Integrated transcriptome and metabolome analysis revealed differential drought stress response mechanisms of wheat seedlings with varying drought tolerance

These results indicated that flavonoids and phenolic acids metabolisms were associated with wheat seedling's drought resistance, with their biosynthesis-related differentially expressed metabolites and genes possibly being key factors underlining the difference in drought tolerance. Thus this study enhances our understanding of wheat seedling's drought response mechanism, providing valuable insights for breeding drought-tolerant wheat cultivars.