synergistically promote drought sensitivity of cotton.

a Phenotypes of WT and GhCBL1A1 transgenic plants under watered and drought stress treatments. Plants at four-leaf stage in soil were exposed to drought stress for 10 days. CO2/CO4 were overexpression lines and cbl1-5/cbl1-13 were knockout lines of GhCBL1A1. Bars = 10 cm. b MDA content in the leaves of transgenic and WT lines under watered and drought stress. Data are means ± SD (n = 3 biological replicates). Different letters above the columns of each compartment indicate a significant difference at P < 0.05 (one-way ANOVA followed by Duncan’s multiple range test). c Stomatal aperture in transgenic and WT lines under normal and drought stress (means ± SD, n = 60). Different letters above the boxes of each compartment indicate a significant difference at P < 0.05 (one-way ANOVA followed by Duncan’s multiple range test). d Transpiration rate in transgenic and WT lines under drought stress. Data are means ± SD (n = 4). Significant difference analysis used one-way ANOVA followed by Duncan’s multiple range test (*P < 0.05). e Phenotypes of GhCBL1A1-silenced plants in WT, OE12 and ko#6 backgrounds under drought stress. Plants at four-leaf stage in soil were exposed to drought stress for 10 days. Bars = 10 cm. f MDA content in the leaves of GhCBL1A1_-silenced plants in WT, OE12 and ko#6 backgrounds under normal watered and drought stress conditions. Data are means ± SD (n = 3 biological replicates). Significant difference analysis used two-tailed Student’s t-test (**P < 0.01), and ns indicates no significant difference. g Light microscopy images of leaf epidermal stomata of GhCBL1A1-silenced plants in WT, OE12 and ko#6 backgrounds under normal watered and drought stress. Bars = 20 μm. h Stomatal aperture of GhCBL1A1-silenced plants in OE12, WT and ko#6 backgrounds under. watered conditions and drought stress (means ± SD, n = 60). Significant difference analysis used two-tailed Student’s t-test (**P < 0.01), and ns indicates no significant difference. All box plots with centre lines showing the medians, boxes indicating the interquartile range, and whiskers indicating a range of minimum to maximum data beyond the box. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.