Fig. 6: GhCBL2A1 positively regulates drought tolerance in cotton.

a Phenotypes of transgenic and WT plants under watered and drought stress treatments. Plants at four-leaf stage in soil were exposed to drought stress for 10 days. CO7/ CO13 are overexpression lines and cbl2-1/cbl2-2 are knockout lines of GhCBL2A1. Bars = 10 cm. b, c MDA (b) and H₂O₂ (c) 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). d Light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy images of leaf epidermal stomata of transgenic and WT lines under normal and drought stress. Bars = 5 μm. e Stomatal aperture in transgenic and WT lines under watered 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). 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. f Transpiration rate in transgenic and WT lines under drought stress. Data are means ± SD (n = 3 biological replicates). Significant difference analysis used one-way ANOVA followed by Duncan’s multiple range test (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.