H₂S modulates BrSDH1-1 alternative splicing to induce stomatal closure in Chinese cabbage

Abstract

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), a gasotransmitter molecule, plays critical roles in stomatal closure and cellular bioenergetics. Alternative splicing (AS) is a key regulatory mechanism during plant development and stress responses; however, the interplay between H₂S signaling and AS in drought tolerance remains unexplored in Chinese cabbage. In this study, we found that the mitochondrial inner membrane enzyme succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) responds to H₂S signaling during stomatal closure. Silencing of BrSDH1-1 impaired the effects of H₂S on stomatal closure, SDH activity, and ATP production. RNA-Seq analysis revealed that H₂S modulates the AS of BrSDH1-1, resulting in transcript variants with differential expression. Overexpression of BrSDH1-1A and BrSDH1-1C in Arabidopsis enhanced drought resistance, whereas BrSDH1-1B had no significant effect. H₂S enhanced SDH activity and ATP production, promoted stomatal closure, and reduced excess reactive oxygen species (ROS) in OE-BrSDH1-1A and OE-BrSDH1-1C lines but not in OE-BrSDH1-1B. Furthermore, biotin-switch assays demonstrated that H₂S induced persulfidation of BrSDH1-1A and BrSDH1-1C, with no effect on variant BrSDH1-1B. These findings reveal a novel regulatory mechanism by which H₂S modulates BrSDH1-1 splicing to mediate stomatal closure and improve drought tolerance, offering valuable molecular insights for enhancing stress resilience in horticultural crops.

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 32172550, No. 32372727) and Shanxi Province Natural Science Foundation (no. 20210302123474). Furthermore, we would like to thank Enago (www.enago.cn) for editing this manuscript.

Data availability

All data can be found in the main text and supplemental information.

Conflict of interest statement

None declared.

Supplementary data

Supplementary data is available at Horticulture Research online.

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