Transcriptomic responses to drought stress in Populus 'Beilinxiongzhu 1'

This study aims to identify candidate regulatory genes involved in drought responses in wild-type Populus 'Beilinxiongzhu 1' (BXZ1). Two-month-old soil-grown plants were subjected to drought stress by withholding water for 7 days, while control plants were maintained under well-watered conditions. Young, fully expanded leaves were collected from both treatments, with three biological replicates per treatment. Paired-end RNA sequencing was performed to characterize transcriptional changes associated with drought stress and identify candidate drought-responsive genes.