Comparative transcriptome profiling provides insights into plant salt tolerance in watermelon (Citrullus lanatus).

Salt stress seriously reduced the yield and quality of watermelon and restricted the sustainable development of the watermelon industry. However, the molecular mechanism of watermelon in response to salt stress is still unclear. In this study, 150 mmol.L^-1 NaCl was used to deal with the seedlings of salt-tolerant and salt-sensitive watermelon varieties. Physiological characteristics showed that salt stress significantly reduced the biomass of watermelon seedlings and the accumulation of K⁺ in roots and leaves and significantly increased the content of Na⁺, Cl^-, and malondialdehyde (MDA). Compared with the salt-sensitive variety, the salt-tolerant variety had higher K⁺ accumulation, lower Cl^-, Cl^- accumulation, and MDA content in roots and leaves. Then, RNA-seq was performed on roots and leaves in normal culture and under 150 mmol.L^-1 NaCl treatment. A total of 21,069 genes were identified by RNA-seq analysis, of which 1412 were...